Mar 7, 2017 4 min read

In reference to your article on deer ticks and Lyme disease, I would like to comment as an experienced Lyme disease victim in Washington County. I was told by the Washington County Health Department that I was one of the first cases in the county in 2012.

In May 2009, I was at my camp in Beaver County when I noticed a speck in the middle of a red, circular rash on my inner thigh. The speck was tiny, about the size of a poppy seed. I recognized it as a tick and removed it with tweezers. The rash soon disappeared and, in a few days, I experienced flu-like symptoms. These lasted for two or three days. I went to a medical clinic where I was prescribed a 10-day course of amoxcillin antibiotic.

I felt fine for a few months. By February 2010, I thought I was either going to die or I was crazy. For months, I experienced extreme fatigue, nausea, joint pain, spleen swelling and all kinds of “weird” symptoms. I developed Bell’s palsy, where I would lose feeling in my face. I recognized people, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember their names. I had many mornings where I felt as if I had a bad hangover, without drinking the night before.

Oh, did I mention joint pain in my hips and knees?

I started researching Lyme disease. My symptoms fit the description of it.

I had an MRI of my brain and saw a local neurologist. He suggested I imagined my illnesses or had psychological issues.

A Lyme disease diagnosis is not as easy as you think. There are two tests which you must be positive for in order to be clinically diagnosed. The first is an immunoassay test that shows you have been exposed to the Lyme disease bacteria. I was positive for this. However, for treatment, you have be positive on the other test as well. It is a 10-part test. Each part is called a titer. You must be positive on at least four out of 10 titers on this test to be treatable. I was positive on only two of 10 titers on this test.

I quacked like a duck and looked like a duck when I saw a local infectious disease doctor. However, he said I was not a duck. Although I had symptoms and met many, but not all criteria for a Lyme test, I was “negative” for Lyme disease.

I traveled to Hermitage to see a Lyme disease specialist. I paid out-of-pocket and received antibiotic treatment, along with a wholesome diet and nutritional supplements. This lasted several months.

In 2011, after feeling much better and paying out-of-pocket for my own treatment, I scored nine out of 10 titers on the Lyme test and still showed positive results for the antibody on the immunoassay test. I was clinically positive.

Today, I am well. Just a touch of boraleal arthritis in my hips and knees.

This little tick, the size of a pinhead, packs quite a wallop. The bacteria they spit into you is like a corkscrew, burrowing into your tissue. It’s hard to get rid of and many doctors underestimate it.

Eric Garland

Brownsville