Lyme
Disease |
Warning:
Lyme is not just a tick-borne disease; it can be transmitted by any blood-sucking insect including fleas, mosquitoes, and mites! The most effective insect repellent I have found is Avon’s Skin-So-Soft that now comes in a spray.
Only a minority of cases show up with the bull’s-eye rash and 60-70% show up positive on the Western Blot antibody test, contrary to common belief. The CDC criteria was never meant to be used as a diagnosis.
Some early symptoms that might appear within 30 days after being infected with Lyme are: chills and fever, night sweats, fatigue, headache, muscle and joint pain, swollen lymph nodes, circular rash (Bull’s-eye), or a flu-like illness that does not improve within three to five days.
"If it weren’t for AIDS, Lyme biotic would be the number one infectious disease in the United States and Western Europe." - Nick Harris, Ph.D.
There are an estimated 100,000
cases annually of people infected with Lyme! Treatment of early-stage
Lyme disease alone costs an estimated $60 million a year.
Lyme can disseminate throughout the body rapidly, traveling through
blood vessel walls and connective tissue changing form. In less than
a week after being infected, the Lyme spirochete can be deeply embedded
inside tendons, muscle, the heart and the brain.
"Millions of people who
are diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, Alzheimer’s,
chronic fatigue syndrome and other degenerative diseases could have
Lyme Disease causing or contributing to their condition." - D.J.
Fletcher and Tom Klaber
Late stage or chronic Lyme is manifested by fatigue unrelieved by rest,
and multiple symptoms involving the central and peripheral nervous system,
the musculoskeletal, skin, and circulatory systems.
Lyme is not just a disease that
makes you tired and achey. It is a chronic condition that utterly destroys
a person’s life and ultimately can be fatal!
Lyme’s
Disease has become one of the most debatable and misunderstood infectious
disease between the physicians and experts of today. Not only has this
disease spread faster than research can keep up with, the test used
to detect Bb antibodies raise serious questions, but the broad range
of symptoms that cross over into other diseases only confuse rather
than set one certain criteria for Lyme. One thing all agree on is that
there is no cure for Lyme! To those of us who have become infected our
entire life is now ruled by this complex illness. It is quite scary
and frustrating.
My first introduction to Lyme’s was a tick I discovered on the
big toe of my left foot after coming home late Sunday evening from a
weekend church meeting out in the middle part of Tennessee in 1991,
where my husband preached. I had kicked off my high heel shoes during
the time of fellowship and dinner on the ground outside the church enjoying
the warm summer day. I wasn’t worried as I had pulled ticks off
as a youngster after playing outside. To my surprise by the next afternoon
my foot was swollen and I had a red streak running up my leg. I called
my local doctor’s office and was told to come right in. I was
running a temperature so they put me on an antibiotic and blood work
was done. My foot went back down to normal and I felt fine until a couple
of weeks after my antibiotic ran out. I started getting sick feeling
like I had the flu with headaches. So my doctor put me back on the antibiotic
again. I had no Bull’s-eye rash and all my tests came back negative.
At this time Lyme-borne ticks had only been discovered out in the Western
part of the state. After a couple of months of re-occurring sickness,
I was sent to a specialist in Nashville. He too was puzzled as I showed
no classic symptoms, but he put me on a regimen of a month of antibiotics.
The specialist warned me that if this was the Lyme Bb it could come
out of remission again.
The next
two Springs, despite using various brands of insect repellents, I got
tick bites on my body and by the next day I had a Bull’s-eye
rash that spread rapidly. Each time I went on a month’s regiment
of antibiotics to put the Lyme back into remission and soon was back
to normal again.
My last
episode a couple of years later involved a seed tick so tiny I could
barely see it. I didn’t go to the doctor as seed ticks were not
supposed to carry Lyme. The spot had a red rash and was itchy, but soon
went away. About a month later I was traveling with my husband in evangelism
when severe headaches and fatigue hit me. I couldn’t function
no matter how hard I pushed myself. When my symptoms kept getting worse
I called the Lyme foundation only to be informed that it had been discovered
that seed ticks were just as potent or more so than regular ticks and
I needed to get on antibiotics immediately.
This time it took a couple of months before I was back to normal again.
Around this time I was also diagnosed with IBS and had painful joint
flare-ups that tested positive for rheumatoid arthritis. Years flew
by filled with travel and raising my kids. I have always been very active
(my friends kid me that I run instead of walk), faithfully exercised,
and maintained the correct weight. I put behind me the nightmare of
tick bites, being vigilant to always use Skin-So-Soft when working outside
in my flower gardens. Getting older didn’t bother me. I figured
I’d be able to pursue an active career in writing once my kids
were adults. We were pastoring a rural church up in Indiana when it
seemed as though my body started falling apart. My doctor diagnosed
me with fibromyalgia and postmenopausal. We moved back to our home in
the mountains of Tennessee. A year went by and I gradually got worse
instead of better. I started charting weather, temperature, anything
that could trigger stress, looking in vain for a pattern to make sense
of what was happening to me. Days increased where I couldn’t
function and was bedfast. I had horrible pain radiating from my spine
throughout my entire body, and severe headaches despite increased pain
meds. Episodes of overwhelming fatigue filled my brain like a fog until
I couldn’t concentrate enough to read or think. I had trouble
with my balance, causing me to stagger and fall. I began using a walker.
Then I started having numbness in my hands and feet.
Not only did I have to give up my kids' Sunday school class, quit leading
the choir, singing specials, playing the organ at church, and resign
from being the missionary president, but I could no longer cook meals,
wash clothes, or keep up with the housework. Instead of racing through
each day with a list in hand, I was reduced trying to reach basic goals
like getting dressed or brushing my teeth. My doctor put me in the hospital
to run a battery of tests, and when everything came back normal he then
sent me to a couple of specialists. Still I wasn’t getting better.
They all shook their heads over my multiple symptoms, but no one could
pinpoint what was going on. Lyme was ruled out as I didn’t have
a tick bite and I had never tested positive.
It got to the place where I was in bed more than I was up. Finally,
at my sister’s urging, I called a Lyme’s specialist out-of-state
and as soon as the nurse heard my symptoms and history, she said that
it sounded like my Lyme had come out of remission and urged me to get
back on antibiotics immediately. She told me that I didn’t need
a tick bite to bring Lyme out of remission. Stress or an unknown factor
could trigger it active again. Because of the severity of my symptoms
I am now in the third stage. My long-suffering doctor agreed to see
if antibiotics would work. Within a week I could tell a difference in
my body. Talking with others who suffer with Lyme, I’ve heard
that it may take a year or longer to get my system back into remission.
My doctor has put me on a stronger narcotic pain medication to help
get my bone pain under control. At this point my Lyme seems back into
remission- Praise the Lord!- but my long-suffering local doctor thinks
something else is going on besides Lyme’s with my increased bone pain.
He wants me to get a complete bone scan done to make sure that he hasn’t
missed anything. The scary thing about Lyme Disease is that it triggers
off so many other things. I now suffer with chronic pain, short-term
memory loss, and fatigue. I still have numbness in my hands and feet
causing me to drop things or stumble and fall. Through it all I feel
very blessed each day I am able to get up and dressed. Life is a precious
gift!
The
Phantom of Pain
|
If
you have any questions or comments about Lyme disease you may contact
me here.
You may also find additional information and updates about Lyme disease
at my blog:
http://dorcasannette.blogspot.com