Beware Infection and Re-infection with Lyme

My friend Mickey gave me this magnifying glass cleverly disguised as a necklace. Note the thin tweezers for grasping the tick close to the skin, and the sesame seed next to the nymphal tick.               LifeLoveLyme

My friend Mickey gave me this magnifying glass cleverly disguised as a necklace. Note the thin tweezers for grasping the tick close to the skin, and the sesame seed next to the largish-sized nymphal tick.
LifeLoveLyme

Last week, I had just pulled out of my brother’s driveway in the gorgeous countryside on the outskirts of Middleburg, Virginia, when I felt an itch on my ankle. I looked down and saw a teensy tick clinging on by its mouthparts. Wrenching the steering wheel, I pulled over in a blind panic. Using my fingernails as tweezers, I grabbed it as close to the skin as I could and got it off.

Chanting “Be calm, be calm,” I got out of my car and scanned the parts of my body I could see. There on the back of one leg was a larger tick. I struggled with that one but got it off, too.

Making a U-turn like I was in a movie getaway scene, I tore up John’s driveway, jumped from the car and ran into his house. I shouted out what I’d found as I headed for the bathroom, stripping off my clothes as I went.   Continue reading

Time to Move Lyme Disease Awareness Month to April?

What's happening to the tick life cycle?

What’s happening to the tick life cycle?

 

The month of May brings many things, among them Mother’s Day, tulips, and Lyme Disease Awareness campaigns. But according to Dr. Richard S. Ostfeld, a disease ecologist at Cary, if we want to get a leg up on tick-borne illness we need to become vigilant earlier in the season.

Source/Learn why here: Time to Move Lyme Disease Awareness Month to April?

Take a bite out of Lyme! 

May is Lyme Awareness month- we challenge you to help spread life-saving facts!
Learn more at www.lymediseasechallenge

Mother’s Day: The Bitter and the Sweet

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LifeLoveLyme

I’m headed to my son’s college graduation at Clemson in South Carolina. His birthday falls on Mother’s Day, just as it did when he was born 22 years ago.

What a great reason to miss Mother’s Day brunch back then. What a treat to be looking forward to sharing it now.

Even though I’m still struggling with the disabling illness that felled me when he was in high school, I’m better. And so grateful to be able to enjoy this big triple-header.

But it’s bittersweet.

Here’s the bitter: Everything I have missed in the lives of both my kids. No making wonderful mom/kid memories that would have stayed with us for a lifetime.

Continue reading

Guess What Eats Ticks in Your Yard?

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Video: “Lyme Is Hell”

This powerful public service ad comes from the Netherlands. This English version was just released for World Lyme Day 2016. (View the Dutch version here.)It’s going viral.

The last bit may surprise you. Or…may not, if you are living with this illness.

May is Lyme Awareness Month. Please promote understanding of Lyme Disease: Please share.

And protect yourself from this hell. Read these top ten prevention tips from ILADS (International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society).

Ticks on the Move

Screen Shot 2016-05-01 at 7.42.04 PMThis graph from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gives a clear picture of what’s ahead for summer: plenty of potential for tick bites transmitting Lyme (and other nasties).

You cannot be too careful; there’s no such thing. A friend told me the other day that his mom’s hairdresser found a tick in her hair. Thankfully it had not bitten her yet.

She has an indoor cat and doesn’t generally spend much time off sidewalks, so you can see that this health threat can be tough to avoid.

I’ve heard that 50% of ticks around here are infected. The odds are not good. We’ve got to be vigilant all year long, even in winter, but never more than in May thru August.

What Does Chronic Fatigue Mean, Really?

 

 

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Because I’m not merely “tired” when Lyme  gets me in it’s grip, I’m far beyond that. Tired is what happens to well people who overdo. It’s what happens to heroines in Victorian novels who faint on chaises.

Isn’t there a better pronouncement for what happens to people with chronic illness—sometimes even when we do nothing at all?

In my opinion, “chronic fatigue” is so overused it has no meaning.  Continue reading

Infected

C at Great Falls

Staying on boardwalk trails at Great Falls National Park in Virginia.

 

I’ve been thinking about the day I went hiking in a gorgeous old chestnut forest in Southern Maryland that is protected by a local land trust. Volunteers keep the trails beautifully manicured, with small limbs trimmed back and mulch on the paths.

This was my first long walk in years; treatment had finally gotten me to a  place where I figured I could handle it without crashing.

I felt I was relatively safe from ticks there, keeping out of underbrush, not brushing up agains branches. My boots and clothes were treated with bug-killing permethrin. I really looked forward to rambling about for an hour or so of fresh air, soaring trees, and bird song. Judging from the way he pranced along, my dog Mo was pretty excited, too.

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When I got home I did all the necessary things: Stripped, threw everything in the dryer on hot for 20  minutes to kill any ticks, took a shower, washed and dried my hair, checked my body.

It wasn’t until the next morning that I found a tick sucking on my leg. Who knows where it came from. Perhaps from Mo; my vet tells me no tick-killing products for pets are 100% effective.

It’s a myth that it takes at least 48 hours to become infected—more like a matter of hours. So I knew enough to call my Lyme doctor, who immediately increased my antibiotics (I was recovering from a tick bite more than two years before and still on meds). But it was already too late.  Continue reading

Video: Bullying of Australian Docs Creating Medical Refugees

 

And when are these attacks going to stop? I know of a local doctor in court right now fighting to protect herself—and going bankrupt in the process.

We must all speak up against this unspeakable problem in so many countries!

 

See One Step Closer for Physicians in VA.