By Chelsea Gilman
The Rockbridge Bird Club warns that the danger of deer ticks increases in the area as spring rolls around. Birdwatchers are not the only ones in the community making sure local people are educated about this potential threat.
Ellen Douty and Adrienne Hall-Bodie run monthly meetings for the Lexington Lyme Disease Support Group. The group is associated with National Capital Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Association based in Washington, D.C. Bodie says some people with a persistent chronic form of Lyme disease need to be able to share their stories with others.
These people say the illness is not correctly understood or treated, nor does insurance usually cover long-term treatment. Cathryn Harbor, who has a Lexington practice specializing in traditional and non-traditional medicine, fills this void. Harbor herself suffers from Lyme disease. Both Harbor and Hall-Bodie have found that one of the challenges of Lyme disease is catching it early.
Through studying the literature on Lyme disease, Hall-Bodie has found that the tests early in the onset often show a false negative.
“It could be that the antibodies have not formed yet and it takes a while. And so it wouldn’t show up.” Hall-Bodie received a negative the first time she was tested for Lyme disease.
The Virginia General Assembly enacted a bill this year to address this problem. Many people who have Lyme disease, including Harbor, are thrilled about House Bill 1933, which requires doctors to warn their patients that the initial negative may be a false one.
A well-known sign of Lyme disease is a red circular rash like a bull’s eye, which should be examined as soon as possible. There are also symptoms that may be warning signs: pain or stiffness of joints, memory loss and blurry vision. Hall-Bodie remembers what Lyme disease was like for her.
“I’m a very active person and it was very hard to be confined to bed,” she said. “When I got a little bit better I could make it downstairs to the living room but I had to be in the recliner and I had to spend the whole day there.”
Harbor knows firsthand what this can be like. She does her best to treat Lyme disease as efficiently as possible for her patients.
“I’ll treat people with antibiotics,” she said. “There are some herbal supplements that I think have pretty good data. People need to be doing anything they can to be staying healthy. But it very much depends on the person. It is not a one size fits all treatment for Lyme.”
Lyme disease takes its name from Lyme, Conn., where it was first identified in the 1970s. It is usually spread by the black-legged, or deer, tick, which is much smaller than the more commonly known dog tick. A deer tick is about the size of a sesame seed.
Although education is the first step in understanding Lyme and keeping yourself safe, it is also important to follow easy steps to keep yourself from getting a tick bite.
Hall-Bodie has found that using some insect sprays can help. It is important to use a spray with no more than 30 percent Deet, the active ingredient in bug sprays, and to rinse off after outdoor activity. Although the EPA has found little health problems as a result of using Deet, it is important to use the spray for only a short time.
Dr. Harbor urges her patients use Permethrin spray as well. She says this is what the military uses to protect against tick bites. Although it cannot be put directly on the skin, it is safe to spray on your clothes before activity.
Dr. Harbor and Hall-Bodie hope that support groups like the one in Lexington and National Capital Lyme and Tick-Borne Illness Association can spread awareness about the disease. Dr. Harbor says that Lyme disease highlights some of the major problems in our current health care system.
Although she still accepts health insurance to treat Lyme disease she says that many doctors do not. Because symptoms cross over many different parts of the body, doctors are required to spend a lot of time with their patients before making a diagnosis. This causes medical bills to rise and explains why Dr. Harbor refers to Lyme as “a disease for rich people.”
According to the Center for Disease Control, in 2010 there were 267 reported cases of Lyme disease in Virginia. Between 2000 and 2010, the most common ages reporting cases of Lyme disease were those between 5 and 10; most were men.