Tag Archives: tick bite

Guest Post: What to Do if You Find a Tick

Lyme Basics, Testing, Ticks: Where It all Starts May 9, 2022 Comments: 4
Ticks. Calvert County, Maryland. LifeLoveLyme

Ticks. Calvert County, Maryland.
LifeLoveLyme

by Kathy Meyer

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Virginia Governor’s Task Force on Lyme Disease 2010-13 and

Co-leader, Parents of Children with Lyme Support Network, DC Metro Area

“…The physician cannot rely on a laboratory test or clinical finding at the time of the bite to definitely rule in or rule out Lyme Disease infection, so must use clinical judgment as to whether to use antibiotic prophylaxis. Testing the tick itself for the presence of the spirochete, even with PCR technology, is helpful but not 100% reliable.

An established infection by B. burgdorferi [the bacteria that causes Lyme] can have serious, long-standing, or permanent, and painful medical consequences, and be expensive to treat. Since the likelihood of harm arising from prophylactically applied anti-spirochetal antibiotics [taking antibiotics to kill potential infection] is low, and since treatment is inexpensive and painless, it follows that the risk benefit ratio favors tick bite prophylaxis.”

-Dr. Joseph Burrascano, the longest-treating physician for Lyme in the U.S.

As the weather warms, there is justifiable panic in the question, “I just found a TICK on me, so what do I DO?!”  Continue reading →

Infected

Co-infections, Prevention Tips, Ticks: Where It all Starts March 18, 2016 Leave a comment
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 →

When Lyme Disease Goes to the Heart

Lyme Basics, Staying Positive, Symptoms: How Do You Feel? September 8, 2013 Comments: 4
Carolyn and her dog x with the friends helping her get the xx treatment.

Carolyn with her pooch Betty and, from left to right, the friends who have banded together to help Carolyn get treatment: Mark Gordon, Jim Pettengill, Teresa Gordon, Bruce Hoppenworth, Marianne Antonelli, and Gary Antonelli. Not pictured: Maggie Gobie.
Photo: Randy Martinek

Lyme affects the heart in more ways than one. Just ask Carolyn Ross, who was loving the outdoor life on a Virginia horse farm back in 2007. Then ominous change came overnight.

She can tell you the day her health crashed: December 27. After a holiday party, flu-like symptoms came on, and a few days later she noticed a rash on her arm.

Continue reading →