fluffyluggage
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It is definitely possible to be feeling symptoms really quickly. Many people will say that ticks have to be attached for 48 hours in order for it to pass a disease onto you. However, that's really irresponsible, IMHO. How are you to know how long it was attached, for starters? Also, that's really getting very technical, down to the hour, and assuming that at 47 hours, nothing can be passed? I don't think so. You also could get some co-infections, which are other infections passed along with the LD by ticks. Things like ehrlichia, babesia, bartonella, etc. You can definitely get symptoms pretty quickly after pulling off the tick. When you pull off the tick, you could squeeze it in such a way as to have it (and this is gross, I know, I'm sorry) regurgiate into you, if you don't do it just right, and it can pass along the stuff to you that way. It's just how it goes, unfortunately. It's a risk of taking off a tick. Even if you do it just right, it could have passed something along already, so there's no telling exactly how that happened, just my thoughts are all over the place, and that's call Lyme brain! That is to refute the idea that if the tick isn't attached for 48 hours, it can't pass anything to you, tho. Anyway, to get more to answering the other questions, it really is up to your doctor what to start with. Many doctors start with doxycycline as a "preventive" measure or a "just in case" situation of exposure or possible exposure to LD. See, sorry, bad day, I'm all over the place! Excuse that, and I hope you can understand what I'm say. I actually haven't taken any pain meds, believe it or not. Just can't seem to think or get anything to come out straight! How long the tick will take to be tested? I'm not entirely sure, but my guess is it would take about the same as it would to test a human, which is about 10-14 days. Some people take a little longer, could be up to 3 weeks. You might see if they can test for co-infections, but I'm not sure if they will or not? Just a thought... I would mention, however, your headachy symptoms to the doc, and also, I'd be aware of other LD symptoms, one of the main early ones being flu-like symptoms. Look for a bulls-eye rash where you pulled off the tick. That's a dead-ringer for LD, and if you get it, there's no doubt about your diagnosis, which is actually a good thing. You won't go through what many of us go through trying to get a diagnosis. Several good places to get started with learning more are located here: www.ilads.org This is the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society's webpage. There's a ton of great information that will help get you started in learning more about LD. www.ilads.org/basic.html This is ILADS's basic page. I recommend you start here. The info is very succinct and specific for some of the questions you've asked. It will help you understand a lot more in a short period of time. It also answers questions about testing and talks about how unreliable testing really is. http://www.canlyme.com/tom.html This is Canada's Lyme Association's webpage, specifically with Tom Grier's LD article on the complications of LD. I love the article, because even tho it gets a little technical, it's got a section beneath the technical parts that say "this is what this means." It's also a wonderful reference! www.truthaboutlymedisease.com This website I haven't visited much, haven't had the chance to, but it was recommended to me by one of the group leaders here. I understand that it really busts a lot of the myths about LD. I'd recommend you take a look at it and see what of benefit you can find there. http://www.personalconsult.com/articles/moldandbiotoxins/
AdvancedTopicsInLymeDisease.pdf This is Dr. Joseph Burrascano's 33-page guide "Advanced Topics in Lyme Disease." It is a wonderful guide with 2 pages of symptoms lists. I recommend you print it out and keep it handy. I call it my "Lyme Bible," and I refer back to it regularly. Even though it was written by a doc for docs, it is very easy to understand, and it's got wonderful info in it. Very useful, and it will answer many of your questions. http://www.lymepa.org/Basics2007v1.2Rev.pdf This is the Basic Lyme guide written by the LDASEPA (Lyme Disease Assoc. of S.E. Penn.). It's written in Q&A format, and it answers a ton of questions you probably didn't even realize you had. It's a wonderful guide for beginners, and there are even more pages of symptoms lists in here than Burrascano's guide has. I like this symptoms list better, in fact, because there's a place to mark "current" and "past" symptoms. It's better for chronic LD patients, probably, than early stage, as far as the symptoms list goes, but you may still find use for the symptoms list, and you definitely will find use for the guide itself. I hope that some of that will help you to get started. It looks like you may have a bit of a quest ahead, but if you really buckle down and investigate things for yourself, I think you'll do really well. PM me if you need to talk, or if you need more info. *hugs* Jen Just because it's impossible doesn't mean it can't happen.
I'm not a doc, so anything I say is my opinion only. Nothing I say is meant as offense, I offer what I can as help.
I believe in educating myself on all my medical issues and being my own advocate, for no one else with do that on my behalf. I recommend we all do the same!
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Perhaps I truly am insane for expecting these docs to listen to me when I say the same things repeatedly to no avail? LOL. I am tired of seeking out new docs and getting the same result time and again...Forgive me if I seem bitter some days. |
"I have been struggling with Fibromyalgia, Bipolar, Anxiety, Post traumatic Syndrome for quite some time and pretty much going it alone. I stumbled across MDJunction by accident. I stayed in the shadows and just watched for four days and then I joined, feeling relieved and excited to have found a safe place with alot of folks that I could relate to . It's proove to be medically and emotionally
