Lyme disease

[petmoosie]

I am officially being treated for Lyme disease. I am taking pills as big as my little finger twice a day for 3 to 4 weeks, leaning on the side of 4 weeks.

My daughter is insisting on tick checks after she is outside. I need to insist for myself also. Our house may look like a zoo where the apes are grooming each other, but that's better than a tick getting by our scrutiny.

I do believe that time outdoors is important for children, and cvirtue 's latest post just adds to that. Ticks are a hazard, but one that we can deal with.

Comments

[metageek.livejournal.com]

Oh, fun!

[fire-salamander.livejournal.com]

Get well soon! I'm so glad you caught it though -- a friend of mine got Bell's palsy, and that's no fun.

[fire-salamander.livejournal.com]

I mean, that you caught the disease in good time so you could treat it -- not that you caught the disease. That's bad. :-)

[petmoosie.livejournal.com]

Yep, I'm glad I caught it in time to treat it easily. I have a family friend with the chronic form and it's a nightmare for her.

[petmoosie.livejournal.com]

Annoying--I am supposed to avoid excessive natural or artificial sunlight while on this medication. But, what about my lightbox!!!!

I may need to at least alert my psychiatrist. Bleh.

[metageek.livejournal.com]

Check with the pharmacist to find out what "excessive" means. If you worked outdoors, in July, you'd probably get more light than you get from your lightbox.

[ashtalet.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you became aware of it early and can do something about it.

[petmoosie.livejournal.com]

I thought of calling my pharmacist. Now I am doing it.

[metageek.livejournal.com]

Ah, good.

[petmoosie.livejournal.com]

My pharmacist (my sister) recommends the use of sunscreen on my face. And to titrate the use of the lightbox (5 minutes the first day, 10 minutes the next if there is no reaction the first, 15 minutes the next if no reaction at 10 minutes, up to the prescribed dose of 20 minutes a day on the fourth day). The reaction is a skin reaction, a red and itchy reaction on the exposed skin. The lightbox needs to send its light to the eyes to have the necessary effect (the sensitive organ is the retina, not the skin) so that will work perfectly.

So that's that. Minimize the skin exposure while keeping the eye exposure as close as possible to the prescribed dosage.