A decade ago — long before the pandemic hordes arrived in droves — my husband and I moved to a bucolic town in Southern New England. Our goals: To escape New York City crime and find a semblance of peace and quiet.
Instead, we found ourselves (and our two terriers) under attack from a life-threatening marauder of nature: Neither a harrowing black bear, nor a rabid raccoon, our new enemy was, in fact, barely visible to the naked eye.
It was an invader from Bug Land, the black-legged tick, a k a the deer tick, that carries the bacteria of the frighteningly debilitating, invasive, virtually impossible to cure Lyme disease.
A victim at least twice of the tiny parasite, it has fed on my blood, and that of our dogs, virtually crippling me and them.
As the summer outdoor season continues this coming holiday weekend, New Yorkers and others seeking an escape in the country must be more vigilant than ever. As you may tragically learn, that innocent hike in tick-infested woods can lead to a hellish, lingering illness.
And the worst part is the medical profession appears no closer to solving this critical health mystery than they were over a decade ago when Lyme first hit the East Coast hard.
Indeed, while Lyme is hardly new, case numbers are growing — up 70% through the end of 2022 following a COVID-era lag.
While the surge is partially due to changes in the way cases are reported, it also reflects what I’ve learned firsthand: Solving Lyme disease is not a priority for medical providers.
Year-round warmer temperatures have exploded the tick population into what feels like an invasion. According to the CDC, the black-legged tick is now found in twice the number of East Coast counties than it was two decades ago.
The ticks arrive in droves, hitchhiking in the fur of the white-footed mouse, and, or cute chipmunks, and even parachuting into foliage from red robins.
They now await on the tips of grass, in leaf litter and in the nearby woods to latch on to unsuspecting hikers, climbing on board with their two front legs and seeking a hidden crevice of flesh to begin their feast.
It’s a grim thought.
For me, it all started when I awoke in the middle of the night, feverish and sweating, with what felt like a violent flu. My doctor clearly didn’t know what was ailing me and, after a brief exam, offered his treatment:
“Go home and take a Valium.” What!? I quickly changed docs and the new one thought it could be the L word, and immediately prescribed an antibiotic.
Despite the antibiotics, I was experiencing excruciating pain in my shoulders along with extreme fatigue and brain fog. Eventually an integrative specialist confirmed the Lyme diagnosis with a complex blood test.
I’ve now had Lyme disease twice, with my current doctor telling me I suffer from “chronic post-Lyme syndrome.”
My two dogs suffered terribly. One suddenly went limp and couldn’t walk. The other’s white blood cell count dropped precipitously. The dogs go on antibiotics but still remain infected.
My Lyme experience demonstrated that the typical internist doesn’t know how to deal with the disease beyond antibiotic treatments. But that only works if caught early – identified usually, but not always, by a raised red circle.
Doctors have no way to follow up on whether or not the Lyme bacteria — which can hide in your body for years — responded to the antibiotics. Moreover, the CDC and private insurance companies don’t recognize that chronic Lyme disease exists.
Relief may be on the horizon. Last week Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand (D-NY) called for nearly $200 million in federal funding to research and rout out Lyme.
But the funds are earmarked for the 2025 fiscal year. In the meantime, one has to seek out Lyme specialists. The one I was seeing now charges $750 for an initial 15-visit with labwork.
He prescribed bitter oral concoctions for 60 days with no effect other than violently disrupting my GI tract.
Another specialist treated me with painful intramuscular antibiotic injections, and then suggested I might have Lupus, which I didn’t.
I now follow a Lyme specialist who publishes a weekly webinar and I take supplements in the hope that I can keep this disease at bay.
But if I had the option of doing it all over again, I’d stay in the city — urban horrors notwithstanding.
NEWS CREDIT
