Everything You Need to Know About Lyme Disease (and Removing Ticks)

 

 

If you're the outdoorsy type — and I don't mean sipping cocktails on your patio — chances are you've come in contact with a tick or two. Blacklegged ticks, also called deer ticks, are the ones to watch out for since they carry the Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium, which causes Lyme disease. Seventy to 80 percent of people will develop a rash that looks like a bull's-eye within three to 30 days of being bitten, and other symptoms include severe headaches, dizziness, heart palpitations, neck stiffness due to meningitis, joint pain and swelling, and shooting pains. Antibiotics can cure most cases, but some patients will later develop complications, such as Bell's palsy (loss of muscle tone on one or both sides of the face) or other neurological complications, joint pain, or fatigue, when not treated in time.