LYME, LIKE IF I'VE WON THE LOTTERY!

• Lyme is considered the number ONE tick borne illness of the US, but no one has heard about it, and I got it, wow!

• And it is established that it is located in the North East Coast of the US; I have never moved out from Florida during 10 years I’ve lived in this Country except for last month when finally went to Maryland to see the Doctor that could test me to see if I got the illness.

• In some cases, Lyme can be a mild illness, and people could have it for years without knowing they’re infected; not me, it has been horrible since day one and has not stopped being painful hard during almost three years.

• Suffering from Lyme Disease is about having to fight or surrender under the domain of a bacteria transmitted by a tick; the bacteria is known as Borrelia Burgdorferi. It causes symptoms like malaria, meaning kind of flu pains all over the body and in the bad cases the problems spread to the joints, muscles, heart and central nervous system; wow, lucky me the one I got is the very bad version!

• But this is just the beginning… The tiny ticks pass not only the Borelia, but other co-infections which are other bacteria or parasites or protozoan; guess what, I also got one called Babesia, also called "The Malaria of The Northeast," which, as the second name indicates, generates “malaria like symptoms”, meaning, if one is not enough I got two of the same type just to make sure!

• But, of course, if Lyme sounds bad, Babesia is the “fierce” of the family; its symptoms are extremely stronger and faster! It is “thought to be the second most common blood parasites of mammals”, so I got the first and second most common dangerous illnesses transmitted by bugs in the US; that is something ah? More, considering that I came from a “third world country” that has tropical illnesses, and that twenty years ago I lived during two years in a region in the middle of the jungle, at the Pacific Coast of Colombia, considered one of the most endemic zones of malaria of the world, and never, ever got any illness…

• So, coming to the US to get a stronger and more sophisticated type of malaria like illness, (in fact two different ones), much more difficult to eradicate, not well known and in most cases dismissed by medical personnel is really a unique weird “winning” situation.

• And it is officially said: “The number of symptoms and duration of illness in patients with concurrent Lyme disease and babesiosis are greater than in patients with either infection alone”; as I said, got two for the price of one!

• But when I win, I win big! The tinny tick also gave me two more types of “pathogens” or protozoan or, calls them bugs, which the lab could not identify but who are inundating my blood and who knows the harm they’re doing there…

• My recently acquired expert Doctor says Babesia appears as a co-infection in many Lyme infected patients; but the book reads that it will “always be a mild case unless the person had their spleen removed surgically” … what? I didn’t! And it is certainly not mild!

• It also reads: “severe cases are also more likely to occur in the very young, very old and persons with immunodeficiency”; I’m not any of those nor have HIV or had any other type of illness!

• And the last more funny excerption of Babesia: “Babesiosis develops only in patients who live in or travel to an endemic area or receive a contaminated blood transfusion”... so, I never got a blood transfusion, have not traveled anywhere different from Central Florida or Miami which leads to saying that this might be “an endemic area” ??? No way! Disney doesn’t have dangerous bugs, just nice mice that sing and play all day!

• “The health officials say that Babesia Microti is the most common strain on the East coast.

• Babesia Duncani is only supposed to exist on the West coast.” Really? I got the one of the West Coast, how did it travel to Florida?

• “Babesiosis in humans is characterized by anorexia, fatigue, fever, sweating, and generalized myalgia”; I have increased smell and lost of taste due to the Lyme and add the anorexia with the Babesia; a double win? More over if I had gained thirty pounds when I never changed my weight in more than 40 years plus I’m barely eating a little meal once a day!

• “The best way to find out if you have Lyme disease is to talk to your family doctor about your symptoms. Blood tests aren't always necessary to make the diagnosis”. Can I “LOL”? Saw seven Doctors, some family Doctors, other specialized in the Heart, or the Endocrine System and even an “Infectious Disease Specialist” who said Lyme didn’t exist in Florida, so, no one diagnosing me correctly was just “lucks”?

• “A relatively recently described babesial parasite, the WA1-type, has been shown to be the causative agent in seven human cases in the western US. This parasite is closely related to babesial parasites isolated from large wild ungulates in California. Isolated cases of human babesisosis have been described in Africa and Mexico, but the causative parasites were not well characterized.” The WA1 type is the one I “won”… I’m in Florida, Central Florida, not California or Africa! Other writings talk about China, Egypt and Taiwan; may be I got the tick from something I bought from the dollar store?

• Now what? I have no way to convince these Gringos that they have a really endemic, dangerous, painful illness disseminated in their whole country. I got LYME DISEASE and have to suffer the worst strain of it without any hope ahead, just supported by my family who are surprised to see this type of situation could occur in the so called “the most powerful country of the planet”. We have better medical attention even in the smallest poor village of our miserable third world class country. They know what malaria is, they have the medicine to treat it and they cure it. The government takes measures to prevent the illness and to stop any possible dissemination over the other regions or the world. That is not seen here with their endemic illness; and for what I have read, England and the other European Countries are also trying to cover the sun with their fingers ignoring the severity of the illness; but later on they all will know they had generated a pandemic due to the lack of attention and proper care. Canada and some regions of Germany are trying to work their part, God bless them!

• Note 1: Please excuse my irony, it is my way today of expressing my frustration. I am now having an amazing Doctor who is taking good care of me and his 75 patients a week; I am thankful. I hope I can open the eyes of some others that don’t know about this!

• Note 2: As a Social Communicator and Journalist I can present documentary proof of what I say here and of my medical history.