George & all .. ...
Our 56 yr. old son had Lyme last spring/early summer & was very seriously
ill for close to 2 mos., initially refusing to go to a dr.. I'm so thankful
that a man with whom he works told him how CRITICALLY ill his own daughter
became from the effects of Lyme.
This was the 2nd time in 3 yrs., with last yr. being FAR, FAR, FAR worse
than the first bout. (Both times the ticks were in hard to spot places & it
was the red rash that made him aware.)
He had unrelenting high fever for three wks. with temp. that finally
peaked at 103.4 deg. .... accompanied by chills, sweating, dreadful,
unending headache, as well as aches & pains everywhere. Whether it was
"just" the Lyme or his bad reaction to Doxycycline we'll never know but his
hands were very red, very sore & very swollen with blisters deep in the
flesh & eventually the skin peeled off. He has had flu/cold-like bouts
several times since then. From what I've read, these & other weird effects
can continue to crop up.
Folks, this is not a simple "virus, it'll-go-away-in-due-time" type thing
even tho' it acts like a virus. If you have the red rash .. get to the dr.
fast. Blood tests rarely come back "positive" but that rash is the basic
thing to look for. Seems that there are drs. who tend to pooh-pooh the whole
idea but besides our son, we have a friend in NH, heart of tick country, who
has been through severe medical crises since having Lyme twice. AND pay
attention to the side effects warnings about Doxycycline .... esp. the part
about light/sun-sensitivity.
Fritzie
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Susan wrote: An added bonus… not a single tick in sight!
George wrote: several of the ones I _have_ seen were already attached to
me. One of these bites produced a vague circular rash about 3" in diameter.
I took the full course of Doxycycline, just in case (a neighbor of mine
actually came down with Lyme Disease last year). Better safe than sorry.
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