Britbike forum Forums General discussion The Rod and Tappet Do I need help?

I'm bored, feeling [***], not allowed to ride the bikes, not that it would a good idea really in my current state.
For the past couple of weeks, as part of the ongoing health shyte treatment I am currently swallowing an antibiotic.
Got around to reading the info sheet today, interesting reading. Apart from lung conditions (that's me) and the clap, my attention was drawn to Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.



What is it I wondered?
Is it something we should have been aware of during California trip a few years ago?

I must be bored reading & posting this garbage

From deer ticks.

Mmmm Rocky Mountain spotted fever, eh, Bryan?
Isn’t SPOTTED DICK at least a wee bit better tho?
Slightly less lethal at the very least, I’d wager. But only slightly.

I think you're okay Bryan...RMS fever is transmitted by wood ticks (dog ticks) I believe, so if you didn't get bit out there you won't get it. Deer ticks transmit Lyme disease. I've had em bite me but never got Lyme. Sharry did though!

I had lime disease once...drank too many Moscow Mules one night.

Rocky Mountain spotted fever got it name from research done by a few doctors
In the Bitterroot mountains of Montana , in the early 1900s. The disease is not confined to the Rocky Mountains .
But one half of the Bitterroot Valley , in Western Montana , had High incidences of " black measles"...
and a few pioneering pathologists started research work on the fever here.
( the fever causing bacteria " Rickettsia rickettsii " is named after one of the pathologists , Dr. Howard Ricketts )
Who died soon after his Rocky Mountain Research time , investigating typhus in Mexico city .

Spotted fever can pop up any place that has dog ticks or deer ticks .
but the disease is rare , caused by a bacteria , rarely carried by ticks and transferred by a bite lasting at least 2 hours.
Doctors once developed a vaccine for the bacteria ( those same docs in Montana )
But since the development of antibiotics and considering the Rarity of the disease itself ,
Spotted fever , or anything that even looks close to it , is now treated with antibiotics and there is no vaccine available .
Incidents in the United States is fewer than 5,000 cases per year

Yep same here only with margaritas!

I had it when I was in 5th grade. I found a tick behind my ear in the school auditorium one day, not terribly surprising as I spent every moment I was not at school playing in the woods. A few days later I was achy and feverish and covered in spots. I missed over a week of school and a Cub Scout visit to do volunteer work at a retirement community. My teacher thought I had surely misunderstood what the doctor when I told her I had rocky mountain spotted fever... "Nobody gets that, anymore! Are you sure?"... I mostly remember it as laying on our couch in sort of a miserable half-sleep... too tired to even read or watch television for more than a few minutes at a time.

I had Lyme back in the summer of '99. There's a six-week block of time I have NO recollection of. Fever, chills, general malaise. After three trips to the ER and Urgent Care and a dozen tests, my neck and back were so stiff that I went to a chiropractor for relief. He took one look at me, noticed I had the beginnings of Bell's palsy in my face and asked me if I had been tested for Lyme. Blood test came back positive, four weeks of Doxycycline did the trick.

I was doing a lot of mountain biking at that time and probably got bit on the scalp as I would regularly check myself for ticks and the 'bullseye" mark. I'm just glad I caught it early. I know a few people who didn't/haven't and they have long-haul problems now because of it.

Hope you feel better soon, Bryan. The northern hemisphere has begun it's tilt to the sun in earnest. About 2:00 minutes of added sunlight a day between now and early March!

Cheers,

Steve

Bryan lad, that Rocky Mountain stuff....? Wonder if them Arkansas Barking Spiders pass it on....

I was absolutely bored out of my skull when I started this thread.
Since then my education has been greatly improved, thanks everyone

Thanks too for your kind thoughts Steve, I am somewhat improved.
The days are getting longer, warmer on some days and that is what pissed me off. Could have been out on 2 or 3 wheels, the mind was willing but the sad old carcase was not.

Finished now with Doxyxline just the steroid & that will be over in a few days time.
See what the lung doctors come up with next being as there remains an as yet undiagnosed infection in my right lung.
On a more and very positive note the blood cancer thing seems under control with the current chemo regime

everyone

I do remember them Arkansas Barking Spiders, don't think they'd be in any danger of that R M thing.
The biggest danger came when a Large Virginian produced an equally large hunting knife with a threat to deal with the next Arkansas Barking Spider that barked in the shared accomodation

BSA USA Brimfield Mass. 2006

Happy days