As much as many of us love summer, as warmer weather approaches, so does the threat of tick-related illnesses. And one mom, Natalie Renee, is warning everyone about the lesser-known symptoms of Lyme disease after her daughter recently became ill.
In a Facebook post last week that's now been shared over 144,000 times at the time of writing, Renee wrote that her otherwise healthy daughter, Natasha, woke up with a headache one morning, and later developed a fever throughout the day.
"I rechecked her head bc she kept complaining and found a quarter size lump on the right side of her head that by 4 pm had become the ugliest looking wound I have ever seen,' she wrote. "I was told at first it was a spider bite she was treated and sent home. With in hours the wound looked even worse had a white and red ring around it the fever was unstoppable."
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Renee wrote that her daughter screamed in pain nonstop and was dizzy and confused.
She eventually drove her daughter to a children's ward, where "every team from neurologists , infectious disease , dermatology and who knows what else saw her."
"Everyone wanted a picture of the bite bc it was definitely not something they had seen before and I think between the pics and telling the same story over and over and about 30 physical exams we both were frustrated," she wrote. "She was getting no better at all in fact worse despite the antibiotic and meds and fluids."
Finally, at about 11 p.m., they received a diagnosis: "while it was not a typical presentation of a bulls eye bite and her symptoms were a little off, she has lymes disease," Renee wrote.
Natasha was able to receive antibiotic treatment, and is steadily recovering, but Renee wanted to issue a warning that Lyme disease can come with symptoms that we don't expect.
Lyme disease is caused by a bite from an infected tick, and can leave you with a bullseye-shaped rash (as Renee mentioned), flu-like symptoms, and fatigue. Cases of Lyme typically peak around warm summer months like June and July, and while it is treatable, it can be serious if you don't know the warning signs and catch it early on.
"I just ask to please take precautions to prevent ticks with your children and yourself," she wrote. "I never saw a tick on natasha so even if u don't see one check their skin for bites and know this is something in our local area and so scary."