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View Full Version : Anybody else get Lyme disease this summer?



foodbag
10-09-2005, 10:00
I caught good ole Lyme disease this summer while trying to do a big section. I think I got mine in NJ but I'm not 100% sure since it didn't really go full blown until after I stopped hiking.

Did anybody else get it? What were your symptoms?

Mine started as a swollen finger which I attributed to chafing from my hiking pole strap. About 2 weeks later my whole left hand looked like the Michelin man and, then I finally got the rash. Weird....

gsingjane
10-09-2005, 11:51
My 13 yo son did, I'm pretty sure at BSA summer camp (Sequassen). He was sick as a dog for 3 days... recovering for about a week... and fine now. He didn't get any obvious or strange swellings the way you did, it was more of a general malaise, tiredness, headache etc. and then the RASH.

Jane in CT

Nearly Normal
10-09-2005, 13:28
The area I live in is tick heaven. I have seen dogs with over 100 after a romp in the woods.
A few times I've come in from the woods with several. When you miss one and it becomes attached it is a long healing process and itches like crazy.
On 3 different times I've had the dollar sized reaction and tested over the limit for the antibodies. I urge caution with most tick bites.
As the spirochete that causes Lyme is a close relative to syphilis and causes many of the same type problems, I say get it checked. :eek:
pete

foodbag
10-09-2005, 16:21
You're right about getting it checked. I left the trail for a couple of days to make it back home to my doctor, who gave me a one-shot dose of antibiotics as a precautionary measure.

After that I went right back out hiking for another couple of weeks. Either the one-shot deal didn't work or I got bit by yet another tick! Anyway, 30 days of antibiotics finally did away with it.

I remember sitting under a powerline in the grass and when I got up I had 2 big ticks and three or four of the little ones crawling up my leg. Ewwwwwww!

frieden
10-09-2005, 20:39
What are your suggestions for prevention?

flyfisher
10-10-2005, 10:08
What are your suggestions for prevention?
Permethrin on socks and pants works well if the pants are bloused according to the training I received in the AF.

I happen to have gotten to the PA line northbound in my section hiking last month (September). So it looks like I will be doing much of PA in the fall and very early spring. Maybe the ticks will not be out yet.

However, as I move on toward NJ, NY, and NE next spring, there are bound to be weeks that the ticks get bad.

I do know what to look for. My wife ended up with the typical target lesion from a tick bite after playing around at Gettysburg in mid May a few years ago. It took three 30 day courses of antibiotics to get over that illness for her.

Smile
10-10-2005, 11:22
Vitamin B 12.
Every year I go to Missouri for a week and I'm around a lot of horses doing long trail rides every day, there are an AMAZING amount of ticks, mostly deer ticks and the woods and trails are thick. The horses are sprayed and still gather ticks.

Last year I got talking to an old ranch hand guy, he told me he has never had them latch on and in fact his whole family that lives there takes B 12, I was a skeptic.
This year I started taking a dose of B12 and a B Complex in January.
Faithfully, daily.

June came around and the trip to MO, I was the only one there ( my husband went and he decided to take it a week before, didn't work) that did NOT have any ticks get on me and stick. I had one or two climb on my leg that I could clearly feel, but not a one! Now this may not work for everyone, but I can attest that I am a tick magnet, and this was amazing. Everyone else out of about 250 people did a whole lot of moaning and groaning about the tick problem, nighly private 'tick checks' on each other are the norm.

I continued taking this, still do. This summer hiked from WV-PA, never had a tick. Lots of other hikers did.

Like I said - I am a huge skeptic about this sort of thing - but give it a try, the worst thing that can happen is that you are up on your B vitamins.

Katt
10-10-2005, 23:17
If you don't mind wearing a dog collar... many vets sell a prodoct called a PreventTic collar. It is not a 'typical' flea/tick collar. I have not seen them anywhere but the vets office. It works well for my dog. I have never uses it myself, but know several people who hunt who will wear one around ankle. They swear by them. Last 3 months on dogs if not worn when bathing. I don't know how long they would last hiking or if long term use would cause problems. Might be helpful for a weekend or so.

Katt

Turtle2
10-11-2005, 12:29
Smile, I wish I had known about the B12 stuff early this year. I'm going to get some and start now.

They must have tick ralleys here in West KY. I walk in the woods as part of my job (tough job, huh) and some days I've pulled off 50+ ticks of all sizes and types, dog ticks, deer ticks and the scariest of all--the seed tick. For those unfamiliar with seed ticks, if you hit a nest, usually in Aug or Sept, you will have 200-1000 of the little buggers on you. They are smaller than the period at the end of this sentence and are difficult to locate by your self especially on the back side of the legs, etc., and are the ITCHIEST tick out there. (Too young to carry Lyme, tho, according to the tick site). I digress--I did use permethrin on my section last year and had no ticks thru GA and plan to use it on my clothes on the 2006 Thru. I HATE TICKS.

Thanks to all for your ideas.

soulrebel
10-11-2005, 18:18
Anybody ever get vaccinated before a long hike?

I regularly do tick checks while hiking--and then once again at camp/bedtime

Also, get my honey to check me out when I get home---wooohoooo!!!

My beloved windpants are light in color so I'll wear those in the brush...

Smile
10-12-2005, 03:08
What type of vaccination?




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jlb2012
10-12-2005, 07:54
there used to be a three shot vaccination for Lyme but it was pulled from the market about 3 years ago - not sure why but there were reports of bad side effects and questionable effectiveness

ADKSara
10-12-2005, 08:45
We get our dog vaccinated yearly for lyme disease. I was told that they don't vaccinate us two legged creatures due to the side effects.

alanthealan
10-12-2005, 10:59
What are your suggestions for prevention?
I used sandelwood oil... it keeps away evil spirits.:dance

alanthealan
10-12-2005, 11:01
What type of vaccination?




---------------t-----------
I looked into that and the vaccination was pulled off the market. The CDC site is a good place for info.

rambunny
10-12-2005, 16:04
In 2002 i cut a deer tick out of the back of my knee in southern Pa. I kept looking for that hugh bulls eye in the posters fiqured i was fine,since i didn't have one. The day i summitted BigK my neck and shoulder were seezed up, went to my friends hstle in East Andover to help-which envolved a taxi and 2 busses-my brain couldn't wrap around the directions. When i got to the hostle they immediatly realized i was in trouble and took me to the Dr. 7 mos. on antibiotics, neurological problems,(left leg and right elbow didn't work in sync with brain) Raging arthritis that came and went in feet hands knees, tachacardia,tremors,mental confusion, lack of energy.
Today i still have the arthritic relapses,shot immune system(catch everything going around can't get over it) The good news is the relapses are further and further apart and getting less severe.
Anyway the moral to this long story is if in doubt go immediatly to the Dr. for a round of doxycycline even if it's profalactic.By the way my bulls eye was on my ankle the size of a quarter. Some don't even get that.

Frosty
10-17-2005, 17:49
I went to my doctor today because I've had low energy and occaisional night sweats since I got sick on the Norethville Placid Trail last August. He had me do bloodwork for Lyme Disease even though I had no bite mark. He said physical evidence occurs in only aobut 60% of cases. I was surprised at that. I probably won't get the results back before I head south on vacation. At this piont I don't care what I have as long as I can take something to get my energy levels back.

chicagorunner
10-17-2005, 21:00
My wife caught it this summer. We were vacationing in the backwoods on Penn. It's always suggested to stay covered up and use these sprays. It was definitely something we had not bargained for. But she was a trooper with it, though it did cut the vacation short.