picked up virus or bacteria in Smokies?

[Cabernet]

I apparently picked up a virus or bacteria on AT in Smokies in mid June 2014. 100.5 fever, chills, sweats, muscle/joint aches, malaise, blood shot eyes. Am under doctor's care but not all test reports will come back until next week. Just wondering if anyone has/is experiencing anything similar. Thanks.

[Slo-go'en]

Sounds like some kind of virus. Maybe it's something you picked up in the Smokies, maybe not. Do you remember being bit by something? You'll just have to wait for the blood tests and hope they find something.

[Ricky&Jack]

2 weeks ago I went to the smokeys with the chattanooga hiking club.... the next day our leader wad very sick. lasted 5 days. but he took "phenegran" to get better.

I'm Still not sure what he had

[rocketsocks]

Sorry to hear your not feelin well Catherine...we could all speculate...but do you have a stiff neck and head ache? Could be Lyme decease, good news if it is, they'll likely start you on some antibiotics (Doxy somethin or other) bad news, you have lyme decease. Hope you feel better soon. :)

...do you need anything?

[Wise Old Owl]

wait the results... I will say a prayer. Honest I doubt anyone can get a handle on the symptoms.. If you really think you got it on the trail make sure you get the Rocky Mountain test as that is handled somewhere in Colorado by blood sample... I tested positive a few years back after the Pinnacle as well as my dad.

[centerfieldr162]

Hopefully not as I will be in the smokies in a few weeks. Best wishes to you. Feel better soon

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[HooKooDooKu]

2 weeks ago I went to the smokeys with the chattanooga hiking club.... the next day our leader wad very sick. lasted 5 days. but he took "phenegran" to get better.

I'm Still not sure what he had
I believe phenergan is what you mean, and if so, it's not a "make you better" drug, it's a "make you feel better" drug... it's an anti-nausea medication. Among other things... pregnant women take it if they are having really bad morning sickness.

[Cabernet]

Thanks everyone .

[rocketsocks]

Thanks everyone .:welcometo white blaze, hoping today has you feelin better.

[Don H]

Anytime you have flu like symptoms you have to suspect Lyme. Some doctors will make you wait for a positive test before treating, others will treat when Lyme is suspect even if there has not been a positive test.

Many people test several times before a positive test results, this can takes weeks or months. Early treatment of Lyme is important to prevent long term problems.

[Pedaling Fool]

I kind of feel for the Doctors; I imagine a lot of them get many "experts" who self-diaganose and just go to get a prescription and don't want to hear anything to Doc has to say. This issue of antibiotic overuse is nothing new, but we've yet to see to worse of it http://www.iatp.org/blog/201209/the-invisible-epidemic-giving-voice-to-the-faceless-victims-of-antibiotic-overuse


P.S. I know some doctors are to blame also, but I think a lot of that is their overreaction to the high expectations established by our society.

[rafe]

P.S. I know some doctors are to blame also, but I think a lot of that is their overreaction to the high expectations established by our society.

What "high expectations?" The opposite, really. We (the USA) are pretty much the only first world nation that doesn't have universal medical coverage. We pay twice what any other country pays, and our health outcomes are in the pits.

[Don H]

I kind of feel for the Doctors; I imagine a lot of them get many "experts" who self-diaganose and just go to get a prescription and don't want to hear anything to Doc has to say. This issue of antibiotic overuse is nothing new, but we've yet to see to worse of it http://www.iatp.org/blog/201209/the-invisible-epidemic-giving-voice-to-the-faceless-victims-of-antibiotic-overuse


P.S. I know some doctors are to blame also, but I think a lot of that is their overreaction to the high expectations established by our society.

So are you saying you disagree with immediate antibiotic treatment when there is a reasonable suspicion of exposure to Lyme?

[centerfieldr162]

Better to be safe than sorry in my book. I went on a day hike a few weeks ago and found a tiny tick on my three days later. It wasn't swollen up but it was burrowed. I showed no signs of lyme and since I had 20+ chigger bites, my focus wasn't on the tick. But after my lymph nodes swole up and I found a red itchy ring around one of my chigger bites (could have nothing to do with the tick), I went to the doctor and they put my on a 2 week course of doxycycline. Gave me peace of mind and I'd rather be on the antibiotics and not have to worry as much than not take anything and worry about having lyme

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[Pedaling Fool]

What "high expectations?" The opposite, really. We (the USA) are pretty much the only first world nation that doesn't have universal medical coverage. We pay twice what any other country pays, and our health outcomes are in the pits.
We practice here in the USA “defensive medicine”, due to the amount of medical liability issues; that greatly affects medical costs. http://www.amednews.com/article/20100503/profession/305039938/4/

So if we want universal medical coverage, which personally I don’t really care, then that must first be addressed.

However, I was speaking more to the issue of personal responsibility. The majority of people http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/prevention/ are sick simply because of their lifestyle choices, yet they expect the medical system to heal them, when in reality the medical system, for all its advancements, can’t do that; only the patient can do that. Yes the medical community can (and they do all the time) fix problems created by the patients, but they cannot fix the root problem. This is why you see so many people riding around on those carts nowadays and at the same time they are taking tons of drugs and taking up valuable time of our limited medical personnel. That should be a crime, but instead they are told it’s not their fault and get them anywhere near a lawyer and watch out...


So are you saying you disagree with immediate antibiotic treatment when there is a reasonable suspicion of exposure to Lyme?

Not entirely, this is a very big complex issue and a more difficult question and I’m not really settled on an answer. In part I think it’s unavoidable, but surely we who expect to be healed, NOW, are making it worse, but the medical liability issue plays in as well, along with other factors; it goes way beyond our hiking community and the Lyme disease issue.

</O:pClearly though there are many who think just because they have a certain set of symptoms are convinced of its cause and I’m sure give the Docs hell.

And I’m sure some will give anecdotal evidence that they fought and fought with their doc and finally got some meds the doctor was reluctant to give and all of a sudden they were “cured”. However, is that because of the drug or is it because of the placebo effect or was it just their immune system. Of course all we’ll hear is that some dumb ass “proved their doctor wrong”.<O:p</O:p
<O:p
</O:pAnd I know the issues with Lyme disease, I feel as though I have chronic Lyme disease, but I don’t know; I’ve decided to stop going to the doctors, because it got too much of a PITA with all the tests.

[rocketsocks]

<o:p
And I know the issues with Lyme disease, I feel as though I have chronic Lyme disease, but I don’t know; I’ve decided to stop going to the doctors, because it got too much of a PITA with all the tests.I too have been reluctant to jump on the "It's Lyme Decease Doc, I just know" wagon. But as time goes on and being called an enigma by many a physician, I'm really starting to wonder if there is not some validity to the condition denied as "Chronic Lyme Decease" either way, it's not lookin good for the home team. </o;) and frankly, I'm pissed about it.

[Pedaling Fool]

I too have been reluctant to jump on the "It's Lyme Decease Doc, I just know" wagon. But as time goes on and being called an enigma by many a physician, I'm really starting to wonder if there is not some validity to the condition denied as "Chronic Lyme Decease" either way, it's not lookin good for the home team. and frankly, I'm pissed about it.
Science gets it wrong all the time and they are probably wrong on this issue. A lot of people think I'm being anti-science when I say that, but they could not be any more wrong.

I say that without emotion, it's just a fact, but I also realize that the answer, for the most part, will be science and the doctors. We are just a victim of timing and mother nature, she must always get the lion's share of the blame:D:)

Look at all the people that suffered from the things we don't even worry about today, should we blame science for not solving those problems sooner? Of course not.

Having said that, I understand the frustration. My answer, which I know is not the answer for many, is to fight this on my own. I'm optimistic.

[rocketsocks]

Science gets it wrong all the time and they are probably wrong on this issue. A lot of people think I'm being anti-science when I say that, but they could not be any more wrong.

I say that without emotion, it's just a fact, but I also realize that the answer, for the most part, will be science and the doctors. We are just a victim of timing and mother nature, she must always get the lion's share of the blame:D:)

Look at all the people that suffered from the things we don't even worry about today, should we blame science for not solving those problems sooner? Of course not.

Having said that, I understand the frustration. My answer, which I know is not the answer for many, is to fight this on my own. I'm optimistic.Agreed, you have to be your own advocate, and strike when the iron is hot. One day, and for reasons that will become obvious if and when, the table will turn and chronic Lyme will be seen as having a pimple and treated over the counter. So until then, I'll just keep keeping on, and call it something different...like it's constituent maladies and deal with em as they appear one by one and rear there ugly heads. like a Medusa.

[HooKooDooKu]

Catherine,

Any update?

I'm currently betting that you didn't get Lyme Disease in GSMNP... just because compared to other places I've been, I rarely ever find a tick on me after hiking GSMNP. I do know they are out there... because I found one on my food bag during a hike this weekend. But at this point, most of the ticks I've seen in GSMNP were ticks that were NOT on me (or someone else).

[Wülfgang]

Just to chime in on Lyme here---

I am a PA (Physician Assistant) who has had Lyme. I self-treated with Doxycycline 100mg BID x 14 days and was cured. I have had no neurologic sequelae. How did I know? Well I found 2 deer ticks on my torso about 3-4 days after an outing. I had the pathognomonic "bullseye" lesion which spread to about 12" in diameter. I had no real symptoms, just a vague sense of tiredness.

Anytime someone in the east has flu-like symptoms or any constellation of neurologic symptoms they tend to reflexively blame Lyme. Yes, Lyme is common and that would certainly be in my differential if were treating someone, but there are also myriad other viral illnesses (usually vector-mediated, as in through mosquitos) that can PRESENT as Lyme but fly under the diagnostic radar. West Nile comes to mind. Furthermore, Lyme can be missed in it's early stages, and even successfully treated chronic Lyme can have permanent (or very long-term) neurologic sequelae. Hence the "Lyme syndrome" some claim to have even when they are diagnostically clean.

Infectious disease, preferably at an academic hospital should be involved whenever there is a suspected mosquito or waterborne illness. ER docs and bread-and-butter PAs like myself can often miss the sneakier or more exotic infections.

[T-bone of the smokey]

my wife and i was in the smokeys a few weeks ago and did a loop and my wife came down with a virus after the hike and i did too..it was a rough virus to shake.

[Cabernet]

Hookoodooku,
All testing negative. No diagnosis. Doc thinks leptospirosis although the test was negative. Symptoms subsiding. Now to get my strength back! Lots if hiking time left before winter. Thanks for asking.

[EastCoastClimber]

Catherine: Did you sleep in shelter or tent? I have heard stories from thru-hikers getting sick from supposedly inhaling bacteria spores through mouse feces, left in shelters. I also heard that it's better NOT to sweep out a shelter before using it (kicks up dust and spores).

Also, wonder if it could have be water born?

[Rolls Kanardly]

2 weeks ago I went to the smokeys with the chattanooga hiking club.... the next day our leader wad very sick. lasted 5 days. but he took "phenegran" to get better.

I'm Still not sure what he had
Brand name Phenegran, promethazine HCI is for allergies. This brand is no longer available in US but generic brands may still be available according to RXlist.com.

[BuckeyeBill]

Phenegran is available in the USA. I take it for nausea in a shot form. Also available in tablet form.

[Cabernet]

I stayed in the shelters.

[T-Rx]

Phenergan (promethazine) is absolutely still available in the U.S. It and Zofran(ondansetron) are the most commonly prescribed anti nausea medications. Phenergan is available as a tablet, syrup, injectable and suppository forms.

[Rolls Kanardly]

Phenegran is available in the USA. I take it for nausea in a shot form.

Another surf on other web sites and they agree that it is used for allergies and nausea and that it is still available as brand name Phenegran. Our wonderful health care in this country agreeing to disagree. I would not be able to take it due to my servere asthma.

[Ground Control]

I recently picked up some sorta funk just north of GSMP. Fever and chills for about a week, and Montezuma's revenge for nearly four weeks. Got treated with an antibiotic, which killed off the flu-like symptoms, but the intestinal problem continued for almost a full month.

Getting sick after trucking through the southern Appalachians always reminds me of the Doctor shaming Long John Silver and his band of pirates when they get sick in Treasure Island. (Humans know humid / wet climates are more prone to carry health risks, but this dissuades very few hikers.) In the novel, the mutineers have camped downwind from a swamp, and approach the doctor with a white flag, begging for medical assistance. The doctor explains:


"That comes—as you call it—of being arrant asses," retorted the doctor, "and not having sense enough to know honest air from poison, and the dry land from a vile, pestiferous slough. I think it most probable—though of course it's only an opinion—that you'll all have the deuce to pay before you get [252] that malaria out of your systems. Camp in a bog, would you? Silver, I'm surprised at you. You're less of a fool than many, take you all round; but you don't appear to me to have the rudiments of a notion of the rules of health.

Of course, I don't think any of us are arrant asses, nor do I suspect malaria; the quote came to mind as I chuckled at my own health issues last month after hiking along the wet AT.

Hope ya feel better.