Lyme Disease

“Has anybody here ever had or know someone who has had Lyme Disease?

The reason I ask is that I have recently (finally) been diagnosed as having Lyme Disease. I've been going to various doctors for almost a year trying to figure out why both shoulders are sore and hard to move and both knees are sore, and one is swollen about twice the normal size. Walking is very painful to say the least. Luckily it is cureable, usually after several months of daily IV drug treatments. I've completed 14 days so far and after my next doctor visit I suspect I'll be in for a longer treatment.

The thing is, I don't remember ever being bit. Never saw any marks or anything. Nearest I can figure I got it in June or July of 2003. The other thing is Dear Ticks aren't too common in Yosemite where I do most of my backpacking, according to what I've found so far. Leave it to me to get something rare.

I'll tell you this, there is absolutely no mountain top view, lakeside campsite or anything that was worth all the trouble I'm now going through!!
last edited: 10/09/04 4:22:09 AM”

“i dealt with it a few years ago. i caught it early with the classic signs from a tick. i had a few of the physical symptoms showing up by that time but they were minimal. i am fine today.

i believe lyndys had a bad bout with it physically at one time. maybe she will post more about her experience.”

“Have you looked at other strings?
Lyme (TT Search)


Click for other tick Pictures.


Click for other Lyme Disease Rash Pictures ”

“Good luck Hikin Mike!

you probably picked off a tick absentmindedly one day and didn't think a thing about it at the time. Dang things are so common in the east that you just pick them off and keep on goin, usually I catch them before they've dug in.

One could have crawled around on you and bitten, but not latched on for very long I suppose.

Hang in there bud!”

“Hey didn't you say you wanted to "earn" a trail name a little while back?

I think you may have done it! But I'm sure this wasn't quite what you had in mind.

Your now:





LymeMike


you can be chairman of the Lyme Green Jellow Thread”

“Hikin Mike - Sorry that you have Lyme Disease. I wish you luck with the treatments and hope for your recovery from it.

Also, I'm sorry that I did not read your post more fully the first pass. I missed a lot. And I'm sorry the links did not work in this new format. I should have done an html test on them. Since you all ready have Lyme Disease, the links were unnecessary. However, a search for Lyme will locate some of the discussions on this subject.

I've enjoyed your posts and hope to see many more. I'll be interested in hearing what you learn, your medical treatment and your progress. Best of luck with it.
Paul”

“Classic good news/bad news post, mike! Focusing on the good, can't wait until you are better and start producing some more of your excellent trip reports!”

“hiking mike, best of luck. Isnt there a vaccine for it now?”

“Spirit Coyote- they discontinued the vaccine for humans.”

“Hikin Mike, bummer. I have known two women who had/have Lyme's Disease. Both went through a troublesome time before the diagnosis was established, then a medication routine, and now they're fine. One was a neighbor who has since moved, but the other I see regularly and she has no problems related to the Lyme's. Hang in there, it should get better.”

“HM - My sister has been hassling with Lyme's for years and has become quite experienced with the issues involved. She found a specialist in the San Diego area. If you want to connect with her send me an email: rosenkrantz@csupomona.edu

She doesn't ever remember being bitten by a tick, which made it harder to diagnose.”

“Bummer, Mike!!

When I was first diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis I asked to be tested for Lyme disease too and was came in at the bottom end of positive. They stuck me on anti-biotics for a bit but decided that most of my symptoms were the RA. The part I find strangest about everything I have heard about Lyme Disease is how hard it seems to be to get a diagnosis - why should you have been having symptoms for so long before someone said "I know, let's test him for Lyme Disease!". It seems that some people in the medical community are hesitant to recongize that it is getting pretty common in California.

Now that you have started treatment, I hope it all goes well and you will be back on the trail quickly.”

“Thanks all.

Roam Around, I'll think I'll stick with Hikin Mike for now.

I am being seen by a few Rheumatologists at Stanford. I haven't tested positive for Lyme, but because my pain is in the larger joints they suspect Lyme. The current treatment is a daily IV infusion of Rocephin, which is an antibiodic.

On a lighter note, I did recently ask my wife to purchase some "Lime Away" at the grocery store... :)”

“Hi Hikin Mike. I hope that the IV antibiotics are helping you. I was on antibiotics off and on for over a year with the Lyme Disease. My symptoms began in January 2000 and I had not seen a tick bite or rash, but in winter I wasn't looking for one. There was a mild December that year and I figure that I got a tick off of firewood I carried into the house.

Now it seems that they are supposed to test you for Lyme right away with symptoms and then six weeks later also, because this bug is so good at hiding. One thing my brother and I think works well for chronic Lyme is the backpacking or any exercise that takes most of the day. My brother had a terrible case where he had severe pain in his shoulders and his hands blew up like Mickey Mouse. We think that the all day exercise causes the circulatory system to really clean up, even to the point where fluid in the joints and lymph system is moved around more than usual. This allows your immune system macrophages to get to more spirochetes that normally are hiding.

Since you like to hike, this is the perfect excuse to go on backpacking trips!! It really helped me. Now that I am back at college for nursing and can't find time to backpack, my symptoms have recurred a couple of times (stress can also flare it up).

Good luck and don't give up on the beautiful views. Lyme can easily be contracted walking on beach sand dunes or in someone's backyard. So don't think that you have to give up hiking in the mountains. It is more of a hazard of everyday life, like a car accident.”

“Hey, why did they discontinue the vaccine for humans? I was actually thinking about getting it.”

“We actually have another person on tt with lyme disease, but I'm not sure if she ever annnounced to on tt. She doesn't post often, but I think unfortunately it's reocurring in her case.

Lyme disease in a dog is curable.”

“sorry to hear about it ...


my aunt was diagnosed years back (when i was a kid) and i don't really remember what she went through because i was so young, but i remember her being in a lot of pain. i also remember her having a HUGE bullseye type mark on her thigh.”

“LyndyS, I like your suggestion about exercise and moving the lymph, etc. Have you run it by your doctor? I always try to flush out an impending cold with lots of water or freeze it out with a trip to the snow. Sometimes, intuitively correct things are right on. But sometimes, there are unforseen reasons why they won't work or might make things worse.”

“LyndyS,
Backpacking sounds great, but I can hardly walk.”

“Hikin Mike, all in good time. It will take time for the antibiotics to kill enough spirochetes to get ahead of the illness, and then your body will have to deal with the toxins released by those spirochetes. I spent several months so weak, with headaches so bad that a trip to the grocery store for my family caused me to be bedridden for the next two days. I took a lot a vitamins along with the antibiotics, antiinflammatories and even valerian root at night to help sleep (muscle relaxers are helpful there too). I became pretty anemic and learned that you need to take Vit C and Iron together, and a B Complex later. Your body is using up nutrients fighting off the infection and needs more. The new timed release vitamins mean that there is a more even blood serum level.

For the exercise, start out small. Yoga is a good thing to try at this time. Work up to small weights and exercise bands. As painful as it is, you need to get your circulation flowing. Oxygen is a powerful germ fighter also. Good luck and I hope that your doctor is cooperating.”

“Mike....I'm glad you got a second opinion and Stanford is involved..since moving hurts, may I suggest Yoga breathing exercises? and, use your mind! sit quietly (this should be easy since moving hurts) and envision little white blood cells going to war..send them to the pain source..concentrate, I mean really focus, on the pain..try and find it's center..focusing on the pain's center makes it go away..it's only temporary but it allows me to get to sleep when hurting..I taught myself this technique killing serious tooth pain in India when drugs wouldn't work..and, we're talking serious drugs here..I quit heroin to deal with the pain..can't concentrate if your mind is befuddled with drugs! LOL!....remember, breathing is good and you don't have to MOVE to do it!”

“Hikin' Mike, you say you haven't tested positive for Lymes. Did you get tested and it came back neg? There is a less-used (more expensive) test than the typical titer routinely given and is less likely to give false negatives. Acidolphalus (sp) and/or yogurt will help rebuild the useful "flora" in your digestive tract.”

“Best of luck, Hikin Mike. I have an uncle who has (had?) it full-blown. He contracted it around 15 years ago when scientists didn't know much about it. But modern treatments have worked wonders, and I'm sure they will for you as well. Hang in there!”