I ask myself this question all the time. I have friends who hike every week, friends who hunt a lot, friends with landscaping businesses and I am the one who gets Lyme and co-infections. When I look at all the people I know, it is much more likely they would get infected so I questioned what I had for the longest time.
All I do is the occassional hike and help my father with his lndscaping business on weekends. But, regardless my Lyme IgG was positive, IgM Indiferent and Babesia two test came back positive including the FISH. With this and symptoms, I felt it must be Lyme and so did my LLMD. The Babesia coming back positive helped confirm in my head that I am fighting Lyme.
Sorry, just venting a bit of frustration.
[ 02. September 2008, 10:32 PM: Message edited by: richedie ]
Posted by bbinme? (Member # 4665) on :
OMG i have had this thought a lot of times, i am not really the outdoorsy type at all, when g got bit i was merely out for at the most 1/2 hour that day clearing weeds next to the house i had just moved into that had a lot of overgrowth, and BAM! i got lyme disease. I know people like you who are out all the time, never use precautions or check themselves, hunters, hikers etc, and my father in law is out cutting wood on property he is selling almost every day and has never even seen a tick on him. I guess just plain old bad luck explains it for me. It's very strange
Posted by sixgoofykids (Member # 11141) on :
I am a city girl. Lived a couple years in the country when I was a kid and got Lyme.
I don't ask why me, though. I guess the classic answer would be, why not me? Posted by luvs2ride (Member # 8090) on :
Richie,
I am the consument outdoors person but so are all of my friends and family.
However, I am not very surprised it happened to me. I come from an incredibly healthy, long living family. It is the norm to hit 100 yrs in my family. Yet, all my life, I was the sickly one. When I had my first child, an emergency ceasarian had to be performed and I remember my sister saying "I don't get it, all the Webb women have easy childbirths, what's wrong with her?" Oh man, ya' gotta love sibling rivalry. She popped 4 children out like nothing.
So, do I ever question "why me?" Nope. More like, of course it happens to me again. I just got crappy genetics I guess. Don't know who on earth I got them from.
We have weak or overburden immune systems. We are the perfect storm for disease. If not lyme, it would have been something else.
Okay, so we were thrown a lemon. I'm not going to sit around with puckered lips though. I'm going to make and enjoy lemonade!
I'm an animal lover and have learned so much from them. You can amputate a leg from a dog or cat and they just compensate. They don't go into a depression or withdraw from life or need a psychiatrist. They just adapt.
I try to follow their example.
Posted by djf2005 (Member # 11449) on :
um, animals are not very much like humans, thats why they are able to just move on
they dont know the difference, the life they lost, or how hard it is or compared to how it was..
they are a good tool to learn from, i agree tho..
Posted by bbinme? (Member # 4665) on :
Yeah animals live in the now, i guess we all should try to do that as well.
Posted by Tracy9 (Member # 7521) on :
Yes, I ponder this question all the time, not so much "why me" but "how in the heck did they dodge that bullet???" Posted by adamm (Member # 11910) on :
HA! The only deer tick I've ever seen live was the one that
gave it to me in my sleep!
Posted by richedie (Member # 14689) on :
Thanks everyone, I should add that I was always very outdoorsy! Always hiking, snowboarding, mountain biking......but a lot was on the side when our daughter was born five years ago and then I joined a few bands and that also kept me indoors......then this last year all hell breaks loose in my body. I also come from an incredibly healthy, long living family....most make it well into the 90s. I did continue to do some landscaping almost every Saturday and the odd hike here and there, not to mention 2-3 hikes in Valley Forge National Park last summer and also the Adirondacks of New York.
Posted by lymielauren28 (Member # 13742) on :
The only thing I wonder is how it took me so long to get Lyme!
I'm extremely out-doorsy, I love animals, worked at a wildlife refuge for years and used to go horseback riding on the weekends with my girlfriends on a regular basis.
I can't believe it took me almost two years to figure out I had Lyme, but then again I live in Mississippi where Lyme doesn't exist - and how could I possibly get a non-existant disease?! Ha!
But, now that I know how common it really is here, I do honestly wonder, as much as I was in the woods, how I didn't get it sooner.
It was destined to be for me I think.
Lauren
Posted by luvs2ride (Member # 8090) on :
Yes Lauren,
That would be my question too.
But then, I don't honestly know when I got lyme.
I was 6 when my mother and grandmother pulled 21 ticks from my scalp after a day of play in the fields next to our house. I was playing soldier that day with neighborhood boys. I was a tomboy.
So, remember my story above? I was always the sickly kid? hhmmm.......
By sickly, I simply mean every year I would get strep throat and sometimes severe enough to infect my kidneys.
By highschool I had developed sinus headaches and allergies. In my 20's it became mild asthma. At 30, I had to have a hysterectomy.
At 40, the mystery illness I now call lyme. This is when I generally think I exhibited lyme, but really??
Who knows. The amazing thing is that I continued to lead a very normal, athletic and career rewarding life.
Horseback riding, dog shows and dog grooming. Ticks were just a part of my life.
So, like Lauren, my real amazement is how on earth I managed to dodge the bullet for so long.
Don't get me wrong, folks. Even now, I am horseback riding and caring for 3 horses, share my home with two dogs and my husband and I own a thriving business.
So, after 6 mths of total disability 3 yrs ago, I have clawed and fought my way back into a state of health again. Only now it takes great effort on my part to maintain that health. It is my hope and my doctor's assurance that one day I will again enjoy good health without so much effort.
I try not to think about the fact I am still living a high risk life. My life is so much a part of who I am, that I prefer to die enjoying my life than to live a long time denied the life I love.
Call me crazy!
Posted by richedie (Member # 14689) on :
It just seems weird. For example, I have a friend who is always pulling ticks off himself. Every hunting trip his wife pulls off a lot of ticks.
Posted by Wildthing (Member # 6791) on :
Richedie, I got my lyme disease from Valley Forge Park too! WOW, how lucky are we?
Valley Forge is the worst with deer and ticks. I have stayed away from the park this year and for the first time in the past 4 years have only been bitten once this year. Usually, it is 4-5 times per year.
I love hiking, mountain biking and kayaking, and yes, you can get lyme disease (even in your sleep) but going to Valley Forge compounds your averages. I go elsewhere to do these things now, and it has helped tremendously.
Since it seems that you are from my area, would you mind telling me who you see for treatment?
Thanks, Teresa
Posted by richedie (Member # 14689) on :
Teressa, sent you a PM.
How do you get Lyme in your sleep? If so, how do you avoid????
I never saw a tick nor had a rash.
It is so weird and these are the things that always cast doubt. I talked to the same guy today and said his wife pulled about 40 ticks off him the other day after scouting some land and then more ticks after a hunting weekend. His partner had some as well. So, why me...they have no symptoms. Makes no sense to me.
Posted by richedie (Member # 14689) on :
bump for Teressa
Posted by Clint31 (Member # 16420) on :
I do the same thing. I am not from an area high in Lyme DX.
I even do the question with my brother. Why me and not him? He is the one who has a landscaping business. He is the one who has done tree work for his whole life in OHIO and Florida. I am the office boy, spending much of my life in ohio. Although I partook in fishing and hunting and played baseball my whole life, he spent much more time in the woods by HOURS AND HOURS then I did, and now I'm the one who's deathly ill and he's the one who is healthy as a horse and smokes like a chimney.
Posted by shazdancer (Member # 1436) on :
Other than the "Why me, God?" feeling, I don't doubt I was susceptible. Three generations of us have it, the landlord where I lived had it, and the person who lived in the house BEFORE me has a bad case of it, too. Highly endemic area, indoor-outdoor cats, playing outdoors, walks in the woods....
Sheesh, I might just as well have put a "bite me" sign on my back!
Posted by Cadames62008 (Member # 16275) on :
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