Living with Lyme disease

By BRIAN WALKER

Hagadone News Network

When Karlicia Berry went geocaching with a friend along Lake Coeur d'Alene in 2005, little did she know that outdoor experience would eventually derail her teaching job five years later.

Berry came down with Lyme disease, a bacterial infection that was transmitted by a tick during the geocache adventure.

"There was a warning about poison ivy near the cache that I chose to ignore as I got down on all four and dug through the dead leaves and grass to find the buried treasure," she said, adding that the cache was never found.

"Those 10 minutes served to unlock the gates of hell that would rain down on me for the next 11 years and counting."

The day after the bite Berry, noticed a red circle on her upper right arm.

"It didn't really itch, but over the next few days the mottled rash grew and grew until my whole upper arm had swollen three times its usual size," said Berry, who taught at multiple Post Falls schools from 1997 to 2010. "I thought it was a spider bite or that I was having a weird reaction to poison ivy."

While the swelling went away, persistent other issues, including migraines day in and day out and sleep disturbances, came on.

Berry, 57, wants to use her experience to educate others that Lyme disease does exist here and that people shouldn't hesitate to have blood tests after tick bites.

"Some people don't think it's here, but it's everywhere (in the United States)," she said. "If you get bit and get on antibiotics it can be cured right away. But, if you don't, you can become deaf, blind, be paralyzed or have seizures. It can also make it so you can't talk or read. I'm fortunate that this hasn't happened to me.

"Lyme disease is one of the smartest bacteria in the world. It can trick the immune system into attacking healthy tissue while it hides out in a safe place."

Berry said the key to avoiding long-term effects of Lyme disease is to kill the bacteria while it exists only in the blood stream. The treatment is generally four to six weeks of antibiotics within a month of receiving the bite.

"If one misses this opportunity the bacteria actually drills into the surrounding tissues," she said. "The hardest thing was not knowing. For nine years, I had no idea."

Lyme disease is primarily transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected black-legged tick, also known as a deer tick.

"According to entomologists, deer ticks carrying Lyme disease are not native to North Idaho, but we have seen several cases of Lyme disease over the years," said Melanie Collette, spokeswoman for the Panhandle Health District.

In 2015, the district, which serves the five northern counties, did not have any confirmed cases of Lyme. There were three cases each in 2014 and 2013; two cases in 2012, one in 2011 and none in 2010.

"Cases are rare, but Panhandle Health District epidemiologists track the trends and encourage doctors to consider Lyme disease as a possible diagnosis in patients with a history of a tick bite and symptoms of Lyme disease," Collett said.

She said, to prevent tick bites, people should avoid trekking off the trails into heavily wooded and brushy areas, use DEET insect repellent and check for ticks after camping trips or after spending time in the woods.

There is no evidence that Lyme disease is transmitted from person-to-person, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The year after Berry was bitten, she said her focus was on helping her husband, who died of cancer, and her mother. She said her thought about her own condition, at the time, was to suck it up and get better.

Two years after the tick bite, Berry was diagnosed with burning mouth syndrome, a benign condition that causes as a burning sensation in the mouth that is a symptom of Lyme.

"It makes it very painful to talk and eat — even breathing through my mouth was very painful," she said. "Then the joints in my fingers started hurting."

She said her doctor declined her request to be tested for Lyme disease as he claimed it doesn't exist in the Inland Northwest.

Berry said she suffered from chronic fatigue and, in 2010, soon after she won Gov. Otter's Industry Award for Notable Teaching in Science, her escalating symptoms forced her to resign as a gifted and talented teacher.

She said she wasn't diagnosed with Lyme until two years ago. Since then, she has received treatments in Seattle and Mexico. She's hoping to receive further treatments at the West Clinic in Pocatello, which has a good track record of treating Lyme.

Berry said she may have to receive treatments for the rest of her life, but is optimistic about returning to education — even if it's not in a classroom setting — in the next two years.

"I will get well," she said with a smile. "I'm happiest when I am around kids."