Most Lyme disease cases can be cured

Dear Dr. Gott: My mom was recently diagnosed with Lyme disease. She is in the second stage. I know there is no cure. My question is, will she continue to get worse as the years go on or stay the same? Right now the only symptom she has is her joints and bones hurting. How much worse and how fast will this disease affect her?

Dear Reader: I assume that your mother lives in the Northeast, where Lyme disease is epidemic. (It is not yet a problem in the Midwest, where you live.)

I raise this point because physicians in the Northeast are intimately aware of Lyme disease and its cure.

Black-legged ticks carry Lyme bacteria in their digestive systems and can pass the infection along while feeding on humans. Early symptoms include a rash, aching muscles and joints, and malaise. Not every person affected has all these symptoms, however. If the victim isn’t treated with antibiotics at this stage, Lyme disease can affect the brain, heart and other tissues. In this situation, prolonged antibiotics therapy is necessary to cure the ailment.

I suggest that your mother follow through with her doctor, take more antibiotics and be patient. If this treatment is ineffective, she might have to see a Lyme expert for possible intravenous therapy, but most Lyme cases can be cured.

Dear Dr. Gott: Is it possible to become immune to the effects of poison ivy, bee and wasp stings, snakebites, scorpion stings and other similar afflictions by repeated exposure to them? If so, about how many exposures would it take to gain immunity?

Dear Reader: Immunity to toxic bites and stings can occur in a natural setting – that is, by repeated exposure “in the wild,” such as with snake handlers who suffer bites. This is risky business, for obvious reasons. The handlers can, at any stage, experience life-threatening complications, in particular serious allergic reactions.

A safer immunity can be obtained through the use of desensitizing injections of the offending material, carefully administered by an allergist, using slowly increasing dosages of the substances.

I am not aware of any consistent method of desensitization to poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac and other plants. However, stings and bites can be rendered less threatening by a planned program of repeated injections.

If this issue is one that you should address, I advise you to check with an allergist for specific advice.

To give you related information, I am sending you a copy of my Health Report “Allergies.” Other readers who would like a copy should send a long, self-addressed, stamped envelope and $2 to Newsletter, PO Box 167, Wickliffe, OH 44092. Be sure to mention the title.