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Lyme Disease Is on the Rise
Along with flossing, washing your face, and brushing your teeth, you may want to add “check for ticks” to your nightly routine: Lyme disease, a bacterial disease spread through bites from infected black-legged-ticks, is becoming a greater threat in many new areas of the country, according to the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s most recent National Climate Assessment (NCA). In fact, Lyme disease cases in the U.S. increased by about 80 percent between 1993 and 2007, according to an article published this spring in CMAJ Open, the Canadian Medical Association’s journal.
Blame Climate Change
Warmer climates allow ticks to inhabit new areas that are farther north and higher in elevation, says CMAJ study author David Fisman, MD, MPH, a professor of epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health in Toronto. So in some states where ticks haven’t historically been an issue, the critters can now live longer and reproduce more easily—which means more bites that could lead to Lyme disease. (Check out the red states on this map to see where your state stands).
Meanwhile, Lyme disease rates are dropping in the South, according to Fisman’s study, probably because when it’s sweltering, people spend more time indoors, where ticks are less likely to linger.
What Is Lyme Disease?
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection contracted from an infected tick. The typical warning sign is a bullseye-shaped skin rash that doesn’t itch or hurt, according to data from Harvard Health Publications (scarily, the tell-tale bullseye doesn’t always show up).
Left untreated, the bacterial infection can cause fever, inflammation of the joints and heart, and even neurological problems that stem from brain and spinal cord infection. Early treatment is key: While antibiotics can cure symptoms in as little as two weeks, the infection can survive in your system for years if you don’t start taking meds quickly enough. That’s why news of ticks in new areas is so scary: If you don’t know you’re at risk, you’re much less likely to protect yourself against tick bites and will probably go longer without seeking treatment if you do get Lyme disease.
What to Do If You Get a Tick Bite
A tick bite doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get sick—only 5 to 50 percent of ticks are infected with the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, depending on the geographical area, says Fisman. Plus, the longer the tick is latched on—and they can feed for days—the more likely it is to infect you, he says. So if you catch and remove the tick soon enough, you’ll minimize your odds of getting Lyme disease. To do this, shower within two hours of when you come inside from any wooded areas (when you strip down, it’s easier to spot ticks). You should also check yourself in the mirror from head to toe—including your hair and the back of your body. If you do see any ticks on you, remove them ASAP: Just use pointed tweezers to grab the tick as close to your skin as possible, and remove it. Then call your doctor, who may want to prescribe preventative antibiotics.
How to Protect Yourself
The best way to reduce your risk is to avoid being bitten in the first place, says Fisman. You don’t have to quarantine yourself indoors to stay safe, though. When you go outside—particularly in wooded areas—just follow these tips from Fisman and the CDC:
Walk in the center of the sidewalk or path to avoid high grass and brush, where ticks are more likely to be located.
Stick to mowed lawns. Ticks tend to hide in unkept areas, so avoid high grass in the spring and summer and leaf piles in the fall.
Wear long sleeves and pants in light colors to make ticks easier to spot.
Tuck your pants into your socks or boots to keep ticks away from your legs, ankles, and feet when you hike.
Use an insect repellant with at least 20 percent DEET. (Find the best brand for you with this tool from the Environmental Protection Agency.)
Treat your clothing and gear with an insect repelling spray that’s made for fabric and other materials. Check the label for permethrin—the odorless ingredient that fends off insects—and follow instructions on the package. Typically, the treatment stays effective even after a few washes.
Inspect clothing and gear when you get inside. Throw anything with a tick onto it into the dryer for an hour; high heat will kill any other hitch-hiking critters.
More from Women’s Health:
Bed Bugs Bite!
Lyme Disease
The Best Ways to Soothe Summer Bug Bites
photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock
Get This: Doing THIS Slashes Your Heart Disease Risk By Half
Check out the list of links that should be on your radar today:
Keeping your cholesterol and blood pressure in check could cut your risk of heart disease by more than 50 percent, according to a new study. [EurekAlert]
Word on the street is that Jeff Bridges plans to make the epic children’s novel The Giver into a movie—and he’s even cast a Jonas! [Vulture]
You need to see this lazy panda pic. You’re welcome. [People]
Women are way more likely to overdose on pain killers than men are, finds new research. [Jezebel]
Get migraines? If you don’t treat them the right way, you might start getting more. [MedPage Today]
Women who work the graveyard shift are more likely to get breast cancer, according to a new study. [Science World Report]
Yesterday, interest rates on student loans doubled from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. Womp womp. [ABC News]
The top dogs in the media industry? They’re mostly men. (But not at Women’s Health!) [Pew Research Center]
photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock
Some OTC Pain Meds Linked to Heart Disease
Most of us pop an OTC pain reliever from time to time for a rough headache, cramps, or sore muscles—and think nothing of it. But regularly taking high doses of NSAIDs, or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, can pose serious health risks, according to a recent large international study published in the journal The Lancet.
For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 600 trials. They found that people who take high, daily doses of NSAIDs—such as ibuprofen (like Motrin and Advil)—have a higher chance of heart attack or death from heart disease. The only NSAID that didn’t seem to increase patients’ heart-related health risks were naproxens (like Aleve). However, naproxens and the other NSAIDs were associated with an increased risk of upper gastrointestinal complications, such as bleeding from ulcers.
Many of the people who take these very high doses on a daily basis are treating rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis, says Marie R. Griffin, MD, MPH, a professor of preventive medicine and medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, who wrote a commentary on the study, which was also published in The Lancet. If you take a standard dose of ibuprofen once or twice a month during your period or the day after a crazy-challenging cycling class, you should be fine: For young, healthy people, taking an OTC NSAID as recommended on the bottle for a short period of time is probably safe, she says.
If, however, you find you’re taking them on the regular, you should talk to your doctor about whether this is a good idea—or you’d be better off treating your pain in some other way. “They’re really adjuncts for pain, and most people don’t need to be on these drugs every day,” says Griffin.
photo: BW Folsom/Shutterstock
More from Women’s Health:
9 Natural Pain Relievers
Medical Myth Busters: Popping Pills
Relieve Pain: Does Acupuncture Work?
Obesity Now Classified As a Disease
You already know that being obese can increase your risk of disease, but now crossing the line from overweight to obese will actually be considered a disease in and of itself: Yesterday, the American Medical Association (AMA) voted at its annual meeting to classify obesity as “a disease that requires a range of medical interventions to advance treatment and prevention.”
“Recognizing obesity as a disease will help change the way the medical community tackles this complex issue that affects approximately one in three Americans,” AMA board member Patrice Harris, M.D., said in a statement. “The AMA is committed to improving health outcomes and is working to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, which are often linked to obesity.”
More than one-third of people in the U.S. are considered obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Obesity can be measured in various ways, including by skinfold thickness measurements (with calipers), underwater weighing, bioelectrical impedance, dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and isotope dilution—but the most common way to gauge whether someone falls into the category is by calculating their BMI (anyone with a BMI of 30 or higher is classified as obese).
This change from the AMA could lead to better insurance coverage for health care related to obesity, a better definition of the disease, and eventually even a better treatment, says Stu Koman, president and CEO of Walden Behavioral Care, a treatment facility specializing in eating disorders.
As part of other new policies adopted yesterday by the AMA, the organization also voted to:
-Oppose discrimination against individuals based on their genetic information
-Support public access to genetic data
-Support increased oversight of the pharmacy compounding industry
-Oppose the lifetime ban on blood donations for gay men
-Support programs to raise physician awareness of early HIV treatment
-Support banning the marketing and sales of energy drinks to people under the age of 18
-Recognize the potential health risks of prolonged sitting and encourage alternatives
-Support permitting sunscreen in schools (right now, laws in many states don’t allow this because it’s considered an OTC drug)
-Provide resources to physicians to help them effectively use computers and electronic health records in interactions with patients
photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock
More From Women’s Health:
Your Body’s Biggest Enemy
7 Habits of Highly Obese People
Bigger Killer: Smoking or Obesity?
Get This: Owning a Dog Can Cut Your Heart Disease Risk
Check out the list of links that should be on your radar today:
Puppy Rx: The American Heart Association says that owning a dog is associated with a reduced risk of heart disease. [New York Times]
Set your DVR: Neil Patrick Harris will be hosting the 2013 Tony Awards. After he rocked it the last three times, we feel like this announcement was really just a formality. [HuffingtonPost]
This photo is definitive proof that Jay-Z is totally a time traveler. [HuffingtonPost]
Researchers at University of California Santa Cruz found that Facebook purging after a breakup is the norm, but deleting every trace of your ex is pretty difficult. Note to everyone: do your friends a favor and toss those online photos of her and her ex! [UCSC]
As if surgery wasn’t already terrifying, a patient at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York had the wrong kidney removed. [CBS]
Careful where you sit if you’re pregnant–a new study shows that flame retardants in many couch materials can be toxic to babies in utero. [Shine]
Jennifer Aniston’s stylist swears he was stoned when he created the “Rachel” cut for the actress in 1994. Sadly, we still kind of want to copy it. [WWD]
A new study says women are 31 percent more likely to give a guy her number if he’s carrying a guitar. We’d like to think we’re a little more predictable than that! [MSN]
Salt Lake City, Utah was ranked as the the most superficial city for daters. Let it be noted that this ranking comes from a website that asks you to bid on dates with women… [KTRE]
photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock
Would You Want to Know Your Risk for Every Disease?
If your doctor had a way to peek into your health future and determine that you had a higher—but not definite—risk of developing cancer, heart disease, or any number of other scary illnesses, would you want to know?
It’s a question to start considering now that a procedure called genomic sequencing is set to become a standard part of your health-care routine in the not-too-distant future. Whole genome sequencing involves analyzing all of a person’s genes, obtained via a small blood sample, to find out which, if any, carry a predisposition to serious disease. For years, doctors have offered patients tests for specific genes that may cause illness—for example, the BRCA gene variants linked to a higher incidence of breast cancer. But genome sequencing looks at a person’s entire DNA and thus can uncover markers for a huge range of conditions.
On one side are groups such as the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG), which in March recommended that doctors tell patients about certain disease risk findings uncovered during genome sequencing—even if they were incidental findings discovered accidentally during testing for a different illness. The ACMG came up with a list of more than 20 medical conditions clinicians should look for (including specific cancers, retinal disease leading to blindness, and a genetic condition that causes high cholesterol)—whether a patient requests testing or not. The thinking is that if a predisposition for an illness is uncovered before symptoms show, the patient can get treatment or intervention early.
But a paper published today in the journal Trends in Biotechnology argues in response that doctors do not have the right to force patients to know their genetic disease risk for conditions they didn’t ask to be tested for. “The important point that we dispute is that the ACMG recommends that the patient or the patient’s parents should not have a choice about whether these extra tests are done and they receive the results,” explains Megan Allyse, PhD, a coauthor of the paper and fellow at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford University School of Medicine.
There are other issues to consider too, says Allyse. For starters, looking for so many genetic disease risks can be very costly, and if positive results are reported to your insurance company, it may affect your premiums. Also, knowing that you have a predisposition to a genetic disease can trigger anxiety and stress—especially in light of the fact that the disease may never actually develop, even without any intervention.
TELL US: Would you want your doctor to tell you about any disease risk your genomic profile points to, even if it’s an incidental finding—or would you prefer to not know? Share your thoughts in the comments!
photo: Wavebreak Media/Thinkstock
More From Women’s Health:
Should You Get a DNA Test?
DNA Tests: What You Should Know
Find Your Perfect Match
Would You Know If You Had Lyme Disease?
Have a mysterious-looking bug bite or rash? Don’t write it off—especially if you’ve spent a lot of time outdoors recently. It could be Lyme disease, a bacterial infection that you get from tick bites. But here’s the thing: Lyme disease might not look like a typical tick bite, according to a new research letter published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Lyme disease is what you get when you’re bitten by a tick infected with a dangerous bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi, which then makes its way into your bloodstream. Early signs of the disease include a rash and flu-like symptoms like fever, chills, body aches, and fatigue. If left unchecked, it can wreak havoc on your nervous system, heart, and joints, says Steven E. Schutzer, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School.
The famous telltale sign of the disease is a skin rash that looks like a bull’s-eye—a reddish ring within a ring. But as it turns out, this may not occur or be recognized in about 30 percent of Lyme-disease cases, according to the new letter. Researchers looked at 14 patients with symptoms of early Lyme disease, but only four had the classic target-like rash. The other 10 participants’ rashes resembled insect or spider bites, dermatitis, or other skin conditions.
Mistaking Lyme disease for something else can lead to inappropriate or delayed treatment. That’s a serious problem since catching Lyme disease (and treating it) early ensures the best odds for a successful recovery, says Schutzer.
If you suspect that you’ve been bitten by a tick, hightail it to your doctor, who will help you determine the best treatment options for your specific case.
If you don’t have any issues with your central nervous system or your heart, your physician will likely give you oral antibiotics, says Schutzer. If, however, there’s evidence of neurological disease, then he or she might recommend IV therapy.
Schutzer stresses that treatment really depends on your individual case: “It needs to be a decision between the doctor and the patient,” he says, “but that means that the patient has to go to the doctor, as opposed to not doing anything.”
Photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock
More from WH:
18 Self-Checks Every Woman Should Do
Are Your Allergies Making You Fat?
The Best Skincare Tips
Eggs May Increase Heart Disease Risk
If you think you’re doing yourself a favor by ordering an omelet at brunch, think again. Eating an excessive amount of eggs may increase the risk of heart disease and stroke—even for people without traditional risk factors—according to a new study from the New England Journal of Medicine. Even more surprising: the reason why eggs may be dangerous. It was previously thought that the cholesterol in eggs promoted heart disease, but this research shows that there may be other factors at play.
Turns out, a metabolite found in egg yolks called lecithin may be to blame. When lecithin is digested, it breaks down into its different components, including the chemical choline. When intestinal bacteria metabolizes choline, it releases a substance that the liver then converts into a compound called trimethylamine N-oxide (aka TMAO), explains lead study researcher Stanley Hazen, MD, PhD, chairman of the department of cellular and molecular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute. TMAO accelerates the rate at which plaque and cholesterol collect in the arteries, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke.
These findings come just two weeks after the same group of researchers reported a link between carnitine (found in beef and some energy drinks) and heart attack risk. “Both studies show a potential new way for identifying patients at risk for heart disease,” says Hazen.
So should you ditch eggs altogether? Not necessarily. More studies are needed to confirm the results. In the meantime, moderation is key, says Hazen. He suggests cutting back on fatty, cholesterol-laden foods that contain chemicals that convert to TMAO. “Forego whole eggs,” he suggests. “Since the yolk is the only source of choline in an egg, egg whites are the safest bet—and are also an excellent source of low-fat protein.”
photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock
More From Women’s Health:
Eat THIS, Lose Weight
8 Ways to Protect Your Ticker
5 Ways to Boost Good Cholesterol
Could You Have Celiac Disease?
Now that going gluten-free is so trendy, it can be easy to forget that, for some people, giving up gluten isn’t a choice—it’s a health requirement. And unfortunately, the disease that’s causing people to cut out wheat isn’t going away. In fact, the number of new celiac disease diagnoses in America has continued to increase over the last decade, according to a new study in The American Journal of Gastroenterology.
Using a population-based sample from Olmsted County, MN, researchers identified all of the new cases of celiac disease since 2000 and used that data to estimate the incidence rates for the whole country. They found that the number of new cases per year rose from 11 people per 100,000 in 2000 to 17 people per 100,000 in 2010.
While researchers aren’t sure exactly what could be causing all of the new cases, previous research has suggested that prior gastrointestinal infections, breastfeeding practices, and changes in the production of wheat, among other things, may be to blame.
Even though celiac disease seems to be everywhere, the overall prevalence is still only 0.7 percent, or 1 in 141 people, according to the recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. You probably know more than one or two people who avoid gluten, though—so what’s up with that?
In addition to the 1 in 141 people who have celiac disease, an additional 1 in 180 people have a non-celiac gluten sensitivity*, which is when you have similar symptoms (diarrhea, abdominal pain, weight loss, etc.) that are alleviated by a gluten-free diet, but you aren’t diagnosed with celiac disease because you haven’t suffered damage to the small intestine, says Alberto Rubio-Tapia, MD, a co-author on the study and assistant professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic. Of course, countless others are also cutting out wheat due to the recent influx of people raving about seeing health benefits after going gluten-free. And let’s face it, curbing your cookie and pasta intake is bound to slim you down.
If you suspect that your body and gluten don’t mix, it’s absolutely crucial to see your doctor before you tweak your diet, says lead study author Joseph Murray, MD, professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic.
The first step will be a blood test, but your results may turn up normal—regardless of whether you have celiac disease—if you’ve already cut out gluten. If you get tested at the first sign of symptoms and still get a negative diagnosis, you might be suffering from a different condition like irritable bowel syndrome or Crohn’s disease. If your blood test comes back positive for celiac, you’ll still need a biopsy of the small intestine to confirm whether you have the disease or a non-celiac gluten sensitivity.
If you are one of the 0.7 percent of people who do have celiac disease, the foundation of your treatment will be eliminating gluten from your diet, says Murray. You may also be given supplements to deal with deficiencies (like anemia or vitamin D deficiency), which can happen when you’re dealing with intestinal damage. Finally, follow-up with your doctor after six months sans gluten to make sure your symptoms are improving.
*According to results from the Continuous National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2009-2010.
photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock
More from Women’s Health:
Is Gluten Bad For You?
Will Gluten-Free Diets Help You Lose Weight?
6 Gluten-Free Foods That Make You Fat