posted
Hi folk, please excuse the ignorance on my part - I'm new to the Lyme scene and am doing my own research trying to figure out if what I've had for years could be Lyme Disease. My physician, although very nice, blew me off the last time I went into his office with vertigo issues and fainting. He claimed it was either stress or a rare condition found in children. Oiy. More recently I've had an awful time with focus and comprehending what my co-workers consider to be simple tasks (I'm a programmer, and used to be a darn good one). Not happy with results that I've seen from doctors in the past I'm one who does my own research and then if I think I'll survive I typically do nothing about it (hehe) Well, in this case I think I need help but before I do so I need to get armed with some facts on my side if I'm to even approach him with the idea that I might have Lyme disease... if it even looks that way.
What I'm looking for right now is:
How long has Lyme disease been known to exist in the US. I don't recall ever hearing about Lyme disease as a kid and my symptoms date back a few decades, although quite mild and even amusing to to others (dyslexia, short term memory issues - only recalling the first letter of names etc, skin problems, vertigo & passing out briefly -only twice so far and I'd like it to stay that way.)
How long the initial rash lasts; (I had a 5" perfectly circular rash on the top of my left knee for about 18 months back when this first started - sunburn like, thought it was from a jellyfish and so, neither my parents not I ever did anything about it)
If I were to be found to have it, is it still treatable? I'm coming to the point where my confusion is occurring daily - several times a day. I just want it to go away and to think like normal & get my work done. I can deal with the other issues. I'd just like my intelligence returned.
Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!
Posts: 8 | From SE Mass | Registered: Nov 2009
| IP: Logged |
If you do have lyme, it's not going to get better on it's own, and can get much worse as it gets into your brain. The cognitive problems that you experience can get so bad that you can be incapacitated.
It is treatable, but the longer the you have the infection, the harder it is to get rid of.
Most Drs do not understand lyme. The best thing to is go to a specialist and get properly diagnosed and treated. Please go to the Seeking a Doctor discussion and find a LLMD (Lyme Literate MD) in your area. If you have lyme, the faster you treat it, the better.
Let us know how you do,
Good luck
James
Posts: 872 | From New York City | Registered: Jun 2008
| IP: Logged |
Hoosiers51
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 15759
posted
Lyme has been around since at least the 1970's, so that is about 35 years ago, to be conservative.
If you live in MA, it seems likely you could have been exposed.
I am not sure if a Lyme rash can last 18 months.
The best lab to get tested through would be Igenex. Their number should be in the Newbie links, or you can go to www.igenex.com. If you call them, they'll send you a kit for testing. Ask them what tests they recommend you get. I would just do the Western Blot, IgG and IgM. You will need a doctor to write an order to get the blood drawn.
You want to take the test Mon or Tues so it gets to the lab by Friday, and doesn't sit over the weekend. You can call FedEx and they'll come to your house to pick up the kit after the blood has been drawn.
Even Igenex isn't foolproof, so being evaluated by a Lyme specialist may help.
I had horrible brain symptoms, and they got better for me with treatment. I also had bartonella, so taking Bactrim DS (which kills bartonella) helped my brain.
Good luck!
Posts: 4590 | From Midwest | Registered: Jun 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
Thanks JamesNYC & Hoosiers51, I will look into those sites - all info is very much appreciated.
Posts: 8 | From SE Mass | Registered: Nov 2009
| IP: Logged |
as you know a cluster of cases was noticed and recorded about in the 1970s in CT but by no stretch of the imagination does that mean that it wasn't around in the US before then.
Conservationism, relocation of deer population, global warming (increase in ticks & other insects), farming practices that lead to the american Dust Bowl, industrialization/suburbanization, as well as conspiracy theories & more--
all are hypotheses, singularly and/or collectively, that point to the current epidemic and/or causation of spread to humans.
I'm from Massachusetts too and I remember seeing a piece on Lyme on Chronicle in the 80s but other than that not really until a sister's friend got it later in the 90s.
So: it was on my radar particularly in the 90s. I took precautions others still don't even take and rarely communed with nature in a way where I would be exposed, yet still got lyme +.
It's deplorable that the DPH is not out in schools in Massachusetts lecturing on the dangers of Lyme and how to prevent. The fear of God is put into us around here via the media about West Nile and EEE, for pete's sake.
BTW: I may have seen One tick on my dog in the city growing up. But I was bitten in the city (different MA city) last year and had them in my apartment from a thicket of shrubs/leaf litter lining the sidewalks out in front of my complex.
The tick population has exploded over the last few decades.
Posts: 571 | From Massachusetts | Registered: Oct 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
Hi 22dreams, Back in the late 90s, I recall "Lyme Disease" being on the tips of everyone's tongues the way "swine flu" is now.
Recently a friend had his son DX'd with lyme as one of his knees ballooned up without explanation. As we sat at boyscouts discussing the kid's plans for camping this fall he mentioned his son's illness and how he'd rather keep his son from attending any camp outs for a bit. The response from the other parents sitting around the table: "Lyme disease. Oh, really? Next topic." It was either because they've heard of too many folk contracting the disease, or, more likely because people only care about what the media has told them to care about.
I agree with you that the schools should be educating about this disease at the same level they seem to care about EEE - we had one mosquito found with it in town over the summer and all of a sudden all after dusk activities were required to be canceled. And yet, no mention about ticks and the illnesses they can spread has come home in years.
Posts: 8 | From SE Mass | Registered: Nov 2009
| IP: Logged |
posted
I don't remember that. but then again, I'm a city kid. But no one I knew going to the Cape or the beach or up NH were concerned about wearing DEET,
except NOT to wear DEET b/c of the chemicals.
I recall mentions of mosquito bites and fear of being "eaten alive" but nothing of concern over ticks. Seriously.
People actually carried repeller-compasses that supposedly used ultrasound to repel mosquitoes in lieu of using DEET.
So I don't recall a "scare" and fear-mongering remotely matching the way it is with the H1N1, or like I said, EEE or west nile.
I don't recollect an American furor of a demand for Lymerix lyme vaccine --- people calling their various doctors offices every week, different doctors offices, clinics to locate it when it was released.
The way swine flu vaccine is being demanded. The way ppl are waiting in lines for hours upon hours...8 hours at one place....Maine and other out-of-state residents traveling to Mass to wait in those lines for the jab.
I'm sure it would have stood out in my mind but then again, I probably wasn't paying as much attention to the news then perhaps.
It's true, people are rather apathetic about tick protection. I guess we need to finance a fear-mongering campaign to get people to lessen their chances of contracting tick-borne disease.
But I contracted it by walking down a city street so unless we're gonna walk around in hazmat suits wherever we go.....
Maybe Lyme isn't glamorous enough, I guess.
Posts: 571 | From Massachusetts | Registered: Oct 2008
| IP: Logged |
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic