Every now and then I feel a strange tremor through my body. Sometimes it is quite intense. It has caused me to fall over, flat on my back, several times. I don’t pass out or black out. I simply fall. Strange, I know. When I finally went to the doctor about it, they told me I was dehydrated. I began making sure I was doing better with hydration. I avoid caffeine and anything that could be a diuretic. It turns out my symptoms were due to something more than my water intake. My issues came from stupid ticks. Those little buggers were wreaking havoc on my body and I don’t even recall being bitten by one. I never had the bullseye rash at all. From what I hear, most people don’t get the rash. Balance was only one of my problems. I had such brain fog that I couldn’t find the words to say. Talk about frustration. It was very difficult to talk with someone in a loud setting. I had zero concentration and things didn’t always make sense to me. My head would feel heavy and huge and my arms felt like they were made out of cement. I was always exhausted. The first time I was diagnosed, I had a two year old. The second time, I had a 7 year old and 4 year old. Parenting is a full-time job on a good day, so these times of my life were pretty difficult, to say the least. My symptoms are managed at the time being, for which I’m very grateful. Every so often though, I have to have another round of antibiotics for latent infections that seem to flare at times,
If you’ve been bitten by a tick, some symptoms to watch for within 3-30 days are headache, fever, chills, muscle/joint aches…
What’s tricky about this disease is it is easily missed. In my case I do not recall being bitten, so how would I expect any of those symptoms to be caused by a bug? In the US, where I am, we are experiencing a “tick explosion” right now. The ground has thawed, winter wasn’t all that bad and so ticks are all about the place, waiting to latch onto loose clothing, hiding in blades of tall grass, dead wood, you name it! Because missing or misdiagnosing a tick borne illness can mean years of misery, I highly recommend you take every precaution possible when you’re spending time out doors! The statistics in this chart are fairly outdated now, but it’s the most recent the CDC has. There is much more information available on their site about symptoms, treatment, specialists, etc. It may be a good idea to just take a quick peek at it. Knowledge is power, as they say!
Do you have any experience with lyme disease or any tick borne illness? Feel free and tell me about it here.
