Nature, I think you are uninformed regarding the history of wheat culture. The genetic change in commercial wheats over the past 150 years is immense, as compared to the many centuries before during which certain populations gained their adaptations to eating it as a staple. I have lived in an epicenter of Lyme's and other tick-borne diseases for many years and been very active outdoors in prime habitat and have not been very careful in checking for ticks/tick bites. So it is not only merely plausible that I am infected but it would be rather remarkable if I was not. I was diagnosed by naturopathy. In a few months depending on how I feel I may get blood tests.

Thank you all so much for your input! Sorry for the late response. I am glad to hear others wear masks, and I think I have just been in denial about needing one! I have a respirator like the one you provided a link to, toxcrusadr, and I agree that due to the looseness of some of the other masks, it is a good idea. It also cuts down on glasses fogging up, which is one of my frustrations. I think I will try it in the garden and see how I do. Strobiculate, are you asking about copper tolerance because supplementing with it may help with mold toxicity? I am all ears and am open minded with regard to supplements. My Lyme doctor uses both western and alternative approaches to mold and Lyme, so I can ask her about it as well. Kimmsr, that is very interesting about the size of the spores. I think my preference is to stick with organic mulch, so I just have to accept that I need to protect myself. It beats the idea of not gardening for sure! Gardengal, I also like the idea of compost. Thanks, again, for all of your thoughts. The saline spray is another great idea, so thanks, lazygardens.My doctor just started treating me with an anti-fungal nasal spray, so that will help, too. If nothing else, this discussion has changed my attitude about wearing a mask. My ordeal has changed my life in so many ways, and sometimes I just get mad that I am continually having to adapt when I feel I have already done so much of that!

To all who have wished me a speedy recovery: Thank You! I am feeling steadily better (1 month out), and expect to be back to full strength shortly. @Alisande, If you think you may have babeseosis at the moment, then insist on being tested. Same with anaplasmosis, both are less-difficult than Lyme to diagnose from blood smears, I believe. (The issue with the blood supply, aside from the traditional head-in-the-sand attitude of the blood industry, and of course the cost, is that there is no rapid-enough test for babeseosis -or possibly the other tick-borne diseases -to work with the need for fresh blood.) But as I mentioned, anaplasmosis has distinct, characteristic, changes in routine blood work that are almost diagnostic. I can check next time I am in the medical library if there are specific changes in the case of babeseosis. I may have that info for erlichiosis, if you'd like to know it. Anaplasmosis has distinctive mullberry shaped artifacts (morullae) in the disease-specific blood smears (as does erlichiosis, I believe). Babeseosis is different but unless you, like I, have had malaria it's pretty distinctive in the blood test for it. The tests aren't inexpensive (the unadjusted street price for them is $500-$1,000 -each- but my insurance company whacked both of them down considerably. Since you're on Medicare, you'd only pay a percentage of the CMS-negotiated cost which is likely to be as aggressively moderated as that of my own insurance company's contractual rate. Since all three are bacterial, not spirochete, -caused it doesn't require the complex analysis of PCR bands that Lyme does. But frankly if I was on my second continuous month of Lyme I would have pretty awful constitutional symptoms from that lengthy treatment alone. I can barely make it out the 30 days of a single course before I have disturbed sleep, night sweats, muscle aches and pains, etc. Part of my fierceness about discovering ticks early is to avoid the need for the lengthy course of anti-Lyme doxy. Since doxy won't really do anything for babeseosis - and other drugs will - why keep taking what may be the wrong cure? I don't think you would experience symptoms from babeseosis or anaplasmosis (or even Lyme) infection before locating the tick. The incubation time needed to get sick from a still-attached tick would have resulted in a deer tick as big as a green pea, a nasty pearly-grey tight blob. It's hard to imagine you wouldn't have noticed it well before getting sick if it was still attached. Don't you itch like mad when you have a tick attached for more than a few hours, not to mention days? I'd be wild! BTW, the tick-hours-of-bite measurement has a built in problem: the aging relies on analysis of stomach digestive contents. But that assumes, and it is not always true, that the bite the tick was discovered making is the only bite, not a second one. Also you mentioned you squashed the critter in removing it. You might want to consider beginning more intensive searches for ticks on your body twice a day in order to not miss one. I have hair so long I can sit on it so I do realize it can be hard to check your scalp and hair. I have also found attached ticks under my breasts, in my belly button, on various unmentionable parts of my bottom, and even larval ones between my toes and fingers. I usually keep my long hair tied up in pigtail outdoors. I tuck the pigtail down the back of my shirt to minimize the likelihood of ticks getting caught in my hair. Of course I always have a hat on outside for sun protection, so my head and scalp are less-common tick areas. I do tick-checks at least twice every day of the year, unless I am away from home overnight in the city. It's just like brushing your teeth. I'm not convinced that Lyme "lurks in your body" but given that it is caused by spirochete I suppose it's possible. (Another spirochete-caused illness, syphillis, has a proven habit of lingering on and re-occurring, often despite treatment.) I know, for certain, that I have had Lyme (from clearly positive blood tests), been treated successfuly and subsequently had lengthy periods of profound physiological, and mental stress, without Lyme popping back up and adding to the problems. And I still have one band for Lyme on the latest PCR, which indicates an old, resolved infection, so there's no question it's still visible in my blood, but not thankfully making a pest of itself. I also still have serological evidence of malaria in my blood and I haven't had any illness from it in more than fifty years! But the bacterial diseases (anaplasmosis, babeseosis and erlichiosis) seem extremely unlikely lurkers and later-pouncers, especially if treated. What I definitely think they can do, however, is damage other organs and systems resulting in consequential, long-term problems (like the poor fellow described above who lost his spleen as a result of a babeseosis infection.) Your description of high fevers, muscle aches and pains, etc., sound much more like anaplasmosis than Lyme. Did you have any "regular" blood tests done at the time? The average time from bite to onset of symptoms with anaplasmosis is 8 days. I could look that time up for erlichiosis and babseosis, if needed. I don't know enough about Fibro, but aren't night sweats and aches and pains part of that, too? You may not need to go to any doctor more specialized than your primary care doc to check for the bacterial tick-borne illnesses. And then you'll be able to know, and treat, any that are there. I didn't get any hint that the tests for them lead to confusing, or contradictory results, as I know the Lyme test can, because it is a different, and more complicated test.. If you test negative for them, including having normal routine blood results, you can cross them off your list of worries and look elsewhere. (And get off the wretched doxy!) HTH, L.

Yeah, I did a google scholar search and the only articles written on the subject are from that guy selling the product, and none have made it into a peer-reviewed journal, human or veterinary. I did see one article that says it may help prevent cataracts in at-risk patients, namely diabetics, due to its mechanism of action. But the authors of that article did not mention it for treatment once cataracts had formed. I know that NC State does not charge anywhere NEAR $3200 for cataract surgery, even with a complete workup. Also, in a dog who will most likely live another 7 years, it seems that the medication will eventually cost more than the surgery. It may be worth price checking the surgery at different hospitals. Also, a dog can see just fine from one eye- you don't have to get both cataracts removed. And a dog can be trained to be happy and blind. I will try to find the reference that teaches you how to do this. No need to feel guilty if it turns out that your dog stays blind- cataracts are not painful. I know many many dogs who are blind, and they are quite happy. I think once your little guy gets used to it, his activity will increase.