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Loomis
climber
Svět
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All I can say is: Inspect yourself very well when coming out of area's known to contain these ticks.
Don't get this bacteria, it is no fun to deal with.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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I've had Lyme four times; the most recent case being right now. Two of those times there was bull's eye rash; the other two times I had no initial symptoms whatsoever until the secondary symptoms occurred, probably several months, possibly as many as six, after the initial infection. The first of those two times, my secondary symptoms were increasingly severe muscle aches, which I ignored for a while, as I suspect any active person would. This time I experienced swelling and pain in both knees without any kind of event that would precipitate such a reaction.
Needless to say, I'm pretty careful. DEET and permithrin-treated clothes. And I seriously doubt the stories about ticks taking 24 or more hours to bite. By then I've done full-body tick checks and showered and scrubbed with a brush. In fact I know that time frame isn't true, because my wife has gone out into the garden for half an hour and come back with an embedded tick. More than once.
Ticks do not acquire the Lyme spirochete from deer. They get it from infected rodents, primarily white-taile mice here in Dutchess County. In a later stage of deveopment, when the ticks feed on deer, they either have or have not already been infected.
I'm "fortunate" to live in Dutchess County, which is one of the Lyme capitals of the universe, so virtually every internist is savvy about the disease and the substantial vagaries of testing for it.
...He got bit by a tick and immediately went to a Lyme specialist and got the blood test within the prescribed time period.
Sadly, getting the test too soon can lead to false negatives. The test is for Lyme antibodies, and these can take as much as several weeks to appear in sufficient concentrations in the bood to produce a positive test result. In any case, the tests are not very reliable, although their reliablility increases once the disease is disseminated. In Dutchess you get antibiotics for having the characteristic rash without any blood testing.
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limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
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I got it in Sequoia last year. Doctor said if I wasn't back east I didn't have to worry, then I told her about other CA cases and showed her the red ring and she gave me antibiotics.
I have a friend from back east who tested negative and after 4 years and tens of thousands in doctor bills he was diagnosed with lyme disease so I figured better safe than sorry! Supposedly the test isn't very accurate and costs more than antibiotics so it was an easy choice.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there say, ... first, big hug to lynne... :(
second... thank you all for sharing and lets' keep this
bumped from time time...
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Loomis
climber
Svět
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Yeah, let's listen to Lynne... I see it more each day.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Sport climber
moving thru
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The mental and physical agony Dan suffered was intense. Dan tried (and succeeded) to carry on. I didn't realize til later how intense his challenges were. After Dan went to heaven my daughter, Amy, told me that Dan confided in her one day saying that if he had not been a rock climber he may not have been able to hang in there. The hard core challenges of the rock conditioned him to endure.
Lyme Disease is Nothing to mess around with. Find a qualified physician and deal with it immediately.
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hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
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I had Lyme's this summer. I pulled a Deer Tick off and it was full of my blood--I waited a couple weeks and went to have the blood test--I began taking Doxycycline that day as I knew I would obsess about the possibilities. Anyway, I tested out positive and I knocked down 3 weeks of antibiotics. My only symptoms were some fatigue. But I was not going to mess with the Lyme thing. I caught it early and I feel normal-this is 3 months out
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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It's a spirochete, related to Lyme. I had a client with Lyme who thinks that Lyme was a bio warfare project that escaped from Plum Island, just off the coast of Lyme CT. I forget the details but a spirochete has an inside and an outside part. The outside somehow enabled it to live in the human body, then they put different parts inside, like a bacteria payload, as part of their research. Looks like it has mutated on its own now.
I wonder if it's just that we have better detection technology but it sure seems like all of a sudden there are al these new diseases cropping up on a regular basis. Wassup with that?
Peace
Karl
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SCseagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Oh boy...just re read this thread. Not home a couple days and I take hike up in SC Mtns. Next morning I wake up with a deer tick feasting on my neck. I knew it was a deer tick because I had brushed some off my dog....of course she is clean of bites because of Frontline.
I got most of it out, but it broke off. Off to Urgent Care with "help, can't get the rest of this ugly sucker out. Guess what???? They send me to the hospital ER because the urgent docs couldn't get it out it has burrowed so far in and they didn't have the right forceps to "extract the foreign body". ER got it out and I was immediately put on doxycycline. My neck and shoulder are very tender due to the digging. The tick was sent off to a lab to see if it tests positive for Lyme's disease. Hopefully not, or if so the doxy will have done its job.
Any others have any updates to what had already been posted. I'm squicked, of course. Washing all my bedding on "sanitize" setting, not once but twice!
Susan
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bob
climber
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I have chronic Lyme. Whooo hoooooooo! Anyways. I have had two deer ticks I pulled off while in the SC mountains and sent them in. Neither was infected. Just thought I'd throw that your way. (tests were two years ago)
Anyways, you're set because you nailed it immediately. Nice work!!!! Oh, and both the areas of my body that I pulled those ticks from hurt way more than other tick bites in my life. Hmmmmmmm not sure what's up with that.
Peace and best of luck!!!!!
Bob J.
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SCseagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Very interesting Bob about the " hurt" part. I was barely awake and my hand kinda gravitated to my shoulder and brushed across my night shirt and immediately it hurt. I thought did I spring some sort of giant pimple or boil. When I got up and looked in the mirror I was astounded with the size of the area that was red and tender considering the tick didn't look that engorged...unlike dog ticks that get all balloony.
From the bite and the procedure I feel like I've been shot or stabbed in that shoulder.
I'm hoping my quick response and doxy will be the ticket.
And like a flame to moth...back on that trail today but without the dog who is really the culprit because she goes through the brush and I'm sure transferred to me.
Susan
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SCseagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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^^^^^^yep, I think for the most part you are correct....however I had flicked several off of her so I'm tipping towards the little boogers seeing me as an easy mark or I flicked from her to me!
Gosh, Marin, I remember running the Dipsea over Mt Tam and basically being lousy with them at the finish. Luckily, no bites just a lot of whooshing them away.
Susan
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SCseagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Tick confirmed as Western Black Legged Tick, the only tick species in Northern California to carry Lymes. Testing suggested it was not infected, however "tick received was desiccated, this may compromise testing"
Anyway, since I was immediately put on antibiotics I'm feeling pretty positive I've done all I can.
Susan
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Sport climber
moving thru
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Susan, just read this. OMG, prayers for you! Along with love and caring. Sounds like you're handling it well. Only other thing would be to go to Dr. Miguel A.Gonzales in Thousand Oaks who is a specialist in this area. He even has an office nurse dedicated to Lyme patients. Sometimes people go on IV Rocephin to treat problems. His number is 805-497-7508. He's also an athlete so he understands the need to be fit.
Love from Lynne
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SCseagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Lynnie, thanks so much for the info. I know you went to hell and back with yours and Dan's journey through Lymes. Right now I'm feeling pretty confident I've done everything I can. If something comes up in the future I know immediately to get checked for Lymes since it was a vector tick.
Missing you...happy New Year and hopefully see you this spring when you return from Colorado. If we get to Ouray I'll contact you. We've been contemplating heading that way as we migrate north to Bozeman for ski season.
Susan
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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I do not take this lightly and mean no disrespect,
I am touched with the grief and sorrow of
So much sadness and loss
Of the last few years
That I am numb.
My photo ID is the bull’s-eye! Well I can change that.
I have had lyme's and it was a crushing illness
Double vision, joints and old injuries swollen with pain
This most recent bite has only had the bulls-eye with swelling,
pain at the site, and hot to the touch. It has been much bigger, across half my back,
but no other symptoms. The mark was faded but visible; it lasted for two solid months.
The thing is I have also been bit by a Brown Recluse spider, that hurt just like this but was accompanied by flesh loss and an open blister wound.
I am very well aware of my 'bad' reactions to stings and bites.
This thing on my shoulder was nowhere near the pain and loss of lucidity, that came from a spider bite to my .... well... south of my pp those things that hang down, the four letter word fits so much better it’s… ...Balls.
I do not take this lightly and mean no disrespect,
I am touched with, sorrow and grief
So much sadness, loss and hart ache
Of the last few years
That I am numb.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Sport climber
moving thru
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Just want to send this bit of info. If it's changed Please let me know.
If you get bit by a tick carrying Lyme I believe you only have 24 to 48 hours to start antibiotic treatment. Screw the pills, if it happened to me I'd pay the bucks and jump to IV Rocephin. What is your life worth?
lynnie
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couchmaster
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 20, 2014 - 05:55pm PT
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Bump for Moosedrool.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Dec 21, 2014 - 06:34pm PT
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Not a tic bite ... spider I was lucky the only symptoms were the stiffness pain and swelling.
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