My name is Pam and I live within the Chesapeake Ranch Club in Lusby, MD. A fellow Lymes Disease suffer and I are in the process of starting a local Lymes Disease support group.
Anyone interested should contact me at LadyMists@netscape.com.
Anyone who has questions about lymes disease or info they'd like to share is more than welcome to e-mail me as well.
I got my tick bite in the yard. I was covered with insect repellent from head to toe but didn't cover my belly because my shirt covered it but the shirt came out of my pants and I was too busy to shove it back in and within a 20 minute period, I managed to get a deer tick on me without even knowing it!
The classic tell-tell rash around the bite that typically identifies a possible lymes disease infection didn't happen to me. That was well over a year ago. Unfortunately the conventional anti-biotic treatments didn't work for me and now I am faced with the real possibility of this being the rest of my life-the pain NEVER ends-pain pills just dull it; I can't walk more than 50 feet before my legs start giving out, I need assistance walking up and down stairs, I lost long term memories and suffer short term memory loss so I have to write everything down. At first, I was so relieved to hear it was lymes disease and not cancer but now I'm not so sure-atleast with cancer I can be sure of two outcomes-remission or death; with lymes disease, everything is a big fat question mark.
Did you know that if you get an infected tick off your body (head & all) within 4 hours of the bite, then in all likelyhod you won't get infected with the disease.
Sometimes looking for ticks on your body is not enough especially if you have moles, blemishes or freckles-feel over those areas, any bump should be checked more closely with a magnifying glass if you still aren't sure.
How small is a deer tick- it's this small . yep, that period is how small they can be.
Can it be successfully treated? Definitely if you get treated within 6 weeks of the bite; possibly if longer but if it goes more than 3 mos, you're looking at a long expensive extremely painful recovery process.
Look if you got bit by a snake and you weren't sure if it was poisonous or not, you'd go to the emergency room. So if you get bit by tick and you're not sure if you've been infected-well a western blot test (simple blood test) is the most effective test but the doctor might just put you on a regimen of anti-biotics lasting anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks just to be on the safe side-trust me-it's better to get anti-biotics for a disease you don't have than to have the disease and let it go untreated!
IF YOUR DOCTOR MAKES SCATHING COMMENTS ABOUT PEOPLE OVER REACTING TO LYMES DISEASE- GET A NEW DOCTOR!
PLEASE CHECK YOUR CHILDREN FOR TICKS ON A REGULAR BASIS!!!!!
Pam
Anyone interested should contact me at LadyMists@netscape.com.
Anyone who has questions about lymes disease or info they'd like to share is more than welcome to e-mail me as well.
I got my tick bite in the yard. I was covered with insect repellent from head to toe but didn't cover my belly because my shirt covered it but the shirt came out of my pants and I was too busy to shove it back in and within a 20 minute period, I managed to get a deer tick on me without even knowing it!
The classic tell-tell rash around the bite that typically identifies a possible lymes disease infection didn't happen to me. That was well over a year ago. Unfortunately the conventional anti-biotic treatments didn't work for me and now I am faced with the real possibility of this being the rest of my life-the pain NEVER ends-pain pills just dull it; I can't walk more than 50 feet before my legs start giving out, I need assistance walking up and down stairs, I lost long term memories and suffer short term memory loss so I have to write everything down. At first, I was so relieved to hear it was lymes disease and not cancer but now I'm not so sure-atleast with cancer I can be sure of two outcomes-remission or death; with lymes disease, everything is a big fat question mark.
Did you know that if you get an infected tick off your body (head & all) within 4 hours of the bite, then in all likelyhod you won't get infected with the disease.
Sometimes looking for ticks on your body is not enough especially if you have moles, blemishes or freckles-feel over those areas, any bump should be checked more closely with a magnifying glass if you still aren't sure.
How small is a deer tick- it's this small . yep, that period is how small they can be.
Can it be successfully treated? Definitely if you get treated within 6 weeks of the bite; possibly if longer but if it goes more than 3 mos, you're looking at a long expensive extremely painful recovery process.
Look if you got bit by a snake and you weren't sure if it was poisonous or not, you'd go to the emergency room. So if you get bit by tick and you're not sure if you've been infected-well a western blot test (simple blood test) is the most effective test but the doctor might just put you on a regimen of anti-biotics lasting anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks just to be on the safe side-trust me-it's better to get anti-biotics for a disease you don't have than to have the disease and let it go untreated!
IF YOUR DOCTOR MAKES SCATHING COMMENTS ABOUT PEOPLE OVER REACTING TO LYMES DISEASE- GET A NEW DOCTOR!
PLEASE CHECK YOUR CHILDREN FOR TICKS ON A REGULAR BASIS!!!!!
Pam
I wish you the best of luck, and I think what you are doing is terrific. 