May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month

Lyme disease is the fastest and most common vector born disease in America. The Lyme bacteria and co-infections are usually transmitted by the bite of an infected deer tick. Infected pregnant women may pass the disease to their unborn child.

Early symptoms of infection may be a bull’s eye rash (bigger than a quarter), flu-like symptoms, fever, headache, fatigue and muscle pain. These symptoms can develop days weeks, or even months after a tick bite. Untreated late stage Lyme can affect any organ in the body and can mimic other conditions, often leading to misdiagnosis, such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, ALS, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and neuro-psychiatric illness.

If you suspect that you may have Lyme disease, please seek the help of a physician who is experienced with treating late stage Lyme (LLMD – Lyme Literate Medical Doctor).

To prevent a tick bite when being outdoors, wear light colored clothes, tuck pants into socks, wear repellent and perform frequent tick checks. The nymph deer tick is the size of a poppy seed so it is easy to miss. Put clothes in dryer for 30 minutes to kill ticks.

If you find an embedded tick, do not burn or use any substance on the tick. Grasp tick close to skin with tweezers and pull straight out. Use antiseptic on skin, disinfect tweezers and wash hands thoroughly. Always see a physician for possible diagnose, testing and treatment. If possible, save the tick in a zip lock bag with a moist cotton ball and send to a tick-testing lab.  

Tick testing labs include: NJLabs, http://njlabs.com/index.cfm New Brunswick, NJ (732) 249-0148 and IGeneX Labs, http://www.igenex.com/Website/ Palo Alto, CA (800) 832-3200.

For more information of the disease go to: www.lifelyme.org, www.lymediseaseassociation.org ,   www.ilads.org and www.lymenet.org for on-line discussions and physician referrals.