Announcer: The Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention present
Lyme Disease,
One Man's Experience
John: My name is John.
I got Lyme disease
last July of 2011.
I was out in the woods
camping with my son,
with the Boy Scouts, and
we'd been out there for a
week and that's
when I got it.
You know being in scouting
and being an outdoors type
of person I knew
quite a bit about it.
I knew what the symptoms
were like and I knew it
was a tickborne disease.
And that it was something
that you definitely want
to get checked out if
you see any symptoms.
In the evenings when
we'd come in from the
activities that we were
doing in the field,
I felt an itch on my right
hip and didn't think
anything of it because
it just seemed like a
mosquito bite, or some
other kind of a bite that
would normally itch. And that was about
Wednesday or Thursday that I noticed that.
Later on I checked you
know for tick and didn't
see anything there, but
later on it presented
itself a bit differently.
Announcer: Early symptoms
of Lyme disease can include a
red expanding
bull'seye-like rash,
fevers, chills,
fatigue, headaches,
muscle and joint aches,
swollen lymph nodes and
facial paralysis on one or
both sides known as Bell's
palsy.
John: Well I started
to feel ill probably,
you know if I'd noticed
the itch on Wednesday,
probably by Friday, I
started to feel just a
little not quite myself.
Still didn't really
connect the two.
By Saturday morning by the
time I had gotten home I
was just feeling
lethargic, tired,
a little achy.
I'd gone to take a shower
after being out in the
woods and, got out of the
shower and looked down at
that same area and noticed
there was a bright red
bull's eye rash, and so I
knew there was something
wrong at that point.
Well, I went and visited
Dr. Heaton and Dr. Heaton
took a look at the rash
and we talked about
treatment possibilities.
You know he calmed
me down a little bit,
I was a little nervous
about the whole thing,
given that I'd been bitten
by ticks before but had
never seen a rash, and
this was the first time I
did and so I was concerned
about some of the long
term effects.
Dr. Heaton: Every one of
us seems to know somebody
that has dealt with Lyme
disease and some of those
people have developed
complications that last
longer than others.
Some people are worried
about the long term side
effects.
Other people feel like,
man, I feel so awful,
I have headaches,
I have a rash,
I have body aches and
I can't think at work,
how am I going to get back
to work in the next two or
three days because I have
an important thing to do
in two days from now and
they want to be fixed
right away.
John: He told me that
it's better to go ahead
and treat it, that there
wasn't a need at that
moment to do a test given
how it was presenting and
how it was feeling.
He said a round of
doxycycline might be the
best method to
help me out.
The first couple of days
afterwards I was still
kind of feeling achy.
I missed one day of work
on Monday feeling kind of
feverish and achy.
But I was back at
work by Tuesday.
By the next Saturday
I felt fantastic.
I was back to my
old self again.
Dr. Heaton: The good news
is the vast majority of
people treated for
Lyme disease do very,
very well, and I would
say that most people see
resolution of some of
their symptoms within the
first two or three days,
at least starting to.
But it takes up to a few
weeks to see complete
resolution of their
symptoms that they came
into the office with.
There is a lot out there
thanks to the internet in
regards to Lyme disease
which is good and bad for
doctors and for
patients I think.
It's so common that people
have had friends who have
experiences with it, so
often by the time that
they come into the office,
even if we haven't made
the diagnosis yet, they're
already convinced they
have it, they are already
concerned about certain
things.
In the area of the
Northeast especially and
then also Wisconsin
and Minnesota area,
highly endemic
areas for Lyme.
Then you really ought to
be doing nightly checks
especially during summer
months for ticks and so
removing the ticks before
you go to bed that night.
John: I think that you
know more and more,
you hear about more and
more cases it's just very
important you educate
yourself about Lyme
disease.
Understand what the
symptoms are like and get
yourself to a doctor just
as soon as you see or feel
any of those symptoms so
they can check you out
professionally.
A couple of things you can
do to prevent Lyme disease
is wear insect repellant
that's got DEET in it and
spray around the entrances
to your clothing.
Check for ticks daily
after you've been out in
the woods or near deer.
You can also shower right
after and when you take a
shower you can check,
check yourself over for
ticks and call your doctor
if you have a fever or see
a rash anywhere
on your body.
Announcer: Learn more
at www.cdc.gov/lyme or
www.cdc.gov/ticks
