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.
-------------------- TxLymie IgG-Negative IgM - Postive bands 23 and 41
Other dx: 2000: Endometriosis 2009: Chronic EBV, Mycoplasma infection, HHV6, H.pylori Posts: 297 | From Houston | Registered: Jun 2009
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Pinelady
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 18524
posted
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.
-------------------- Suspected Lyme 07 Test neg One band migrating in IgG region unable to identify.Igenex Jan.09IFA titer 1:40 IND IgM neg pos 31 +++ 34 IND 39 IND 41 IND 83-93 + DX:Neuroborreliosis Posts: 5850 | From Kentucky | Registered: Dec 2008
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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.
Posts: 455 | From Was in PA, then MD, now in the Midwest | Registered: Nov 2008
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Leelee
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 19112
posted
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.
-------------------- The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Martin Luther King,Jr Posts: 1573 | From Maryland | Registered: Feb 2009
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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?
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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posted
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.
TerryK
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 8552
posted
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
Posts: 6286 | From Oregon | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
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...
-------------------- abbyjo Posts: 255 | From Southern CA. | Registered: Jun 2008
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Jill E.
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9121
posted
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
-------------------- If laughter is the best medicine, why hasn't stand-up comedy cured me? Posts: 1773 | From San Diego | Registered: Apr 2006
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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.
-------------------- aka: Lyme Warrior
In order to do "real" science, you have to have a "real" conversation with nature.
Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History!
"Just Demand your Rights" Posts: 869 | From nor - cal | Registered: Apr 2008
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posted
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
-------------------- I found my original identity! It has been a bit over 12 years...can't blame me for forgetting my password, right?!!
Member red (Member # 1886) Registered: 26 November, 2001 70 posts Posts: 164 | From NJ | Registered: Jan 2009
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sammy
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 13952
posted
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.
Posts: 5237 | From here | Registered: Nov 2007
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posted
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!!
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
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.
Posts: 69 | From UK | Registered: Jun 2009
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posted
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 ]
Posts: 566 | From West Coast | Registered: May 2008
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Geneal
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 10375
posted
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
Posts: 6250 | From Louisiana | Registered: Oct 2006
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nenet
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 13174
posted
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
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.
Posts: 571 | From Massachusetts | Registered: Oct 2008
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Jill E.
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9121
posted
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
-------------------- If laughter is the best medicine, why hasn't stand-up comedy cured me? Posts: 1773 | From San Diego | Registered: Apr 2006
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cactus
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7347
posted
I've been bitten many, many times.
So - yes, I too remember the tick.
-------------------- �Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?� - A.A. Milne Posts: 1987 | From No. VA | Registered: May 2005
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5dana8
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7935
posted
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 .
-------------------- 5dana8 Posts: 4432 | From some where over the rainbow | Registered: Sep 2005
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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???
-------------------- TxLymie IgG-Negative IgM - Postive bands 23 and 41
Other dx: 2000: Endometriosis 2009: Chronic EBV, Mycoplasma infection, HHV6, H.pylori Posts: 297 | From Houston | Registered: Jun 2009
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posted
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.
Posts: 564 | From Tick Hell | Registered: Oct 2008
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Dawn in VA
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9693
posted
Me, I remember "the" tick bite and several others beforehand.
-------------------- (The ole disclaimer: I'm not a doctor.) Posts: 1349 | From VA | Registered: Jul 2006
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