Some of our listeners may know that last year I completed a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail - I hiked 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine over the course of six months. By the end of July, 2022, I had reached the town of Great Barrington, Massachusetts. I took a day off to relax and resupply, but when I woke up the next morning I wasn’t feeling quite right. I had a scratchy feeling in the back of my throat along with a slight fever. My first thought was that I had COVID, so I walked across the street to a pharmacy and bought a test. It was negative, so I figured I’d continue hiking.
Those next five miles of walking were torturous - I had a headache and was sweating uncontrollably. I was in the best shape of my life, but it felt like every step was a challenge. I made it into camp that night and immediately crawled into my tent and fell asleep without eating dinner. I knew that I had made a mistake by continuing to hike in this condition, but I was unwilling to go backwards on the trail, so I continued my slow slog North for another two days until I reached a road where I could get a ride into town.
When I finally made it to an urgent care facility, the doctor confirmed my suspicions, and informed me that I had Lyme disease. She gave me a prescription for antibiotics and stressed the importance of starting to take the medication immediately, and continuing the full schedule no matter what. Within 48 hours I felt immensely better and was back on the trail.
I was extremely lucky to have my Lyme disease diagnosed and treated immediately - many others, including our Senior Producer and co-host for this episode, Sarinah Simons, haven’t been so lucky. When Lyme goes undiagnosed and antibiotics aren’t administered right away, the disease can cause a complex and confusing cascade of long-term symptoms that are notoriously difficult to treat.
“Patient Zero”, Taylor Quimby’s podcast series about Lyme disease, takes a deep dive into the complexity surrounding this disease. He explores the origin of Lyme, and how some of the earliest Lyme patients took matters into their own hands, becoming citizen scientists and advocates for the health of their community. He also explores the controversy in the medical community surrounding Lyme’s long-term symptoms, and how bad actors are taking advantage of patients that have lost hope.
Central to this story, however, is how human behavior has facilitated the spread of Lyme disease. Climate change has increased the range of the ticks that carry the disease, and increased development has created new habitat for mice, another vector for Lyme.
There is hope on the horizon however - we discussed with Taylor some of the similarities between COVID and Lyme disease, and how the lessons that we’ve learned from COVID could lead to new breakthroughs in our fight against Lyme. Of course, no scientific breakthrough will change the most basic preventative measure that one can take to prevent a Lyme infection - wearing your socks over your pants!
-Matt Podolsky
Socks Over Pants: A Deep Dive into the World of Lyme Disease