APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Now that it’s May, people are making summer plans to spend time outdoors.
It’s also Lyme Disease Awareness Month, with the focus turning to preventing tick bites.
Even though they’re small, those little critters can carry diseases, with the most common being Lyme disease.
Haley Nielsen has first-hand experience with Lyme disease, and the ticks that carry it.
“Just being outside in general, I’ve pulled ticks off me plenty of times and just never really thought anything of it,” said Nielsen.
Nielsen, who lives in Appleton, has been an an outdoor adventurer since she was a little girl.
Her favorite activities include fishing and hunting.
She thinks she got Lyme disease from turkey hunting in the spring of 2020.
“Major tiredness and fatigue. It was kind of almost like I had the flu,” said Nielsen. “Super weird, lasted two to three weeks I’d say and that’s when I got tested. It was positive.”
Nielsen says with no cure, it’s somewhat hard to manage.
“I just try to like live a healthier lifestyle, eat better,” said Nielsen. “Reducing stress was a big one for me, that really aggravates my symptoms still today.”
Other symptoms of Lyme disease include joint pain, headaches, and the most common; a bullseye rash.
“So a red rash that is getting bigger and spreading with a central clearing, normal skin color in the middle,” said Dr. Zachary Baeseman, associate chief medical officer of primary care at ThedaCare. “That is diagnostic of Lyme disease, and that’s the first stage of Lyme disease.”
According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, the average number of reported cases in the state has more than doubled over the past 15 years.
Most cases of Lyme disease occur during June and July. But, it is possible to get Lyme disease whenever ticks are active.
Ticks are active when temperatures are above freezing.
“Very common among people who are in the woods a lot, if they’re on the floor of the woods,” said Baeseman. “Mushroom hunters, turkey hunters, anybody who is sitting on the ground in the woods, very common to have ticks exposure.”
Baeseman says there are multiple ways to prevent tick bites.
“One of them is DEET,” said Baeseman. “My favorite is using permethrin. Permethrin is a substance you can treat your clothes and gear with.”
As for Nielsen, it’s been three years since her Lyme disease diagnosis and she’s always for raising awareness about it.
“If you think you’re sick and you have it, make sure you tell a doctor and don’t quit,” said Nielsen.
For more information about prevention and treatment for Lyme Disease, click here.
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