Brad Paisley has a good idea.. Checking for Ticks

So, a really good friend of mine (let's call her Marie) recently contracted Lyme Disease. Right now, I know several people that have been diagnosed with Lyme disease after being bitten by a deer tick. Your little critters bring them into the house too. I remember finding a deer tick now and then crawling on the carpet near our dog. Occasionally, the ticks were on the dogs and they were engorged with blood and looked like a Raisinette. UGH

Marie has basically been through hell and back -- actually she still is going thru hell on earth and hasn't come back yet. Her experience is so horrific that she is still in treatment for the original symptoms and now battling complications from the antibiotics.

After working in the garden, Marie found a tiny deer tick stuck in her skin which she removed. Several days or weeks later (not sure) she found the classic "bulls-eye" rash resulting from the infected tick and visited the doctor who prescribed antibiotics. Once you get the bulls-eye symptom, you pretty much know the tick was a carrier. The blood tests that the doctor's take can give you a false negative result for Lyme -- that stinks! The doctors gave Marie a course of antibiotics but she immediately reacted and went into anaphalactic shock.

If you don't know what anaphalactic shock is, it is a severe allergic reaction that causes your throat to close up, your tissues to swell, and basically put you on death's doorstop. In fact, if you don't get treatment right away, you most likely will be leaving us to see the Lord (well, that is of course if you have already surrendered your life to him on earth). Marie was was rushed by ambulance to the hospital due to her allergic reaction to the antibiotics. The problem now arose in that they found that all of the antibiotic options that were available caused Marie to go into anaphalatic shock -- that doesn't leave much hope. So, while they are trying to treat the original Lyme symptoms, the spirochete was doing it's thing and attacking Marie's body giving her extreme pain in her joints and assorted locations.

Marie had to spend several weeks in the hospital and part of that time in the ICU. The team of doctors were pulling their hair out trying to find something that could be used to treat the Lyme in Marie's body. They are administering antibiotics which she is still allergic to, but the symptoms are being monitored and so far she has not had an extreme allergic reaction so it is their only hope at this point. Marie is still receiving daily IV treatments in an attempt to irradicate this predator from her body before it ravages it permanently. Everyday right now is a struggle and we pray it doesn't get worse.

I wanted to share this with you as well as the importance of wearing the right clothes when you are outside among trees and tall grasses, checking yourself thoroughly when you get inside, and getting immediate treatment if you have been bitten.

Marie told me (which I have not substantiated but I will still share) that there is controversy in the medical community as to how Lyme should be treated. Allegedly, the Infectious Disease doctors say a course of antibiotics for 10 days should be sufficient. The Lyme specialists feel that it is necessary to have a 21 regimen of antibiotics to kill the spirochete. Gee, I rather go with the 21 days even if a doctor thinks 10 days is sufficent. I understand the whole concept of not taking antibiotics when unnecessary and that germs actually become resistant to antibiotics after a period of time, but in this case, I should think it is better to be safe than sorry. You also may get false negative results for Lyme so have them retest you if you encounter this situation.

I remember about 30 years ago, I took care of a child that was in a coma and for a long while, the doctors could not find out the cause. Finally, they found a tick in the child's scalp. The child developed Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever as well. When the tick was removed, the child came out of the coma. EWWWWWWW Ticks are bad news.

There is a lot of information on the internet about Lyme. Here is two sites which may be helpful:
CDC

Mayo Clinic

I also ask your prayers for Marie. That being said, Lord God I ask that you touch Marie's body and give her the strength to deal with this situation and heal her of this monsterous disease. Thank you Lord. Amen.