Why do I campaign for tick awareness?

The more observant among you (yes you 4 followers of my blog:-)) will notice I don't blog very often. On the occasions I need to talk about something to the interweb thing, I either forget about it after a few minutes or even just maybe tweet and don't elaborate. This week is Tick Bite Prevention Week. I shall be tweeting about it. So I don't feel like I'm pissing in the wind totally, I'm adding this blog entry so that people can know why I'm doing it and maybe help spread the word. Well, that's what I'm hoping anyway.

In 2004 I went on holiday to the Lake District, just fitting in a week's holiday before starting a new job. We had a good time, even scaled Scafell Pike, and when we returned I started my new job upbeat and fit as a fiddle. One week into my new job I developed something called foot drop. While trying to get a diagnosis for this I also started to get all sorts of weird symptoms, including major hot flushes, awful upper and lower back pain, rib pain, stonking headaches, jaw pain, confusion (not very useful when trying to impress your new employer!) and other things too many to mention.

No cause was found and the symptoms waxed and waned. I continued with life as near normal as I possibly could, sometimes with great difficulty, though I don't think anyone realised. Then, in late 2006 I spotted something on the internet about the symptoms of Lyme Disease. Ping *lightbulb* moment. I had been bitten by something I didn't recognise during a walk from Keswick, flicked it, tugged at it, flicked again, squeezed, frantically flicked, finally got it off my leg, said 'yuk, dunno what that was, but I didn't recognise it' and then forgot about it. The length of time it was on my leg was unlikely to be longer than a couple of hours.

You can see where this is going then......

In 2007 (yes, 3 years after I became ill) I was treated with 2 years of pulsed antibiotics after being clinically diagnosed, but they didn't make a lot of difference. If I had been 'more ill', it's quite possible any improvements would be more obvious. I have health issues, but nothing major at the mo.

The charity that I help when I can is http://www.bada-uk.org The founding member and chair is Wendy Fox, who, coincidentally lived previously in the same area of Cheshire as I grew up. Wendy is the main reason I am motivated to continue to help the charity. Anyone who meets her would agree what a lovely woman she is (god I hope she doesn't read this:-)). She's gone through so much and compared to hers, my problems are tiny.

I don't want to go too far into Wendy's story, it is available online if you want to read it, she has a background in zoology and was left a paraplegic and visually impaired following brain and spinal-cord swelling caused by Borreliosis. You cannot fail to be touched by her full story. Previously she was a very private person but is now happy to tell her story so that other people can avoid the same situation. She campaigns tirelessly, sometimes at the expense of her own health, she also has a wicked sense of humour that tends to rub off onto people around her. I want to help her achieve what is, ridiculously, an extremely difficult thing to achieve - that everyone, including GPs, etc. understand the importance of tick awareness and to recognise symptoms of the disease. I had no idea how hard it would be. From people passing it off with 'yes I know all about it' to people who assume it's a US disease only, it is an uphill struggle.

Incidentally, at a recent show, I asked one of the 'I know all about it' people how they safely remove a tick, only to be told they smother it in vaseline, of course:-((

I'm extremely lucky that I am able to lead a relatively normal life. Many others are far worse off than myself and I know many people who have been diagnosed with CFS, ME, MS, Fibromyalgia, etc. who have subsequently found they have (or had), and should have been treated for, Lyme Disease.

Wendy has had brain operations, should not allow her heart to beat fast,etc. is also now in remission from leukemia, just another thing for her and her family to deal with. I don't actually know what her life expectancy is, I suspect she could actually already be on borrowed time., but I think she'll go on for a good while yet:-) However, she makes every minute count and uses them to help others, undaunted by any setbacks, relentlessly working on presentations, preparing for shows, advising people, giving speeches.

In terms of myself, I'm kind of fine at the moment, but I don't know what the long term prognosis is, but putting things into perspective, life's good. Concentrating for a long time is difficult, my memory isn't good, I tend to have to pace myself with physical activity nowadays. Oh and I really shouldn't eat so much sweet stuff...but I guess that's the same for everyone!

So, anyway, that's why I'm going to be a pain this week. I have downloaded the Tick Bite Prevention Week posters. If you happen to visit an outdoor shop in Ipswich this week, maybe ask them why they haven't got a poster up for Tick Bite Prevention Week. Or, if they have, thank them for it!

Incidentally, don't you DARE remove a tick with vaseline, go to http://www.tickbitepreventionweek.org and see how easy it is to remove with a proper tool. I have one in every rucksack and jacket so I'm never caught without one. The best (and easiest) is the O'Tom tick twister. Feel free to buy from the charity website Tick Remover They get few donations so every little helps.

So, you've got to the bottom of this blog entry. Well done. I'm exhausted from writing it, you're probably just bored from reading it!