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Post by wildman on Jun 10, 2010 10:09:26 GMT -5
The verdict is in, fellers--I have Lyme's, or else the new cousin, the so-called unspotted fever. Thankfully, I cowboyed up and went to the doctor without waiting for it to get really bad. Fatigue, intermittent fever, flu-symptoms, rash in the bite area, and pain in every single major joint in my body. Doc gave me the super-anti-biotic, which will knock it out, if I rest, and wait. The way I feel right now, I do not want to know what it would have been like with further procrastination.
Interesting note: by the time a blood test shows up positive, you probably should be on the way to the hospital. Permanent damage (memory, etc.) is usually present by then, so saith my medical professional.
This is apparently a very bad year for the arthropods: being a good newspaperman, and never willing to let an interesting story go to waste, I started researching a little bit, between naps. My doc has seen two confirmed Lyme's cases already this year. similar reports in other areas. Cases are on the rise everywhere, in part because of improved diagnosis techniques.
I am tick-phobic, but still managed to come down with this stuff. So be careful, freeze any that bite you for future reference, and ask your wife or girlfriend if she'd like to listen to a country song. :-) Remember--it is far less damaging to your masculinity to walk into a doctor's office than it is to have your wife call 911 for the ambulance.
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Post by Ldsoldier on Jun 10, 2010 20:47:22 GMT -5
That explains a lot ;D Hope you feel better buddy. I'm glad you caught it in time. Who else is desperate, uh, I mean nice, enough to publish my articles. ;D
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Post by northof50 on Jun 11, 2010 0:03:20 GMT -5
Sorry to hear of your boute withthat double coiled helix spirocheate. Guess you are off the blood donations to the Red Cross now... Is it just Lyme or both diseases.. rickenosis( spelling) since both are being carried by the ticks now. You must have been 4 to 6 weeks into the infection with those symptions. Advise your dentist when you go in, there are reactions he may have to compensate for during freezing. Last year must have been a good mouse year to produce lots of blood source for the ticks larvae and nymphs ticks for adults this year?
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Post by rye on Jun 11, 2010 8:06:13 GMT -5
Sorry to hear you've gotten the lyme bug. I've been tested for it twice due to symptoms. As early on as you got it, you'll heal from it just fine. Just have to take the meds.
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Post by wildman on Jun 11, 2010 11:24:35 GMT -5
Thanks for the thoughts, guys. Wife is a little jiggity about the whole thing, but I'll be okay. Best as Bruce (the doc) says, I'm just a lymie:-) The new "unspotted spotted fever" has only recently made its appearance in eastern NC. Interesting side note, to me, anyway--a logger friend who had Lyme's said he understood now how old men feel in the morning. I thought he was exaggerating. Not anymore--everything hurts. I feel like I could sign up for Medicare:-) Wonder if I can qualify for that early bird buffet.... And northof50, you pegged it, in my area, anyway. We're moused to death. My cats, naturally, are too lazy to go past the woodline. The rodents are more industrious. Exterminator buddy is up to his ears in mice, rats and fleas this year. I'm setting mouse traps this weekend to store up some bait. Of course, ticks in our area do well enough on deer (and my hounds).
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Post by northof50 on Jun 11, 2010 23:51:08 GMT -5
One of the little tid bits for protecting your surrounding home area. was to put some pyrethrum insecticide in some cotton balls and let the mice take them back to their nest as little stuffers. The insecticide kills the ticks on the mice with them being in close contact with their litters. Just imagine some old car springs as those double coiled bacteria dying and flowing in your blood system and conjesting in an extemity of your body, that is why it hurt in one limb one week and another the next as the bacteria dead floated around, same symptions as arthritus. Good luck swallowing those horse pills...
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