Lyme Disease

Wellness starts with your WORDS. With what you believe, and how you speak over yourself.

It’s far too easy to hear and believe lies about who we are. We are often told who we are without us even realizing it, and without it even being true. Other people tell us who we are. We tell ourselves who we are. And by the way, this goes for Lyme-ys and non-Lyme-ys alike. 

But I don’t believe for a second that we were put on this earth to be mediocre. Nor is any illness, struggle, or personality type the definition of who we are. I hope today I will help you see your value, my friend. Start speaking life into yourself, and then into those around you too. Because, this, my friends, is a HUGE piece of healing and thriving. 

In case no one has told you this: YOU ARE NOT LYME DISEASE. You are not a chronic illness. You are not doomed. Those factors in your life that intermingle with your being are not what define you. No medical diagnosis is YOU. No trauma is YOU. No person’s perception of you is actually YOU.

You are defined by YOU. You are light and love. You are hope and truth. These things are IN you already, and there for you to access all day, every day. If your mindset flows to what you lack, negative self-talk, illness, and lies about who you “are,” then you will manifest negativity, dis-ease, lack, and lies instead of manifesting your highest version of yourself, healing, and ultimately truth. 

Our words and our thoughts have power in our lives. And if we’ve heard, accepted, and spoken over ourselves mostly negative, destructive lies, then we have to work even harder to fight back against them and shine our light right through them. 

It’s up to US to change the script. Every person can be a change agent fighting against flawed mindset. Fighting for truth. Is it hard? Oh absolutely - some days are definitely harder than others when you may already not be feeling well physically, mentally, or emotionally. But it’s also never not worth it. 

Our kids deserve it. Our friends and family deserve it. WE DESERVE IT. Living in our truth is living in our highest calling of our created selves. The rest may come and go. You may have things in your life you wish weren’t there. But YOU are not defined by your circumstances or situation. I see you in your light and love. I choose to be light and love. We stand together for truth. 

Try this - tell me who YOU are in the comments! Let’s start changing the script we speak over ourselves right now! I’ll start...

I’m a warrior and a strong vector of light. I bring hope and healing to the world around me. I choose healing and aligning with my highest self to bring glory to God and to honor my created being and my Creator with all that I am.

If this post resonates with you, make sure you’re plugged into the Lyme-y & Crunchy community HERE. One piece I’m passionate about bringing to that platform is mindset work, and you won’t want to miss out!

Want to actively fight back and fortify your body’s natural immune system powers and move toward healing!? Check out my free Guide to read about some of the ways I did just that! 

**Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional here to diagnose, treat, cure, or otherwise influence your medical journey outside of the guidance of a medical professional. I am simply sharing my own journey and what I have learned along the way. Please find a doctor you trust and discuss any medical concerns or treatments with them. Also, please know, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases through my site at no extra cost to you.

So you found a creepy crawling tick crawling on you...or worse - latched on you or a loved one. 

EEP! 

All this Lyme and co-infections talk, it’s EASY to be creeped out and down right panicky. 

No need! Let’s combat the panic with action steps you can take, both for tick prevention AND removal. 

Firstly, preventing ticks CAN be done very effectively in a natural, nontoxic manner. Remember, using harmful chemicals/toxins to keep ticks off can also work, BUT comes at a cost. A precious cost to your health. 

Chemicals like DEET and permethrin are recommended for tick prevention, but are known to cause skin irritation, headaches, dizziness, breathing problems, and seizures, to name a few side effects. I, personally, had an allergic reaction to permethrin, so it’s not even an option for me to be using. 

These chemicals are also DEADLY to aquatic animals and other, “helpful” bugs, such as bees. Essentially, DEET and permethrin are poison...poisoning YOU too when you are using them on or even just around you. 

So what are you to do for tick prevention then? Well I’ve explored the world of natural options and compiled a helpful list HERE of some of my FAVORITE products for tick prevention...and it even includes exactly what you need should you sadly have to deal with a tick bite (hint: the tools you need are SO basic and simple!). 

Say you DO get a bite. The sooner you get a tick off of you, the better, so here are some tips to keep your cool and excel at tick removal right from the start!

Firstly, DO NOT use anything on the tick to try to get it to “come off” of you other than TWEEZERS. Oils, rubbing alcohol, petroleum products, and other “irritants” to a tick can actually cause it to regurgitate MORE saliva into you, and consequently can worsen your chance of infectious transmission. No bueno! 

Instead, all you need is a pair of good tweezers. You want to firmly grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible, trying to get the whole head, and firmly pull it out in the same direction it attached itself. Do not twist or jerk. Just pull firmly and steadily. 

Ideally, you want to remove the whole head and all mouth parts. There are times that is harder to do than it looks. In that case having a pointy pair of tweezers can be helpful to grab anything that may remain behind. 

Then, it is a good idea to clean the area with non-toxic soap and water, and maybe even a little rubbing alcohol. We also add some of our favorite healing essential oils around the bite site - Frankincense and Ledum are favorites! 

That’s it! Bye, tick!

At this point, we send our discovered ticks in for testing in order to report them and also check them for some of the more common tick-borne diseases. If you’d like to do this as well, check the ILADS.org website or Google for a list of tick test sites in your area. 

If you found this helpful, or if you are impacted by Lyme disease or other chronic illnesses, you may also like my community group over on Facebook.

I have had Lyme, co-infections, and autoimmune conditions more than half of my life now. While I would never consider myself an expert, I've learned some tidbits along the way that may be helpful to those wondering where to turn next if they have reason to be concerned for Lyme themselves.

The fact is, ticks are tricky little buggers, and ANY tick bite should be taken seriously in order to minimize and/or prevent ongoing complications.

Most people hear “tick” and immediately think “Lyme disease.” I too still go there automatically in my mind. But what people should most definitely be aware of is the variance and trickiness in the world of ticks. Let's unravel some basics together here - a "beginner's guide on what you should know about ticks," more or less.

What are we even dealing with here?

Ticks are arachnids and external parasites. They are vectors, or carriers and transmitters of diseases. They feed on their host’s blood, and in that way can transmit, through their saliva, any microbes they are carrying and picking up along the way. Not every tick infects someone it bites with microbes or disease. But the people that ARE infected do risk many symptoms, some ongoing, and even death from tick-borne illnesses. 

What symptoms are we talking about?

Symptoms you can experience from tick-borne illness vary WIDELY, as basically ANY body system can be affected by tick-borne illnesses. In regards to Lyme disease specifically, ILADS, a non-profit, international, multi-disciplinary medical society, dedicated to the diagnosis and appropriate treatment of Lyme and its associated diseases, lists possible major/main symptoms on its website. Here’s a summary taken directly from www.ilads.org: 

Common Symptoms and Signs of Early Lyme Disease

• Erythema Migrans rash (EM); see description below

• Fatigue, malaise

• Flu-like symptoms, including fever, headache, arthralgias, myalgias

• Stiff neck

• Dysesthesia

• Lymphadenopathy

• Facial nerve dysfunction leading to weakness or paralysis of facial muscles (often mislabeled as Bell's palsy)

Common Symptoms and Signs of Disseminated and Late Lyme Disease

• Fatigue

• Multiple red rashes (EM’s)

• Severe headaches and neck stiffness

• Joint swelling and/or pain

• Neuropathic symptoms - nerve pain, numbness, hot/cold sensations, tingling

• Cognitive dysfunction

• Memory impairment

• Unprovoked pain which may interfere with sleep

• Palpitations or chest pain, shortness of breath

• Lightheadedness, fainting

• Gastrointestinal symptoms

• Psychiatric symptoms- including depression, anxiety, and mood changes

Some research has shown that Lyme should be considered in the differential diagnosis of rheumatologic and neurologic conditions, as well as chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, somatization disorder and any difficult-to-diagnose multi-system illness. 

Are all ticks out to hurt me!?

This chart shows a variety of tick types and possible infections they can carry and transmit. However, it’s also important to know that this is all variable. For example, many people claim only Deer Ticks can carry Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi), and even then, have to be attached for many hours to transmit it to the host. That simply isn’t always hard and fast truth. What IS helpful is to remove ticks ASAP to reduce transmission rates, and to seek treatment, particularly if you suspect you are infected with a tick-borne illness.

But how do you know? What should you do if you are bitten?

Here’s the thing, at the end of the day, the way I see it, you have 2 main choices: 

    1) if you are bitten by any tick for any amount of time, you could start treatment immediately (ideally with a SPECIALIST - we will talk about that more later!) and continue it for 6wks or more or 

    2) if you are bitten by any tick for any amount of time, you support your body to fight possible infections and monitor indefinitely for symptoms, which could show up at any time for any number of reasons (including other health issue triggering the tick-borne illnesses to rear their ugly heads, stress-induced flares, toxic-related flares, etc). 

At the VERY least, you may want to send the tick into a certified lab to be tested for Lyme and other co-infections. For Pennsylvanians, we like to use this lab, which offers some free testing options.

You can look up other testing options through a Google search of your state or on the ILADS website. 

Coming up!

Next, I plan to talk more about your next steps after a bite...and more! So stay tuned for the rest of this Tricky Tick-y blog series! (Find the next post HERE.)