Lyme Disease is a bacterial infection commonly thought to be transmitted by the bite of an infected tick. When first infected, some people get a red bull’s-eye rash. Many don’t. You can feel like you have the flu with fever, headache, muscle pains, and maybe a stiff neck or swollen joints.
If the disease is diagnosed and treated with antibiotics in the early stage, there’s a good chance of curing it so it goes away. If unidentified and untreated, or not treated long enough, it can eventually become chronic, leading to a multi-system illness that is hard to manage and even harder to get totally rid of. No area of the body is immune from Lyme.
There currently is no vaccine for Lyme. Having it once provides no immunity. You can get it again.
19. July 2009 at 8:17 am
My best friend’s husband is having a hip replacement surgery on thursday july 23rd. He just found out on the 16th (thurs.) that he had lyme disease. I had two complete hip replacements in 2007. Before my first surgery i had a dentist appt. on the X-rays it showed that i had an abcess in my gum. (didnt hurt and didnt know about the abcess) However this made my surgery get postponed for 14 day to take antibiotics.
My best friend said that his lyme disease has nothing to do with his surgery and they’re proceeding on thursday. Im wondering if this is correct about not affecting his surgery. and maybe they didnt let them know about the lyme disease. could you please give me some insight as to whether this is correct. He’s supposedly in the late stages of the disease. how late they’re not sure yet.
19. July 2009 at 9:19 am
Laurie:
I know a man who had two hip and a knee replacement, supposedly for rheumatoid arthritis, before he finally found out he had Lyme. Rheumatological symptoms are some of the most common with Lyme.
If your friend’s husband has had Lyme for a long time, mainly affecting his joints, he may indeed be in the late stages of both diseases. Lyme can eventually kill if untreated. I asked my doctor what my prognosis would have been if she hadn’t diagnosed my Lyme, and she said, “A slow slide into total disability and death.”
Even if our friend were to postpone his surgery to take antibiotics, I doubt that 14 days would be enough. You don’t say why he was just tested for Lyme. I’m guessing that he probably didn’t just get Lyme but rather has had it for a long time without knowing it.