Tuesday, July 28, 2009
What about Ticks?
Hi my friends,
We haven't talked about the culprit of our disease very much, ticks! This is an article from the New York Times that discusses these horrible little creatures. I thought the article was interesting so here it is. Thomas Mather is the author.
Be well,
Richard
Yes, There Are More Ticks
Thomas Mather
Thomas Mather is a professor of public health entomology at the University of Rhode Island. He directs the TickEncounter Resource Center, a leading source on tick-bite protection and disease prevention.
Ticks definitely are a bigger problem than 25 years ago. In the northeastern U.S., black-legged (deer) ticks have spread well beyond former coastal haunts; in the southeast, Lone Star ticks are seemingly everywhere. The only good news is that dog ticks are far less common in domestic environments, probably due to wider-spread use of pet spot-on products.
Deer are the most important reproductive hosts for deer ticks.
The observed tick increase relates directly to deer populations, which are exploding in suburban and even semi-urban areas. Deer are the most important reproductive hosts for deer and Lone Star ticks. In Rhode Island, each deer produces about 450,000 larval deer ticks every year. Add a few deer and it’s no wonder that tick populations skyrocket. While the level of deer reduction needed is logistically and politically challenging, one potential solution we are working on is an anti-tick vaccine — to make humans or deer inhospitable tick hosts.
deerDeirdre Brennan for The New York Times Deer on Shelter Island.
As disease-carrying ticks become more common in the domestic environment, tick bite protection and disease prevention becomes a critical everyday need (at least during spring and summer). Effective everyday tick-bite protection strategies do exist but few people use them regularly.
Until effective broad-spectrum vaccines are found, social marketing may prove most effective at encouraging anti-tick actions. For example, changing the way people dress in summer — wearing clothing with permethrin tick repellent built in — can make protection easy, but this strategy is still not mainstream. Maybe just a few of the thousands of celebrities living within 25 miles of the Route 95 corridor from Washington to Maine could step forward and help out.
We haven't talked about the culprit of our disease very much, ticks! This is an article from the New York Times that discusses these horrible little creatures. I thought the article was interesting so here it is. Thomas Mather is the author.
Be well,
Richard
Yes, There Are More Ticks
Thomas Mather
Thomas Mather is a professor of public health entomology at the University of Rhode Island. He directs the TickEncounter Resource Center, a leading source on tick-bite protection and disease prevention.
Ticks definitely are a bigger problem than 25 years ago. In the northeastern U.S., black-legged (deer) ticks have spread well beyond former coastal haunts; in the southeast, Lone Star ticks are seemingly everywhere. The only good news is that dog ticks are far less common in domestic environments, probably due to wider-spread use of pet spot-on products.
Deer are the most important reproductive hosts for deer ticks.
The observed tick increase relates directly to deer populations, which are exploding in suburban and even semi-urban areas. Deer are the most important reproductive hosts for deer and Lone Star ticks. In Rhode Island, each deer produces about 450,000 larval deer ticks every year. Add a few deer and it’s no wonder that tick populations skyrocket. While the level of deer reduction needed is logistically and politically challenging, one potential solution we are working on is an anti-tick vaccine — to make humans or deer inhospitable tick hosts.
deerDeirdre Brennan for The New York Times Deer on Shelter Island.
As disease-carrying ticks become more common in the domestic environment, tick bite protection and disease prevention becomes a critical everyday need (at least during spring and summer). Effective everyday tick-bite protection strategies do exist but few people use them regularly.
Until effective broad-spectrum vaccines are found, social marketing may prove most effective at encouraging anti-tick actions. For example, changing the way people dress in summer — wearing clothing with permethrin tick repellent built in — can make protection easy, but this strategy is still not mainstream. Maybe just a few of the thousands of celebrities living within 25 miles of the Route 95 corridor from Washington to Maine could step forward and help out.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
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Thursday, July 23, 2009
What is Ehrlichiosis?
Hello again,
There are many other diseases that can be associated with the dreadful tick bite. Most are very serious and need to be given much attention. Ehrilichiosis is one of these diseases. This is an article from the Glasgow Daily Times by Lisa Strange and it explains the plight of one young mother and her child with this disease. I hope you pay close attention to the symptoms.
Be well,
Richard
Boy overcomes tick-borne illness
By LISA SIMPSON STRANGE
Glasgow Daily Times
GLASGOW July 22, 2009 10:44 am
— One local mother hopes she can help keep other parents and their children from going through what she and her son faced recently.
Valerie Lewis found a tick on her son, Parker, 2, on Father’s Day. She removed it and didn’t really think anything else about it.
Three days later, Parker had developed a high fever and was lethargic.
Valerie took her son to her local family physician, Dr. David German, who checked Parker’s tonsils and ears, but couldn’t find an immediate source of infection. He told her to wait a day and see if there were any changes.
Parker’s high fever and lethargy continued the next day and he had a febrile seizure, which consists of convulsions brought on by a fever in infants and small children.
Valerie took Parker to the emergency room at T.J. Samson Community Hos-pital and he was admitted.
Parker was given Doxocycline, an antibiotic, but his white blood cell count kept dropping and Dr. German realized there was “something different about this one.”
Parker was diagnosed with Ehrlichiosis, an illness carried by the Lone Star tick that is found in the southeastern United States.
He was treated at the local hospital for two days, but was not showing improvement.
The boy’s white cell count continued to decrease from 3,500 to 2,000 to 800, according to German, so the decision was made to send Parker to Vanderbilt Hospital, the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital, in Nashville.
After Parker arrived at Vandy, he began to bounce back and was released after two more days of treatment there.
“It took four days to get as bad as he was going to get,” Valerie said. “After that he started bouncing back.”
Parker has now completely recovered with no lasting ill effects or organ damage.
“The doctors at Vanderbilt told me that Ehrlichiosis is especially bad this year in Tennessee and Kentucky, up 100-fold from last year,” Valerie said. “ The disease is potentially deadly (two children died from it while Parker was at Vanderbilt). It's important that parents think about tick bites if their child has an unexplained high fever in the summer with low white blood cell counts.
Valerie said doctors in Tennessee attributed German with quick thinking that helped Parker’s case be resolved with a positive outcome.
“He is the reason. They said Dr. German did everything exactly right,” Valerie said.
“I was just doing my job,” German said.
The thing to take away from all this, he said, is in the summertime, if a child 8 or younger has an unexplained fever of 104 degrees or higher that is not going away and a white cell count that keeps dropping, parents and physicians need to think about tick bites as a possible cause of the illness.
Other than that, German was humble about his discovery of the right diagnosis in Parker’s case.
“Praise the Lord he got better,” he said. “God puts those ideas in your mind at the right time.”
What is Ehrlichiosis?
Ehrlichiosis is the general name used to describe several bacterial diseases that affect animals and humans. These diseases are caused by the organisms in the genus Ehrlichia. In the United States, there are currently two ehrlichial species that are known to cause disease in humans: Ehrlichia chaffeensis and Ehrlichia ewingii. Ehrlichia chaffeensis causes human ehrlichiosis also described as human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME). In addition, human infections with Ehrlichia ewingii have also been documented.
How do people get ehrlichiosis?
In the United States, ehrlichiae are transmitted by the bite of an infected tick. The lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum) is the primary vector of both Ehrlichia chaffeensis and Ehrlichia ewingii in the United States.
What are the symptoms of ehrlichiosis?
The symptoms of ehrlichiosis may resemble symptoms of various other infectious and non-infectious diseases. The initial signs and symptoms generally include:
* fever
* headache
* fatigue
* muscle aches
Other signs and symptoms may include:
* nausea
* vomiting
* diarrhea
* cough
* joint pains
* confusion
* occasionally rash
Symptoms typically appear after an incubation period of 5-10 days following the tick bite. It is possible that many individuals who become infected with ehrlichiae do not become ill or they develop only very mild symptoms.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.
There are many other diseases that can be associated with the dreadful tick bite. Most are very serious and need to be given much attention. Ehrilichiosis is one of these diseases. This is an article from the Glasgow Daily Times by Lisa Strange and it explains the plight of one young mother and her child with this disease. I hope you pay close attention to the symptoms.
Be well,
Richard
Boy overcomes tick-borne illness
By LISA SIMPSON STRANGE
Glasgow Daily Times
GLASGOW July 22, 2009 10:44 am
— One local mother hopes she can help keep other parents and their children from going through what she and her son faced recently.
Valerie Lewis found a tick on her son, Parker, 2, on Father’s Day. She removed it and didn’t really think anything else about it.
Three days later, Parker had developed a high fever and was lethargic.
Valerie took her son to her local family physician, Dr. David German, who checked Parker’s tonsils and ears, but couldn’t find an immediate source of infection. He told her to wait a day and see if there were any changes.
Parker’s high fever and lethargy continued the next day and he had a febrile seizure, which consists of convulsions brought on by a fever in infants and small children.
Valerie took Parker to the emergency room at T.J. Samson Community Hos-pital and he was admitted.
Parker was given Doxocycline, an antibiotic, but his white blood cell count kept dropping and Dr. German realized there was “something different about this one.”
Parker was diagnosed with Ehrlichiosis, an illness carried by the Lone Star tick that is found in the southeastern United States.
He was treated at the local hospital for two days, but was not showing improvement.
The boy’s white cell count continued to decrease from 3,500 to 2,000 to 800, according to German, so the decision was made to send Parker to Vanderbilt Hospital, the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital, in Nashville.
After Parker arrived at Vandy, he began to bounce back and was released after two more days of treatment there.
“It took four days to get as bad as he was going to get,” Valerie said. “After that he started bouncing back.”
Parker has now completely recovered with no lasting ill effects or organ damage.
“The doctors at Vanderbilt told me that Ehrlichiosis is especially bad this year in Tennessee and Kentucky, up 100-fold from last year,” Valerie said. “ The disease is potentially deadly (two children died from it while Parker was at Vanderbilt). It's important that parents think about tick bites if their child has an unexplained high fever in the summer with low white blood cell counts.
Valerie said doctors in Tennessee attributed German with quick thinking that helped Parker’s case be resolved with a positive outcome.
“He is the reason. They said Dr. German did everything exactly right,” Valerie said.
“I was just doing my job,” German said.
The thing to take away from all this, he said, is in the summertime, if a child 8 or younger has an unexplained fever of 104 degrees or higher that is not going away and a white cell count that keeps dropping, parents and physicians need to think about tick bites as a possible cause of the illness.
Other than that, German was humble about his discovery of the right diagnosis in Parker’s case.
“Praise the Lord he got better,” he said. “God puts those ideas in your mind at the right time.”
What is Ehrlichiosis?
Ehrlichiosis is the general name used to describe several bacterial diseases that affect animals and humans. These diseases are caused by the organisms in the genus Ehrlichia. In the United States, there are currently two ehrlichial species that are known to cause disease in humans: Ehrlichia chaffeensis and Ehrlichia ewingii. Ehrlichia chaffeensis causes human ehrlichiosis also described as human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME). In addition, human infections with Ehrlichia ewingii have also been documented.
How do people get ehrlichiosis?
In the United States, ehrlichiae are transmitted by the bite of an infected tick. The lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum) is the primary vector of both Ehrlichia chaffeensis and Ehrlichia ewingii in the United States.
What are the symptoms of ehrlichiosis?
The symptoms of ehrlichiosis may resemble symptoms of various other infectious and non-infectious diseases. The initial signs and symptoms generally include:
* fever
* headache
* fatigue
* muscle aches
Other signs and symptoms may include:
* nausea
* vomiting
* diarrhea
* cough
* joint pains
* confusion
* occasionally rash
Symptoms typically appear after an incubation period of 5-10 days following the tick bite. It is possible that many individuals who become infected with ehrlichiae do not become ill or they develop only very mild symptoms.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Great new site for purchsing computers, office supplies and many more products!
Hello again,
I have a really great site for you to check out.It is called Nextday PC and you won't believe the amount of products available. You can purchase everything from Laptops and Desktop computers to hardware and tool items. The prices are very competitive and and the service is fantastic. My store is Rbowman838 Enterprises and I will be your account representative. it is located at http://www.nextdaypc.com/rbowman838. I hope you can find the time to take a look and see the variety of quality name brand products available.
Be well,
Richard
I have a really great site for you to check out.It is called Nextday PC and you won't believe the amount of products available. You can purchase everything from Laptops and Desktop computers to hardware and tool items. The prices are very competitive and and the service is fantastic. My store is Rbowman838 Enterprises and I will be your account representative. it is located at http://www.nextdaypc.com/rbowman838. I hope you can find the time to take a look and see the variety of quality name brand products available.
Be well,
Richard
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
PPCwebspyware is a fabulous FREE keyword research tool!
Hey my friends,
I hope you're having a great week so far. I wanted to take
a couple minutes and tell you about a free keyword research tool that marketing
guru, Brad Callen, just created.
Basically, you install the software and when you perform a Google search on any
keyword, it places a "view keywords" button directly below any Adwords advertiser's
listing.
If you click the "view keywords" button, you can see the keywords ANY Adwords
advertiser is bidding on! Plus, a bunch of other very cool stuff.
I've never seen anything anywhere near this powerful, especially being free.
You can download it here:
=> http://www.ppcwebspy.com/downloads/?rwb838
Make sure you go there right away, because I don't know how long this application
will be free.
EnjoY!
Richard Bowman
P.S. Here's the link where you can get the free Adwords keyword tool again:
=> http://www.ppcwebspy.com/downloads/?rwb838
I hope you're having a great week so far. I wanted to take
a couple minutes and tell you about a free keyword research tool that marketing
guru, Brad Callen, just created.
Basically, you install the software and when you perform a Google search on any
keyword, it places a "view keywords" button directly below any Adwords advertiser's
listing.
If you click the "view keywords" button, you can see the keywords ANY Adwords
advertiser is bidding on! Plus, a bunch of other very cool stuff.
I've never seen anything anywhere near this powerful, especially being free.
You can download it here:
=> http://www.ppcwebspy.com/downloads/?rwb838
Make sure you go there right away, because I don't know how long this application
will be free.
EnjoY!
Richard Bowman
P.S. Here's the link where you can get the free Adwords keyword tool again:
=> http://www.ppcwebspy.com/downloads/?rwb838
Sunday, July 19, 2009
NuLegacy "Free" Prescription Card
FREE Prescription Discount Card!Save up to 75%at over 56,000 Pharmacies! Everyone qualifies. Use it immediately! Print yours online Today at http://www.rbowman838nulegacyrxcard.com. or http://nulegacy.apptrack.com/rbowman838
Sick from a tick.....another story about Lyme disease
Hi again everyone.
It is time to talk about Lyme disease. Below is a fabulous article from a woman who struggled being diagnosed with Lyme disease. She was forced to do a lot of research on her own and took charge of her medical care. She was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease and Bartonella. Please take time and read her personal struggle. She is another victim of this terrible disease and her story mimics the story of hundreds of Lyme patients.
Be Well,
Rich Bowman
Cover Story - Friday, July 17, 2009from the Dannville Weekly.com
So sick from a tick
'Lyme disease could happen to you,' warns Diablo woman
by Sue Savod
It comes from a tick and it's on the East coast - isn't that what most people know about Lyme disease? And what's that got to do with us here in California? A lot. Because the fact is that Northern California is one of the most Lyme-infected areas in the U.S.A. I want to scream it from the rooftops! Be careful! We have Lyme disease right here!
In January 2008, I was exhausted and just plain felt sick. I went to my family doctor whom I'd seen maybe five or six times during the previous five years. He's a good doctor. He even asks me what I think is wrong before he checks me out. This time I didn't have a clue. He mentioned "virus" and did blood tests. I even asked to be tested for Lyme - I must have read it somewhere. There were lots of reasons for me to be run down as I had been very busy the fall before with my daughter's wedding and finishing a new house. Christmas did me in.
The tests came back - all normal, no Lyme, but an unusually high ANA, which tests protein, specifically antinuclear antibodies, in your blood. The doctor suspected an autoimmune disease, lupus to be exact, and sent me to a rheumatologist. He was also a good doctor, taught and did research, and he listened. He did some more blood, lungs, heart testing and diagnosed me with a "very rare autoimmune disease" called Mixed Connective Tissue disease. Made sense. Except I didn't have all the symptoms. In fact I only had a couple. He said I'd develop more symptoms in the next 10 years. What?! Something inside me said: "That's not what you have."
I also had had knee problems in the summer of 2006. A swollen sore knee. Doctors said it was my crooked kneecap. One wanted to remove it. Hobbled to another who said, "We have to clip the ligaments and that will do the trick." This one was a good doctor., so I had the operation. Didn't work. Had gel injected behind the kneecap along with a cortisone shot (the worst thing for Lyme). That didn't work either. Said I would need a knee replacement eventually. The swelling came and went.
Lower back ache. Went to the doctor. Recommended physical therapy. Went. Didn't work.
I came home and got on the computer. Thank God for the Internet. Lyme disease. It frequently came up when I put in my symptoms. I read more. And more. Blogs, Web sites. The light slowly went on as I saw myself described. Things I didn't even know were symptoms. Brain fog. No energy. Some joint pains. Swollen ankle. Heel pain. Sore neck. Weight gain. Ribs sore. Lower back pain. Ocular migraines (you get the sparklies without the pain). Calf leg cramps.
Did I have all that? Yes, some were infrequent symptoms I hadn't really even thought about until they were pointed out, and they had appeared slowly over time. I wasn't reading the signals. I didn't know the language of Lyme back then. I had ignored almost everything except the fatigue and the knee. In fact I push through most pain and discomfort without awareness. This new information made me finally stop and take stock.
My dear boyfriend bought me two books on Lyme and their information just about convinced me. I was sure I had Lyme. But where did I get it? When did I get it? I sent for my records from my doctor to see if I could track anything down. I never saw a tick and never had a rash that I could remember. Then I saw that in January 2003, I had gone to my doctor with a flu-like illness and a swollen knee.
Bingo! Those are classic Lyme symptoms. I had begun hiking in the Las Trampas hills right behind my home in Alamo where I lived at the time. And ticks like to cling to grasses and shrubs, so they can jump on any carbon dioxide-emitting creature that comes by. Who knows how many creatures carry Lyme. In California, Lyme is carried by the deer tick, Ixodes pacificus, the Western black legged tick that starts out the size of the period at the end of this sentence. As they mature they grow to about the size of a sesame seed. Deer, squirrels and rats and mice are carriers. They don't get Lyme symptoms. The rest of us do. Tick jumps on carrier, tick bites carrier, tick jumps off. If the carrier is a person, Lyme is transmitted. And new evidence says it only takes four hours of tick attachment for you to get Lyme. If you pull off that tick five hours later, you could have Lyme disease.
One San Francisco doctor's name kept coming up in the blogs and on some Lyme Web sites. I made an appointment and had to wait two months, until August 2008. I was nervous. Was it all in my head? I wasn't that sick. Told him what I thought and, without missing a beat, he agreed and suspected, from my descriptions, that I might have another tick-borne disease as well. I asked to be put on antibiotics right then. Sent my blood to a Lyme-sensitive lab in Palo Alto. Normal lab testing rarely catches Lyme, which is difficult to catch with a blood test anyway. One month later - yes, I had Lyme disease and Bartonella, one of the many co-infections common with Lyme. I was almost relieved. At least it had a name. I had no idea the severity of this disease. I was beginning the journey I am on now.
What they test isn't the Lyme bacteria in your blood, but the antibodies your system creates against it. As you are treated and your immune system gets stronger, you put out more antibodies. So if a test doesn't show Lyme right away, that doesn't mean you don't have it. It may just mean your immune system hasn't produced measurable antibodies. Doctors have to go on what patients describe for now. It's called clinical evidence. Eventually it shows up in the tests.
Met a lady from San Ramon the last time I went to my doctor. She had it - hers was manifested in stomach symptoms - as did her college age daughter, who had two co-infections as well. Hers was nuero-borrealis - she couldn't retain anything she was learning. San Ramon! Alamo! It's right here. In fact my doctor currently treats hundreds - that's HUNDREDS - of Lyme patents, most from here in the Bay Area.
Every parent should be aware of ticks and Lyme; 25 percent of Lyme patients are kids. If you live where deer and squirrels live, then you can get Lyme. Kids should be checked after playing outside. One author described her two sons' bouts with Lyme, both now cured. One was ill for seven years. Couldn't even go to school. They thought he had all kinds of diseases - childhood arthritis, mental problems, eye problems, flu. We need to know! If I got it, you can get it.
Centers for Disease Control says one has to have a bulls eye rash, but more than 50 percent of Lyme patients never see one. This disease is the No. 1 vector-borne disease in the U.S.; we have five times the number of Lyme sufferers as AIDS patients. Why don't we know about it? And why didn't my doctors know about it?
CDC's official line on Lyme long has been controlled by a group of doctors, Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA). They have a narrow definition of Lyme - just rashes and joint problems - completely ignoring the brain symptoms, the stomach problems, the rest of the Lyme symptoms that masquerade as other diseases. Lyme is a very difficult disease to diagnose, but if I could diagnose myself off the Internet, then why isn't my doctor getting the information he needs? Doctors now doing research are too few and far between, and are mostly doing it without financial help. I've found that these doctors had Lyme at one time and that's how they became interested.
One M.D. was diagnosed with advanced multiple sclerosis. He read about Lyme, went to a Lyme-literate doctor and is now cured and doing research. Lyme mimics a lot of diseases - multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, Lou Gherig's disease, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, lupus - my doctor said I would be surprised at the number of cases of "lupus" he has cured. There was even a test of cadaver brains from the Alzheimer's Association and seven out of 10 had the Lyme bacteria. Mine masqueraded as an autoimmune disease.
How many other "diseases" are Lyme? Without informed doctors and better tests we will never know. This is a huge problem that keeps thousands of Americans ill and out of work. Insurance companies won't pay for Lyme, but go along with doctors who deny that chronic Lyme exists. Lyme disease doesn't go away. It grows and debilitates. And it can kill. I was lucky to find mine after only five years. Most patients go seven years and to scores of doctors before they are diagnosed - if they are diagnosed at all. Lyme caught right away takes only about two months of antibiotics to cure. But most Lyme is misdiagnosed. So chronic Lyme can take years to treat. Why don't the insurance companies realize this?
Because Lyme is a bacteria, albeit a virulent one, antibiotics work against it. You start treatment, you get worse, you get better, you get worse - the bacteria's cycle seems to be every four weeks. It's a nasty bug. Some people, not knowing, start the antibiotics and get really sick within a few days - it's called the Herxheimer effect - so they stop their antibiotics. Big mistake. Because Lyme is intracellular and extracellular, it is often treated with two different antibiotics. Some people who don't have a good immune system are critically ill right away. They may require intravenous antibiotics and medical support. And if you have a co-infection, it has to be killed before the Lyme can be treated effectively.
If I got another tick bite, I would find myself a doctor who would treat me immediately, THAT DAY. I fully intend to be cured. After I started treatment, I was fairly sick for a time but just recently I have had the best three weeks in several years. This reminded me how I can feel again. I was lucky to find a doctor who is a member of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS). These wonderful, true scientists are a growing group of Lyme-literate doctors who keep in touch with each other to combine their acquired knowledge gained through experience to recommend treatment for Lyme.
I know way more than I ever wanted to about Lyme and this is just the short version. I have been researching and reading and learning. I know this: If we don't start paying attention to this disease, it can become an epidemic - or has it already?
Sue Savod is now living in Diablo and taking her antibiotics. She is focusing on her career in animal portraits while regaining her health. Contact her at susavod@comcast.net.
Find this article at:
http://www.DanvilleWeekly.com/story.php?story_id=6347
It is time to talk about Lyme disease. Below is a fabulous article from a woman who struggled being diagnosed with Lyme disease. She was forced to do a lot of research on her own and took charge of her medical care. She was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease and Bartonella. Please take time and read her personal struggle. She is another victim of this terrible disease and her story mimics the story of hundreds of Lyme patients.
Be Well,
Rich Bowman
Cover Story - Friday, July 17, 2009from the Dannville Weekly.com
So sick from a tick
'Lyme disease could happen to you,' warns Diablo woman
by Sue Savod
It comes from a tick and it's on the East coast - isn't that what most people know about Lyme disease? And what's that got to do with us here in California? A lot. Because the fact is that Northern California is one of the most Lyme-infected areas in the U.S.A. I want to scream it from the rooftops! Be careful! We have Lyme disease right here!
In January 2008, I was exhausted and just plain felt sick. I went to my family doctor whom I'd seen maybe five or six times during the previous five years. He's a good doctor. He even asks me what I think is wrong before he checks me out. This time I didn't have a clue. He mentioned "virus" and did blood tests. I even asked to be tested for Lyme - I must have read it somewhere. There were lots of reasons for me to be run down as I had been very busy the fall before with my daughter's wedding and finishing a new house. Christmas did me in.
The tests came back - all normal, no Lyme, but an unusually high ANA, which tests protein, specifically antinuclear antibodies, in your blood. The doctor suspected an autoimmune disease, lupus to be exact, and sent me to a rheumatologist. He was also a good doctor, taught and did research, and he listened. He did some more blood, lungs, heart testing and diagnosed me with a "very rare autoimmune disease" called Mixed Connective Tissue disease. Made sense. Except I didn't have all the symptoms. In fact I only had a couple. He said I'd develop more symptoms in the next 10 years. What?! Something inside me said: "That's not what you have."
I also had had knee problems in the summer of 2006. A swollen sore knee. Doctors said it was my crooked kneecap. One wanted to remove it. Hobbled to another who said, "We have to clip the ligaments and that will do the trick." This one was a good doctor., so I had the operation. Didn't work. Had gel injected behind the kneecap along with a cortisone shot (the worst thing for Lyme). That didn't work either. Said I would need a knee replacement eventually. The swelling came and went.
Lower back ache. Went to the doctor. Recommended physical therapy. Went. Didn't work.
I came home and got on the computer. Thank God for the Internet. Lyme disease. It frequently came up when I put in my symptoms. I read more. And more. Blogs, Web sites. The light slowly went on as I saw myself described. Things I didn't even know were symptoms. Brain fog. No energy. Some joint pains. Swollen ankle. Heel pain. Sore neck. Weight gain. Ribs sore. Lower back pain. Ocular migraines (you get the sparklies without the pain). Calf leg cramps.
Did I have all that? Yes, some were infrequent symptoms I hadn't really even thought about until they were pointed out, and they had appeared slowly over time. I wasn't reading the signals. I didn't know the language of Lyme back then. I had ignored almost everything except the fatigue and the knee. In fact I push through most pain and discomfort without awareness. This new information made me finally stop and take stock.
My dear boyfriend bought me two books on Lyme and their information just about convinced me. I was sure I had Lyme. But where did I get it? When did I get it? I sent for my records from my doctor to see if I could track anything down. I never saw a tick and never had a rash that I could remember. Then I saw that in January 2003, I had gone to my doctor with a flu-like illness and a swollen knee.
Bingo! Those are classic Lyme symptoms. I had begun hiking in the Las Trampas hills right behind my home in Alamo where I lived at the time. And ticks like to cling to grasses and shrubs, so they can jump on any carbon dioxide-emitting creature that comes by. Who knows how many creatures carry Lyme. In California, Lyme is carried by the deer tick, Ixodes pacificus, the Western black legged tick that starts out the size of the period at the end of this sentence. As they mature they grow to about the size of a sesame seed. Deer, squirrels and rats and mice are carriers. They don't get Lyme symptoms. The rest of us do. Tick jumps on carrier, tick bites carrier, tick jumps off. If the carrier is a person, Lyme is transmitted. And new evidence says it only takes four hours of tick attachment for you to get Lyme. If you pull off that tick five hours later, you could have Lyme disease.
One San Francisco doctor's name kept coming up in the blogs and on some Lyme Web sites. I made an appointment and had to wait two months, until August 2008. I was nervous. Was it all in my head? I wasn't that sick. Told him what I thought and, without missing a beat, he agreed and suspected, from my descriptions, that I might have another tick-borne disease as well. I asked to be put on antibiotics right then. Sent my blood to a Lyme-sensitive lab in Palo Alto. Normal lab testing rarely catches Lyme, which is difficult to catch with a blood test anyway. One month later - yes, I had Lyme disease and Bartonella, one of the many co-infections common with Lyme. I was almost relieved. At least it had a name. I had no idea the severity of this disease. I was beginning the journey I am on now.
What they test isn't the Lyme bacteria in your blood, but the antibodies your system creates against it. As you are treated and your immune system gets stronger, you put out more antibodies. So if a test doesn't show Lyme right away, that doesn't mean you don't have it. It may just mean your immune system hasn't produced measurable antibodies. Doctors have to go on what patients describe for now. It's called clinical evidence. Eventually it shows up in the tests.
Met a lady from San Ramon the last time I went to my doctor. She had it - hers was manifested in stomach symptoms - as did her college age daughter, who had two co-infections as well. Hers was nuero-borrealis - she couldn't retain anything she was learning. San Ramon! Alamo! It's right here. In fact my doctor currently treats hundreds - that's HUNDREDS - of Lyme patents, most from here in the Bay Area.
Every parent should be aware of ticks and Lyme; 25 percent of Lyme patients are kids. If you live where deer and squirrels live, then you can get Lyme. Kids should be checked after playing outside. One author described her two sons' bouts with Lyme, both now cured. One was ill for seven years. Couldn't even go to school. They thought he had all kinds of diseases - childhood arthritis, mental problems, eye problems, flu. We need to know! If I got it, you can get it.
Centers for Disease Control says one has to have a bulls eye rash, but more than 50 percent of Lyme patients never see one. This disease is the No. 1 vector-borne disease in the U.S.; we have five times the number of Lyme sufferers as AIDS patients. Why don't we know about it? And why didn't my doctors know about it?
CDC's official line on Lyme long has been controlled by a group of doctors, Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA). They have a narrow definition of Lyme - just rashes and joint problems - completely ignoring the brain symptoms, the stomach problems, the rest of the Lyme symptoms that masquerade as other diseases. Lyme is a very difficult disease to diagnose, but if I could diagnose myself off the Internet, then why isn't my doctor getting the information he needs? Doctors now doing research are too few and far between, and are mostly doing it without financial help. I've found that these doctors had Lyme at one time and that's how they became interested.
One M.D. was diagnosed with advanced multiple sclerosis. He read about Lyme, went to a Lyme-literate doctor and is now cured and doing research. Lyme mimics a lot of diseases - multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, Lou Gherig's disease, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, lupus - my doctor said I would be surprised at the number of cases of "lupus" he has cured. There was even a test of cadaver brains from the Alzheimer's Association and seven out of 10 had the Lyme bacteria. Mine masqueraded as an autoimmune disease.
How many other "diseases" are Lyme? Without informed doctors and better tests we will never know. This is a huge problem that keeps thousands of Americans ill and out of work. Insurance companies won't pay for Lyme, but go along with doctors who deny that chronic Lyme exists. Lyme disease doesn't go away. It grows and debilitates. And it can kill. I was lucky to find mine after only five years. Most patients go seven years and to scores of doctors before they are diagnosed - if they are diagnosed at all. Lyme caught right away takes only about two months of antibiotics to cure. But most Lyme is misdiagnosed. So chronic Lyme can take years to treat. Why don't the insurance companies realize this?
Because Lyme is a bacteria, albeit a virulent one, antibiotics work against it. You start treatment, you get worse, you get better, you get worse - the bacteria's cycle seems to be every four weeks. It's a nasty bug. Some people, not knowing, start the antibiotics and get really sick within a few days - it's called the Herxheimer effect - so they stop their antibiotics. Big mistake. Because Lyme is intracellular and extracellular, it is often treated with two different antibiotics. Some people who don't have a good immune system are critically ill right away. They may require intravenous antibiotics and medical support. And if you have a co-infection, it has to be killed before the Lyme can be treated effectively.
If I got another tick bite, I would find myself a doctor who would treat me immediately, THAT DAY. I fully intend to be cured. After I started treatment, I was fairly sick for a time but just recently I have had the best three weeks in several years. This reminded me how I can feel again. I was lucky to find a doctor who is a member of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS). These wonderful, true scientists are a growing group of Lyme-literate doctors who keep in touch with each other to combine their acquired knowledge gained through experience to recommend treatment for Lyme.
I know way more than I ever wanted to about Lyme and this is just the short version. I have been researching and reading and learning. I know this: If we don't start paying attention to this disease, it can become an epidemic - or has it already?
Sue Savod is now living in Diablo and taking her antibiotics. She is focusing on her career in animal portraits while regaining her health. Contact her at susavod@comcast.net.
Find this article at:
http://www.DanvilleWeekly.com/story.php?story_id=6347
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
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About Me
- rbowman838
- Pueblo, Colorado, United States
- I am a Chronic Lyme disease patient. I was bitten by a tick in 2001 and have been very sick ever since. Subsequently, you could say I am a Lyme disease junkie.I thirst for any information about it,any treatments, research etc. It has been a life altering experience, which has kept me away from our business and at home most of the time. I use to own A-1 Barricade and Sign Inc. here in Pueblo, Co, but because of the Lyme disease, my sons are running the business for the most part with my wife. I have been married for 48 years to a wonderful woman who is also my best friend. We have five children, all grown. Four boys live here in Pueblo and my only daughter lives in Bonney Lake, Washington. We miss her a lot. I have 7 grandchildren, which are the greatest of all. They are all exceptionally beautiful! The last thing you need to know about me is that I am proud to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Because of this I have the knowledge that life is eternal and that it does not end here, but it will go on after death because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This truth I bear witness of!