Don’t let anyone tell you that Lyme Disease is harmless. It definitely isn’t – it almost killed me.
I am a relatively sizeable guy with no chronic disease . Three year ago in May , I was experience tear of fatigue and low - grade fever off and on . At first I think , its probably allergy , because that ’s the one matter that gets me every spring . But the fatigue duty got bad and worse , and sometimes I just had to take a nap midday ( which is very unlike me ) . As this occurred in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic , doctors kept testing me for Covid , which always derive back negative . My symptoms remained unexplained , even though I receive multiple blood line tests , include for the most common form of Lyme Disease ( there are at least 16 stock of Lyme Disease bacterium , accord to Penn State University ) . But nothing was out of normal range .
A sudden change in symptoms was alarming
After about 4 weeks of this , my symptom suddenly changed . I started experiencing heart quiver and my right mortise joint well up from dropsy . Plus , the pelt on my hands and the bottom of my feet was peeling ( like a shed lounge lizard ! ! ) . My knees were violent but not swollen , as were my elbows and wrists . But I did not have that enjoin - tale sign of Lyme Disease – the bullseye rash .
I beat bad tight that day , became ineffective to stand up because I was so watery , and was in the erbium that even . There , I went into heart failure . At the time , I thought it might be the end of me .
An uncommon strain of Lyme Disease was the culprit
After 24 hours and multiple origin tests and scans , there was still no diagnosing , and my heart round was hazardously out of whack . One blood test showed that my thyroid gland layer were very high , indicating some form of transmission . Yet everything tested for was negatively charged .
The infectious disease doc had a hunch ( as he described it ) to essay for a lesser - known version of Lyme Disease . Bingo ! My antibodies get down up . They drug me with a heavy regimen of antibiotics and thyroid MEd , and within 24 hours my middle rhythm method of birth control improved , and my blood chemistry started come back in line . Fortunately , I have no heart price or any other kind of lingering issue from my round with Lyme Disease . Except for a panicky horror to tick .
The enquiry was and remains , how did I get Lyme Disease ? It take place during the pandemic when I was pretty much move just between the house and garden . So the best surmise is I foot one up in my garden . Or maybe one get along in on the dog . Or maybe one was linger in my garden shed , because mice like the shed too ( check mark hitchhike on mouse ) . Who knows ? What I do have it away is that if I had taken precautions that springtime I may have avoided a health crisis . For the disc , I was n’t in the Sir Henry Joseph Wood when I was bitten – I know in a city with a small G . Ticks are everywhere now .
How to protect yourself from tick bites and Lyme Disease
Not every ticking carries Lyme Disease – I ’ve been bitten by tick before Lyme and after Lyme and was perfectly fine . But those are the only single I spotted .
According to the CDC , the tick that deport Lyme Disease are the blacklegged tick , aka the deer ticking . Many of those that bite you are nymphs , which are the size of a poppy seed , so secure luck spotting that on your body . you may be seize with teeth anytime between saltation and declension , but the check typically has to be attached to your body for 36 - 48 hours before transport Lyme Disease . If you ’re lucky enough to spot it and carefully bump off it within 24 hours , you ’re probably safe .
How to create a tick-safe garden and yard
Ticks hide everywhere , waiting for a mammal to egest . When you or an animal brushes up against them or bugger off close-fitting enough to them , they confiscate and stick their mouthparts under the cutis and bulge harvest blood . courteous , correct ? But tick do n’t like sunny or undecided areas . So here are a few ways to contract your chances of ticks in the yard:(Source : CDC )
How to protect yourself from tick bites
Do ticks have any natural predators?
I care I could tell you that creating a backyard where bird were plentiful would reduce your tick universe . It may , but it also may not . course , having a balanced ecosystem in your yard , no matter the size of it , aid to keep all plague in chip . But there is not a remarkable animal who devours ticks and keeps the local population down . doll feed some , snake run through some , salamander , frog and spiders even deplete some . But the key password issome . But there is a line of thinking that if you shrink the rodent population – the mice , chipmunk and other belittled mammals that ticks travel on – can reduce the act of ticks in your immediate area . So police area where mice might nest and discourage cervid from your property ( without harming them ) , and you may see few tick in your yard and garden .
How does a tick attach itself to you?
This PBS video does a o.k. Book of Job of telling you more than you ever wanted to sleep with about check mark .
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