Sometimes “Old dogs learn new tricks”…uh facts, whether they want to or not!
Such is the situation for me. Now, at the age of 60, I got Lyme Disease, sometimes mistakenly called “Lyme’s Disease”, and surely mis-spelled on occasion “Lime Disease.”
Lyme Disease, as you can see by its proper spelling has nothing to do with limes, but it has everything to do with ticks….deer ticks/black legged ticks.
If you camp, hike, farm, or spend any time outside in natural, wooded or grassy environs in the southern U.S., you are likely to encounter ticks…and Lyme Disease. YOU DON’T WANT IT! Trust me on that.
That’s why I am writing this…to help you realize that, if you are like me, you will find that this disease is bigger than you think.
I have been an outdoorsman all my life, and now, at this late time I get Lyme Disease. This was not my first tick bite. That tells you that you don’t need to panic over every little tick that you pull off your body, but you should check yourself for ticks, and have someone else check the parts of you that you cannnot see, for ticks after any outing to the woods, haying, cutting grass, etc. The ticks will get on you, then crawl around your body, seldom being felt, and look for a warm spot to settle in. When they find the spot they’re looking for, they will bite and bury their head under your skin and promptly begin to suck your blood. Sometimes you will not even feel the bite when these parasites make you their favorite host.
Yes, you should also use a good insecticide/insect repellent on your body before you go to an area where ticks may find you, but you should still check yourself after exposure to such places, because these repellents are just not 100% effective 100% of the time, but generally they are a big help.
Be smart…learn from my experience. I didn’t use repellent and I have Lyme Disease. There’s a good chance that I wouldn’t have Lyme if I had used repellent. I don’t use repellents because they make me feel funny, and I know that the stuff must be entering my system and I try to keep chemicals out. After all, Uncle Sam and his business buddies have already arranged for us to have plenty of internal chemicals, delivered in our air and water. I don’t need more concentrated doses of chemicals from a bottle! I am re-thinking my position on that issue now that I have Lyme!
Perhaps applying insect repellent on my pants legs and maybe even my socks/boot tops and lightly spraying on long shirt sleeves (yes, even in hot weather) and hat would help, without giving me a direct dose of chemicals in my bloodstream
Why You Don’t Want Lyme Disease
Because it makes you feel funky, it is deceptive, imitating many other diseases, including the common cold and flu, which makes it hard to diagnose.
Symptoms include, but are not limited to: fever, stiffness of bones and (especially) large joints, like knees, shoulders and hips…I had terrible stiffness in my lower back, which already has problems, but this was different, sudden and “unexplainable”, headache…mine were “sharp” pains in the head, with sudden onset and no “explainable” reason for them. Another symptom is lethargy, you know, tiredness, sleepiness, an inability to function physically in a normal way. My lethargy was also sudden, “unexplainable” and debilitating.
There is ONE symptom that is definitive for Lyme, and that is a red rash, at the bite site or, occasionally, elsewhere on the body.
I know I have Lyme because I had the red rash at the site of the bite. Here is the picture I took of my rash, complete with the tick in place. This is the back side of my right shoulder. I just happened to be in front of a mirror when I took my shirt off and just happened to catch a glimpse of the red spot. As I understand it, it takes 2-3 days for the rash to form, so I didn’t even know I had the tick….and Lyme Disease.
This disease “mimmicks” so many other diseases that doctors often mis-diagnose as other diseases, including hypochondria. Often the doc knows you’re sick, but can’t figure what it is….or what to do.
I was baffled by my symptoms, and thought they were a relapse of a cold I had just gotten over, which instantly followed my return from a trip to Asia, where I spent the month of April. You can see some pics and articles from the trip at www.affordableasianadventures.com which is my blog, where I am compiling information for a travel guide about Asia that I am working on to keep me busy in retirement.
That red spot with the tick explained to me why I had all these previously unexplainable symptoms, when I read the CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/. That page contains links to symptoms and treatment also.
I showed the picture above to my doctor, along with copies of the CDC website and she prescribed antibiotics, which I would rather not take. I am gladly taking them though, because this disease can get much worse than it is now, so I am regularly saying my prayers and taking the medicine that is available to me.
The Email That Got My Attention
This email is the answer I received from Susan Ambrosino, when I inquired about using one of her products, Samento, to cure my Lyme Disease:
Bob – a tick bite associated with a rash – per the CDC – is, in fact, the ONLY definitive marker for Lyme disease. Although we are huge believers in herbs, and highly recommend Samento, we also recommend that people NEVER take antibiotics “off the table,” and that they should at least take a prescribed course of antibiotics in the treatment of Lyme. We have dealt with almost 3,500 people who either have a clinical diagnosis of Lyme – or strong reason to suspect they have Lyme – and in talking to them and asking them questions, we have arrived at the conclusion that not taking antibiotics is short-sighted. Lyme is just too serious to fool around with. And when you talk to people as we do, people who are very sick and have been very sick for a long time, you easily can see why we believe Lyme should hit hit full force with everything you’ve got. At least half of our customers use antiobiotics and herbs concurrently. Others use herbs alone after having taken antibiotics, either recently or months or years ago. Derek here at the Herb Club – a huge believer in and user of herbs (he’s taken thousands of them as a human guinea pig! – with his doctor’s knowledge and blessing, took a megadose of Doxycycline for three weeks (500 mg twice a day). His herbal regimen taken at the same time included Samento, Cumanda and Burbur. He now takes Samento only as a “tonic” because he likes the way it makes him feel. All symptoms of his went away after three months, which means he continued to heal after finishing the antibiotics, which lasted, again, only three weeks. As he put it to me, “I didn’t respect Lyme until I got sick after a tick bite. Now I do. I thought I would get well in a couple of weeks – not three months.” That is a good example of why we think antibiotics are crucial. You don’t want to take chances. People with chronic Lyme are living nightmarish lives – they lose their homes, families and jobs and even the ability to interact normally with people because they are up and moving one day and bedridden the next. As for the use of silver (we don’t sell it but we have customers of other herbs who use it and give us feedback), people tell us it seems to help a little – but is not enough. Susan!
This was my first encounter with Susan. I am not her customer and she doesn’t pay me to promote her business. Considering that, I was really impressed with the time and attention she devoted to answering my question. Susan’s site is http://www.myherbs.net/ and her contact information is there if you would like to contact her, or if you are looking for herbs. She is just the kind of person I like to do business with.
My Lyme Disease Diary
April 24: Arrived home from Asia trip, had cold that I had picked up within the last 48 hours.
April 30: Finally got over the cold and felt good again.
During Asia trip had not been in tick environment.
May 1 – 5: Felt really good, returned to my normal, unregimented schedule and activities, which included time in high grass and in the woods.
May 6: Felt really good, went to church morning and evening, had nice leisurely day with no medical symptoms of any kind.
May 7: Felt very bad…thought my cold was coming back, took some Zicam (good stuff), which relieved symptoms pretty well, not as well as usual. (Zicam is for shortening colds, not Lyme)
May 8: Waked up feeling very good, but with unusually stiff back. Thought I had slept too long in one position, because I slept very well the night before.
May 9: Waked up feeling pretty well…not bad. Took my mother to town and shopped for an hour or so. Noticed very stiff back when I returned home and got out of the car. Thought, “Oh well, that’s life in the old lane…after the fast lane! Later in the day had pains in my left knee. It almost didn’t hold me up a time or two. Some more old age?
May 10: Waked up feeling quite well, but did notice some pain and weakness in my right knee, just momentarily, two or three times. Went to take a shower and took my shirt off in front of a mirror and noticed the red spot in the picture above. Thought uh, oh…got my glasses for a good look…yep a tick.
I had never had a red spot like that with a tick bite before and I’ve probably had hundreds of tick bites. Thought I hope I don’t have Lyme Disease, but I thought it could make you feel like you have a cold. Hit the internet, CDC site and sure enough. That red spot/rash gave the difinitive answer…Lyme Disease.
I took 1,500 mg of timed release vitamin C and scheduled myself to take 1,500 mg of vitamin C four times per day, until I got antibiotics.
Shared the picture and CDC pages with my doctor and presto, the prescription was written for Doxycycline…30 days worth. Here we go!
May 11: Waked up feeling good and had big plans for the day. Would go to town and shop for Mothers’ Day, visit a friend, run a couple of small errands, then go up in the mountains to a friend’s place and target shoot on his range. That’s the plan.
11:30 A.M. In town, starting to wear down & get tired…may have to cancel the shooting engagement. While visiting a friend I tried a product they had that I had never heard of called EMERGEN C, which is a vitamin C and mineral preparation designed to give energy and fight off colds in the early stages. An hour later I felt like a new man, so I completed my rounds as planned.
6:00 P.M. Started taking the doxycycline as planned, evening and morning. If you get a prescription for this, you need to read all the information that comes with it because there are some things, like minerals that you are not supposed to take with it, so you have to space your vitamins out from the time you take your antibiotic.
6:30 P.M. Having taken the doxycycline on an empty stomach, as prescribed, my stomach started to hurt a little…nothing big, just a little. After an hour I can eat, and I will. That should fix the tummy.
7:00 P.M. Ate supper…tummy in good shape now.
May 12: Waked up feeling good. Had my antibiotic at 6 A.M. Will have breakfast at 8 and then can take my vitamins and minerals right after breakfast.
Spent the morning working on my riding lawn mower…getting it going for the new season….out to the gas station to get gas for it. Started feeling a little weak.
11:00 A.M. Took another packet of Emergen C, looking for energy.
12:00 Noon: Had nice lunch with the wife and Mom.
1:00 P.M. So sleepy I couldn’t maintain a conversation. Went to the couch and took a two hour nap.
3:15 P.M. Got up, had a cup of coffee, and decided to start this blog, hoping that the information would be helpful to others.
6:00 P.M. Have used up my energy now writing this. Feeling quite tired, but can still function slowly. Looking forward to going to bed early tonight, but not so early that I get up at 3:00 A.M.
I expect to make daily or nearly daily postings to try and make this information valuable to others.
Your comments and experiences are always welcome. Please participate.
Bob
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Notice: I am not qualified to give medical advice. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease or medical condition. This information is simply a record of my battle with Lyme Disease, shared as one neighbor to another, for the benefit of anyone who may derive a benefit, for informational purposes only from this information, and should not be construed as medical advice.
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