There are dangers at the edge of the woods and dangers from neighbors and family. The world is surreal. But it is the real world, the one we have to live in.
The Covid nightmare, is in some ways like 911, a watershed event that will forever change our prior naivety regarding person to person transmission of deadly germs.
I am optimistic that meds given early in the course of illness will prove effective. Current candidates include
The summer flu. It has long been acute stage Lyme misdiagnosed by the doc-in-a-box. Now we have another bigger worry.
The presentation of the two illnesses can in some cases be identical: fever, malaise and achiness.
Testing should be done, although deficient for both.
Do not get the Covid antibody test. 100 non-vetted companies, tests. Get the nasal swab sent for PCR which directly identifies the RNA virus. There are still false negatives and you may want to repeat the test.
Lyme testing. Many of us are operating remotely doing telemedicine. That obviates the ability to send specimens to more reliable Lyme labs: Stony Brook, MDL, IgeneX etc. We have to manage with LabCorp or Quest. Get the Western Blot test, not the reflex to WB. Also get C6 peptide. Coinfection testing must include Babesia duncani, WA1, IFA IGG.
Do not worry too much about poor Lyme blood tests. Patient history is the most reliable test.
If there is any doubt treat both. Doxycycline and (ivermectin which many Lyme patient feels has been effective) is a good starting place. If you are worried about sun induced toxic skin reaction, I recommend you stay in the shade and tough it out for at least 3 weeks. This is the only drug that has widespread effectiveness against many coinfections. Amoxicillin, Ceftin and Minocycline are not adequate substitutes.
Search my blog for more about ivermectin.
Despite what you may have heard or red otherwise, Covid cases and deaths are very underreported. Same as Lyme. With Lyme some elected officials have helped promote the cause. With Coivd, unfortunately, it is the other way around.
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