A talk on Lyme disease was sponsored by the Frontenac Addington Trappers Council on March 26, and close to 60 listeners filled the Kennebec hall in Arden, hoping to better understand the disease.

Myra DeCou of the Lyme Disease Association of Ontario, who gave the presentation, knows first hand both the facts and fictions about the disease. In June 2013 her daughter Alicia, who had been seriously ill for over a decade, was finally diagnosed with Lyme's after taking a test, which is available in the State of California and costs $1300.

According to DeCou, Canadian doctors and the Canadian medical establishment in general lag far behind their US counterparts in “taking the disease seriously and offering the right kinds of tests and treatments to fight it.”

Lyme disease is often called the great imitator, as those who contract it often present with a huge variety of symptoms, making a positive diagnosis difficult. However if left undetected and untreated, the disease can create major health problems.

In Canada it is the black-legged tick (a.k.a. the deer tick) that is believed to carry the disease but DeCou's advice was to get any tick that has bitten you tested.

Ticks can begin infecting their hosts when they are still at the nymph stage of development and are the mere size of a poppy seed. They attach to the host and feed on the latter’s blood, and the disease is transmitted when the bodily fluids of the two come into contact. Though it is believed that infection can only occur with an extended feeding period that lasts upwards of 24 hours, DeCou said that certain cases show that the disease has been transmitted in as little as 20 minutes. Her advice to the listeners is to go through the process of getting an attached tick tested no matter how long you think it has been feeding.

Those who find a tick on their person should remove it immediately (head and all), using gloves and tweezers or forceps. There are also a number of tick removal accessories available. The tick should be put into a jar with a tight-fitting lid and labeled with your name, date, address, the type of tick (if known), where it was found on the body and also the name of your family doctor. It should be taken to a Public Health Unit to be tested and DeCou stressed the importance of requesting the results of the test. If the tick remains alive after it is removed, a dampened piece of cotton can be put in the jar with it to keep it alive. For ticks that cannot be so easily removed, a medical doctor should be seen. After a tick is removed, the bitten area should be immediately washed and disinfected.

Signs of infection only appear in a small percentage of people and these can include a bulls-eye shaped rash, a lymphocytoma (a raised swollen lump) or reddening around the bite area. DeCou stressed that not every person will show these reactions and testing should still be sought.

Prevention is a person’s best bet to avoid contracting the disease. DeCou advised wearing light-coloured clothing to better see any ticks, to tuck pants into socks, and to wear long sleeves and closed shoes whenever in wooded, grassy, shrubby and bush-covered areas. Leaf piles and mowed lawns can also be tick friendly. DeCou also pointed out that ticks can survive the winter months when the temperature does not go below freezing.

Anyone who comes into contact with animals of any sort are at a higher risk of being bitten, as are those who have occupations and hobbies that put them in the outdoors. Ticks do not fly or jump but cling to vegetation and await a warm blooded host that they can latch onto. DeCou advises people to carefully check every single time they have visited a tick-friendly environment and to check themselves again after showering. House pets can contract the disease though it is believed that they cannot transfer it humans; however, they can bring ticks into the home environment.

Human to human transference is not thought to be possible but DeCou also feels that not enough studies have been done to know any of these facts 100%. Hunters should know that deer who may be carriers cannot infect humans directly through contact with their meat and organs.

Currently there is no blood test for Lyme disease in Canada and DeCou is surprised by the fact that though it is recommended that blood donors with the disease not give blood, officially there is nothing to stop them. DeCou said that she and her association believe that the disease is spreading 10 times more rapidly than stated by Public Health Canada (PHC).

DeCou was insistent that getting treatment early is key and she went as far as to say that getting doctors in Canada to take the disease and treatment seriously is her primary concern. “Personally if I found an engorged tick on myself and began to show any symptoms at all, I would not wait to have it tested but would go to a physician and ask to be put on a lengthy (60 day) course of antibiotics, something that most physicians are not willing to do”.

DeCou said that there are better tests and treatments available for Lyme disease in the US and that most Canadian information dates back to 2007. While DeCou did not dissuade listeners from seeking out more information from Public Health Canada, she did say that her organization has more up to date information about the disease.

Annette Gray-Jackson, a registered massage therapist who has been working out of her home in Mountain Grove, has set up a clinic in the former dining room of the Sharbot Lake Country Inn. She will be seeing clients four days a week, Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.

She is being joined in the new clinic by Sean Rodgers, of Westport Chiropractic, who will be holding his regular Sharbot Lake Thursday clinic in the new space. Rodgers has been serving Sharbot Lake for years, most recently in a small room next to the Treasure Trunk.

Also, on Wednesdays and Fridays a physiotherapist from Perth Physiotherapy will be available at the new clinic. This is a first for Sharbot Lake.

“Our services complement one another,” said Annette Gray-Jackson as she was setting up the clinic with Sean Rodgers last week. “I regularly find myself recommending physiotherapy and massage for my patients, and it will be ideal to be able to refer people to the same clinic. It’s also a lot easier for people from Plevna or Arden to get to Sharbot Lake than to Perth for massage or physio. The 45-minute drive home can erase a lot of the good that comes from a treatment.”

The therapy room, which is on the main floor at the Country Inn, is bright and has a view of the lake. A smaller gift shop remains open next door. Patients can wait in the front hallway, or they can visit the restaurant downstairs.

“The idea for the clinic came from Sandra White [co-owner of the Country Inn with her husband Frank]. She thought it would be a good use of the space, and when I looked at it I couldn’t help but agree. It is also an opportunity to bring something new to Sharbot Lake, to go along with all the other services available here,”
said Annette Gray-Jackson.

For her own massage therapy business, the move has already started to pay off as she has already increased her client base.

While Physiotherapy, Chiropractic and Massage Therapy are not covered by OHIP, most extended benefit health plans do cover them. Although the three services are jointly being operated in the space, they are independent and each will be booking its own clients.

To contact Annette Gray-Jackson, call 613-449-0060 or got to annettegrayjackson.com. Her clinic is open from 10-8 Mondays, 10-5 Tuesdays, 1-5 Fridays and 9-12 on Saturdays.

To contact Perth Physiotherapy call 613-267-6789 or go to perthphysiotherapy.ca. Sharbot Lake hours are Wednesdays from 9-5 and Fridays from 9-12.

To contact Sharbot Lake Chiropractic call 613-279-3100. Sean’s clinic is open from 8-5 on Thursdays.

The Sharbot Lake Health and Wellness clinic is now open. There will be a grand opening celebration on Monday, April 29 between 4 and 7 pm.