Hey, Mary...
When I saw that my daughter had the unmistakable bullseye rash on her chest, I knew she had lyme disease...there had been articles in the newspaper about it. We saw the tick, but were not very successful in removing it. Her early signs were fatigue and pain in her joints...especially her knees...she had to crawl up the stairs. I do not recall a fever or earache, but just mainly the joint pain and lethargy. That can also be an early symptom of leukemia, but since we saw the rash, we knew that wasn't the problem. An infectious disease doctor would not see her for 6 weeks because it takes that a while for your body to build up antibodies to the spirochete, which then can be detected with a blood test.
I went to the library and read everything I could on lyme and was very anxious to treat it as early as I could, so I was lucky to have the naturopath do that. The consensus is that you must be bitten by a tick to acquire lyme disease, so it would be nice to know if your daughter saw a tick the size of a pinhead. I believe the rash doesn't always develop, but there should always be a tick and I don't remember how long before the rash showed...but I believe it was just several days...
Perhaps they are testing for lyme to rule it out, but just be aware that the antibodies don't show up for at least a month after a bite, so they may just be trying to eliminate things...the joint pain is unmistakable, though. High fevers often accompany ear infections, so perhaps doctors are more routinely testing now as lyme disease becomes more widespread. My daughter acquired lyme disease in June...peak season for it in Georgia...we live near woods with lots of deer...the tick hangs out on some foliage after spending time on a deer and then when a person brushes against it, it transfers to the person. For your sake, I hope she does not have lyme disease...but keep in mind, if you did not see a tick on her...your don't really have a timetable to know that antibodies developed and whether the testing is accurate...I do not know if there can be false positives with the testing...that would be something to research.
I had an uncle that got Lyme disease and he took the antibiotic route and recovered...but why take drugs if you don't need to...God bless you all and I hope your granddaughter recovers from whatever is ailing her...I always kept a liquid echinacea/goldenseal and liquid vitamin C or even chewables on hand for the times the children got sick...I have a home remedy for earaches that involves a clove of garlic for ear aches that was very effective. Also, I used homeopathics successfully and there are some Lyme homeopathies available...remember a fever is your friend...the only problem is if it is too high, the child can become delirious...and between raising 5 children that only happened once...normally I did not try to lower a fever with aspirin or such...I let it do its' job...there are just so many different ways to deal with health issues...take care...
Thanks Tweety. We have lots of ticks here too. When we had 'the neighbors' chickens free-ranging in our yard, they ate the ticks. But the church 3 lots down has a parsonage where the pastor has a large white dog. He killed every chicken my neighbor had; even in broad daylight. The last Rooster which my grandkids called 'Foggy' thanks to my husband for Foghorn Leghorn, was killed right in front of my grandkids when the dog came over. That is when we figured out he was the one who killed all the chickens. After that, my neighbor tried once again to raise free-range chickens, but that dog killed them all. My husband caught it in our yard and 'whacked' it across the head with a heavy stick and it stayed away for quite a while. But now he is back. My daughter bought chickens but keeps hers kept up in a pin with chicken feed. So there is nothing here to kill the ticks and the grandkids keep getting them no matter how much you mow the yard.
This one happens to be the Pastor of the church. How do you tell him to get rid of a chicken killing dog or keep it locked up? That's why George hit it in the head with a heavy stick. He may have to do it again, although the dog doesn't deserve to be hit by doing something dogs have evolved in doing from their ancestry. But we must do something to keep it away. As for the ticks, there are lots of Cedar Trees around the yard and in the wooded area around my home. I hear ticks thrive on cedar trees.
P. S. The kids were so upset about Foggy the rooster that they had a funeral for him with the few feathers that the dog left in the yard. Those kids came running in really fast that day screaming and crying that the dog had Foggy in his mouth. By the time they got inside, he had done ran through the woods beside the house and back to his neighborhood home. Probably ate poor Foggy in the woods.
Hey, Mary... When I saw that my daughter had the unmistakable bullseye rash on her chest, I knew she had lyme disease...there had been articles in the newspaper about it. We saw the tick, but were not very successful in removing it. Her early signs were fatigue and pain in her joints...especially her knees...she had to crawl up the stairs. I do not recall a fever or earache, but just mainly the joint pain and lethargy. That can also be an early symptom of leukemia, but since we saw the rash, we knew that wasn't the problem. An infectious disease doctor would not see her for 6 weeks because it takes that a while for your body to build up antibodies to the spirochete, which then can be detected with a blood test.
I went to the library and read everything I could on lyme and was very anxious to treat it as early as I could, so I was lucky to have the naturopath do that. The consensus is that you must be bitten by a tick to acquire lyme disease, so it would be nice to know if your daughter saw a tick the size of a pinhead. I believe the rash doesn't always develop, but there should always be a tick and I don't remember how long before the rash showed...but I believe it was just several days...
Perhaps they are testing for lyme to rule it out, but just be aware that the antibodies don't show up for at least a month after a bite, so they may just be trying to eliminate things...the joint pain is unmistakable, though. High fevers often accompany ear infections, so perhaps doctors are more routinely testing now as lyme disease becomes more widespread. My daughter acquired lyme disease in June...peak season for it in Georgia...we live near woods with lots of deer...the tick hangs out on some foliage after spending time on a deer and then when a person brushes against it, it transfers to the person. For your sake, I hope she does not have lyme disease...but keep in mind, if you did not see a tick on her...your don't really have a timetable to know that antibodies developed and whether the testing is accurate...I do not know if there can be false positives with the testing...that would be something to research.
I had an uncle that got Lyme disease and he took the antibiotic route and recovered...but why take drugs if you don't need to...God bless you all and I hope your granddaughter recovers from whatever is ailing her...I always kept a liquid echinacea/goldenseal and liquid vitamin C or even chewables on hand for the times the children got sick...I have a home remedy for earaches that involves a clove of garlic for ear aches that was very effective. Also, I used homeopathics successfully and there are some Lyme homeopathies available...remember a fever is your friend...the only problem is if it is too high, the child can become delirious...and between raising 5 children that only happened once...normally I did not try to lower a fever with aspirin or such...I let it do its' job...there are just so many different ways to deal with health issues...take care...
Thanks Tweety. We have lots of ticks here too. When we had 'the neighbors' chickens free-ranging in our yard, they ate the ticks. But the church 3 lots down has a parsonage where the pastor has a large white dog. He killed every chicken my neighbor had; even in broad daylight. The last Rooster which my grandkids called 'Foggy' thanks to my husband for Foghorn Leghorn, was killed right in front of my grandkids when the dog came over. That is when we figured out he was the one who killed all the chickens. After that, my neighbor tried once again to raise free-range chickens, but that dog killed them all. My husband caught it in our yard and 'whacked' it across the head with a heavy stick and it stayed away for quite a while. But now he is back. My daughter bought chickens but keeps hers kept up in a pin with chicken feed. So there is nothing here to kill the ticks and the grandkids keep getting them no matter how much you mow the yard.
This one happens to be the Pastor of the church. How do you tell him to get rid of a chicken killing dog or keep it locked up? That's why George hit it in the head with a heavy stick. He may have to do it again, although the dog doesn't deserve to be hit by doing something dogs have evolved in doing from their ancestry. But we must do something to keep it away. As for the ticks, there are lots of Cedar Trees around the yard and in the wooded area around my home. I hear ticks thrive on cedar trees.
P. S. The kids were so upset about Foggy the rooster that they had a funeral for him with the few feathers that the dog left in the yard. Those kids came running in really fast that day screaming and crying that the dog had Foggy in his mouth. By the time they got inside, he had done ran through the woods beside the house and back to his neighborhood home. Probably ate poor Foggy in the woods.