Lyme often accompanied by co-infections

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Editor’s note: This is part of a continuing series telling stories of people around Eureka Springs who have contracted Lyme disease while the Arkansas Department of Health denied it existed in the state. ADH still claims Lyme is very rare, and that the state had fewer than one case per million people from between 2005-2014. The series profiles how residents managed to cope with tick-borne diseases despite barriers of getting proper diagnosis and treatment.

Anja Schiller contracted Lyme disease in May three years ago while visiting in the Eureka Springs area for a couple of weeks.

“I went for a hike on the White River the morning before my flight back home to Santa Cruz, California,” Schiller said. “I got home really late and just went to bed. In the morning, I had a shower and noticed a tick on me. It had been on me for at least 24 hours. I didn’t really think anything of it because I had had lots of tick bites. Within four to five days, I noticed I wasn’t feeling well. I was very fatigued. I ran out of breath easily. I knew something was wrong.”

She went for testing for Lyme disease. Because of a lab error, it was about six weeks until the blood test came back positive for Lyme, which is best treated immediately after infection. Her physician prescribed six to seven weeks of a high dose of doxycycline.

“The antibiotics helped, but they were hard on my body,” she said. “It is pretty intense taking that much antibiotic. I became photosensitive. It made it difficult to go out in the sun. I was also seeing a nutritionist and taking probiotics, herbal remedies and different enzymes. There is this herbal company, Byron White Formulas, that has tinctures specifically for Lyme disease. After doing all that treatment, I felt about 80 percent better. I knew either I hadn’t gotten rid of it or I had something else.”

She had testing done by the IGeneX lab in California, which she said is one of the few labs that will tests for all strains of Lyme disease and do a complete panel for co-infections.

“It is expensive,” Schiller said. “I paid about $1,200 for that test that wasn’t covered by my insurance. There is a Lyme disease support club in Eureka, California, and the Lyme Test Access Program (www.lymetap.com), that provides financial assistance for Lyme testing for low-income people. They gave me back 75 percent of the test fee. That is a really good resource.”

Testing determined that she had babesiosis, as well, a tick-borne disease similar to malaria. Her main symptoms were aching muscles. Her physician recommended treatment with two very strong antibiotics.

“I was tired of being on antibiotics, so I wanted to try to get rid of it naturally,” Schiller said. “Babesiosis is not like Lyme that you have to deal with quickly or it is harder to get well. I ended up taking oregano oil, which is anti-viral and anti-fungal. I took a really high dose for ten days on, five days off. I did three rounds of that. After that, I was completely better. I didn’t have any more symptoms. The whole process from when I got bitten by the tick to when I felt better took about nine months.”

Her advice to others is to be very careful to avoid tick bites. If you are bitten, remove them quickly and properly. If you become ill, she recommends self-education.

“Don’t just rely on what your doctor tells you because a lot of doctors are not informed [about Lyme],” she said.