Lime's Disease?

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Subrosa

Your friend is lucky she was able to make a decent recovery after having the disease progress that far. A friend's brother in law is practically a quadriplegic after a years long struggle with an unknown ailment that was finally diagnosed as Lyme.

I have no idea if she recovered completely, as a kid you don't judge those things well. Well enough to be put of the wheelchair at some point. We were in girl scouts together, and since she didn't continue in scouts in middle school I lost contact with her.

[Dollythehun]

I have a client who had longbterm Lyme's. It's effected her immune system, allergies, emotions and a host of other symptoms. It would be easy to think she making it up until you read this post..

[wisdomseeker]

An interesting subject, indeed... and some great information/replies about Lyme disease.

Although I've read about Lyme disease and RMSF, I've never given any serious thought to tick bites (or the effects & reactions caused by those bites). I have pulled an occasional tick out of my leg after working in my yard throughout the years, or pulled an occasional tick out of my dog after being outdoors. But, I never gave it a second thought until a friend (who lives in the western part of NC) telephoned me last year.

He told me he came down with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever from a tick bite. Lots of deer ticks, dog ticks, and Lone Star ticks in that area. Tick bites are fairly common in that area. My friend noticed a small tick lodged into his leg (while taking a shower) after mowing the lawn. His wife pulled it out and dabbed the area with rubbing alcohol.

He said the bite seemed to heal quickly (but he was paranoid about Lyme disease - and was on the look out for bulls eyes, rashes, stiff neck, and fever). A few days later the only thing he really noticed was that the bite was itchy and formed into a tiny hard spot with pinpoint dots around it. Then he started to develop a fever, his muscles ached, and he started having headaches. His wife took him to the doctor.

Unknown to my friend at the time: his wife had kept the tick after removing it and put the tick into an empty pill bottle (just in case). She brought the tick, along with her husband, to the doctor. Tests that were performed confirmed he had RMSF. Because of his wife's quick thinking (keeping the tick), they found out he had been bitten by a Lone Star tick. The doctor gave him some antibiotics and strict instructions to not eat red meat.

It's over my head, but the 'not to eat red meat thing' has something to do with the tick bite and meat allergies/IgE to alpha-gal levels. After hearing all this, I started to duct-tape the bottom of my pant legs around my socks and started applying tick repellent when working in the yard... love my hamburgers and steaks too much!