(picture: While camping in Colorado - not a good idea to feed the chipmunks on your leg)
I won't make it too long because I want you to read it then tell me yours.
(picture: While camping in Colorado - not a good idea to feed
the chipmunks on your leg)
If you want your story added to this site I will be more than happy
to do so.
1986 I was visiting Colorado, Near East Park at the Mount
Olive Ridge camp ground in the National Park. I remember a tick bite..
I saw it on my left leg attached, between my hip and knee toward the inside.
I attempted to scrape it off and I ended up smashing the ticks body releasing
the contents inside me and the head of the tick got stuck under the
skin in my leg (Wrong way to remove a tick). I didn't do too
much about it and a some time later, a few days I ended up with some problems.
I noticed a round rash and the center was begining to raise and becoming
white. I tried to soak it in a hot water
bath for most of the day. This is when my lymph nodes in that
leg near the groin became enlarged and I began to get very ill.
(This is the area
I was bit - 1986)
So much that i ended up in the emergency room sometime after. I have documented ER report. They said I might have Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and released me with some medication. I got back home and I was still sick. From that point on I was sick off and on and I never linked the tick bite to all the problems I had until I was asked about it in 1995. Over the years I had everything from sinus infections, kidney stones, alergy to milk several muscle joint problems, chronic fatigue, heart problems , on and on with problems. I seemed to be going from Doctor to Doctor who were treating me for what ever I went in for. Not finding the underlying problem of why I was getting sick all the time, missing work, college classes, social events. All the time I never thought that the tick bite would have anything to do with this. I ended up having a couple of surgeries some of which were later considered as unnecessary (but I cannot blame any Doctor because they were treating me the best they knew how at the time). It wasn't until I moved out of state to California for a new job, I was heading up the ladder in my Criminal Justice career. During this I was getting sicker and sicker as months-years went on. I would go from doctor to doctor because I wasnt happy with the results, I knew in my own mind it wasnt just a sinus infection , there had to more to it because I was having alot of problems. Sinus infections, muscle, joint, eyes, headaches, dizziness, tired all the time, memory problems - one word recall, etc etc etc etc etc etc.....
(Wild Basin Trail
- don't wear shorts and don't go off the trails like I did)
It was 1995 now, I finally found a Doctor (California) who said he was going to test me for all types of things. He asked if I had ever been bitten by anything. I said yes and showed him the scar on my leg from the tick bite. He asked if I had a rash with it, I said yes you can check the ER report, which I sent to him later (I always made copies of medical records). I went back for my blood results and while the Doctor was reading over the results I could see him puzzled and stopped for some time on one page, i was retested.
(Olive Ridge Camp Ground - this is where I first noticed the tick attached
to
me, when I was changing my clothes. I scraped it off with
a knife and ended up in the Estes Park Emergency Room a few days later)
I got those results after I left and they also said high out of range for lyme disease. I went to another Doctor some time after and was tested again, It came up positive again. I was retested and same results. Then I went to another Doctor tested again and again and the same thing. I began to study up on lyme disease. My family and friends began to look up information. I found a specialists but it was some distance from were I lived. I ended up making an appointment and friends and relatives ended up taking me to see him. After several visits and treatments I was told I had lyme disease. Due to the drive I was told about a doctor somewhat closer to me who also specialized, so I did. After several visits and treatments. I was diagnosed with Chronic lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, peripheral neuropathy, fibromyalgia and HME pos along with a RA pos test. among a list of other things the other doctors had diagnosed me with. After a long time of treatments I was still getting worse, everytime something new came up I would never go back to the same way I was before. I was now unemployed, legally disabled, young adult and chronically and progressively losing my health. I struggle ever day with one or more problems. I decided to see an expert in the field to see if I really had this thing (yes even after all these tests that came out positive)and what the future held for me. I went to Boston and saw an expert in the field. I ended up being diagnosed with chronic active late stage lyme disease among other things. It was possible that I had been infected more than once over a period of years.
There is no happy ending to my case. I am still chronically and progressively getting worse. One Doctor mentioned it as "see it like this, your getting older quicker" that is why preventionand early treatment is so important. You don't want to end up like me.
Today, I see a local doctor who is treating me for my major problems and consulting with the Doctor in Boston for lyme related issues.. If I went in for everything that bugged me, I would end up living at the doctors office. After all tests came up positive and even an expert telling me I had to come to reality. There has been alot that has happened since 1986 till today 1-99.
I am familiar with the west coast and how it deals with lyme disease. How a Doctors didn't advise me of the results. I was lucky that i kept a journal most of my life and documented the events and have all my medical records on hand. My case was published in Denmark because of the in depth detail and classic case. To let you know, not everyone remembers a tick or gets a rash , even if they do it might not be they same type of signs and symptoms I had. And some don't test postitive. I am just one of the few who have all these. So don't get disappointed. see a doctor. I feel i can lend a hand and offer some ideas. I have been there and I am still there.
More importantly I want organize those supports groups ( begin
some if necessary ), doctors, patients, someone who might think they have
lyme disease, anyone interested in lyme disease.
And you dont have to live directly on the west coast. If you need
help or wish to help. I want to make this site a center point of
information.
Currently im a retired federal officer former police officer,
100% disabled by SSDI and by All of my doctors. I struggle alot
with my health and it seems to change daily. not a happy
ending. Few anymore
are like me due to the ability to treat and cure this early. Without proper early treatment you can
end up with significant health issues.
email me. Check out the web site.
Now its your turn.
Lyme Disease - The West Coast Connection