I'm still so shocked I have Lyme. I'm a girly girl from Texas. I don't camp, hunt or fish or live in a wooded area.
The only thing I have done (every year for 10 years) is go to an organized family camp. We stay in air conditioned cabins with groomed grounds. Now it is pretty wooded (east texas)but I didn't go tromping around in the wooded parts.
I do horseback ride every year there. Do these ticks get on horses?
I've never seen deer there although I am sure they are around.
Anyway, just curious if you don't remember a tick bite how do you have a clue when you got the disease?
I've been fatigued for years but major symptoms are only in the last few years or so.
Posted by Pinelady (Member # 18524) on :
The nymphs are so tiny it is easy to miss one. Some
are as small as a speck of dust. We call them dust
ticks here. When you see a moving cloud you know
you just got in a fresh hatch. The good thing is
now you know.
Posted by Wonko (Member # 18318) on :
I don't recall a bite, ever.
I know I started to go steadily downhill in Spring '07 after a major period of stress in my life.
I suspect I had it much longer in a mostly dormant form that only caused occasional, come and go issues that I thought were idiopathic.
I wish I did know for sure when I got it, as it may help put my current state and expectations in better perspective.
Posted by Leelee (Member # 19112) on :
I remember having tick bites on my scalp in the mid 1980's. At the time I was horrified b/c I felt something in my hair while I was at work and a co-worker looked and saw the tick. She helped me get it out and at the time, not knowing any better, I was afraid she thought I was an unclean person.
I had a couple of others in my head too that I pulled out on my own over the next couple of years.
Since then, I have had several crawling on me and probably even biting me.
We live in the country and have dogs so I guess that explains my exposure to the ticks.
I don't know anything about horses, but I imagine you are likely to get bitten if you are around them. It just seems to me that since they walk around in grass and fields that the ticks would crawl on to their legs.
Posted by kareamber (Member # 20110) on :
I've been exposed to ticks my whole entire life. My family has always been outdoorsy... camping, fishing, hiking, etc...
I remeber several bites and I've often found several crawling on me at one time.
When we lived in Spain I've never seen so many ticks in my life!! Our yard was infested.
We would literally sit and pick hundreds of ticks off our dogs at one time. We even used Frontline on them.
It was horrible. I remember finding some in our house even.. GROSS!!!!!
Many are extremely small and you can barely see them. So it's not impossible to get bitten and not know it.
Thats probably what happened in your situation. Did you test Positive?
However, those that are exposed to the outdoors and are in the wilderness are obviously more likely to be exposed.
Posted by sixgoofykids (Member # 11141) on :
I had dozens of tick bites as a kid.
I'm a girly-girl, too, but I still managed to get another tick bite about 6 years ago during a brief walk in the woods on a path. I no longer go in the woods, ever. I also stay out of long grass and away from mulch. If I liked camping, etc. maybe it would be a different story for me ... but since I don't, I just stay away.
If you were in the country enough to ride horses, I'd say it would have been easy enough to get a bite you don't know about.
What was your western blot like?
Posted by mina222 (Member # 19825) on :
i've never even actually seen a tick in my entire life. i don't really do anything outdoorsy, no camping, hiking etc. Probably got it in my own backyard.
Posted by TerryK (Member # 8552) on :
I had an embedded tick in my chest at age 5 and shortly after that proceeded to be ill off and on for many decades.
We lived on my grandfathers wheat and cattle ranch. This was desert country. No forest or woods but there were lots of ticks.
I can only surmise that the ticks liked the livestock, rabbits etc. and could climb up on the wheat similar to the way they climb on tall grass to catch a meal from passing critters.
All of my siblings and both parents are sick. Besides me, no one remembers tick bites except my brother who has had numerous bullseye rashes. Don't know about my dad since he was already deceased by the time I figured out the tick/illness connection.
Terry
Posted by abbyjo (Member # 16073) on :
Don't recall a bite. Husband tested positive too. He does recall tick bite.
Did find a big one in my home around same time. Can't imagine that big sucker was on me with out me even knowing!!!
Husband brought it home from Oil Fields where he was bit. Yep, got it in my own home!
I also got WAY sicker every time we had unprotected sex (which wasn't often at all). Husbands bloodwork looking like he's almost rid of it. Me, not even close to done. Who knows...
Posted by Jill E. (Member # 9121) on :
I do remember the tick bite, but I had never seen what a tick looked like, so I thought it was some weird other bug.
I'm a girly girl too - don't camp, hike, etc.
I got bitten while feeding a hungry cat in a residential neighborhood standing on cement. I know many here in Southern California who were bitten just out in their yard while gardening. Also know many who got it from having indoor/outdoor cats bringing the ticks in the house.
The nymphs are so small, I even took a magnifying glass to try to see if there was a bug on my leg because I got a rash and I couldn't see a bug. It might have fallen off by then.
Jill
Posted by liesandmorelies (Member # 15323) on :
TXlymie,
I was infected while I was horseback riding in monmouth county NJ. My sister and I were riding and chasing her dog through thickets and tall grasses at a state park that is there.
One week later I developed the classic bulls-eye rash and the rest is history.
I also owned horses in upstate NY and found ticks on my horses multiple times.
They are amazingly small to be able to do so much damage. Many do not even see.
Ticks are in every state in this country and every state has Lyme Disease in it. Many would want us to think other wise, but it's spreading and is being found in the most unlikely places.
I am so sorry that we are all going through this, but that is the reality.
Posted by Buster (Member # 19472) on :
Had a tick here and there throughout my life engorged.
Posted by DaveNJ (Member # 17362) on :
had the tick..it tested posotive and i still was not treated right.....
Posted by pepperspeck (Member # 18837) on :
I live in an area where there are so many ticks it is horrible. I grew up here as well. I have had ticks bites every season since I can remember.
Unfortunately many were removed incorrectly when I was younger when my parents did not know better.
With my children, I started doing tick checks since they were born. They have had many tick bites as well. And yes, the nymphs are very tiny... like a speck of pepper (pepperspeck...lol).
I hate ticks. lol
Posted by sammy (Member # 13952) on :
I practically lived outside when I was a kid! Loved playing in the field behind my house, hiking in the woods, and playing in the creek.
I've been bit by many ticks but I did not see the one that made me sick. I did develop the classic EM rash shortly after hiking with a friend 5yrs ago. It was spring and very muddy so I could have mistaken the little bugger for a stubborn splotch of mud.
I thought the rash was cool looking and I showed it to all of my friends (who by the way are almost all medical professionals!). None of us thought of Lyme disease at that time. I got very ill just a couple weeks later. So sick that I had to take a medical leave of absence and eventually give up that job.
Lyme is virtually unheard of around here, sad.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
ME!! I probably had about a hundred tick bites while growing up in Texas. We were in the woods every weekend and this was before anyone knew about ticks causing Lyme disease or anything else!
One of the best ways I know of to get tick bites would be to ride horses. The horses ride through grasses and the ticks jump on them and crawl right up to the rider!
Pretty simple!!
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by TxLymie: [QB] I do horseback ride every year there. Do these ticks get on horses? yup
I've never seen deer there although I am sure they are around.
doesn't matter if there are deer around or not
Anyway, just curious if you don't remember a tick bite how do you have a clue when you got the disease?
can you remember a time where you got sick and you haven't felt well since?
Posted by groovy2 (Member # 6304) on :
I saw the Bullseye on the back of my leg 21 years ago-- Picture perfect --
I had no clue what it was from- it did not hurt or itch --
If I had not seen it Im sure I would be dead by now--Jay--
Posted by Tincup (Member # 5829) on :
Her name was Kate.
She hitched a ride home with me after work one day.
She must have thought my head had something good inside, as she bit me just an inch or so above my forehead.
She was a cute little female deer tick just looking for a meal.
I examined her closely and then played with her for a few minutes as she crawled on my table.
I kinda felt sorry for her and so I took her outside and let her go.
I actually watched her crawl away into the sunset.
Had I known then what I know now...
I'd have stomped her little brains all over the sidewalk.
Posted by middlesizedpanda (Member # 20676) on :
After a walk through a field I found what I thought was a tiny fat spider on my ankle that wouldn't brush off. Not knowing any better i picked it off with my nails.
One week later & had a bulls eye rash that blistered & infected.
Even after 5 doctors (2 in the local surgery & 3 at the hospital emergency unit) no-one recognised the rash. Another 3 months of internet searching & I discovered lyme & all it's symptoms. If only I knew then what I know now.
Posted by tickssuck (Member # 15388) on :
No, not ever...though I am outdoorsy as far as hiking, camping etc. My dad also has tested + for Lyme and company; he was on the same backcountry hiking trip that I was - where we're sure we got infected. Neither of us remember seeing any ticks on that particular trip, go figure. TS
[ 06-29-2009, 06:01 PM: Message edited by: tickssuck ]
Posted by Geneal (Member # 10375) on :
I never saw a tick on me.
Been sick with strange and unusual things all my life.
Was diagnosed with the "yuppie flu" back in the very early '80's.
I did, however, find a nymph on the back of my leg
The summer after being diagnosed.
It was so very small. Hard to notice with all of my dark freckles.
Harder to see with my mature eyes.
Once I figured out what it was, I knew I would have
Normally never seen such a small thing on me before.
I have always been an outdoors person.
Camping, nature walks, horseback riding.
Not just here in the South either.
Was actually born in an endemic part of our country.
I will never know for sure.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posted by nenet (Member # 13174) on :
Pretty much exactly what kareamber said, minus the Spanish ticks part. Though it's possible I also was bitten while living in England, on top of all the US and Canadian ticks I've met.
I've had dozens of known tick bites throughout my life, since I was a baby, some of which I am fairly certain were deer ticks. They were tiny and fast, and horrifying - my boyfriend at the time and I had several dozen on us after a walk through the woods in KY - we didnt even try to count, just removed them all as fast as possible.
I have probably had over 100 tick bites, hard to say since I know I likely missed far more than I found.
Never had a rash from a tick bite, that I noticed anyway. Never thought to care about them or look for a rash, never thought about ticks carrying diseases, until now.
Posted by 22dreams (Member # 17846) on :
I'm a city person. Have always been a city person.
I live in the 17th most-densely populated city in the country and the most densely populated city in New England.
Ticks abound.
I've had a handful of trips in my life anywhere considered tick habitat, and when I did, I took the Usual precautions (which I found that most didn't).
I never recalled seeing a tick or tick bite.
I had increasing fatigue for years & years and cognitive neuro issues reared up just last summer.
Early summer last year a tick fell off me (assumed, given the circumstances) onto my kitchen counter.
We SAW about 2 nymphs and 2 ticks inside the apartment last year.
Presumably hitched a ride from the overhanging shrubbery in front of the complex.
Although we were careful about navigating the rapidly-growing bushes -- because my sister was already diagnosed (chronic lyme) and I knew I had it.
No pets, no sojourns to the Cape, no hiking, no hunting, etc.
You don't need to live in the suburbs, have a yard or garden to be exposed to ticks.
Leaf litter, shrubs & trees will do it. Along with bird & rodent populations.
Posted by Jill E. (Member # 9121) on :
There don't have to be deer in your area. In Southern California, the Lyme ticks are predominantly on white-footed mice and rats. In Northern California, they're found on the grey squirrels.
One reason the doctors in San Diego refuse to believe there is Lyme here is because there are no deer in so many neighborhoods. But there are tons of rodents!!!! They climb up the palm trees here and get into houses.
Jill
Posted by cactus (Member # 7347) on :
I've been bitten many, many times.
So - yes, I too remember the tick.
Posted by 5dana8 (Member # 7935) on :
i remember a bite and rash but at the time thought it was from a spider bite. Never did see the tick that got me .
Posted by TxLymie (Member # 20847) on :
Wow thanks for all the responses.
I did used to run around in the woods as a kid but still never EVER remember a tick bite.
Someone asked my test results. Western Blot positive on bands 23 and 41
I'm sure I have Lyme now. For 18 days I have been trying to convince myself I don't but now I'm herxing so guess I do.
I do have doc records for the past 10 years where I went in EVERY year complaining of fatigue and hair loss..among other things. But those 2 symptoms have been consistent for 10 yrs.
Someone mentioned stress. If I have had Lyme for 10 yrs I've done pretty well I think. No major symptoms until this year.
I rode my bike 170 miles in a ride to raise funds for MS 3 yrs in a row (2006-2008). This last year I couldn't do it...too weak and tired.
Then my husband lost his job, my dad died, my job has been hell,I have 3 kids, I got an ulcer in my stomach and then last but not least I was diagnosed with Lyme.Stress has been my life this year.
Maybe my Lyme has been somewhat dormant or under control....then the stress made it worse???
Posted by peacemama (Member # 17666) on :
My son (age 4 with congenital lyme) just spent a week with Grandma and Grandpa at the lake. They did daily tick checks and sure enough, he has a bulls-eye. Never saw the tick. Little red bite mark.
When I was bit (age 20, 25 years ago) I thought it was a spider bite. Little rash, no big deal. Kept coming and going though for months. And that personality change was a give away, too.
All in hindsight, of course.
Posted by Dawn in VA (Member # 9693) on :
Me, I remember "the" tick bite and several others beforehand.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)