Well, today Alex took Josiah in to see his doctor because I thought he had ringworm and his school nurse thought he had conjunctivitis. We were both wrong. The rash he has is due to the fact that he actually has Lyme Disease and his eye issues were due to allergies. Little did I know that Lyme Disease is very prevalent in Southern New England. I now officially hate ticks!
Being raised in Arkansas, and having large outdoor dogs, and having acres of woods as my backyard, ticks were an everyday experience for me. Didn't think anything of pulling a tick off myself. I didn't have anything against them. Well, actually I do remember getting mad at a tick once, but didn't want to kill it. I wanted to torture it, so I attempted to burst its eardrums by holding it right up to my mouth and yelling really loud. :) (Mom, are you laughing out loud right now?) So, I guess maybe I have never liked ticks, after all. And now that one has infected my baby, I am not a happy camper.
Does anyone have any knowledge or have any experience with Lyme Disease? I am so hoping we caught it early enough that Josiah won't have any lasting effects.
3 comments:
Keylor had Lyme Disease last summer... Due to the bite location, the disease started with the worst symptoms (usually years down the road). She was only 2, and we (us + doc) opted to give her the big nasty medicine to hopefully stop it. The stuff is NEVER supposed to be given under 8 years old and is only supposed to be used with EXTREME caution then. Apparently, it is not even in production anymore, but a local drugstore had enough of the ingredients in two stores and mixed it for us. The meds stop bone growth for the duration you are taking them and most likely turn permanent teeth brown. Given the alternatives of the severity of the disease and how risky it already was, we went for it. She was on it for two weeks. No immediate side effects. Still wasn't herself, we all gathered around her at a home group and prayed... perfectly fine the next day. She is in the 70th % for height, so it doesn't look like it has affected that much of her growth. Our doc told us that the antibiotics had to be administered while the rash was still present. Have you found a rash at the site of infection? It looks like a bull's eye. Zack's sis was diagnosed a couple of month's ago with it as well. She took meds for several weeks and is doing mostly better, but they think she has had Lyme's for a long time and just now caught it. I love you guys! What did your doc say?
Joanna,
His doctor thinks we caught it early. I can't tell where the original bite was, but he has quite few "circles" on his legs and have now developed on his chest and his back. No other symptoms until tonight...he has a fever. He is being treated with amoxicillin. Thanks for all the info! Love you too!
I'm so glad you caught it early..from what limited knowledge I have of Lyme, that seems to be the best thing. We'll be praying for his quick and complete recovery!
Sarah
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