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Original poster

To be absolutely terrified of Lyme disease

32 replies

Marata · 07/07/2024 14:43

Warning: do yourself a favour and don’t read this thread if you have health anxiety as it will obviously be triggering. I accept that I have abnormal anxiety and need help. Most people are not worried about this

I don’t know if anyone can really help me with this. Just wondering if anyone might be able to offer some perspective. As a kid we sometimes visited the northeast of the US and would be warned to look out for ticks on woodland walks etc, I hated it and was so glad it wasn’t something we needed to worry about in the UK (actually I was probably wrong about that, but certainly numbers were much lower here). I can’t remember when I first read in the news that Lyme Disease was becoming an increasing issue in the UK, but I think it was probably around 2017. Since then I have grown increasingly worried about it to the extent that it is really affecting my life. Hiking used to make me happier than anything else in the world, I don’t really like doing it any more because the whole thing of having to check my entire body for a tick so tiny that I might easily miss it anyway spoils the pleasure for me. Friends who live in rural areas in Sussex and West Wales have invited me repeatedly to visit them, I want so much to go and see them (and they can’t understand why I’m not coming, I don’t want to tell them the real reason because I don’t want to be a drag) but I just feel too nervous as I’m sure they will want to go for walks through grass and I don’t want to explain why that makes me nervous. Even stuff like going for picnics in the park is making me anxious as there have been cases of people getting bitten and infected in London parks. Even going for walks on paved ground I worry about brushing against some greenery accidentally. I feel like it’s not long since all the limitations caused by Covid, and now this anxiety is making my life feel limited in a different way. Can anyone relate?

I realise this is excessive health anxiety and I probably need a therapist, but it feels hard to work out where the sensible medium is. Ticks are so tiny, there seem to be a lot of stories of people not realising they’ve been bitten and not recognising they’ve been infected until the disease is already doing a lot of damage to their system. There are also the stories about doctors not recognising that Lyme Disease is a problem, refusing to treat without a bullseye rash (which not all infected people get) etc. It just feels like a bit of a nightmare.

Can anyone help to give me some perspective? I know plenty of people go out and enjoy the outdoors every day without getting bitten or infected. I know even if people do get infected, sometimes they catch it early and get it treated with antibiotics. I try to remind myself of those things, but this fear is really limiting my life and I hate it. I feel like I would be too scared to get a dog or a cat, or to visit friends with pets, in case they have ticks and transmit them. It’s awful.

OP posts:
Original poster
Marata · 08/07/2024 11:23

Thank you so much to those who have replied so far. Bumping just in case there might be any more responses, because I haven’t really discussed this in detail with anyone in my actual life, and I’m finding a conversation about it really helpful

OP posts:
alloutofcareunits · 07/07/2024 15:27

I had a tick in my back for 3-4 days last year before I realised what it was, I thought it was a spot but noticed it felt bigger when I was in the shower so asked DH to look. It had legs wriggling around. He had to gouge it out with scissor as I had nothing else and no shops were open. I'm absolutely fine. The chances of developing Lymes are very small, get some help with your anxiety as it appears if it wasn't Lymes disease you'd be worrying about something else. It must be very limiting and unpleasant, hope you can get help to overcome this.

EerieSilence · 07/07/2024 15:24

You definitely need anxiety treatment. It's not a pneumonic plague. First of all, ticks exist but they're not deadly in our neck of woods and you can prevent them from biting you by using anti-tick sprays, checking your clothes and body after a hike.
Second, even if they bite, it usually takes for a tick to be in for over 24 hours to infect you, plus not all ticks are infected.
Third, just check the bite location regularly and should you see the circle, get yourself to the GP and get the antibiotic treatment.

Peppermints2 · 07/07/2024 15:10

You're definitely giving this waaaay WAY more headspace than it warrants. Despite having lived in the Scottish Highlands and the Lake District, where there are a lot of ticks, I've never thought that I need to moderate my behaviour much to avoid being bitten. Well, not beyond checking my arms if I've brushed up against bracken, or sitting on a rock not on the grass to eat a sandwich. It's not something that should be worrying you at all, in my opinion. The same way that you know that there is a risk of being hit by a car when you walk to the shops, so you look carefully when you cross the road, but you don't actually feel anxious that a car will hit you?

For a while I had sevear anxiety about wetting myself in public, despite never having wet myself as an adult. I think your Lyme Disease anxiety is probably in the same league as my pant wetting anxiety, as in it's an intense worry over something v unlikely to occur.

Go see your Dr? 🙂

MassiveOvaryaction · 07/07/2024 14:57

Treating the anxiety is your best option @Marata Flowers

Wolfiefan · 07/07/2024 14:51

This is anxiety and you need treatment for that. We walk in the woodlands each day and the dogs often pick up ticks. Avoid walking through really very long grass. Long sleeves and trousers tucked into socks.

MrsCat1 · 07/07/2024 14:49

I'm sorry to hear about your anxiety Op. I'm no expert and don't want to minimise. However we live in a high risk area. We have ticks in our (very big) garden and I would say that in an average year I get bitten perhaps a dozen or so times, as does my DH and all our neighbours. We are vigilant and remove ticks quickly but we are still here to tell the tale. I hope this helps.