I'm wondering how many of us are in Northern California, and were infected here...? I beleive I was infected in Humboldt County -- although my mom also has symptoms, and has lived in the Bay Area for almost 40 years.
Just wondering how many of us folks are Northern California folks....
Posted by surg (Member # 6937) on :
I am. Infected in Marin County.
Posted by David95928 (Member # 3521) on :
live here but infected in either Georgia or Massachussets.
Posted by Michelle M (Member # 7200) on :
Hi Mini. I live in the mountains in beautiful Shingletown! (Near Redding, where I work.)
My daughter and I have the dubious distinction of being Shasta County's two CDC positive Lyme cases last year. We were bitten here. We DO live smack in the middle of old growth forest.
I am sure there are many more cases of Lyme around here. However, no one will ever know, because the neurologists around here don't believe in Lyme disease, and consider it "rare."
Michelle
Posted by riversinger (Member # 4851) on :
Sonoma county. Possibly infected here, Marin county, and Wisconsin, North Carolina, Illinois, and Michigan.
My son is the same.
Posted by deb obrien (Member # 5239) on :
hi - i live in richmond, just north of berkeley, but was probably infected in the east coast 20+years ago... deb, babs & lyme
Posted by lou (Member # 81) on :
Bitten somewhere in northern CA in 1996, don't know exactly where as I was on a camping trip in various areas. Got babs and lyme both.
Posted by welcome (Member # 7953) on :
Bay Area. Infected in Calaveras Co......most likely by mosquito bite.
Posted by minimonkey (Member # 8693) on :
Well, the neurlogists up near Redding are wrong -- the CDC acknowledges all of California as an endemic area.
I'm horrified to think of all the folks out there running around with diagnoses of FMS/CFIDS/mental illness, etc. who are probably undiagnosed Lyme sufferers. I was one of them until I started doing my own research and realized that my "fibromyalgia" is most probably lyme -- I'm getting the Igenex panels run, but realize it may not show up on them....
Posted by Just Julie (Member # 1119) on :
howdy, bit in Briones Regional Park, in Martinez, in 1987. Only known tick bite, but much hiking thru the regional parks here in the East Bay (of Northern CA), also Mt. Tamalpais in Marin, Muir Woods, and, unfortunately, my back yard (until 2000 when diagnosed).
When hiking/camping near Pescadero in summer 2000,(coast below Santa Cruz), both sons found ticks on them, one son embedded tick behind ear. Lovely camp called "Costanoa" but tick haven, they are literally everywhere, even though you are on the coastline.
My kids either got their Lyme from me via pregnancy/breastfeeding, or they got bit in the many places I used to take them hiking/camping, I'll never know.
Husband is also positive for Lyme, even though he's not an outdoor person, never hiked with me or kids, never camped either (he's a hotel camper), so possibility of sexual transmittance is also a spector here in this family. He will not consent to treatment, so I get to wonder everytime we are ahem, intimate, if he's just giving me a fresh dose of spirochetes, and my body is gonna just have to fight them off forever. My tubes were tied when I had my 2nd child in 1992, so no protected sex for me. Bummer. Reminds me of syphllis. Just call me typhoid Mary., or Julie. Yeah, Typhoid Julie.
Posted by Ann in CA (Member # 97) on :
Sonoma County, 1991, in own back yard. Immediate problems, so could have been bitten first while living in a little house (field mice in the walls in winter) in the forest (lots of deer) in Germany in the 1980s.
Back then , in Sonoma County, I always looked for ticks on the kids when we hiked on "Deer Hill", across from our house. But I was looking for big black leggy bugs--not little tiny dots!!
Since we fenced the deer out, we rarely find them in the yard, but the dog still gets"Tick check" every time he comes in as the stone retaining walls harbor field mice.
Whenever we go for walks, even though he just gets near the edge of the trail or path or sidewalk, he ends up with ticks. Even with Frontline, they still hop on.
I hate ticks.
Ann
Posted by minimonkey (Member # 8693) on :
Wow, it is nice to know so many folks are closeby -- I feel even less alone knowing that.
I'm in Oakland, currently.
Posted by SForsgren (Member # 7686) on :
Live in San Jose - Infected in Sea Ranch, CA
Posted by breathwork (Member # 567) on :
Santa Clara County...in my own home during a sudden mouse infestation. Hubby, both teenagers and dogs positive for lyme and other TBI's. Bites followed by bulls eyes.
Also bitten in Sonoma County ten years ago. No bulls eye rash with this one.
Also bitten in Virginia well over twelve years ago, followed by bulls eyes.
The little creepers find me particularly tasty for some reason.
Posted by Squeegee (Member # 7219) on :
Most likely got infected when I lived in Sonoma county. (CDC positive for Lyme, also tested positive for Ehrlichia - HME).
Used to ride my horses in every tick infected place there (Anadel State Park, grounds of Sonoma Developmental Center, Diamond A Estates, Shepherd Ranch.)
Removed many ticks -- also used to hike and admire the beauty of the redwoods while sitting on fallen trees amid leaf litter.
This was mostly in the "blissfully ignorant" 70's.
Posted by minimonkey (Member # 8693) on :
I miss the blissfully ignorant 70s!
That post about mouse infestation has me scared -- my building has mice now! We've blocked off their access holes to the best of our ability, and have set live traps to catch and relocate them, but not to much avail. (Okay, I'm far too much of a softie, but I CANNOT kill them! Don't even try to talk me into that....
We did find their nest in our apartment, and destroyed that and blocked access to it, too -- hubby kindly cleaned that up, as I was afraid to get too near it for fear of further infection.
We caught two juvenile mice last night -- dang, they're fast little guys! Cute, too -- poor things were terrified, of course. They'll be happily relocated to a wooded area.
Posted by tickedntx (Member # 5660) on :
minimonkey:
You're not alone. I wouldn't be able to kill the mice, either. I prefer a convenient relocation program, too.
Posted by quaicheng (Member # 8392) on :
Born in San Diego, left with parents in the early 60's. Never to return until 03 on buisiness. Stopped at a rest stop entering Sacramento valley and took a nap in the grassy 105 deg heat. 1st time back to CA in 40 years and the citrus blooms made my head spin, remembering the pool parties parents had, the tiki room my grandparents had. The rash on my ankle? It just never dawned on me. Ahhhhh, the lemon flowers........
quai
Posted by lucy96734 (Member # 8372) on :
I grew up in Southern Humboldt County and had many ticks growing up. We had horses and I spent all my time outside.
Posted by Healing in Santa Cruz (Member # 7798) on :
Born in Oakland Calif. Now live in Santa Cruz. I've been up and down the coast all my life. And Yosemite,Tahoe.
Not sure where I got the critters. No rash etc. The last time I was in Tahoe was when they had the cluster outbreak of so called chronic fatigue syndrome. I became ill after that. At the time in Tahoe I was going through extremely stressful times so maybe I was already infected and the stress tipped me over the edge.
Posted by pmerv (Member # 1504) on :
I invite all of you to join the yahoo group CaliforniaLyme and CALDA (www.lymedisease.org). We are working on legislation to revitalize the Lyme Disease Advisory Committee that advises the DHS. We are also planning for Lyme Disease Awareness Month (May) and the Human Race in Marin. We hope if we have a good turnout with our green T-shirts we might get some media attention.
Posted by Robin123 (Member # 9197) on :
Hi all -- just got diagnosed with B. burgdorferi Lyme infection, via Western blot test at IgeneX lab. I've gone 24 years without knowing what was happening to me. I was bit by a tick somewhere in the SF Bay Area in 1981, had a red bull's eye rash around it, it was removed after a week, never thought anything more about it until a nurse from the East Coast asked me in an online health chat room if I remembered a tick bite, because my symptoms seemed like Lyme symptoms. A couple months after the tick bite, I developed sore muscles, then muscle pain, stiff neck, back pain, and then got a diagnosis of "fibromyalgia". Next came light and sound sensitivity, developing chemical sensitivity, insomnia, severe TMJ, high prolactin with early menopause, pituitary surgery 'cause they thought I might have a tumor -- I didn't. Etc etc. No medical or nonmedical person ever mentioned the possibility of Lyme. That's why I would like to see Lyme questionnaires available in medical offices. That way, people might have a chance to be caught sooner. The medical and general public has got to be educated about this disease so we have more of a chance to live our lives. I have been taking clindamycin 150mg round the clock for 3 weeks so far, and pain and swelling in joints are going down, pain in muscles all over the body is diminishing, physical fatigue is reducing, and my chemical sensitivity is lessening. This is all a great surprise for me.
Posted by Yemaya (Member # 8842) on :
I don't live in California, but 7 yrs ago I camped along the Coast for 4 wks. From Big Sur to the Redwoods. I can trace my symptom list from that point in time.
Love & Light, Yemaya
Posted by Jellybelly (Member # 7142) on :
Mammoth Lakes in the late 60s. My mom is now CDC positive and remembers a bull's eye rash, I remember her being very sick when I was about 13. I remember numerous bites and later symptoms of extreme fatigue, lack of focus in school, rapid heart rate and raynaud's way back then.
Figure my dad was infected there or it was sexually transmitted by my mom. Both of my kids are sick through me and my husband is also showing definite symptoms.
Such irony, my parents moved us to the country to get out of smoggy, unhealthy LA area. This move likely ultimately took my dad's life early and made life a living hell for the rest of us. Posted by DolphinLady (Member # 6275) on :
Got bit while living in Santa Cruz in the early 90's.
Posted by focusonsurvival (Member # 9124) on :
Of course looking back over my life I probably have had Lyme for much of it. I truly believe my immune system could not handle the Lyme after being bitten again while living in the hills of El Cerrito (East Bay) in the late 90's. I also traveled quite extensively and went camping in much of Northern California (Fall River - great fishing). I now live on the East Coast and it was lucky for me that I moved here when I did and found a good LLMD because I probably would be dead. M
Posted by SForsgren (Member # 7686) on :
For those in Northern CA, if you are interested in the Mountain View Lyme support group which meets monthly, please contact me privately. Be well
Posted by mag (Member # 8920) on :
hi i live in butte county CA- got bit while living in jersey 1194 -
never had symptoms -until 2004 -while living in massachusetts- got several mosquito bites-began having night sweats and sore joints in knees. - they went away
as the story goes i moved to ventura county in 2005- did get bit by something Jan 2005 got sick for a week.
October 2005 - the neuro system broke down -and i lost my brain for a while (i think i found it now-thank you GOD)
my llmd says i probably got babesia in Mass could have had lymes since 1994 or picked it up in ventura county
moved up here to slow down the end of my limey story mag
-
Posted by mountainmoma (Member # 6503) on :
I became ill shortly after moving to the Santa Cruz mountains. I assume I was bit in my backyard, I live on a few acres. I had no rash etc..., but was very sick 3 months after moving here--this was 7 years ago. I was diagnosed 2 years ago, very positive western blot etc....
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