Yikes, it looks like I have Lyme Disease, or one of the other similar tick-borne maladies.

I think the exposure came during hiking in the Adirondacks....right before Labor Day. After feeling lousy (headaches, chills/ sweats, low energy) for 10 days, I finally decided it was more than "allergy" and went to the doc a week ago. I've been on a nice dose of Doxycycline for about 6 days, with another 15 days to go. Slooooooowly, I've been feeling better....but still pretty pathetic.

My recent lab test was surprisingly inconclusive, so I'm actually going to an Infectious Disease specialist on Friday afternoon. I imagine there may be another round of blood work to (hopefully) get to the underlying disease

I did a search on vintage, but only found a few random posts one an earlier "Ask the Scientist...." thread. I don't recall a thread about this before....

How about you.....anyone here or in immediate family who has contracted the bug? A lot of our friends in this area has been affected and taken the cure.

 

my brother in law's dad has had it for a very long while.
my dog has it but that probably isn't terribly informative.

I'm not a doctor, but I seem to recall if you treat it early it does not become a persistent condition. The biochemist in the family however confirms this assertion. SO treating early is very important.

 

Been around northern WI for a long time. Only one in our family to get it though is the dog. Many pets get it. Co-workers and friends have gotten it. Different for each person, some had quite a few problems and others it cleared up pretty fast.

 

It can be very serious for some, hope you pull out of it quickly.

 

Some golfer friends of ours have had it. One got it twice. Both felt pretty miserable. Bass in NE just had a nasty case of it. The doc kind of dismissed his symptoms on his first visit as a cold. Two weeks later he had more issues.

Feel better.

 

Have this dealt with quickly. I have a friend whose wife contracted it when they lived in NJ. The subsequently moved to Ca and she went undiagnosed for about three years, it then took ~2 1/2 years to treat it effectively.

 

I've had two dogs who had it despite being on Frontline. Apparently just a bite can transmit the disease. Hope your treatment is successful and you feel better soon.

 

Sorry to hear about it Jerry, A very good friend of mine has had it for years.

 

Thanks for all of the good thoughts. Strangely, it seems that I may have had the infection for a while w/o knowing it.....as one of the first blood test "indicators" showed older strain (not sure that is the right word) but another showed a recent positive finding.

In any event, I have been on treatment for a week on the basis of an inconclusive Lyme Disease diagnosis. This afternoon I expect the I.D. doc to take another blood sample for more testing.

Luckily, I have a great "second opinion" person in my high school friend, Barry. Seems that he's nationally known Infecftious Disease doc in Manhattan...teaches at Cornell-Weill Med Ctr and has a private practice. When I spoke to him a couple nights ago, he mentioned that his patient a few weeks ago was David Letterman and he was "very nice". May be a good time to have a "friend in high places"....

 

Sorry to hear this Jerry. Several friends here have contracted it. I stay out of the woods and fields.