After Long Winter, Explosion Of Lyme Disease-Carrying Ticks Expected
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It appears we are not the only ones excited about the warmer weather.
So are deer ticks.
The first ones of the season were spotted on April 12 in Dakota County.
Local experts believe we will see an abundance of deer ticks soon because of the unusual spring weather we've had.
As you may know, deer ticks transmit Lyme disease.
Ben Kyle, a singer and songwriter for the folk rock group Romantica, know what it's like to live with Lyme disease.
As a father of five, he recalls when the symptoms were so bad, he couldn't interact with his kids.
"The whole time you feel like life is just slipping away from you," he said.
Ben says his immune system and neurological functions were affected, leaving him with body aches, memory loss, and the inability to work on a computer or use a phone.
"It was like something pulling on my brain, my biology all the time and I couldn't have normal interactions with people or conversations," Kyle said. "It was afflicting me all the time."
He doesn't remember being bitten by a deer tick, but they are the only ticks that spread Lyme disease.
In the Twin Cities, deer ticks are currently out and they're hungry after being insulated under a thick blanket of snow in mid-April.
A manager with the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District says she anticipates a large number of deer ticks will burst upon the scene all at once, rather than trickling out in waves.
That means it's time to be alert when we're out in the woods and brush and aware of just how serious Lyme disease can be.
"I went through two years of having barely any relief from the symptoms," Kyle said, adding that he is finding success with a homeopathic remedy, and feeling much better now.
Typically what doctors do after a Lyme disease diagnosis is prescribe antibiotics for a couple of weeks.
In some cases, patients can still have lingering symptoms for months or even years.
As for Kyle's music career and his band Romantica, they have a new album.
Many of the songs that Ben wrote for it were inspired by his health issues, his struggle to recover from Lyme disease.
Romantica has an album release performance coming up on May 5 at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul.
