Grammy-winning pop star Justin Timberlake, 44, recently went to Instagram to share his Lyme disease diagnosis. His statement comes soon after criticism from fans who felt he had a poor performance on his recent world tour.
“When I first got diagnosed, I was certainly shocked,” the post said. “But at least I could understand why I was on stage and had a lot of neuralgia or just feeling crazy fatigue or illness.”
Lyme disease is an infectious disease caused by deer and animals (also known as black-footed mites), which are bacterial species that can spread to humans and animals from biting deer mites, according to Mayo Clinic.
Experts say that while Lyme disease rates are much lower than those in the northeastern, mid-western and mid-Atlantic states, Lyme disease rates are much lower, but carrying bacteria lives in most of the United States. (The disease was named after the town of Lyme, Connecticut, where the outbreak was first identified in the 1970s.)
In California, western black-legged ticks are Lyme disease airlines, commonly found in northern coastal counties in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and in the hills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, according to the California Department of Public Health.
Between 2013 and 2019, the state had 904 new cases of Lyme disease. During that period, the average Lyme disease rates were highest in Santa Cruz (4 cases per 100,000), Humboldt (about 3 cases per 100,000), and Sonoma County (about 2 cases per 100,000).
Lyme disease is often not diagnosed. “Because of its range of symptoms and mobility, it ranges from headaches and fatigue to joint pain, body pain, balance issues, memory loss, myocarditis, anxiety, insomnia and depression,” says the Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a nonprofit researching disease, X.
Most people will fully recover from the illness when treated with antibiotics for 2-4 weeks. Others experience symptoms of fatigue, physical, pain, or difficulty, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
How did a tick-infected bite an LED in Lyme disease?
When a mites infected with bacteria bite a person or animal, the bacteria are released from the mites’ mouth into the bloodstream, where they spread throughout the body.
If a mites are attached to the skin, CDC recommends removing it as soon as possible. If you are showing symptoms of the disease, consult your healthcare provider.
Symptoms of Lyme Disease
Your body’s response to an infection varies from person to person, and symptoms appear gradually. According to Mayo Clinic, some people with Lyme disease do not suffer from symptoms during the early stages of infection.
Common symptoms of Lyme disease include fever, rash, facial paralysis, irregular heartbeat, and arthritis. These symptoms can occur in stages.
In the first stage that occurs 3-30 days after a mites bite, a person can develop a circular rash around the bite site. The rash is revealed in the center and resembles a target or bull’s eye.
In this first stage, an infected person can experience fever, headache, extreme fatigue, stiff joints, muscle pain, pain, or swelling lymph nodes.
Symptoms can escalate during the second stage, which occurs 3-10 weeks after the bite. They are:
Rash in other parts of body neck pain or stiff muscle strength on one or both sides of rigid heart tissue muscle weakness in heart tissue starts from the back and spreads to the lower back and causes irregular heartbeats that cause bulging of visually impaired figures in the lower back, eyes inhaling paralysis or weakness
Symptoms of the third stage of the disease begin 2-12 months after the mites bite and include arthritis in the large joints, especially the knees. Pain, swelling, stiffness can last or go for a long time.
People with long-term symptoms of Lyme disease called Lyme disease syndrome after treatment usually get better over time without additional antibiotics, but according to the CDC, it can take months to feel completely.
The cause of the long-lasting symptoms is currently unknown.
Be careful of Tick’s house, how to protect yourself
Mites are commonly found in outdoor areas with grass, shrubs, rocks, logs and fallen leaves.
You don’t need to avoid these areas, but instead you should wear protective clothing to prevent mites from latching on your skin.
Plan to wear a long-sleeved shirt and pants before going for outdoor activities. Apply insect repellents to clothing and exposed skin while wearing protective clothing, according to the state’s public health department.
Check yourself and your pets while you’re hiking. If you see a mites, remove them immediately.
When you return home from an excursion, check your clothes, body and scalp. Put your laundry in the laundry and take a shower.
If you find a tick on your clothes, if you put the clothing item in a hot dryer for 10 minutes, it will kill the insects.
The California Department of Public Health recommends that you continue to check your body for three days after you’ve been out into an area where mites exist.
