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Live Webinar April 18 Dr. Rawls Q&A

I don't know about this doctor, but may be a good resource for those of you with questions about Lyme disease. For instance today I was contacted by someone who's girlfriend had bell palsy 9 months ago and was suffering from shear exhaustion, stuttering and had cognitive problems, part of my response to him was for her to get tested for Lyme... .it is spring...so watch out for those nasty creatures.

Live Webinar April 18 Dr. Rawls Q&A

Lyme Awareness Month

Pretty much sums it up

I don't know how much things can get better but I am one that always keeps keeps a positive attitude and keeps trying. I know that there is only so much we can do, but  my thought is since it is now 7 years later I would try acupuncture with electrical stimulation again. The difference this time is that it is a little painful when I get the needles, due to many of my nerves have finally come back to life (which is good) but the muscles on the left side of my face have atrophied a bit, with the electrical stimulation we are trying to exercise the muscles.

This time I have a different doctor, Dr. Wang and he is using pretty big needles (not baby needles as he calls it), baby needles won't do anything. I have had positive response from people that have seen me, which does surprise me that they can even notice, it is so subtle.

I still feel pulling but it also helps me to be aware when I try to isolate muscles. I try to smile or pucker and relax my eye instead of everything pulling, a lot of work but why not give it a try.

Bells Palsy 10 years later

In 2007 I got Bells Palsy, my diagnosis, I would never recover. 

Most people recover within 2-4 weeks, at three weeks I was just starting to get a tiny hit of movement in my lip. When I would see people and children looked at my face with shock and I would always explain what happened. Men that had known me cried, and I couldn't understand why (not much for self-esteem)  I thought I "MUST" look like a monster. But now, I think more then that, they cried because they were afraid it would affect my personality, I am always so upbeat, happy, smiling and now one side of my face was frozen with my left eye wide open.

I always knew I had character but ...really...did I need more?

From 2007 - 2010, I went through periods of acupuncture, physical therapy, macro electrical stimulation and

things greatly improved, but it was an extremely slow, slow process, I would say that I about 80 - 85% recovery. 

Due to the expense of the Lyme treatment and my concern that the over stimulation sometimes caused spasms, such as a "jokers smile", (which horrified me) I would take breaks from the electrical stimulating of the muscles and nerves and knowing that the nerves grew so slow I decided that I needed to give up treatment on my face and focus on the treatment of the Lyme disease. 

Now 7 years later, I feel that I have given my nerves time to grow and am now starting acupuncture again to see what happens.

Ticks in Alaska

In the past three years, Beckmen has found at least two other types of ticks that have taken up residence in the Last Frontier and appear to be here to stay: the American dog tick and brown dog tick. Both ticks have been found on dogs or cats that have never left the state, a sign the parasitic arachnids can — and are — surviving in Alaska.

Wildlife disease specialists also say the establishment of new ticks in Alaska poses a risk to all sorts of wildlife, from caribou to coyote to fox to moose to Sitka black-tailed deer to wolves.

“Everybody needs to stop being in denial,” Beckmen said. “Ticks are spreading north. There is transmission going on in Alaska.”

Beckmen rattled off a list of diseases that could be introduced in Alaska as a result of ticks. They included Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, canine ehrlichiosis, canine babesiosis, anaplasmosis, tick paralysis and tick fever.

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Lyme in Alaska

There have been several cases of imported Lyme disease in Alaska. The most recent involved an eight year old white male who visited Fauquier County, Virginia on June 23, 1991. He spent the day playing in the woods and afterwards was noted by his mother to have four ticks, including one which was engorged, on his body. The ticks were identified by a local resident as "deer ticks", likely Ixodes damini.

Approximately 10 days later his mother noticed a raised, red, circular area near the sight of one of the tick bites on the nape of his neck. This grew to a maximum diameter of 8 cm. and then faded over several weeks. There was no central clearing of the lesion. On returning to Alaska near the end of July, the child was described as being more moody, particularly more fussy and depressed.

On August 9, the child was brought to a local physician for a draining ear which was treated with a topical antibiotic. After hearing the history of an annular skin lesion, moodiness, and recent tick exposure,  See More