Lyme Disease

[goride]

Apparently sometime in the last week I picked up a couple of deer ticks which I did not notice (hard to spot on black cycling shorts). This, even though I liberally applied insect repellent with DEET before my rides, which I hate to do. My rides have all been on paved trail and roads, so I am not riding through long grasses, etc. I wound up with two bites, just above the band of my cycling shorts (how they got past the elastic band, I do not know). On Thursday I noticed two dime sized red welts about two inches apart on my leg, and since they were itchy, applied Benadryl ointment, figuring they were mosquito bites. By Friday morning, I had the classic concentric circle rash of Lyme. Saw my doctor and am now on three weeks of antibiotics. Hopefully the side-effects of the antibiotics will not be too bad. They are a real pain to take - one hour before eating, or two hours after eating, and at least two hours before/after anything containing calcium - maybe I'll shed a few pounds since there is never a good time to eat:) Other than the rash, no other symptoms of Lyme, so far. The rash around one of the bites burns like crazy and the Benadryl is not helping much. Last fall, I picked up a deer tick while hiking, but found it before it got me. I am getting a little paranoid about these guys (okay - the females are the ones that bite). Do any of you who live in "Lyme territory" have any suggestions?

[ehirsch83]

GoRide,

I spent a month last year(may/june) in Maryland for work and ended up with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Lyme. I went through 10 days of doxy, then they thought I didn't have Lyme and took me off all med's- thinking I had Lupus or Rheumatoid(I never had the rash, but I pulled 2 ticks off of myself personally and it took about 2 months for the Lyme tests to show positive). After a painful two months I went on 28 days of IV antibiotics through a picc line.


Not to scare, you- everyone is different! but...

My immune system is not the same and I have not raced this year(before I was a cat 3 aspiring to be competitive this year in the 1-3 races and move up to a 2). My immune system is also horrible and I am continually sick, hence the not racing and I still have joint pains and chronic fatigue.

I have heard others who have had it better and those who have had it worse.

Please feel free to ask me any questions here or PM me- I have no problem sharing what I have been through on here, so others in the future can search and research.

I have found that my body doesn't handle the load it used to- I used to be able to do 15-18 hrs a week on the bike, work a 40 hour job and enjoy some swimming or yoga.

Now I can be ok... on 12-14 hours, but I am constantly pushing being sick. I can also go into symptoms if you want and what you might feel like if the doxy doesn't help.

[goride]

Emily - thank you. I am sorry to hear that your recovery was not complete and has prevented you from being as active as you would like. You were really hit hard with both Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Lyme at the same time.

I am on a 21 day course of doxy and will be diligent about taking it 2x/day as prescribed. My doc said he could test for it, but it would be about two weeks before the antibodies built up enough to show positive, and another week just waiting for the labs to come back, so by starting the antibiotics now, I could be done with them by the time we know for sure. He strongly encouraged starting the antibiotics right away as he had just received an alert from our state health department that Lyme was active in our area NOW. In retrospect, I realize that I was extremely tired and lethargic the day before the rash broke out. I literally could not stay awake (luckily I was at home that day). I don't know if the fatigue was related, or just coincidental. I know not everyone gets the rash, and it was luck that I did, and that it was on my leg where I could see it. The rash alerted me that it was more than a particularly nasty mosquito bite, which is not something I would even consider seeing the doctor about.

If you don't mind sharing, what things might indicate that the doxy isn't working. I hate to admit it, but I don't know how to PM someone on the forum. I don't mind if you PM me, though, or post here so others also can be alerted to things to watch for.

[roadie gal]

You don't have to be in "Lyme country" to get Lyme's disease. It's all over the country (although much more prevalent in the northeast) and in Europe now too. In fact, I just saw a case of Lyme's in northwestern Nevada.

I agree with your doctor. Testing is more of a retrospective thing than a help in diagnosis.

If there is ANY chance that you were exposed it's much better to take the 3 weeks of doxy than to take the chance of ending up with the sequellae of long term Lyme's disease.

[skywalkerbeth]

Stay on the abx. Once you are off, I think it may take several weeks yet again before you should be tested. I understand the residual abx will mask the blood results.

I had it undiagnosed for almost 15 years. It took two years of really hard core abx and anti-malarials to finally get a negative titer count.

Interesting point I hadn't thought of... I feel pretty good but I just am not very fast. Neither hiking/walking nor biking... even if I'm in decent shape I'm no speedster and don't think I ever will be... it seems I've always been that way but when you consider I got bitten 22 years ago (when I started showing symptoms, even though no one at the time put two and two together) and I was pretty young then... who knows if this is all residual many years later!

Emily, sorry to hear about your problems. Are you still getting tested occasionally?

ps. How did you ever get the little buggers when you weren't out in the high grass/doing anything suspect? Were you riding under trees?

[goride]

ps. How did you ever get the little buggers when you weren't out in the high grass/doing anything suspect? Were you riding under trees?

Yes, there are some areas where the trees overhand both the trail and the road. Maybe that is where they came from. That would make sense.

[chincitop]

As a chronic Lyme sufferrer, I am familiar with a good deal of information about Lyme. The biggest thing is that you have to take care of your body. everyones different, but you need to make sure your immune system is at its best, to fight this off. Be careful with the antibiotics in the sun and heat. Most people fight it off, mind you. You'll be okay :)

And I'm in CT, so I legitimately am in Lyme Country. It was discovered in my state lol

[bluebug32]

I live in one of the worst counties in the US for lyme. Fortunately, I've not had it yet, but so many people have. The worst thing now is that ticks carry so many other diseases. Several friends have ended up with Bells Palsy and the ticks are so bad that i would literally find them every time I mountain biked in one particular place. I've just learned to always check myself, even if I've just walked through the yard to get the mail. Scary, but you can never be too careful.

Good luck with the antibiotics!

[ehirsch83]

I fully agree with Chincy about making sure your immune system is strong! I ended up with Epstein Barr this year after I went back into training due to my immune system being so low.

Everyone's symptoms are different but mine mostly were neuropathy( I felt like I was touching an electric fence 75% of the time), joint pains, fatigue.

I still have to be careful and listen to my body- my joint pain never fully goes away in my fingers and my toes and if I start to get a cold, I have to take a few days off- otherwise I am sick for 2 weeks.

the best advice is to REST as much as possible right now and hope the antibiotics work the first time.

[goride]

Thank you all for your input. I appreciate it. Hopefully we caught and started treating this early enough in the process that the effects of the disease will not be too bad or too lasting. I will stick with my antibiotics qnd listen to my body to make sure I don't push it beyond current capacity.