Posted on 08/08/2007 1:51:22 PM PDT by BGHater
Today's White House report on President Bush's latest physical is revealing for the first time that he was successfully treated for Lyme disease last year.
The president's encounter with the disease hadn't been made public until now.
The exam says he was treated for "early, localized Lyme disease" last August after developing a bull's-eye rash characteristic of the disease. The condition didn't recur.
Lyme disease is a common-tick borne infection that can spread to the joints, heart and nervous system if left untreated. The CDC says the disease can be treated with a few weeks of antibiotics.
As for the latest physicial, each of the eleven doctors involved in the exam have pronounced the president fit for duty.
He spends a lot of time outside -this shouldn’t be a big deal
My GF had it once, went on antibiotics and has had no problems since.
Well I’m glad to hear he is healthy.
I wasn’t aware lime disease was so casually treatable.
If caught early!
It isn’t necessarily. I know someone who has suffered permanent brain damage and who will be on intravenous antibiotics on and off for the rest of his life because of a bout with lyme disease.
Expect DU to heap high praise upon the deer tick that bit Bush.
Thanks for posting this. Glad it was caught in time. I just had a test for Lyme Disease and tested negative.
My doctor said it is mostly confined to northeastern states, but there have been a few cases here.
Distant Early Warning radar for DU funnies - see what the Dummies say about this story.
Sounds like early treatment is definately key here. And perhaps some don’t respond as well as other to treatment either.
Thanks folks.
Only if caught early. Many people treated for a variety of autoimmune conditions may actually have a parasitic infection such as Lyme.
Thanks for the comments. I appreciate it.
Yeah, I had a dog in TX who contracted it (treated successfully) and he had never left Texas.
susie
Hello, Glad your test was negative. My husband got tick bit in Inverness, Fl and almost died from Lyme. Still has lots of pain.
Take care of yourself,
TL
I had lyme disease ten years before the doctor discovered what was causing my problems. When it was finally discovered it had already done a lot of damage. I am still living with the effects of it today and it’s not pleasant. It MUST be treated early.
Wonder what was in President Clinton’s health reports. He never did make them public, did he?
Thanks DMW. Sorry to hear of your case though. Best wishes...
I was thinking that same thought!
Lot’s of shots of penicillin, I’ll bet!!
I’m glad to hear that it wasn’t serious. But I’ve heard that being around RATS can be dangerous to your health.
Hey, kiddo, you’re right up there with the Prez!
LV, the white states in the northeast all seem to be incorrect.
It has a wide range of symptoms and no real timetable.
I had it about 20 years ago. I remember the tick and the bulls-eye rash around it, then nothing. About a year later, I got sick with flu-like symptoms and dizzyness. On the third day, the right side of my face was paralyzed, which was obvously worrying. The doctor determined it was Lyme disease; some antibiotics and some steroids and I was fine in about a week and had no complications or recurrence.
I’ve known quite a few people who have had it - that happens when you’re from East Lyme, CT. Some has pain in joints, some flu-like symptoms. I haven’t known anyone who had long-term complications, but I have heard that it does happen
When I was a kid in Missouri and Arkansaw, I come into contact with tics numerous times. Luckily, the lime disease didn’t seem to be a problem back then.
I appreciate the additional comments.
Glad it hasn’t seemed to be a continual problem for you.
My 78 y/o Dad was bitten by a tick. He didn’t get Lyme, but he DID get erlichiosis (sp?) and had a 104 fever for a few days. Tick- borne illnesses are nasty. Thank God for antibiotics.
I heard raging herpes. Would anybody be surprised?
Three words, Mr. President: Deep Woods Off.
hey wait..ain’t du’ers....
deer ticks themselves?
I was bit by a deer tick and had no idea about the bullseye rash as it formed in an area that was not readily apparent. I was already on antibiotics for strep throat for several days, and was out chopping wood when it happened. The day after chopping wood I started getting a neck-ache, that wouldn't go away. I figured I slept wrong.
The following day at work the neck ache migrated to the back of my head, and I was eating tylenol but nothing was working. By the time I got home from work, the pain was so bad in my head and neck that I started to feel nauseous.
I told my wife that I had to go to the doctor, and that's when the fun began.
The doctor's office is a 10 minute drive. It took me 45 minutes to find it, and I do not remember how I managed it.
I only remember going into the doctor's, and being led to a back room to be examined. I remember him telling everyone to turn off all the lights, and then I heard sirens and found myself in an ambulance. I vaguely remember being on the emergency room table throwing up while getting a spinal tap, and I absolutely remember the ice bags they put all over me.
My temperature was 106.
The emergency room spinal tap analysis, unfortunately, revealed nothing to the ER doctor.
Without knowing what I had for sure, they specutatively put me on a certain strong antibiotic, but kept me iced down. That night, they had to do another spinal tap because they lost the first sample and they needed to run detailed tests.
My temperature was 104, steady, for two days, with icing.
The 2nd spinal tap revealed Lyme Disease antibodies and the MRI and CAT-Scan revealed meningitis.
Apparently, I was a lucky one: 5% of lyme-disease patients contract meningitis, and 95% contract arthritic symptoms. I got both.
The good thing is that the antibiotic they had me on was what I needed.
The bad thing is that I had a 3rd spinal tap in 3 days. I no longer had any spinal fluid after that, so the "plug" at the top of my spine would "drop" onto the nerve bundle if I stood up. This is on top of the fact that my meminges was swollen beyond belief.
Here's what it felt like when I had to go use the restroom:
Imagine a 16 pound bowling ball attached with a Christmas ornament hook to the upper liming of your brain. If you moved in the slightest, the bowling ball would land and squish your brain and crush your nerve bundle, with a lights-out explosion of full-body pain that reverberated for hours.
I was in the hospital for 10 days, had intravenous antibiotics for six weeks, and it took me six months to feel like a human being again. Six months.
To this day, the arthritic conditions persist.
I wished for death, yet death fled from me.
Two weeks after leaving the hospital, we moved down south away from those ticks. Never again will I go into the woods of Northern Virginia (or anywhere near it.)
Gosh, what an honor! ;-) I go to the doc on Monday to get some blood tests, and to talk about long term stuff. I’m hoping that she can do something for the pain/stiffness. I feel it especially in my elbows, wrists fingers and knees. The headaches and fatigue... I think I’m on my own, but boy do they knock me down! I still can’t drive long distances yet.
Wow, sorry to hear about your illness. Sounds terrible.
The imprint of severe pain from illness will stay with you for the rest of your life even if the symptoms pass. I still remember laying in a hospital bed with pain so severe that it actually hurt for someone to walk down the hall outside my room. It was like my nerves traveled out of my body, across and off the bed, out the door and down the hall. Then a visitor would walk up to my bed with the best intentions in the world and place their hands on the foot of the bed. Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh...
Hope your continuing symptoms aren’t too bad. I appreciate you relating your experience.
Quite a dangerous fever for an adult, especially somebody your dad’s age. Yes, very thankful here for antibiotics too.
There is no need for that. I know 2 people who had Lyme Disease very bad and have been cured. They have to have a spinal steroidal epidural and it goes away,trust me.
Email me I and I will give you the people. They have tried to tell everyone including politicians, but nobody wants to know. You know, no research money.
Fedupjohn
That’s horrible... poor thing.
Wow. I’m thankful you made it through that. I wouldn’t wish that upon my worst enemy.
I’m surprised he hasn’t come down with Bubonic Plague, working around ‘Rats all day for the past 7 years. ;)
Glad they caught it early...otherwise, bad news.
Prognosis is excellent these days. Everyone’s cured except the few who won’t see doctors.
You’re fortunate you survived. My cousin developed meningitis after something bit her in Albuquerque where she raised horses. She refused to go to the emergency room until it was too late. By the time her idiot husband got her to the hospital, she was barely conscious. She died three days after her symptoms first appeared. She was only 62 years old.
Thanks for posting. Good news for President Bush. Thanks to all contributors to this thread. Health BUMP!
I don’t mind you asking at all. I had Lyme disease for ten years before the doctor ever diagnosed me. I never got bit by a tick so there was no reason for me to suspect Lyme disease. I was diagnosed as having arthritis and fibromyalgia. Even though I was treated by an arthritis doctor for several years my symptoms continued to get worse.
My wife felt that there had to be something more to this because the symptoms went beyond what people normally have when they have arthritis and fibro. She decided to do a search on the internet and noticed that Lyme disease kept popping up on her search. That didn’t make sense to me because, like I said, I never got a tick bite before. My wife insisted I share this information with my arthritis doctor and ask him if he would run some tests on me to see if I might have Lyme disease. That didn’t go well with my doctor when I asked him about the possibility of me having Lyme disease. He told me that people in Oklahoma don’t get Lyme disease and it would be a waste of my money to get tested for it. He acted like I insulted him by even asking the question. He told me, “I know what I’m doing and if you had Lyme disease I would know it!” Translation: I’m the doctor, you’re the patient, don’t ask questions!
After having this bad experience at the doctor’s office I told my wife that I’m sure the doctor knows what he’s talking about so no reason to pursue this. She was adamant that I find a doctor who would test me for Lyme disease. In Oklahoma Lyme disease is unheard of, or so they say. Anyway, after visiting another doctor and getting the same response as the first one, I knew it was a waste of time trying to get a diagnosis for Lyme disease in Oklahoma, so we decided to search for a Lyme disease specialist. Sadly, they don’t have Lyme disease specialists in Oklahoma so I had to go to Springfield, MO because this was the closest Lyme disease specialist I could find near my home.
To make a long story short, I had all the tests that needed to be done and they came back positive for Lyme disease. I asked the doctor how I could have contracted this disease since I had no recollection of getting bit by a tick. He asked me if I ever had a blood transfusion at anytime in my life. I did indeed have a blood transfusion ten years earlier. He said that is how I most likely got Lyme disease. It’s not common but it is known to happen. The doctor put me on antibiotics for several months and as time went on I improved, but sadly, I never fully recovered because of the damage that was done in the ten years since I had the disease.
What are the effects I still live with? Fatigue, easily exhausted, joint pain, stiffness in my neck, neck cramps, arthritis, weakness in my legs, muscle spasms, muscle soreness, difficulty concentrating, memory lapses, forgetfulness, brain fog, and headaches. In the afternoons if I don’t lay down to rest I will not be able to do hardly anything the next day. I’m only 53 years old but I often feel like I’m 73 years old. If I had been diagnosed earlier I most likely would have been cured and living a full and productive life.
Unfortunately, many doctors never think about Lyme disease when diagnosing their patients. Not only that, but if you suggest that they check you for it they look at you like you’re a stupid jerk. Many doctors in Oklahoma don’t believe that Lyme disease is a problem here, but more and more they are finding people being diagnosed with Lyme disease here. Many people go their whole lives with these symptoms and the doctor never considers Lyme disease as a possibility. If it wasn't for my wife insisting that I go to a specialist I probably would have never known too.
Hope that answers your question. If there is anything else you want to know feel free to ask.
reagan_fanatic, I can help you, you need to now treat for toxicity and fungus from mess you have in your body, if you are interested send me a private email, good luck man.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.