I walk in woods regularly in area where there are many ticks. I was not warned of this on arrival to the area. I began to notice small black dots that were attached ticks now and again and pulled them out with tweezers. I met someone whose health had been seriously damaged by a tick bite. So after that, I was a bit more careful with protective clothing in forest areas, but I also began to suspect I might be getting bitten in my own large garden. Then last week, I had a severe skin reaction on the back of my calf where I could not have seen a tick. After the weekend, I went to my doctor who diagnosed it as Lyme disease from my description and the high-risk area. He prescribed antibiotics, as I expected. Published: October 20 ::

I noticed what I thought was a spider bite in July of 2007 on my lower abdomen. A couple of days later, I noticed a small, red rash (in the vicinity of the bite but not around it) that was hot to the touch and itchy. I spent a lot of time on the Internet looking for information on spider bites because I never saw a tick. However, over the next week, it progressively grew larger and developed a bull’s eye-look. I had also been suffering from very painful joints since the rash appeared. Finally alarmed, I went to the doctor and was immediately diagnosed with Lyme disease. Since that time, I have gone through two treatments of antibiotics. The second was prescribed months later because I still suffered from joint pain. To this day, I still suffer joint pain in my hips, and the pain is worse some months than others. However, I think I am luckier than about half of those afflicted. If you are reading this (I really worried at all the horror stories when I was diagnosed), don't expect to be healed totally, just be thankful that it isn't worse. Published: September 11 ::

Six years ago, I began experiencing severe headaches and visual disturbances. Whenever I stood up my vision would either go black or I would see swirling colors. My doctor said it was migraines and left it at that. Upon visiting my eye doctor for a routine check-up, he saw that my optic nerve was swollen and raised and that I had hemorrhaging in my brain. I was told to get to the neurology center of a very good hospital right away. It was there that I found out I had viral meningitis and received a spinal tap that lasted 45 minutes. My spinal pressure was 400 (normal is 100) and they drained 30 CCs of fluid. A few days later, I got a call saying they tested my spinal fluid for Lyme disease and it turned out positive. I was then started on IV antibiotics for 28 days. Published: September 11 ::