How can something the size of the head of a pin cause a human body to shut down? That’s what a tick can do by spreading Lyme disease and various other tick borne illnesses with one attachment on a human being. Holly Springs residents, Chandler Cobb, and Alex Guess know all too well that a tick can wreak havoc on your body. Through their stories, they are hoping to raise awareness and educate their friends, neighbors, and all of North Carolina about a serious threat that can strike anyone, any age, anywhere, anytime you walk outside.

Because of the ignorance and misinformation that does exist, May has been designated as “Tick Borne Disease Awareness Month in Holly Springs” and recognized with a proclamation by the town last Tuesday evening. Cobb and Alex Guess are more than willing to share their very personal medical experiences so that others may not suffer like they did. They want to stress that immediate attention and treatment following a tick bite is of the utmost urgency.

HISTORY OF LYME DISEASE

According to information from the University of Connecticut, Lyme disease is not new. Evidence of the skin rash that is associated with Lyme disease was first documented in Sweden around 1909. Lyme disease awareness took effect in 1975 in the towns of Lyme and Old Lyme, Connecticut when Dr. Allen Steere and his group at Yale identified 51 cases in the Lyme area. After two years of study and research, it was determined that the deer tick transmitted the disease. Here in North Carolina, it’s been noted that many medical experts and researchers were in denial that the disease actually existed here.

DIAGNOSING LYME and OTHER TICK BORNE ILLNESSES

Part of the denial by Wake county and other state officials along the east coast as to the actual existence of Lyme in the area comes because the symptoms of Lyme mimic many other maladies. One very notable indicator of Lyme is a “classic Lyme bull’s eye rash.” It is reported that 70% of people do get the rash, but that telltale sign does not always manifest, leading those who were bitten to ignore the bite. Immediate symptoms following contact with the disease can include: fever, general malaise, fatigue, headache, muscle aches and joint aches. Chronic Lyme can manifest into: fatigue, fibromyalgia -like symptoms, facial paralysis (Bell’s palsy), liver and/or spleen enlargement, severe migraines, abnormalities in heart rate and rhythm, cognitive impairments, stabbing and or burning sensations, persistent backache, stiff neck, degenerative muscle and nerve disease, and mood disorders. Chronic Lyme if misdiagnosed can imitate: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis, Fibromyalgia, Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS), Alzheimer’s, ADD, Epstein Barr, and Lupus.



POSITIVE DIAGNOSIS

Cobb, now in her 50’s, a wife and mother of three children, believes she contracted Lyme disease along coastal South Carolina in 1979 when she was a researcher for Clemson University. “I would pick off upwards of 30 ticks from all over my body after doing field work. The symptoms I came down with where like a summertime flu. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. As time went by and symptoms developed over the years, I just blamed it all on something else, being a new mother, age, etc.”

Lyme disease is insidious. Lyme bacteria find a location in the soft tissue of areas like the brain, heart and between joints. These are areas where oral antibiotics don’t always get to. Over the years, while having the disease alive in her body, Cobb says, “I got progressively worse. The left side of my face drooped. I started experiencing cognitive problems. I was in a fog all the time, had migraines, and I’d hit a wall of fatigue where I literally went into a coma like sleep.”

Finally, after years of attributing the symptoms to other things, Cobb was urged by a friend to seek out a specialist. She found a doctor in Charlotte who began the standard course of treatment for Lyme, which for Cobb, involved six months of IV antibiotics.

Alex Guess, a 48 year old CPA, married with two children, spent over three decades trying to find out where his health problems were coming from. It was a life odyssey that he believes started when he was only 12. “I have had three known tick attachments starting in North Carolina when I was 12, Florida when I was 19, and again in North Carolina when I was 30.” Guess recalls. “It is my belief that at age 12 is when I contracted either Lyme or Babesia (another tick borne illness) because the next year I started having symptoms diagnosed as hypoglycemia.”

Symptoms over the years for Guess included: severe fatigue, low blood sugar, severe pain, and inflammation that would migrate from bottoms of his feet, to his hands, knees, shoulders and neck. In addition, Guess also suffered from ringing in his ears, black floaters in his eyes, mood swings, weight gain/loss, night sweats, loss of balance, memory loss, and muscle spasms.

“With the exception of high arthritis (RA) factor, all tests I had came back normal,” explains Guess. “The doctors I saw did not know what was wrong with me, dismissed me and even suggested that it could all be in my mind.”

The doctors that Guess has seen include: internal medicine, gastroenterologists, neurologist, ophthalmologist, hand specialists, rheumatologist, allergist, and infectious disease specialists. The tests he’s had done include: blood tests, scopes, nerve conduction studies, MRI, CT and Brian Spec Scan’s, and he’s been tested for MS , ALS, auto immune diseases such as arthritis, genetic tests, heart, vascular, nerve and eye disease tests.

Guess even had two tests for Lyme, and both came back negative. He later found out, these tests were done in a normal lab, not a specialized lab for tick borne illnesses. In late 2002, he was given the diagnosis of adult onset rheumatoid arthritis. “I started on mild anti-inflammatory medications and progressed to injectible TNF inhibitors that shut down the immune system to help manage the pain,” Guess says. “It was during this treatment that I developed other symptoms including neurological ones that didn’t match my diagnosis.”

It was through his own tenacious research that Guess self diagnosed his problem as Lyme disease. When he called infectious disease doctors in the Raleigh/Wake area, he was always told the same thing, “There was no such thing as Lyme disease in North Carolina.”

Guess was not giving up and his research led him to an infectious disease specialist near Charlotte who used a lab in California that specializes in tick borne diseases to test Guess for Lyme disease. It was then Guess had finally gotten his answer. Not only did he test positive to CDC standards for Lyme disease, he also tested positive for another tick borne illness, Babesia.

Babesia, like Lyme disease, if left untreated, over time, can have symptoms that include: fever, headache, chills, sweating, muscle aches, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, enlarged spleen and liver, and anemia.

“I have been treated by this doctor near Charlotte, and one in New York, with the aid of a local doctor who ran my lab tests and put me back together when things became difficult during my treatment.” Guess says. “When you have a tick borne disease for many many years, and have developed multiple heath problems as a result, the treatment is not fast or easy. It is really like peeling an onion; you treat one layer at a time.”

Like Cobb, Guess underwent treatment with high doses of IV antibiotics, plus oral and injectible medications. “After five months of oral antibiotic treatments, I was able to stop the arthritis treatments,” Guess shares. “This was followed by a six month course of IV treatment and then back to oral medications. It took about two and a half years before I really started feeling better. There were days when I wondered if I would be disabled and even wondered to myself if this disease could be treated, or if I would die from it. “

After seven years of treatment, Guess can say, “…life is good.”

GRASS ROOTS MESSAGE

While many people in North Carolina may still not believe they can contract a disease once believed to be only “up north”, Cobb sees some light at the end of the tunnel as the grassroots effort to inform the public has taken hold, and the NC State Department of Health and Human Services has finally acknowledges it exists not only in the state, but right here in Wake County. “This allows doctors to actually diagnose and treat Lyme and tick borne illness. It’s a really good thing,” Cobb sighs in relief.

She and Guess both agree that individuals must educate themselves and advocate for their health. If people suspect they are fighting a tick borne illness, they must be diligent with their health care providers to be properly tested and diagnosed.



BE VIGILANT AGAINST TICKS

It’s not just the deep woods where ticks can be found. They exist in every yard. Cobb says that ticks can lay up to 6,000 eggs and can be found in “pine straw, mulch, sand, and of course wooded areas.”

Does that mean that you should never go outside? On the contrary according to Cobb, “I love being outside, but now myself and my family are more aware and diligent when it comes to applying insect repellants and wearing proper clothing when we are outside.”

Recommendations for prevention and control of tick borne illness include: wear light colored clothing which allows the ticks to be easily seen; apply repellents containing DEET to the skin to discourage ticks from attaching to skin; apply repellents containing permethrin onto clothing and shoes; always conduct a full body check from the scalp to the toes when returning inside or even before you step inside the house, especially when you know you’ve been in a potentially tick infested area; always check children for ticks, especially in the hair and private areas as ticks seek warm most spots to attach.



WORDS OF ADVICE

Both Cobb and Guess believe that armed with education, people will not go through what they’ve had to endure. Cobb shares, “Don’t panic if you find a tick on you. Remove it, and watch the spot where it attached. Just be mindful. I also recommend taking off your clothes at the laundry room, or somewhere right where you come in from the outside. This way, if ticks come in on the clothes, they don’t get carried throughout the house to bite someone later.”

Guess recommends, “If you have a tick attachment on your skin, record the date, go see your doctor and ask to be put on antibiotics. Don’t disregard future symptoms which could seem like the flu or ‘just getting older’, and remember, BE AN ADVOCATE FOR YOUR OWN HEALTH! Doctors are human just like you, they do their best, but if you don’t feel like their answer is correct, keep going until you figure out what is wrong or confirm that they are right.”



For more information about Lyme disease and other tick borne illnesses log onto the Centers for Disease Control website at www.cdc.gov or the Lyme disease association website at www.lymediseaseassociation.org .





How to Properly Remove A Tick

1. Always use fine tipped tweezers, do not use bare hands.

2. Grasp the tick as close to the skin surface as you can and pull upward with a steady, even pressure. Do not twist! This may cause the head to break off and remain under the skin. If this does happen, contact a doctor for removal.

3. After removing the tick, clean the site and wash your hands.

4. Always save the tick for identification should you become ill. This will help your doctor. Keep the tick in a plastic bag and seal it up. It can be kept in the freezer. Write the date on a piece of paper and put it in the bag with the tick.

5. NEVER use Petroleum jelly or hot matches when attempting to remove a tick.