medical question

Emily wrote:
I've been running a 102 degree fever for the past two weeks and have
been so tired I can barely get to work. Finally made a doctor's
appointment (with a new doctor) today, but wasn't planning on getting in
the same day and had taken Tylenol for the fever...so no fever when I
showed up.

Long story short, he ordered some blood work, but told me he thinks that
I am depressed, since I have fatigue with no fever. He said that if the
blood work comes back normal, he's writing it up as depression.

Obviously he's an idiot, since 1) fatigue has so many other causes and
2) I don't have depression, never have. This is just a bogus diagnosis.

My concern is, if he writes this up in my medical records, do I have to
report it to the FAA? I'm really terrified of this.

Have you had a Lymes test? I don't what part of the country you are in
but you should. Just to rule it out.

wrote:
Emily wrote:

I've been running a 102 degree fever for the past two weeks and have
been so tired I can barely get to work. Finally made a doctor's
appointment (with a new doctor) today, but wasn't planning on getting in
the same day and had taken Tylenol for the fever...so no fever when I
showed up.

Long story short, he ordered some blood work, but told me he thinks that
I am depressed, since I have fatigue with no fever. He said that if the
blood work comes back normal, he's writing it up as depression.

Obviously he's an idiot, since 1) fatigue has so many other causes and
2) I don't have depression, never have. This is just a bogus diagnosis.

My concern is, if he writes this up in my medical records, do I have to
report it to the FAA? I'm really terrified of this.


Have you had a Lymes test? I don't what part of the country you are in
but you should. Just to rule it out.

Lymes is a disqualifying condition. I was given antibiotics after a
suspicious bite. When I reported this to my AME as a possible Lymes he
responded with "DID YOU TEST POSITIVE FOR LYMES"? When I said no he
informed me that I was not to write the word Lymes anywhere.

Margy

Margy Natalie wrote:
wrote:
Emily wrote:

I've been running a 102 degree fever for the past two weeks and have
been so tired I can barely get to work. Finally made a doctor's
appointment (with a new doctor) today, but wasn't planning on getting in
the same day and had taken Tylenol for the fever...so no fever when I
showed up.

Long story short, he ordered some blood work, but told me he thinks that
I am depressed, since I have fatigue with no fever. He said that if the
blood work comes back normal, he's writing it up as depression.

Obviously he's an idiot, since 1) fatigue has so many other causes and
2) I don't have depression, never have. This is just a bogus diagnosis.

My concern is, if he writes this up in my medical records, do I have to
report it to the FAA? I'm really terrified of this.


Have you had a Lymes test? I don't what part of the country you are in
but you should. Just to rule it out.

Lymes is a disqualifying condition.

Where is THAT written?

Emily wrote:
Margy Natalie wrote:

wrote:

Emily wrote:

I've been running a 102 degree fever for the past two weeks and have
been so tired I can barely get to work. Finally made a doctor's
appointment (with a new doctor) today, but wasn't planning on
getting in
the same day and had taken Tylenol for the fever...so no fever when I
showed up.

Long story short, he ordered some blood work, but told me he thinks
that
I am depressed, since I have fatigue with no fever. He said that if
the
blood work comes back normal, he's writing it up as depression.

Obviously he's an idiot, since 1) fatigue has so many other causes and
2) I don't have depression, never have. This is just a bogus
diagnosis.

My concern is, if he writes this up in my medical records, do I have to
report it to the FAA? I'm really terrified of this.



Have you had a Lymes test? I don't what part of the country you are in
but you should. Just to rule it out.

Lymes is a disqualifying condition.


Where is THAT written?
My AME said Lymes is a classified as a neurological disease. I guess
disqualifying was the wrong word, but there are MANY hoops you have to
go through to prove there is no neurological damage.

Margy

Margy Natalie wrote:
Emily wrote:
Margy Natalie wrote:

wrote:

Emily wrote:

I've been running a 102 degree fever for the past two weeks and have
been so tired I can barely get to work. Finally made a doctor's
appointment (with a new doctor) today, but wasn't planning on
getting in
the same day and had taken Tylenol for the fever...so no fever when I
showed up.

Long story short, he ordered some blood work, but told me he thinks
that
I am depressed, since I have fatigue with no fever. He said that
if the
blood work comes back normal, he's writing it up as depression.

Obviously he's an idiot, since 1) fatigue has so many other causes and
2) I don't have depression, never have. This is just a bogus
diagnosis.

My concern is, if he writes this up in my medical records, do I
have to
report it to the FAA? I'm really terrified of this.



Have you had a Lymes test? I don't what part of the country you are in
but you should. Just to rule it out.

Lymes is a disqualifying condition.


Where is THAT written?
My AME said Lymes is a classified as a neurological disease. I guess
disqualifying was the wrong word, but there are MANY hoops you have to
go through to prove there is no neurological damage.

Margy
That makes sense, I guess.
Then again, there are a lot of things that can result in neurological
damage. :-)

wrote:
Emily wrote:
snip

Have you had a Lymes test? I don't what part of the country you are in
but you should. Just to rule it out.

I don't think we have it around here, and I haven't seen a tick in
years, but it's something to keep in mind, I guess.

Emily wrote:
wrote:

Emily wrote:

snip


Have you had a Lymes test? I don't what part of the country you are in
but you should. Just to rule it out.


I don't think we have it around here, and I haven't seen a tick in
years, but it's something to keep in mind, I guess.
Deer ticks you don't see. They are about the size of a pin head. I've
had two occasions with funny looking bites. They just treat with
antibiotics in case. Actually, once they offered me a choice of either
treating or waiting to see if Lymes developed. I thought they were nuts
in offering the option. After I said, "I'll take the antibiotics" the
Dr. said "good choice, the worst that could happen is you took a course
of antibiotics you didn't need, Lymes is bad news".

Margy

Margy Natalie wrote:

Deer ticks you don't see. They are about the size of a pin head. I've
had two occasions with funny looking bites. They just treat with
antibiotics in case.


Margy, I think you are on to something with your recommendation. Here is a
list of potential symptoms of Lyme disease, which includes depression,
fatigue, and fever:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_Disease

Living in a heavily infested deer-tick area of upstate New York state
(thanks to the fact that the state still won't allow any type of hunting on
nearby state park land and the deer reproduce far greater than local
rabbits), I can relate a few tidbits of deer tick information from personal
experience:

1) A deer tick bite (assuming the tick is still not attached) will appear
as a bulls-eye type red mark in the area immediately surrounding the bite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Lymebite.png

2) An engorged deer tick still attached to the skin will be much bigger
than a pin head. The tick's body, which will be the part above the skin,
will be grey in color and about the depth of a pencil eraser, but narrower
in width.

3) If you do spot a tick on your skin, all of the OWT about how to remove
them (touching it with a burnt match head, covering it with Vasoline, etc.)
are, in fact, fallacy and can result in the tick regurgitating its contents
back into your bloodstream. Definitely increases the chances of
contracting Lyme disease.

We have been most successful using a tick puller, which is a US 5$ plastic
set of wide tweezers that pinch the tick in the area just at skin level.
With a slow, gentle rotating and pulling motion, this tool will pull the
tick intact from the skin, as opposed to leaving the head behind, another
potentially dangerous side-effect of using an incorrect method. If you
don't have this special tool, a standard set of tweezers will work, but use
caution to not squeeze the body of the tick too hard.

You then should throw the tick into a plastic sandwich bag and bring it to
your local health department for Lyme disease testing, as well as notify
your doctor.

4) A fully engorged tick will eventually drop off on its own, usually after
only a couple of days, to then reproduce.

Somewhere I read that only about 1 in 100,000 ticks carry Lyme disease, but
I don't have a site.

--
Peter

Peter R. wrote:
Margy Natalie wrote:

Deer ticks you don't see. They are about the size of a pin head. I've
had two occasions with funny looking bites. They just treat with
antibiotics in case.


Margy, I think you are on to something with your recommendation. Here is a
list of potential symptoms of Lyme disease, which includes depression,
fatigue, and fever:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_Disease

Living in a heavily infested deer-tick area of upstate New York state
(thanks to the fact that the state still won't allow any type of hunting on
nearby state park land and the deer reproduce far greater than local
rabbits), I can relate a few tidbits of deer tick information from personal
experience:

1) A deer tick bite (assuming the tick is still not attached) will appear
as a bulls-eye type red mark in the area immediately surrounding the bite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Lymebite.png

2) An engorged deer tick still attached to the skin will be much bigger
than a pin head. The tick's body, which will be the part above the skin,
will be grey in color and about the depth of a pencil eraser, but narrower
in width.

3) If you do spot a tick on your skin, all of the OWT about how to remove
them (touching it with a burnt match head, covering it with Vasoline, etc.)
are, in fact, fallacy and can result in the tick regurgitating its contents
back into your bloodstream. Definitely increases the chances of
contracting Lyme disease.

We have been most successful using a tick puller, which is a US 5$ plastic
set of wide tweezers that pinch the tick in the area just at skin level.
With a slow, gentle rotating and pulling motion, this tool will pull the
tick intact from the skin, as opposed to leaving the head behind, another
potentially dangerous side-effect of using an incorrect method. If you
don't have this special tool, a standard set of tweezers will work, but use
caution to not squeeze the body of the tick too hard.

You then should throw the tick into a plastic sandwich bag and bring it to
your local health department for Lyme disease testing, as well as notify
your doctor.

4) A fully engorged tick will eventually drop off on its own, usually after
only a couple of days, to then reproduce.

Somewhere I read that only about 1 in 100,000 ticks carry Lyme disease, but
I don't have a site.

--
Peter

Trust me ... only about 1 in 3 people get the rash. And since its now
been found that the ticks that harbor Borrelia burgdoferi are living on
some song-birds, the problem is spreading quickly.

I know because I have it. Its an absolute horror.

I've been sick for 2 and a half years, and the treatment, because I was
undiagnosed for 1 and a half years, is 12 to 18 months.

Needless to say ... no flying for me in a long while (since September
of 2003).

Check out:


http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Borrelia


TFP

Emily wrote:
wrote:
Emily wrote:
snip

Have you had a Lymes test? I don't what part of the country you are in
but you should. Just to rule it out.

I don't think we have it around here, and I haven't seen a tick in
years, but it's something to keep in mind, I guess.

Emily et al:

The tick is called a deer tick, although it is now believed that the
primary vector for the tick itself is song-birds. The tick is also
only the size of a poppy seed when it attaches, and no bigger than a
sesame seed when it is done feeding. Quite small indeed.

If your symptoms persist ... get the test done, especially if you
notice any tingling sensations anywhere, or pain in your face, teeth,
or sinuses. For reasons not known many people with Lyme disease
eventually get mild sinusitis with considerable unremitting facial pain
that cannot be explained by the sinusisitis, or any dental issues that
might be present The best method for Lyme testing is via PCR (genetic
testing) which is done by iGeneX Labs in California.

Lyme (not LYMES) Disease is horrible, and hard to detect, diagnose, and
treat. I had to stop flying (and doing pretty much everything else)
quite suddenly 3 years ago because of it, and am now in treatment.
Because it went undetected by less than compentent doctors for over a
year and a half, my treatment will likely be 18 months long. I've
received antibiotics for 12 months and am now about 60% recovered.

If nothing else shows up in your normal blood testing, get this
particular test done! Don't listen to a doctor that says "there isn't
any Lyme Disease around here" or "you don't have a rash, so you can't
have Lyme Disease". I lived in a large city, never had a rash, and the
extent of my outdoorsiness amounted to the occasional fly-in to a grass
runway, and exposure to a house cat that was allowed to run in and
outside.

The Wikipedia entries are very good on the subject. Look up Lyme
Disease (of course!) and Borrelia burgdorferi (the spirochete that
causes the disease).

All the best ...

TFP