Dr. Baskin saw me years ago when I was feeling badly. I told him I thought I had one of two things. He eliminated one with a test. The other I mentioned was Lyme Disease from a tick bite, since I had a second home in the woods. He may have tested for that, but in fact a positive test generally does not come through (at least for me) until the patient is nearly dead. The next day I called that I had a 104 degree fever, which continued for 10 days, with me calling all the time. The doctor kept saying well- maybe come into my office. I said - but nothing is new except the fever. What do I do? Well, take tylenol...
My wife eventually took me to another doctor (I was cognitively impaired by that point from the fever). That new doctor diagnosed me with a tick-born disease - ehrlichiosis - and put me into the hospital. On the Internet, they say you will live with ehrlichiosis if you make it for a week (pretty scary?) The fever and symptoms cleared up quickly with antibiotics. After 7 weeks on antibiotics, the tests showed I had had Lyme and ehrlichiosis.
HOWEVER, my heart and valves had always been great - no disease or anything - but the high fever gave me a severe heart murmur (from no murmur to a severe murmur in 10 days). I eventually needed open heart surgery to repair the murmur. I have never been quite the same since then and today I may have another heart-related problem that is probably related.
If a doctor does not pay attention to tick diseases, in my opinion and the opinions of all the doctors I know in my family and others - then he is a BAD doctor. Tick diseases are one of the most common diseases affecting americans - especially in the Northeast. read more