Lyme

I picked up Lyme sometime last summer.

Around Ottawa it seems relatively unknown.
And because of randomness of the symptoms, if you can't self diagnose it - you are going to have problems getting it diagnosed.

I was able to self-diagnose through online resources. What I did find is that it has many symptoms which I had been experiencing, but was unaware were related to Lyme.

When I explained them to my doctor, he said that I was likely right, but he had no first hand experience with it.
He started me on antibiotics and ordered a blood test. There is one lab in Ontario that does all the Lyme testing and it takes about 6-8 weeks to get results back.

Symptoms I experienced:
- numbness in face or extremeties (late August)
- irregular heartbeat (can also be attributed to caffeine, alchohol, stress - all which I have abundant exposure too) (mid September)
- cognitive difficulties (mid September)
- rash - it wasn't the bulleye rash you see pictures of. It was an oval about 2 x 4 inches on my right side. Looked like a sunburn - wasn't itchy. (early October)
- tick bites (mid October)
- headaches, neck and ear pain (mid November)
- aches in shoulder joints (mid November)

The headaches, neck and ear and shoulder pain hit suddenly. Last day of rifle season - I was in my treestand and turned my head to look over my shoulder. Just like that.

The antibiotics have helped. I finished them about Dec 20. So close to 2 months later, I still have problems with my shoulder and the irregular heart beat. Loss of strength (another symptom) is an issue - but I back to being able to do 20 pushups which is a lot better than none - which is where I was in December. I go for a retest at the end of the month.

Take Care Werner-and Thank You for sharing your experience.You are on good way to recovery............

I must have Lyme disease Too. I haven't been able to do 20 pushups for a few years now!! Hope you're feeling better Werner. I hear it the poopies.

Mercy . I'm very sorry that happened to you and wish you well.

We hear about this stuff but it sure gets real when you read about actual cases. A friend of mine contracted it from his cottage in the Thousand Islands. Good to hear you are getting proper care Wernier.

Wishing you a speedy recovery and things get back to normal for you....Werner... Scary stuff when there's no one around to diagnose the disease...

It seems to be showing up more and more from what I read in outdoors articles and on the History channel show "Curse of Oak Island" the one brother was identified with it and it looked like it laid him out with exhaustion, aches and pains etc. (sort of like a flu) as well as the symptoms like the bite mark and from the show it looks like he was off his feet for weeks. Hope it is better soon. Remember you can catch it again (if I understand what I read right) so don't think you are immune if you start feeling like that again.

If you go into the woods spray your clothes with Permethrin - it will last several months and kill any ticks that climb on you - the problem with Lyme disease is that there is no direct blood test to detect it - basically what you test for is antibodies that the disease creates in your body - a deer tick can also pass on other diseases besides Lyme - what I do if I find a deer tick on me is to take it to my doctor's office where they send to away to test it - results are got about 4 days - in the meantime the doctor prescribes an antibiotic - if the test comes back negative I stop the antibiotic if positive I take it for about 10 days - that should take care of things - if you have the disease for awhile then you could take an antibiotic for a month or two - once you have Lyme disease you will test positive for a long time because the antibodies linger in you body - I hope things go well with you Werner - if taking the antibiotics for awhile and you still don't feel good have some blood work done to make sure you didn't get a parasite from the tick

Good to hear your recovering , I’ve met two others with Lyme and both went threw heck and back because it wasn’t publicized and no one could figure out what it was

That's pretty scary, sorry to hear about this Werner. Glad the treatment is working out.

Thanks for the informative post as well. I bet a few people will read this and realize they know someone with similar symptoms.

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Hope you get better, and I hope Ontario Doctors step it up and get some sort of training for this.

I seriously wonder how many people have this and don't get properly diagnosed.

Did you find the tick while it was still on you? If so, did you have it tested? What do you mean by "Tick bites (mid October)"?

In the 2016 deer season I found a tick firmly embedded in my thigh in the morning before I was heading out to go deer hunting. I pulled it out and brought it to Ottawa Public Health the next day to have it tested. I heard back from them in FEBRUARY that the tick tested positive for Lyme. Because it was on me for less than 24 hours and was not fully engorged, and I was already on antibiotics at the time of the tick bite due to a lung infection, I was not too worried. But at the time of finding the tick, I have to say, I was pretty worried.

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Originally Posted by mosquito

It seems to be showing up more and more from what I read in outdoors articles and on the History channel show "Curse of Oak Island" the one brother was identified with it and it looked like it laid him out with exhaustion, aches and pains etc. (sort of like a flu) as well as the symptoms like the bite mark and from the show it looks like he was off his feet for weeks. Hope it is better soon. Remember you can catch it again (if I understand what I read right) so don't think you are immune if you start feeling like that again.

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A friend of mine got it four years ago and was hospitalized almost sixty times in one year ! He had every test available done on him when finally a specialist in the U.S.A diagnosed him and concluded he had Lyme. It was a living hell what he had to endure for the first year and still suffers bouts of it because it stays in your system in some cases. This past summer the symptoms hit him again and he had to go on another very expensive intravenous antibiotic His new family doctor concluded that almost 1 million dollars was spent on testing/drugs trying to figure out what he had ! Some of the people in the medical profession even concluded what he was experiencing was all in his mind ! Not every case is the same and if caught early most can have a relatively normal life. I wish you all the best Werner and a speedy recovery. Thoughts and prayers.

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Originally Posted by rf2

Did you find the tick while it was still on you? If so, did you have it tested? What do you mean by "Tick bites (mid October)"?

In the 2016 deer season Found a tick firmly embedded in my thigh in the morning before i was heading out to go deer hunting. I pulled it out an brought it to Ottawa Public Health the next day to have it tested. I heard back from them in FEBRUARY that the tick tested positive for Lyme. Because it was on me for less than 24 hours and was not fully engorged, and I was already on antibiotics at the time of the tick bite due to a lung infection, I was not too worried. But at the time of finding the tick, I have to say, I was pretty worried.

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I found the tick on me in mid-October - after the rash and some other symptoms had shown up.
In hind-sight, I'm pretty sure I already had lyme at that point. No - I didn't have the tick tested.
I didn't draw a connection between the tick bite and the previous rash.
Actually - I didn't connect any of the symptoms together until I started researching Lyme.
And I only started researching Lyme when I discovered the headache-neckpain-shoulderpain connection to Lyme.

I'm a typical middle aged guy - I don't worry too much about my health - or all these symptoms. Just figured it was part of getting old.
I only started looking into this after I was done deer hunting.

It's only recently that it is becoming common knowledge that ticks infected with the bacteria that causes Lyme disease are quite common in the Ottawa area. The regional health authorities recommend getting ticks that you find biting you tested, but it takes so long to get results that the testing is only useful for their tracking purposes. I think it's recommended to see your family doctor right away and start a course of antibiotics if you have been bitten by a tick .

Down here you can get test results in a couple days - if it takes so long up there another option you have is to send it to a laboratory here in the states and get a result over the phone in a couple days -

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Originally Posted by JoePa

Down here you can get test results in a couple days - if it takes so long up there another option you have is to send it to a laboratory here in the states and get a result over the phone in a couple days -

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Lyme disease is a really new thing up here.

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Originally Posted by Fox

Lyme disease is a really new thing up here.

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Gabe Magnotta of Magnotta Wines, died from Lyme Disease in 2009 , it was known long before that, but not yet considered as being epidemic.

It was first diagnosed in 1975 in Old Lyme Connecticut.

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Originally Posted by Fox

Lyme disease is a really new thing up here.

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Not a new thing Fox, lets just say it was ignored by the medical community for many many years . Another friend of mine got Lyme disease well over 20 years ago and was misdiagnosed with MS. Even my other friend was told 4 years ago he had MS until he went to the U.S where he was diagnosed correctly. The clinic in the U.S receive hundreds of emails daily from Canadians that had been diagnosed as having MS when in fact they had Lyme.

Best of luck with a speedy recovery!

Good luck on your recovery Werner.
I say good luck cuz my son contracted it in his early teens. 4 months of misdiagnoses followed by a referral to a psychiatrist was the last straw. Sent blood test to US ($$$) which came back positive, still no doctor would follow up (we live just south of Ottawa).
Had to go to BC to get him a doctor who finally diagnosed Lyme (And a related co-infection), and provided a 6mo antibiotic prescription.
Better now (4 yrs later) but some docs this is chronic at this stage....and as such symptoms can reoccur.
Bottom line: caught within a week or two of bite, antibiotics should cure. Longer than that....it could be chronic.

ALWAYS check yourself for ticks after spending any time in the woods.

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Lyme is an epidemic in this country the dr just won’t admit it, my daughter has been being treated for it for the past four months. The Canadian medical field totally dropped the ball on this been trying to get it diagnosed for three years. Sad part is antibiotics after a long period of time are ineffective due to the bacteria being a stealth pathogen, it produces a bio film when attacked and buried itself till the attack is done, by that time the antibiotics have destroyed All the good bacteria in the body. Lyme is never cured, (atleast not lyme that is an older infection). I would look into herbal aspects for treatment if you find a relapse from the antibiotics. I would also strongly suggest finding a lyme literate doctor who specializes in treatment. One final comment when diagnosed through blood test the results go to canada cdc and is labeled as Lyme positive which can affect health insurance if traveling as a pre existing condition. Lyme is also passed through family members not just ticks.

Yikes . Hope you can recover quickly Werner.

Very sorry to hear this, Werner. I wish you a successful recovery.
Based on your experience so far, is there any advice you might be able to share with the rest of us?

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Originally Posted by ninepointer

Very sorry to hear this, Werner. I wish you a successful recovery.
Based on your experience so far, is there any advice you might be able to share with the rest of us?

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My main point in posting here was to raise awareness that Lyme is out there.
I don't know of anyone else that has caught lyme - not friends, not friends of friends.

Advice - assume any tick bite is infectious and any small rash - not just the bullseye ones - are worthy of further investigation.
The treatment is 3 weeks of antibiotics. If you think you have lyme, get started on the prescription while you are waiting for your test results.

I Know one personally, a guy on my hockey team. Two years later he is still suffering the effects, shortness of breath, weak legs. Good luck with your recovery WR.

I'm surprised you don't hear much about a Lyme vaccine as the disease becomes more prevalent. I did a little search and it doesn't sound like much is available especially in Canada. For those of you that spend time outdoors in the Calabogie area be cautious as my dog last fall was covered in ticks after a few duck hunts. Thanks for the heads up Werner.

I had 2 ticks on my inner thigh last spring. I managed to get one of them out intact the other broke. The bite from the intact one got very swollen and red. The bite from the broken one I ended up opening up a bit with an exacto knife and squeezed out the remains. They are not as easy to remove as advertised. Brought intact tick to doctor and was prescribed antibiotics. Tick came back positive 3 weeks later. I've had to remove 2 other ticks over the years. I find there's a lot of contradicting information about tick bites and Lyme disease.
I also find that dogs have the upper hand as far as drugs to prevent tick bites in the first place compared to humans.

Funny thing is i didn’t think I knew anyone who had Lyme till it hit my family, now I’ve found lots of people I know ha e felt with it or know someone who has felt with it. A lot of people in this country have it and are misdiagnosed... Canada has the highest ms rate in the world, but a very low Lyme rate???? Even us cdc has updated from saying 30000 cases a year to 300000 and may be over a million. Our testing is so out dated and ineffective that many are suffering and after a negative Elisha test. That test after a month is almost nil.... I will post a link to a quiz that will shock many on the mass number of symptoms lymes has

Anyone who is interested
http://lymeontario.com/wp-content/up...stionnaire.pdf

My cousin has it and had it for a long time before being diagnosed. He's seen everybody in the health field and naturopath he could find. He finds it affects his mind, can't remember things. Also eating sugar affects him. Makes him feel terrible. He also doesn't sleep very well. He's spent a lot of money on trying to cure himself. He told me there is an amazing amount of people who have it, in our little area, including 2 on my road. He'll find out who they are and talk with them and see how it affects them and try to learn from them. He's a logger and he says other fellow loggers have it as well and even died from it. He was in a hospital bed in his house about 3 Christmas' ago. His mother thought he'd never get out, but he did and is slowly getting better, he can do some work. He also cash crops.

I keep saying it in case you didn't read it - spray your clothes with permethrin and you don't have to worry about Lyme disease when you are in the woods - you can buy the stuff from Amazon - it lasts for months and kills the ticks if they climb on you - if you have a cat don't let it get in contact with the stuff while it is still wet

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Originally Posted by JoePa

I keep saying it in case you didn't read it - spray your clothes with permethrin and you don't have to worry about Lyme disease when you are in the woods - you can buy the stuff from Amazon - it lasts for months and kills the ticks if they climb on you - if you have a cat don't let it get in contact with the stuff while it is still wet

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Most people already know that your not telling us anything new.. The point is that the Canadian Government hasn't revealed that Lyme disease is an epidemic in Ontario and has been for a very long time. The research should have been done long ago on how to rid tick species carrying Lyme disease.

Scary stuff for sure.

I pulled a tick out of my leg moose hunting 2017. Kept the tick, called Simcoe Health Unit and talked to their "tick specialist"...First two questions were
1) how long was it in your leg
2) how many days ago did you pull it out

When I answered she told me to literally head right to emerg to get a shot of anti-biotic to be preventative (which I did).

Brought the tick to her where they send it in to test if it is a 'black-legged tick' or not (the carrier of the bacteria that causes Lyme). Came back a week or so later that it was a black-legged tick so they then send it to a lab in Winnipeg to test if it is a carrier of the bacteria. I just heard back two weeks ago that it was not so I was out of the woods but it still took over 4 months to hear back and, by that time, I would have fully had Lyme Disease.

Health unit specialist said that since our winter's are getting milder, black-legged ticks are much more prevalent in our area (southern Ontario) where previously harsh winters would kill them off.

Its definitely some nasty stuff that's for sure

Good luck and hope you have speedy recovery!