Re: RA and Lyme Disease Kathe

[Guest guest]

Hi Kathe,

Yes I live in an area where ticks habitate.

No rashes, fevers etc as you would get with lyme disease.

I had a positive RA factor, although not very high. It was the body

bone scan that confirmed the RA.

It was my boyfriemd's father that suggested the Lyme disease. I think

it is wishful thinking on their part.

My sister in law has had lyme disease and I don't feel the way she did.

I was on mtx and doing poorly (aka getting worse) so I was switched to

Arava 20 mg yesterday when I saw the rheumy.

I am trying every day to accept that this disease isn't going away.

My little girl who is 21 months old (today in fact!1) keeps me going!

I adopted her from China in August. The way I am wrapping my mind

around it is that I am still " normal " (whatever that is) ...with

limitations.

Have a great night!

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> Kathe

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> " To ride a horse is to borrow freedom. "

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[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I live in an area where Lyme is very common. We have had horses get

Lyme, and it is very common in dogs, cats. Humans are a little bit

better at avoiding deer ticks, but even among humans it is not an

uncommon disease around here.

The ticks that spread Lyme are NOT regular wood ticks, but deer

ticks. Deer ticks are TINY... smaller than these periods by quite a

bit. It is esy to overlook them unless they are engorged. When they

are engorged they are easy to differentiate from wood ticks. They

are light in color, rather than blue-grey, and they are long and

relatively narrow, rather than the rounded " grape " shape of a wood

tick.

Not everyone who gets infected with Lyme gets the initial ring-

shaped rash, and even if they do, it is sometimes in a place that

they don't notice it. (the rash doesn't itch, so you'd have to see

it to know it was there) While some people have fever/flu type

symptoms in the beginning, this is often mild, and easily overlooked

as something else since that phase goes away without treatment.

The good news is that it's easy to find out whether you have been

exposed to Lyme with a simple blood test. Treatment is a relatively

long-term course of antibiotics, but the horses we've had with it,

the response to antibiotics was dramatic and relatively quick. So

if you live in an area where Lyme disease is prevalent, definitely

get yourself checked!

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> > Kathe

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> > " To ride a horse is to borrow freedom. "

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