Lyme Disease

oldman

oldman

Well-known Member
Location
PA
The wife of a friend of mine that I met and became close to while flying, called me last night to tell me that her husband is in the hospital and almost died.

To me, this is a strange story and something that I never heard of. Apparently, since retirement, he took up a job with a house and business cleaning outfit where he lives in Colorado. They were cleaning out a home of a deceased person who was a hoarder. He had several cats, some were found dead. The wife said that she thinks there were over 40 cats. Here’s the part that I never heard about. The ammonia from the cats’ urine was so strong that it brought out his Lyme Disease to a higher level (?). Not sure what she meant. So, this caused his BP to elevate way, way high, like over 200. The paramedics had to give him immediate injections of some medicine to stabilize him before they could transport him to the hospital. Oh, it also caused his heartbeat to race. The next day, the doctors inserted a pacemaker to control the beats of his heart. She said that the doctor in charge of his case told him that he was only minutes from death and would have died, if the paramedics didn’t reach him in the time that they did.

I was like, “OMG, what next?” Enough already.
 

Lyme disease is usually caused by a Tick Bite. If this house was a disaster, and full of cats, there is a good chance that it also had an infestation of ticks. Ticks like to hitch a ride on dogs and cats, then if the animals are brought indoors, they bring the ticks with them.
 
Lyme Disease is difficult to diagnose unless detected within a few weeks of a tick bite and the ensuing "bullseye" mark on the skin. It's an elusive disease that goes into hiding periodically, so may not show up in blood work. It's hard to even find a doctor that will commit to that diagnosis, leaving patients very frustrated and without hope of treatment, assuming they are indeed infected. If your friend has truly been diagnosed with Lyme, I'm not sure how the high ammonia from cat population would have exacerbated the disease and his ensuing serious health issues, but I'm not a doctor. It could be that your friend's wife was dramatizing the situation in a panic. I have a friend who swears he has Lyme Disease after being bitten by a tick in New Hampshire many years ago that has contributed to many other health problems, but his doctor did not detect any Lyme antibodies in his blood work.
 


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