Drastic Move

Hi, Astronomer. I know how you feel. It's difficult mentally and emotionally to reconcile a love of nature - and of your home! - with the desire not to worry about Lyme transmission.

I want for my child to love the outdoors, and she does, but every time she lies on the grass or climbs a tree, I cringe. We check for ticks every couple of hours when we're outdoors, and always remove our clothes and shower immediately upon coming home from anyplace non-concrete. I think it's good for children to be aware of safety issues, not just from ticks but from mosquitos, germs, chemicals, etc. I think it's possible for them to have a happy childhood and still take care of themselves in these ways. You will not ruin their love of nature if you do tick checks and advise them about tick avoidance. You probably warn them about poison ivy and wasps, right? It's just nature literacy. I bet they love having a grandparent with trails to explore!

Other options might be doing things to deter deer and mice from your space, as they are major carriers of ticks. People sometimes soak cotton balls in permethrin and leave them outside in cardboard toilet paper roll tubes, where the mice find them and incorporate them into nests - killing the ticks on the mice and their offspring. Or you could keep the grass trimmed low, eliminate brush from the areas kids play, and spread a thick perimeter of mulch. (Ticks don't like to crawl over rough mulch, but of course they might hitch a ride on a squirrel.)

I think about this conundrum a lot. I live in Boston, in the city but with a big yard with no ticks. I'm an avid gardener, and yet never have I found a tick in my yard. (I know perhaps I just have very few, but it's remarkable, relative to the ticks swarming the yards of everyone else we know here.) Many of my neighbors have paved their yards (grrrr) so I suppose my little oasis has been isolated from some natural forces. I love it. But in the city there's noise, pollution, busy streets, electromagnetic radiation, crime, airplanes overhead, lead paint in the soil and dust, litter, rising oceans, etc. This is all really bad for us, too. So we're moving to a house in a small town in western Massachusetts, where I know we'll have ticks, but we'll be safer in other ways. I am conflicted about it, certainly. My point is just that I'm not sure there's a completely safe place to live, all things considered.

Like WBF, I also live in Georgia, and cutting my yard as always been a release for me. I used to push the front yard, as it is a gradual sloping hill, but can't now with immune system shot and heat. While the back yard has always been done on a rider, not everything is.

The point being I understand what Astronomer is saying. It is a very hard thing to do as a lifetime of accumulating habits and love of certain activities is so hard to break. I'm struggling with the realization that I have to make changes. How drastic has yet to be determined. You are doing the thinking that needs to be done, Astronomer. That is not to try to tell you moving is what you should do. But I understand why you are thinking as you are.

I've said this before, but having Lyme brings some PTSD with it. Not trying to get deep with thought, but there are things I now get anxiety from thinking about possibilities that I never did before.

Definitely understand the PTSD piece.....

I will not be going back to the trails to run...what I was doing prior to lyme. I'm worried about the ticks PLUS my spine shouldn't take the jarring...so both running and tennis are out for me...for the rest of my life I think.
What this disease has done to my life is huge and it will continue to affect me after I'm in remission.


i can't step out the door without thinking about ticks....it's always there in the back of my mind.
And...I have only EVER seen one tick in our yard. But, I'm still petrified I'm going to get another bite....and this will prolong my remission....

Astronomer said...
It's so nice to know there are people who understand. Thank you.
I had many of these fears and concerns even before I was diagnosed...probably because I know so many people with Lyme and have heard so many horror stories. The worst story is of twin boys, a mile from me. One got Lyme years ago and has had sever problems since then...mostly due to his immune system. His growth has also been stunted. It is heartbreaking. They are only 14 now and every time I think about him I worry about my grandchildren.

I wonder if they know they can still be helped after all these years? So many are told it’s PTLDS - Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome. It’s an atrocity that God will surely judge how many people have been left disabled and without hope due to the lies doctors have believed and told.

Dr. Jones is the world’s greatest pediatric Lyme doctor. https://www.lymedisease.org/charles-ray-jones-turns-90/

Girlie said...
Dr Jones is turning 90!!

He’s been “trying” to retire for a few years now. Bless his heart.

Here’s an interview with him -
Is it just me - anyone else get emotional watching this?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qtsrfbvw8iu

Girlie,

Wow!! Thank you for posting this link. Yes, I got emotional when he talked about how he asks the kids if it’s all gone and believes what they tell him. I can’t imagine having a doctor like that as an adult, much less as a child. I had health issues as a young child and never felt heard like that. It really affected me to hear him talk about that.

I wondered about what he said about first finding out all the infections they have. If testing is so bad, how does he identify them all?

Then he said you have to treat all the infections at the same time. How can you do that with antibiotics?

98% cure rate he says.

Why are other LLMD’s not treating adults following his methodologies?