Tick bite leaves mother feeling ‘like a 90-year-old’

Adapted from Daily Mail

 A mother-of-three plagued by illness has told how her problems have been linked to an insect bite suffered 20 years ago.

Adelle Huckins, 31, has been blighted by a range of medical conditions including migraines, severe fatigue, sickness, hearing difficulties and a drooping left eye.

But it was only last year that she was able to understand the route of her failing health when medics diagnosed her with Lyme Disease, a bacterial infection carried by ticks.

She suddenly remembered a school trip to Germany in 1991 when she was 11-years-old, during which she was bitten on the leg by a tick.

Despite the bite causing a rash, she thought nothing of it, but now she believes it is responsible for years of poor health, which have made her feel like she has the body of ‘a 90-year-old’.

Adelle, of New Marske, Cleveland said: “I was never the same after coming home from that trip. I couldn’t get better afterwards but they couldn’t find what was wrong with me.

“I had lots of symptoms but they were put down to other things. But when I found out about Lyme Disease, it was like a jigsaw puzzle fitting together at last.

“I’m 31 but can feel like I’m in a 90-year-old’s body.”

Research

For years, medics were baffled by her catalogue of illnesses but it was only when she chanced upon Lyme Disease on the Internet last year that she realised it could hold the key to her health problems.

A basic test  from the National Health Service came back negative, so Adelle turned to the Nuffield Hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne where results, sent off to a US specialist, proved positive.

Now Adelle fears for her husband Rob’s health as Lyme could potentially be passed through sexual contact.

She also worries about her children Joshua, nine, Kaitlyn, six and Dexter, 18 months, although there is no conclusive evidence that Lyme can be passed to babies through pregnancy.

In the meantime, antibiotics have helped ease her range of symptoms.

She added: “I just want to put out a warning for people to be cautious when they’re out in  the countryside.

“A simple bite can turn your world upside down.”

Family and friends are now fundraising to enable the Huckins family to get tested and undergo necessary treatment.

Cause

Lyme disease, which Adelle caught, is a vicious infection that attacks the immune system and can cause paralysis, encephalitis and meningitis.

It is caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, found in the digestive systems of animals such as mice, pheasants and deer.

When a tick bites an animal carrying this bacteria, they can become infected with it. The tick — part of the spider family —- can transfer the bacteria to a human by biting and attaching itself to a person’s skin for days.

Transmission

Lyme disease is transmitted only if the tick remains attached for more than 36 hours. Although you may think it easy to tell if a tick was on your body, they are only a few millimetres in size and do not hurt, so are easy to miss.

While the Health Protection Agency estimates that there are fewer than 2,000 cases of Lyme disease a year in the UK, it is on the rise.

The first symptom is a red circular skin rash, which subsides after a week or two. A high temperature, muscle pain and joint swelling are then symptoms.