Need some info on Lyme disease from you guys on the east coast...

[cyberdan (SoCA)]

My niece (out here in So CA) has been diagnosed with advanced chronic Lyme disease. She got bit by a tick one year ago and the doctors out here refused to think about Lyme disease because no one out here gets it. I just saw her two weeks ago and she seemed fine and no complaints. But she has been seeing doctors a long time and none would test for it. She is almost 20 and ready to start her 3rd year in college.

I know I could google it but you guys could probably explain it better. How bad is this? Can it be cured easily? etc

Dan

 

[Craig in Alabama]

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[Vernon in Virginia~Formerly Alaska]

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[Harry Kilmer]

Hay friends this is BAD STUFF

 

[Brandy[Ma.]]

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[Brandy[Ma.]]

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[Craig in Alabama]

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[cyberdan (SoCA)]

This is what I got from my sister

Eileen said that Alli was just now diagnosed with advanced chronic Lyme disease! She was bitten by a tick about a year ago and had gone to several doctors who all said "no, no, no, we don't have Lyme disease around here". Gary finally took her to the top of the top doctors who sent her blood to the top of the top labs in D.C.. The Dr. called Alli yesterday and told her the results were positive.

Alli started on a high regimen of antibiotics and will have to take them for 4 months! She starts UCLA next month, so she is supposed to rest in bed until then (actually he wanted her to stay in bed for at least a month). It's pretty serious. If it gets really advanced, it can affect her brain. Right now, she has just been in really bad, constant chronic pain. They, at first, tried telling her it was Fibromyalgia, but she and Gary kept pursuing it.

I wanted to find out a bit before I called Eileen (my sister who is alli's mother)

 

[Vernon in Virginia~Formerly Alaska]

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[Vernon in Virginia~Formerly Alaska]

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[Craig in Alabama]

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[Craig in Alabama]

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[General Ray]

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[Fred (S. Indiana)]

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[ronaldj2]

My dad's neighbor had lyme disease. He was 47 at the time when he noticed some of the symptoms (flu like), achy joints, tiredness. He ended up having hip replacement. He seems alright now, ten years later. He had to do the antibiotics regiment. I am optimistic that she will make a full recovery given her age. The sad thing about this is they vaccinate dog's and cats for lyme disease but they don't have a vaccine for people. My dog has lyme disease as do many other dogs in my area. We are infested with ticks in this area so I always use deep woods off when going detecting. I live in Western,Ma. I wish they would have gotten rid of the darn ticks before they had such a population explosion. Unfortunately ticks can be carried on all types of animals and birds. the deer ticks are usually the one's that carry lyme disease. Some of them are only as big as a speck of black pepper, they like arm pits, behind the ears, in the hair, and groin area. My wife and I constantly checked our boys when they were younger, now they can check themselves except the hair and ears. Lyme disease was named after Old Lyme,Connecticut because of the unusually high incidences of the symptoms. And also a high population of deer. Hope this helps a little. Ron

 

[Tom in Victoria]

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[jeff & Maria]

I knew I had it because of the "bullseye" rash. 30 days of antibiotics is the treatment. If it isn't treated in a short time it can affect your nervous system and cause problems later in life with regard to arthritis. Like a lot of virus they remain in limbo in your spinal column and can appear later to give you problems. A blood test will tell if you have it, but not until a few weeks after the initial bite. I am not sure if it will show up in bloodwork after a year as in her case. Like with any medical condition, if you don't like what doc #1 is saying, get another opinion. Hope she is OK.

 

[RustyNTX]

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[cyberdan (SoCA)]

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[cyberdan (SoCA)]

Alli is in a lot of pain and on heavy, heavy antibiotics for a month to see what happens. If that does not work it is 4 hours in a hospital 3-4 times a week for intravenous antibiotics.