Lyme Disease Dos And Don'ts

05-14-2014
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It's that time of year again, when we venture outdoors and are vulnerable to Lyme Disease. This is a very serious condition if left untreated. However there are simple, common-sense ways to minimize the chance you will contract Lyme Disease, as well as easy-to-recognize symptoms in case you do get it.

Furthermore, if you detect Lyme Disease early enough, the treatment is not a problem. On the other hand, if you don't recognize you have Lyme Disease and it goes untreated it can result in serious, permanent damage to your health.

Lyme Disease comes from the bites of ticks that are infected with it. Not all ticks carry Lyme Disease. Most people never feel a tick bite.

The best way to prevent getting Lyme Disease is to minimize your exposure to ticks. This means wearing insect repellant. Also, wear protective clothing, covering as much of your body as possible, especially your head.

Be aware that walking under trees exposes you to the possibility to a tick falling on your head. Tick bites on the head are some of the worst kind because it is difficult to spot the tell-tale bullseye mark, pointing to Lyme Disease.

If those early signals are missed, it's often months later, when the disease has progressed throughout the body that it's ever detected.

It's a good idea to check yourself for ticks every night before bed, especially if you've been outdoors. But keep in mind just walking from your front door to your car exposes you to ticks if you live in an area with tall trees.

Ticks often do not end-up on your body in the place where they first contact it. They like to travel to the warm nooks and crannies and hang-out there. So pay close attention to your groin area, under your breasts, in the armpit.

Make sure to check your scalp or better yet, get someone else who can inspect your entire scalp, even in the back.

If you do see a tick on your body, take it out. Brace yourself, because ticks are disgusting. They burrow their mouths into our skin and suck our blood. Therefore, be aware that when you see a tick on your body, its mouth is probably under your skin.

So take a pair of tweezers and grab that nasty creature as close to the skin as possible and gently pull. You want to try to make sure not to separate the body from the mouth, thus leaving the mouth under your skin.

Try to pull both the body and the mouth out. If you are unable to do that, and you notice the mouth parts are still in your skin, use the tweezers to try and get those mouth parts out. But if you can't, just leave it alone and let the skin heal.

Now that you've removed the tick, keep an eye on the area for the next couple of weeks. You want to look for a bulls-eye looking rash, or any other type of rash at the area and be on the lookout for a fever.

Other symptoms of Lyme Disease are fatigue, chills, headache, muscle and joint aches, and swollen lymph nodes

If any of these occur, go see the doctor and make sure to mention your tick bite and also where you think you picked up the tick in the first place.

If your Lyme Disease is fresh, meaning your tick bite was only within the last 30 days or so, you'll be given an antibiotic and that Lyme Disease will be history in no time.

The really scary situation is if you don't detect the Lyme Disease right away.

Once the Lyme Disease makes its way though your entire body over a period of months, sometimes years, the symptoms become much more severe and difficult to treat. Approximately 60 percent of patients with untreated infection may begin to have intermittent bouts of arthritis, with severe joint pain and swelling.

Large joints are most often affected, particularly the knees. Up to 5 percent of untreated patients may develop chronic neurological complaints months to years after infection. These include shooting pains, numbness or tingling in the hands or feet, and problems with short-term memory.

Often times people with these types of symptoms are completely unaware that the culprit is Lyme Disease, and unfortunately, their doctors are just as clueless.

I had a very good friend with these symptoms who was wrongly diagnosed for years from things like lead poisoning to depression until the right doctor finally figured out she had Lyme Disease.

So be on guard. Avoid those ticks the best you can, but check yourself, and your kids, daily for ticks. If you see one, get rid of it and watch the area and the way you feel for the next few weeks.

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