Lyme Life Monday – Co-conspirators
Lyme Disease is the tick borne disease that we hear about. It is a slow, painful killer. The bacteria, is transmitted by a tick bite, but is seldom recognized right away. Many people don’t remember a tick bite and many have never seen the bulls-eye rash that doctors always tell us to look for. Ticks can be the size of a pin head, but they can ruin your life.
Lyme symptoms vary greatly and change as the cork-screw shape bacteria morph and burrow into various body parts. It may be in your joints or lungs. It can get into bones or organs, sometimes affecting the heart. It can ravage your skin. It can penetrate every part of us. Lyme brain is common in later stages and as the term suggests, it has gotten into the central nervous system.
Lyme is often associated with dramatic fatigue and sensory problems, flu like symptoms, but since I have been out of commission for about a year now, I have had the opportunity to learn about co-infections.
What are co-infections? Ticks carry loads of terrible germs. Each has its own way of attacking us. In my case, five and a half months of IV antibiotics knocked down some symptoms, but left others and those increased after discontinuing that IV. I have at least two co-infections; Babesia and Bartonella.
They are despicable creatures. I’ve lived in a clearing in the woods my whole life. We all put up with them. If you live where lizards are, you get used to them. If you live where mosquitos thrive, you take it as it comes, right?
If you live in an area where Lyme is reported to be high, it should be a routine test. Please ask your doctor to check for Lyme, if the Western Blot comes up negative, but you have symptoms that are not explained or seem disconnected, ask your doctor to use Igenex labs, in California, or find a Lyme Literate doctor. New England has many. Most of the country has cases, but it is most noted in the northeast.
The longer you have the disease before treatment, the harder it is to get control of it. If you’ve been sick more than a year, then you can expect treatment to be more than a year, according to what I’ve learned. If you catch it early, you’ll have better results.
Treatment can be expensive. Depending on the co-infections you have, it can mean tens of thousands of dollars. We lost two rental properties because I couldn’t manage them. I have spent more than $18,000 out of pocket, plus what was covered by insurance and I am not out of the woods.
Many people cannot come up with that kind of money, especially when they’re too sick to work. So, the most important thing I can tell you, is to get checked, often. If your sick, ask for a test. At your yearly physical would be good. Testing in the fall for children or those who spend time out doors is reasonable.
Stay well, my friends.