We have been unlucky enough for our 13 year old daughter Rebecca to have caught a disease i was not really aware of - Lyme Disease
This is a disease that has been extremely rare in the UK ( Becca is the first case in 12 years at our hospital - and the last one was somebody returning from a holiday )and as such the obvious symptoms may well not be recognised by your local Doctors. The disease is passed by the bite of a tick, usually when you're in wet woodland areas, and in many cases causes a unique rash that is easily recognised and at this stage easily treated - if left untreated the potential risks escalate massively.
Rebecca was bitten in early August whilst we were on a camping trip.......she had a strange rash that gradually grew in size .....despite 4 trips to see the doctor it seemed not to respond to any of the treatments. Eventually after 5 weeks it had grown to such a size it had completely wrapped around her leg but it eventually faded out by the middle of September.
As it turns out that was not the end of it....... on Saturday 6th Oct Becca complained that her top lip "felt funny"....which we thought was odd but didn't think particularly alarming. On Sunday 7th she said she was having trouble smiling.......this we were a lot more worried about and we made arrangements to go to the Dr's on Monday morning. On Monday morning i had left for work early and when i spoke to my wife she told be that Becca was having trouble blinking or closing her eyes fully......she had been to the Dr's and arrangements were being made for her to go to he hospital. By this point the only muscle movements in her face were that she could move her eyes....but only half close her eyelids.......all other facial muscles were no longer working.
Within a short time it was worked out that Lyme Disease was a possible suspect as this was one of the few things that could give rise to sudden facial paralysis.....this combined with our suspicion ofthe bite in August....and the photos we took of the rash pretty quickly brought this up as one of the few conclusions.
Becca is now on a month long course of "nuke" antibiotics......as the bacteria have spread to her brain and nervous system it is difficult to be sure they are gone........this is complicated by the problem that the tests are not particularly reliable or quick. She still has the facial paralysis but we are told that this should gradually improve over weeks/months....... there is no guarantee of full recovery but most people do fully or near fully recover. The symptoms she has are i think a cruel thing for a 13 year old girl but i'm grateful right now that it has not got worse. We obviously hope for sooner rather than later as it is a bad time for her to be missing school.
The reason i write this is that the ticks carrying the disease have not historically covered all of the UK but it now seems that they now might cover all of the UK ( at least as far as Cumbria now ) and there are going to be more and more cases appearing....but the problem right now is that the medical proffession is not fully up to speed on it and it is highly likely that they might miss the symptoms.
So especially for those of you with kids ( thought this equally applies to everybody ) ...... if you see an insect bite that causes a "Bullseye" rash that has a red edge and clear centre that gradually expands with the red edge moving and fading then take photos and get down to the doctors and tell them what you suspect.
Some example images of the rash :-
http://www.healthofchildren.com/images/gech_0001_0003_0_img0170.jpg
http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=93153&rendTypeId=4
http://www.mdchoice.com/photo/img/img0209.jpg
Google'ing "Lyme Disease" and searching under the images tab gives some pretty clear pictures. The rash itself is considered medically diagnostic enough to be confirmation of a Lyme infected bite and prompt antibiotic treatment will stop it in its tracks.
The later stages of the disease, if left untreated include many and various sysmptoms that are really hard to pinpoint.....but if the disease if left it can infect the nervous system and the potential risks are so much higher.
Hopefully this information will help prevent people getting into the same nightmare we are in at the moment.
I hope Becca continues to recover quickly.
phew, what a scary account, it must've been frightening for you all.
we have the disease down here in Somerset, but I wouldn't say people are familiar with it. I know about it because I'm a hunting country boy.
the Ticks hang about in long grass and bracken, and covering up with long trousers and boots is usually all the protection you need.
regards
Quote from: Blunt;209433I hope Becca continues to recover quickly.
phew, what a scary account, it must've been frightening for you all.
we have the disease down here in Somerset, but I wouldn't say people are familiar with it. I know about it because I'm a hunting country boy.
the Ticks hang about in long grass and bracken, and covering up with long trousers and boots is usually all the protection you need.
regards
Hope things work out ok for you mate.
Being a mountainbiker riding in forests here in DK I am very much aware of it as well and I am really paying attention to it here. But as in the UK maybe, people don't really know what to look out for nor know to look out in the first place :eyebrow:
:blink: Thats scary, i wish you, the better half and little Rebacca a good and speedy recovery.
Niel, I'm so sorry to hear that.
I hope she recovers quickly :sad:
PEN
Good info Niel and best wishes to Becca for a full and speedy recovery.
Sorry to hear about your daughter, I can imagine it must have been a bit of a shock.
I hope she has a full recovery.
I hope she gets well soon. With the trends with weather I'm sure more and more unfamiliar illnesses will start creeping in to areas they weren't before. Lets just hope your doctor reads up on Lyme Disease before another case comes in, to miss something so apparently diagnosable is terrible.
Thanks for sharing that with us. I also wish Becca a fast recovery.
Some interesting information, i really hope your daughter recovers soon, paralysis must be a horrible thing for someone so young to experience. I'd heard of the illness but had no knowledge about it before now.
They're up here in the woods aswell.
A good read on wikipedia here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick
At work we have a boyscout and he says after each hike through the woods they examen eachother for ticks.
Ticks can be removed with a special sort of tweasers (spelling check please) as they can attach themselfs on the humanbody really well.
Best of luck to the little 1 Niel! Hope she'll be allright.
Feel sick I the stomach for you all, hope she recovers quickly.
Becca can have all my best wishes .
James
I hope she gets well.
Ticks are also quite common in long (30-40 cm) grass. We have two cats that regularly comes home with them. We have bought a special tick remover tool to remove them properly.
(http://www.tickman.us/catalog/white%20trix%20400hx300w.jpg)
The reason for this tool you see by the ticks mouth:
(http://www.mos.org/sln/sem/tick.gif)
and at higher magnification:
(http://www.abdn.ac.uk/emunit/emunit/parasites/images/tick%20mouth%20part1.jpg)
This is how the tick attaches very well on its host. The problem is that most people just pull it off which leaves this saw toothed contraption still in the body, which in turn increases the chances of becoming sick.
Thanks all for the messages of support.
The big problem for the UK as that most doctors do not recognise the bite/symptoms so it is going to be easily missed and the disease is allowed to progress. In many parts of europe the disease is well known about and therefore it is unlikely to be missed.
Cheers
Niel
Niel, I never knew much about this specific condition, but with a daughter of similar age to yours I made sure I read it all. My best wishes to her for a speedy recovery.
TL.
Neil my best wishes go to you and your daughter and I hope she makes a full and quick recovery.
I hope she gets better soon. Eventually, after she is fine, is there a base to sue the Dr. who did not correctly diagnose?
Sorry to hear for your daughter. I hope she gets better soon.
In Finland the ticks are pretty common, especially in south. We have basicly 2 types of deceases: 1) the Lyme decease (here called "borrelioosi" or borreliosis) and 2) tick-borne meningoencephalitis (TBM) (her called Kumlinge decease or "puutiaisaivokuume").
The #2 is a viral infection and there is a vactination for it. In rare cases it can cause death if not treated. The much more common #1 is a bacter infection and the symptoms are just like you told your daughter had. However sometimes the rash like circle is not so visible and if you don't see such, it doesn't mean you can't have the decease. So better always remove ticks as you see them with right kind of equipment (special tick-tweezers).
So people know quite well about the hazards here. Even the tick-tweezers
are fairly common item for those who walk a lot in long grass.
I Hope your kid has a full recovery Neil. Big hug.
Very sad to hear but good to hear she is on the antibiotics and should make a good recovery.
I'm well acquainted with the problem of ticks as I'm a regular hiker. It never really occurred to me to to mention them to other people as I assumed they were a problem for people who spend a lot of time out in the countryside. But of course you only need to go out there once to get bit. Although very rare I guess anyone can get unlucky.
But your story has prompted me to make a point of telling more people what to look out for.
My son who was an under keeper on an estate in gloucster was found tohave this awfull disease over 4 years ago he first had bells palsey then weeks later had no feeling in hands and feet he fell over in the fields on shooting day
we think he had caught lyme disease in oct when stremming in the woods but it was the following jan 2nd when he went into hospital he was their for 12weeks getting worse it was not untill after his second lot of treatment that he started to improve he is now back at work thank god