Ticks (Beware)

[SailinAway]

Here's what I learned about ticks this year, the hard way. I always thought ticks didn't like me because I never had one on myself despite spending large amounts of time outdoors. Faulty thinking. This year I started finding ticks on myself, on my clothes, and in my house.

Around July 15 I was bitten by a tick while doing yard work. Two weeks later I became ill. I got tested immediately. For reasons unknown, (1) my doctor failed to prescribe prophylactic doxycycline, which is recommended by the CDC, and (2) my doctor's office failed to tell me I had tested positive until 3 weeks later. By that time I was in a higher category of risk of long-term symptoms due to the passage of 5 weeks without treatment.

I took the doxy and apparently I'm OK, although there's no guarantee long term. Last week I was out kayaking and met a doctor who specializes in lyme. He told me that you should take doxycycline as soon as you know you've been bitten by a tick, without waiting for test results.

I'll add my own bit of personal advice. Ever hear of c diff (clostridium difficile)? It's a life-threatening bacterial illness you can get when an antibiotic kills all the GOOD bacteria in your GI system, allowing the bad bacteria to proliferate. It's very difficult to cure. Doxycycline is "less likely" to cause c diff than other antibiotics, meaning the risk is not zero. To prevent overcolonization by bad bacteria, I now always take a strong probiotic with antibiotics, specifically saccromyces boulardii.

Listen to baygo's experience; you don't want to "wait and see" with lyme disease. I haven't done any yard work since July 15. The next time I do, I'll be covered head to toe.