“Tick”-tok summer is flying by!

-Dr. Emilie, downtown chiropractor

I promise I won’t be sharing all my personal health struggles each newsletter, lol….but I’ve got another one for you! 

Ticks are becoming more prevalent in Ottawa and as we are all enjoying the outdoors I’d like to share what I’ve learned this past month. I recently found a tick on myself which likely came from Gatineau Park. We didn’t make a habit of checking ourselves or our kids at night - but we are starting to now! 

I have had patients and family members with Lyme Disease and it can be very debilitating and scary. If not treated, Lyme disease can make you feel tired and weak and, if it gets really bad, it can even harm your heart, nerves, liver and joints. Symptoms from untreated Lyme disease can last years and include recurring arthritis and neurological problems, numbness, paralysis and, in very rare cases, death. Knowing this, as soon as I found that tick I called my doctor and a leading Lyme disease naturopath in Ottawa.

Here’s what to do (and what I did!):

1-talk to your doctor to get on antibiotics asap (I know you don’t normally hear this from me but this would count as a potential crisis). If a tick transmits Lyme, it can become chronic within 4-7 days. The accepted medical view is one day of antibiotics. The tick I had was believed to be on me for 1-3 days. My naturopath recommended 3 weeks of 2 different antiobiotics - one for the Lyme and one for any co-infections they may also transmit. It is intense - but it must be weighed with the opposite view of dealing with chronic Lyme.

2-you can get the tick tested at geneticks.ca. This is something you must pay for yourself. You can also upload a picture to etick.ca to get more info faster on the type of tick. From there it may inform your decision to continue treatment or not...

3-take intense probiotics to counteract the negative effects of the antiobiotics!

4-with the help of a naturopath, you can take other herbal and/or homeopathic remedies to push out infection.

5-no sugar - this was a TOUGH one for me! I love my chocolate :) Bacteria feeds on sugar so we want to give it less fuel. And hey, I could use the detox so it was doing double duty.

6-no sun - if you’re on a specific antiobiotic that is photo sensitive, you can burn within 5 minutes. I covered up as best I could, lathered myself in sunscreen and still burned my nose and the sides of my fingers. 

I often look at any health challenge I go through from the positive side - I learned something that I hope will help my patients. As I have shared my experience in the last few weeks I’ve heard lots of your stories and have learned even more!  

I made it through, enjoyed my ice cream and brownies afterwards AND my tick came back negative for any disease. Despite that, I was recommended to see the treatment through, just in case.

You’ll never believe it, but as I was ending my 3 week dose, WE FOUND A TICK ON MY SON. Here we go again…but this time I know what I’m dealing with! Also, on the plus side, etick.ca believes it is a groundhog tick which does not transmit Lyme. So I’m waiting to hear back about next steps for him.

PLEASE check yourselves and your kids each night during the summer - you could save yourself lots of trouble and health challenges! Some people never knew they were bit but start experiencing the symptoms and it can take months to diagnose if you don’t know.

Also, buy a tick remover - super cheap but worth it to properly remove it. I read online that a tick needs to be on you for 24-48 hours to transmit Lyme. My naturopath did say more studies are showing that even 5 minutes on an infected tick can transmit. I thank one of my previous patients who gave me one for a camping trip a few years ago.

We’ll still enjoy the outdoors and hope you do too!