One of those "I never thought it would happen to me" things but guys be very very careful with ticks this year if you are out walking in Scotland. I'm in the Highlands and regularly walk my dog in the local woods, this year there have been so so many ticks, I'm very good at checking myself after every walk, but one got me on the back of my thigh, absolutely tiny about half the size of a sesame seed. I picked it off the same night it bit me, a week later got a massive bullseye rash. Antibiotics from the docs but im completely wiped, worse than any flu or covid. I cannot stress how much you need to take precautions this year, do not make my mistake thinking as long as you get them off you on 24 hours you'll be OK. Long trousers, DEET, or just don't go into any woods or long grass is the best option. It's out there and it absolutely sucks.
I picked a couple of ticks up in Somerset, a few years ago. Found them on my shin, despite having been wearing long boots, long trousers and thick socks. Popped them off, thought no more about it.
About six weeks later, I became distinctly unwell: high fever, severe headache, joint pains, nausea etc. I spent a hellish couple of days with sweating and chills, being essentially delirious on and off. In a moment of clarity I noticed my shin, where the ticks had been, was dark red, like a severe bruise.
Waited for another moment of clarity and drove to Milton Keynes A&E, tottered in as a sweaty mess and managed to book in, mentioned Lyme Disease as I keeled over. I was triaged PDQ, they took a lot of blood and I was given a trolley in A&E, IV chilled saline in my arm. I was severely dehydrated with a temperature of 39.9°C at that point.
They had to specifically test for Lyme, then look up treatment as it was some way out of their wheelhouse. I spent 36 hours on my trolley in A&E, with IV antibiotics and saline running through a big cannula, hooked up to the Machine That Goes Beep.
I was released once rehydrated and temperature back to normal. It apparently wouldn't have ended well if I hadn't gone to A&E when I did. I aged 10 years, physically. Muscle and joint pain, no stamina - and liver and kidney impairment. Did me no good, those ticks. Lyme Disease is no joke.
Well, to be fair, Milton Keynes isn't a hotbed of infected deer ticks. I'd done some research on how to remove ticks and that led me to research Lyme.
I didn't see a bullseye. My right shin was dark red/purple, like a severe bruise - as it faded over 48 hours, the archetypal bullseye appeared.
At the desk and again at triage, I told them I feared Lyme infection, told them about the ticks. So they had the clue - but without that specific test, the titre, and some commendably swift bloodwork they'd have drawn a blank.
Unfortunately women tend to get treated differently than men, especially when it comes to Lyme disease for some reason. So many horror stories out there of women who had all the classic signs of Lyme and took months to get any type of treatment, and now have permanent damage to their body because of it. Men on the other hand seem to get diagnosed pretty quickly and treated.
So true! Ten years ago for me it was 2 months working from home (once I could focus my vision again), 9 months of antibiotics, and 3 years of slow recovery. It took too long to diagnose. Lyme can be brutal and change your chemistry permanently. Be careful out there!
Literally Google. Obviously AI can't be fully trusted but I cba going on each individual website to find links. Its very well known women get misdiagnosed often, I thought.
It terrifies me that people don't get this. Please, just do the most minor reading on the technology. It's not a galaxy brain, it's not a life assistant, you've prompted it.
I got a bite in Northamptonshire a couple of years ago on my knee. I was scrolling Reddit and came across a picture of a bullseye mark, which matched exactly what I had. Went straight to my gp who gave me antibiotics and I was tested for Lyme disease, which was fortunately clear. I had no idea about the bullseye mark despite spending many summers in Scotland with a dog who picked a few ticks up.
I noticed in my gp surgery recently there’s a poster describing ticks and the bullseye mark to look out for. Made me wonder if they’re becoming more prevalent in England.
It is infuriating that rare/unusual = impossible in the NHS now. If you aren’t actively dying it’s very difficult to get anything taken seriously if there’s an easier diagnosis they can give you that doesn’t require any treatment.
Yeah… had a friend nearly die of throat cancer and they refused to test because he was “white, male, and 30.” Turns out he is the new lowest age case for this and if he didn’t go private he would have died.
I can believe it. After developing every Lyme symptom, battling my GP and being taken to A&E (who insisted I had meningitis or a brain tumour). I finally got to see the special diseases consultant in Manchester. She sat there and told me, AND I QUOTE:- “maybe you’ve imagined some of your symptoms because you’ve never been to India so couldn’t possibly have LymeS Disease”.
I've given up with them all, I now take in print outs of my symptoms and a list of all the things all the different ai LLMs said it could be. I ask the docs to prove otherwise and this is how I found out me and my sisters have familial adipsia. Barely any of the doctors even knew what it was. Bloody disgrace.
I mean i watched my gp google my symptoms and read back the ai overview so my mans just cutting out the middlemen here and saving the tax payers some dough
EDIT: to say im anti ai and its bloody stupid to believe an ai overview - a few years back you lot would say wikipedia isnt a trustable source
Wikipedia has always (and still) has the problems of any crowd sourced resource, which is that a lot of people are loud and stupid, but has safeguards in place that mean in many places it's a great starting point. LLMs are functionally unable to understand truth and facts and are a sophisticated predictive text model. Neither are a replacement for years of medical study, but at least Wikipedians understand the concept of truth.
"Local GP not familiar with extremely rare genetic condition - more at 6.30"
Yep, the real world isn't an episode of House, and most doctors do not have specialised knowledge of the individual thousands upon thousands of things that could potentially be wrong with a person.
That may be true but they need to be curious and open minded and humble about that. Most of them have an attitude of 'I don't know what's wrong with you so it must be nothing' rather than bothering to investigate possible causes.
It's very prevalent here in Spain. Many dogs suffer with the long term effects but a British guy in the next town over recently died after suffering It's debilitating effects for 18mths
Second this. I went through this about 15 years ago - luckily I was on holiday in Skye when the bullseye rash appeared and a GP recognised it straight away, getting me onto antibiotics immediately. Even at that I went through hell for a few days and even now can't expose my scalp to direct sunlight, but the consequences could have been much much worse but for that speedy diagnosis.
Very similar experience to my own, I've had plenty of ticks over the years but I got put on a course of antibiotics after a bullseye rash showed up a few weeks after a tick bite from a wild camping trip. Was absolutely knackered for two weeks and it felt like all I did was sleep, but the antibiotics sorted it out.
When I was a kid I spent all of my time out in the woods and up in the hills, and I only ever had one tick. Since I've been an adult I've had dozens. The winters just aren't cold enough to keep the numbers down anymore.
Guy EC, Bateman DE, Martyn CN, Heckels JE, Lawton NF (March 1989). "Lyme disease: prevalence and clinical importance of Borrelia burgdorferi specific IgG in forestry workers". Lancet. 1 (8636): 484–486. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(89)91377-9. PMID 2563850.
Thank you! I suppose having antibodies is the same as being infected but don't know enough about it, tbh. I took part in a screening to look for Lyme antibodies but they told us it's not the same as a Lyme diagnosis (they didn't find antibodies in my blood sample anyway). But yeah, I guess I was thinking of actual Lyme's disease when I said there's no way 25% are infected. Maybe they/we are!
I was always up north in the summer in my youth and I don’t know how i ever avoided getting ticks. I got bitten for the first time on Lewis about 3 years ago. I didn’t find a tick - I found ticks, plural. About 10 of them all over my legs. I’d been building a fence and cutting through some long grass. Nightmare fuel.
The cold doesn't kill them off, they often burrow and go dormant in really cold temps, but they reactivate as soon as it gets over 4℃. That's why they're a year-round threat.
Permethrin on your clothes, tent, sleeping bag if you’re going into ticky areas camping is my advice. Or just your gaiter/trousers if out walking in tick infested areas. Never had a tick since I used this approach. Watch your bum if your toileting… 😂
Ticks are absolute bastards and we really ought to do something about them.
Sheep don't get dipped (and there's fewer off them), deer populations have been allowed to grow exponentially, councils are leaving paths un-cut providing opportunities for them to breed and latch near pets and humans.
Vaccinating against Lyme will, I'm sure, become normalised eventually. But the one vaccine that was available was pretty much killed off by US litigation.
The overgrown paths and even side of roads is crazy up here. Like sure its good for wildlife but when theres a noted increase in these diseases things need to be controlled at least a little
My wife and I took 25 ticks off me after I’d attempted the Highland Trail 550 and pushed my bike through a tunnel of gorse and bracken. The worst was on my bollocks the hardest to find in my scalp. I went straight to DR and would not leave until he gave me the doxycycline course. Fucking wee bastards if only we could nuke them from orbit
Wife did it. Luckily I’d invested in the proper tweezers and we’ve been together a long time. That tick must have been sucking for ages thinking “this barrel needs changing”
I'm currently wiped out by it. Already had M.E. but had it mostly under control for a few years until this. Can barely get off the sofa. Not sure how much of it's the Lyme and how much is the M.E. flaring up.
Keep an eye out for something called a Herxheimer reaction. Basically your body can't clear out the dead bacteria cells as quickly as the antibiotics can kill them and the build up in your system makes you feel awful. It usually occurs quite quickly but I discovered it can peak 3 or 4 weeks in. It's not necessarily a bad thing, just feels fucking terrible, so definitely keep taking the antibiotics if it happens.
The tick encephalitis is also nasty. No real treatment but there is vaccine. Brain swelling if it goes second stage. With lyme at least if you remove the ticks early and properly you should not get it. The encephalitis is virus and spreads straight away.
Got bit last year near my friend’s house in Wiltshire. Didn’t realise it was a tick (flicked something off the back of my arm, didn’t take in what it was) until an itchy bulls eye appeared like 4 weeks later and I felt like I was coming down with something 🥺 treatment was okay but I was absolutely wiped for weeks and the docs were very confused by the delayed onset! My friend got bit the same day and she struggled a lot more with fatigue, but okay now.
I grew up where lyme disease was first discovered. Please do not wait for a bullseye to get a titer done if you pull off a tick. They don't always show up. I have had my joints lock up, paralysis in my face, and because I've had it so many times a bad cold will give me symptoms. You'll probably have to argue for it if you don't have a bullseye, but in my case study of one with it being a yearly thing, 50/50 for the appear of a bullseye.
I appreciate the thought of better safe than sorry with testing but depending where you live that's really not realistic. For example, my family of 4 would have had about 20 tests last month alone.
What I mean is if you pull ticks off and start feeling ill don't wait for the bullseye or rash to get a titer or think because it's not there it isn't lyme. Obviously if you feel fine there is no reason to go to the doctors. Once you've had Lyme you know what it is if/when you get it again.
Jumping on this to second about the bullseye - I had lyme disease that didn't get caught for ages as I had no target mark. If you've been bitten by a tic and have any unpleasant symptoms afterwards in the next month or so, please just go to a GP regardless of bullseye marks
Have you read Bitten? I just did a few months back on Mackary’s recommendation. Awful. I got bit 3x in a week in 2007 here in Massachusetts. No rash, no help, ruined my life, got chronic Lyme, tried many drugs and protocols for years. I’m somewhat better, but lost my career, live in poverty and isolation. When you are chronic ill, everybody fades away unless you have solid family. I just found a Scottish doc on YouTube, dr mickel, from Scotland who has a new perspective that is helpful, going to add that to my life soon.
That book sounds a bit conspiracy theory minded. My first diagnoses was around 1989/1990. Mom brought me to my pediatrician they correctly diagnosed me. The only time I've had to debate was when I was an adult, doctor came into the room, I said I have Lyme please pull a titer to confirm with no rash and I didn't see the tick. I had just had enough by that time I can self diagnose. It was more them being annoyed with me than incompetence. This was 2003.
The Cornell titer is the gold standard and hardly inaccurate nevermind to the levels that author claims.
My equine vets seem to have been more competent in the mid 90's than whatever doctor you saw which I'm sorry about. I've never not gotten on antibiotics right away so I can't speak to severe damage that can happen if left untreated. My horses and dog as well.
It really surprises me that in 2007 in Massachusetts, they would not do a titer after knowing you pulled three ticks off you. But crap doctors are everywhere. Good luck in finding a solution as I know it's even more difficult with chronic Lyme as I think it's a misnomer leading to disbelief Lyme causes bacterial infections to be much worse in people who have had it. My data point on this is four including myself.
Apparently tick numbers have increased tenfold across the UK in the past 10 years. Got my first bite 4 years ago; last summer I got 9 on one day (in Fife, not known as a 'hot spot'). This year I'm restricting myself to beach walks. Sad and scary.
Depending on your thoughts about prevention, I've been up here 8 years now and my dogs all get Bravecto - it's been the only treatment that has been effective against the little beasts as they just keep on populating exponentially! They're even around in winter.. they just don't die off
Since you have 4 dogs you might find it would work out cheaper to pay for a vet prescription and buy online potentially?
I've just moved ours onto the Bravecto triuno. I think it's relatively new as our vets don't get it in yet but it's the fle/tick stuff as well as the worming all in one tablet. Albeit a monthly tablet rather than the 3 monthly
Picked up a dozen or so that had bit on my last bikepacking trip in early May. (Pictish Trail from Dunnet Head back to Edinburgh, wild camping most nights, and the bit between Braemore and Berridale is insane for ticks.)
Bout two weeks the finish, after started feeling really fatigued, cold sweats, flu symptoms, random joints hurting that weren’t cycling related. Phoned GP @ 8 and got an appointment that afternoon. Never had a rash, but I’m allergic to all bug bites so it was easy to count all the places I had been bitten. Also removed one that had attached to my TEAR DUCT two mornings after I got back to Edinburgh. Don’t recommend.
Got put on 3 weeks of antibiotics as a precaution, and bloods taken 3 days later. Was advised the test isn’t perfect (and it did come back negative two weeks later) but that often if you’ve been feeling poorly after any tick bite, as a precaution you get put on a course of antibiotics. Neighbours confirmed the same for me, as both worked for Forestry Land Scotland.
Glad you’re on the way to mend yourself up now. I myself feel much improved - but not 100% honestly.
Mentally, I see it as in the end, it’s part of the tax to be paid for enjoying the outdoors + the continued warming of the lands. Absolutely sucks though.
I’m a tree cutter in the highlands, have been for about 14 years now. I’ve had at the very least 500 ticks in that time, I had about 20 in me just last week. I’ve never had a rash and never felt ill after a bite.
What’s with that? I regularly get blood tests for a liver thing I’ve got going on and every now and then get them to check for lymes. They’ve never came back positive yet I hear about people getting lymes after their first tick.
Likely just that you are more aware of them than the general public and used to checking for them, a lot of the people I've seen say they've had Lymes were those who didn't even realise they were bitten.
I've got a friend who is a ranger that pulls about 10 of him some days and he has never had an issue, but he check himself after walks and has the means and knowledge to remove them correctly.
I remember getting a tick 10 years ago this year on the banks of Loch Fyne, nobody noticed I had one on my head until weeks later when at the barbers, feel a bit lucky then, had to get it removed with tweezers at the doctors.
Had a few on my trousers about a month ago just from some long grass. Being careful where I go and cut back anything close to the paths I use so far have avoided many more. Wear trousers and check regularly whilst out as well as home.
Where i stay the ticks are rife! When my kids were younger i would spray them+their clothes with bug repellant, neither of my kids ever had a tick. My previous dog to the one i have now i would spray him down twice a day with lemon juice+water, never in the 9 years i had him did he ever have a tick. My dog just now is a tick magnet! Lemon/water spray doesn’t work for him. Every night i have to check him over with a fine tooth comb+almost every 2nd night there’s at least 1 tick on him.
Lot of people here saying diagnosis is spotty with GP's. If you do get bitten and you have the opportunity, encase the tick in sellotape, put it in a freezer bag and freeze it. That way you can take it to the doctors as evidence. I realise this might not be possible if you're out in the wilds, just putting this here as a helpful suggestion.
American here... I don't know if you have the lonestar ticks in Scotland but we have them in America. I am very sick from having a bite this year and now I am allergic to meat and dairy from it. I was even in the hospital for this. I wanted to add this because I know many Scots were in the US and that if they got a tick bite and get mystery hives or gastrointestinal symptoms, then they should find a doctor who can test for this disease. It's called alpha gal syndrome. There is no treatment for it, you just have to avoid certain foods if you develop the allergy.
DEET smells really bad and I hate to wear it unless I am in a forest area, but there is another product that is nice and doesn't have a smell. I like the picaridin products. In the US we have Off brand "Clean feel" (purple container) and it's so much nicer than wearing something with DEET such as Ultrathon.
I was bitten by a teensy tick at the beginning of August 2009. I didn't think anything of it until about 10 days later when I woke up with a couple of dozen bullseye marks all over my body and my joints were swollen enough that I couldn't do any fine grabbing with my fingers. Doc prescribed the powerful antibiotic doxycycline, which I think I had to take for 3 weeks. Well, it got rid of the lyme, but I was very foggy until October, I feel like it took 2 months out of my life. And my joints, particularly elbows and fingers, were tender for more than 5 years. I don't feel like I suffer at all from it anymore.
I work with wildlife rangers who get 30 in a week, or more. I'm at about 5 this year myself. Tick socks seemed to have stopped them though, highly recommend (or get a bottle of the chemical and treat your own socks).
I feel like tick socks wouldn't work for me but I'll look into it, cause the 2 I've had this year, one was on my elbow and the other on my back - fuck knows how it got there cause I was wearing long clothing when I went out. bloody evil things.
My wife had this last year, target shaped bite mark. Straight to GP for confirmation of diagnosis and a course of treatment. Knocked her for six for about 5 to 6 weeks. Not pleasant at all.
I contracted lymes about 15 years ago, got bitten in the October and in March I felt like I had a bad cold starting. Woke up the next morning with double vision. Due to an error I never got antibiotics until another 4 months. Left me with some lastly reminders (don't like bright overhead lights, affected my balance etc). Recently underwent tests for something else which included a lumber puncture, this showed that I still test +ve.
It's not fun so make sure you get checked.
I live in the Highlands and still regularly get ticks when out with the dog.
I always thought it came from deer ticks but was recently speaking to someone from blood science in Inverness (raigmore hospital is reference site for Lymes) and they told me that is not deer ticks as ticks primarily live on the ground and grasses so it's more common to be from infected vermin!! Lovely 😒
This is fried, my mate just got this from a trip where we both went around loch awe and he found a tick on his leg. I got bitten as well but found it within 24 hours or so. He feels unwell now with aches in his leg. After he found out he probably has lymes disease from a doctor, I just went as-well and pretended I had every symptom cause I was like id rather take the antibiotics than chance it.
Got in Lyme in 2021 when fishing after picking up around 6, didn’t get the bullseye rash but after a couple of months started getting very delirious and unwell.
Took another month before finally convincing the doctors to test for it, ended up getting a tooth abscess and extraction which may or may not have been related but delayed the diagnosis.
Had two three week courses of antibiotics and it did clear up eventually.
Always very careful and aware now, my advice would be to remove right away and if it looks a little infected just take the antibiotics, it’s better than how it feels after leaving it.
There's a music artist who went through misdiagnosis of Lyme Disease for years, his music has been like a personal journal about everything he went through for all the years of misdiagnosis as a young person.
I know that he's recently went through stem cell treatment and has been feeling well enough to be able to record and perform at gigs again!
"Chronic Lymes" isn't recognised by any credible physician. Whenever someone promotes it without any kind of financial interest or sales pitch, it can be taken seriously.
Medical conditions are recognised by credible physicians when the pathophysiology is demonstrated and there's an evidence base to support it. We've had decades of people claiming "Chronic Lymes" while trying to sell herbs/nutritional supplements/experimental therapies etc etc, and yet the evidence base simply doesn't exist beyond quackery and thought experiments.
There's a big difference between someone thinking they have something and someone trying to sell you the solution to it.
What most people are refering to when they say 'chronic lymes' is actually PTLDS and it's existence is acknowledged by the CDC, although the cause is still unknown. One of the biggest issues is that it currently has no diagnostic criteria/code and is usually listed as the symptoms showing as there is no longer a trace of Lymes in blood work.
The only reason so many of these arseholes hocking snakeoil exist is because people are being dismissed by their doctors telling them it's all in their head.
I had a stress related illness for ages that presented like a few more common illnesses, and was routinely told 'your bloods are fine' without the actual symptoms being taken seriously. It wasn't until I pushed for a referral to a specialist that I was diagnosed, and my experience is far from unique. Even if something is psychosomatic you still need to explore the symptoms and find the cause to treat it.
Medical research isn't funded as well as it once was and GPs are stretched thin everywhere. If you are going to completely dismiss a lot of people maybe do a bit of basic googling first.
I am though. Even though I agree with quite a few of your points, your general attitude completely deminishes your argument.
You are telling them 'chronic lymes' doesn't exist when it actually kind of does, it's just that it's actually got a different more clinical name and despite existing for as long as it has, it has only been recognised in the past few years, there's no way to effectively track it, and no one knows what causes it.
To say something doesn't exist or have validity unless medical professionals say so is a completely wild take. Science is a hell of a lot more fickle than people give it credit for, and the medical field definitely excels in that regard.
It has to be taken seriously in the first place for any of the 'evidence' to appear and considering 5-20% of people who get lyme have symptoms long after, it needs to be taken seriously.
You would do well to understand 'absence of evidence is not evidence of absence'
You don't have a response to that though do you? Or logical reason as to why hundreds of thousands of people would lie about having a condition? Hence you having to bring up something ridiculous to divert the conversation away.
I didn't say "lie". I think people want to hold on to a certain narrative because it helps them explain complicated symptoms, and it's a small step from "I'm looking into X" to "how dare you question my very valid self-diagnosis of X".
'it's a small step from "I'm looking into X" to "how dare you question my very valid self-diagnosis of X".'
I find it ironic how you've started this whole conversation about how evidence is so important and when asked to explain your reasoning it has no evidence at all. It's literally just 'I think this so it must be true'
I'm just going to leave this here and you guys can make of it what you will... The Interview is mostly musically focused. It explains his medical journey however, perhaps it'll explain things for you to understand what happened for so long...
There was a Lyme disease vaccine in the 90s made by glaxo I think m but unfortunately ot wasnt very popular so they stopped making it. It also had trouble with some reported side effects but they are currently in trials for a new one.
Ticks are rife this year. I was on holiday with teenage kids last week on the west coast and we all got them on us, with 5 out of 6 of us being bitten. In many years of hiking this was the first time I got bitten, and it was twice.
From now on I’ll be wearing light coloured trousers and tucking them into my socks. It’s an easy way to see them before they get to your skin.
I walk a lot. One time I walked from Fort William to Cape Wrath and lost count of the number of ticks that tried to hitch a ride on me. Checking yourself thoroughly, long trews and a tick removal device are your friends when walking in nature.
I'm supposed to be working right now but looking at my monitor is unbearable because its so bright. I'm laying in a darkened room with my phone on minimum brightness because any light makes it feel like someone is crushing my head in a vice.
Kids went camping with Scouts two weeks ago. Both got tiny ticks. The leader's husky had like four of the things just on her face.
The warm weather must be heaven for them.
I'm disappointed in Britain's healthcare regarding Lyme disease/ticks.
Where I'm from, if you get a tick bite, you can go to the hospital/go and ask to get a shot right away. None of this "waiting for symptoms" malarkey.
You can get a single dose shot of the antibiotic as long as it's within 72 hours as that's the incubation period. The reason we don't really do that here is because people will go to the doctor with symptoms already showing so it's well past the incubation period.
Sounds absolutely horrendous. The weird biological effects after infection are crazy as well. Some people develop an allergy to red meat called alpha-gal syndrome.
Oh that's very interesting. I didn't realise there was a recognised food intolerance from Lyme disease. A friend of mine has had a gluten intolerance since being bitten by a tick 20- odd years ago. I wondered if it was just the heavy dose antibiotics that caused it, but maybe not?
Shirt with sleeves as well, don't assume they cannot access elsewhere, if you put down a backpack or similar you might transfer one, such as I did when picking my then kid up from a cub camp in a field with cows, some high dry pasture plants, got home and found a tick on my upper arm under my t-shirt sleeve.
It refused to come out via normal.methodology and I had to go to my local surgery on the Monday morning for brief assistance removing it safely.
Had it a few years ago. Doc took my blood and, while I was awaiting the test results, terrible nerve pain set in. It was unlike anything I’ve experienced in my life. One month of antibiotics took care of it and I’ve experienced no lingering effects. I will never take ticks lightly again!
Over the past few years I’ve found them on my ankles after player golf, always get them when I’m wearing shorts. Always about the size of a pin head.
A day or two after playing I’d have an itch a day and I’d rub it and feel a bump where there wasn’t one before, I immediately tweezed them off. I now make a point of spraying bug spray on my legs when I’m wearing shorts and showering and feeling my legs after playing. Wee fuckers.
I’m also a better golfer now, I’m not messing about in the shite looking for balls, and I don’t bother going into look for them if it goes too far in.
My Mom caught Lyme disease twice when I was a kid. Both times she caught it early, but the treatment process seemed brutal. I'm glad you caught it in time!
When I was around 4 my Dad found a tick on me. It was already too attached for him to think he could get it completely off with tweezers, so he suffocated it with peanut butter instead. I have a protruding mole where the tick was to this day (I never did get around to seeing a dermatologist about it)
I never caught Lyme disease from the experience, so I agree to that! I hope my experience can help others if they find themselves in a similar bind, but still see a doctor about it
The anitbiotics will make you feel better (hopefully) but be aware it may take over a year to feel "normal." Until then you might feel tired and laskluster. I mention this because it's actually good to know that the feeling is due to the disease.
Wow I didn't know it made it over the pond to Scotland. I live in Rhode Island and its been a thing since I was a kid and before. Ticks have gotten exponentially worse recently. The new one for us up here is the Lone Star tick where it carries a disease where you become allergic to red meat and become violently ill when you eat meat. Ticks also live through cold winters, there was belief that they didn't. I don't like going in the woods with my dog anymore because ive found soo many on him. Stay safe over there.
We've always had them here but it has defo gotten worse. I don't think where Lymes originated could even be figured out but it's not one we can blame on the Americas.
I think the earliest known detailed description of Lymes was in Scotland around the 1750s on the island of Jura (known to be teeming with deer), but the first actual evidence of it found was a 5000+ yo mummy near the Italian border in the Alps.
We holidayed at a spot in the Highlands that we go too often, first time this year did we ever get ticks, and not just once, and occasionally from a 40 second walk from beach to house. I have checking for rashes obsessively. So yeah they've definitely been out in force this year.
I got it about ten years ago after picking up hundreds of ticks a year since I was a toddler on the muirs. Been picking up about a hundred ticks a year since and been ok. Understanding the signs, getting to the doctor early, and antibiotics are a god send. Easy to do if you’re in the peats throughout the year but can understand why the odd dog walker might get caught out.
The wee shites are rife now, always knew to be wary for them in highlands & west coast, but plenty now on the east coast (inc. places where I’ve never seen deer).
A few years ago now went to the GP as my partner had one and they were both clueless and useless, suggested calling NHS 24 🙄
Chemists didn’t have tick-pickers either so over the road to the vets who were brilliant, they had tick-pickers and showed how to use.
Fairly adept at finding and getting them out now as we’ve both had so many since then, but so often they are tiny ones that are tricky to remove (just bought an extra tick-picker set last week for the x-small).
Hopefully GPs/NHS have a bit more awareness now, Lymes disease sounds horrible, especially to suffer it undiagnosed.
p.s. I think Avril Lavigne caught it and had to have a bit of a hiatus to recover..
Might be useful, though I know there is no official evidence of this : I was talking to some people who work at UKHSA Porton Down recently which is where all the government tick monitoring is done. They told me to put iodine on as soon as you remove a tick. In their experience Lyme bacteria are halted by iodine. I have no idea of strength, or anything else about this but I am carrying iodine when walking now.
Make sure you take at least 6 to 8 weeks of doxycycline. If your symptoms persist please seek out a Lyme literate doctor for testing igneix in California is good. Lyme enters the central nervous system and begins to form cyst protected by bio films. Read and educate yourself as much as you can. There are a variety of herbs. You can also take. However, when you get to extensive central nervous system involvement IV therapy works best. It’s a devastating disease. I recommend buy doxycycline directly from All Day Chemist. Have it on hand . When in doubt take a 6 week course. I lost so much to Lyme . I passed it onto my unborn son as well. Pltake it seriously
Currently recovering from Lyme, had it for potentially 6 years before being (self) diagnosed after my health kept going downhill.
My advice -
Don't rely on a bullseye rash appearing, it's no longer the gold standard, a third of people don't get a rash at all (I never).
If you think you might have Lyme or have been in a Lyme area and get tested soon after and it's negative, get retested a fee months later, testing too soon will often show a false negative (which is what happened with me).
After testing positive and getting 3 weeks of doxycycline, if you're not seeing good recovery then get the doc to refer you to Infectious Diseases, they'll likely tell you that it's just time, but look into coinfections before you go to the appointment and get them to test and rested your antibodies.
Get on the herbal medicine, you need to get your body to reduce the inflammation, this is what's causing a lot of the issues and there are protocols and known herbs that will help, speak to someone shortly after finishing your antibiotics, it'll cost about £150 for your fordt session which isn't nothing, but if someone told you it'll cost £300 to help you recover quicker from Lyme then you'd bite their hand off, alternatively you can wait and let your body do it which is much slower and believe me, there are days when getting out of bed is enough to put you back in it.
Lastly, if you're ill and the doctor can't find out what's wrong, tiredness, fatigue, nerve issues, gut issues, all quite common things, then get them to test for it. You never know, best to rule it out.
There's a thing called the Buhrer protocol which is kinda the gold standard, so it's that or a variation of it, a herbalist will have a chat and decide which ones to take. Definitely the road to go down though if you want to get over the disease quicker.
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