[at-l] Lyme disease

[Ken Bennett]

The deer tick that gives us Lyme disease is very very small -- not much
bigger the size of the period at the end of this sentence. The larger dog
tick can give you Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, another tick borne illness
that is quite common in the east. (My doc said it should be called "Carolina
Spotted Fever.")

In any case, when you have Lyme disease you only *wish* you were dead. At
least I did. If you get a very high fever that spikes up and down, bad
chills, lose a lot of weight, and have crushing fatigue, go see your doc.
The "characteristic" bulls eye rash isn't a good indicator one way or the
other. Neither is the quick Lyme test, of course, but if you have all those
symptoms and you've been exposed (like hikers usually have), then you're
probably a good candidate for a course of doxycycline or similar.

A red bump? I wouldn't worry about it just yet. Clean it well, and keep an
eye on it.

The usual disclaimer: I'm not a doc, just a former Lyme disease patient.
Your mileage may vary and all that.

Good luck and stay healthy.

--Ken




On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 6:06 PM, <groberts6774 at comcast.net> wrote:

> Hey Amy, or the AT-L, I was bitten by a tick in my backyard on Sunday.  He
> hadn't had a chance to eat yet and was really skinny.  I successfully pulled
> him and his glue-like mouth off of me.  I looked at him under a magnifying
> glass to make sure i got his mouth.  I was also careful not to squeeze him
> too much to have him regurgitate his parasitic stomach back into me.
> BUT.....the area looks like a small zit or bump and is red.  No ring, and
> doesn't hurt.  I'm thinking it's just a reaction to the secretions he
> attached with, for now.  any thoughts?  I don't wanna die.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> at-l mailing list
> at-l at backcountry.net
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/at-l
>
>


-- 
Ken Bennett
University Photographer
Office of Creative Services
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, NC 27109
photographer.wfu.edu
bennettk at wfu.edu
Tel 336.758.6009
Fax 336.758.4697
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