Yowza!  I had no idea I'd get such a huge response to my posting.  I'm 
glad, I'd hate to see anyone get the disease from lack of awareness.  And 
do find a doctor that will err on the side of giving you antibiotics.  I'll 
give you my Dr's name in downtown DC if it will help.  Just email me off 
line at savetheocean at yahoo.com

So, just to contribute to the saga --

I am one of the few that got the three shot series over 2 years of Lymerix 
when it first came out around 1997-1998.  It was not covered by my 
insurance at the time, but I just knew one day I'd miss a tick.  I think it 
was $75 - 100 per shot.  The first one and two needed to be within a month 
of each other.  Then the third was a booster a year later.  

So, no bad response to the vaccine like examples stated.  I've certainly 
got arthritis, but that is a genetic thing.

My blood test to check for Lyme Disease came back today.  At first, test 
came back as positive for Lyme a few days earlier.  Then they separated out 
the test to separate out the antigen and antibody.  Antigen would should 
the disease as currently present, and the antibody would show my resistence 
to it from the vaccine.  The separate tests did show I was positive on the 
antibodies, so the vaccine did work and negative on the antigen - so no 
Lyme disease present.  The previous tests combined them together. I 
understand the effectiveness of the vaccine is only 70%, so there was no 
way to know if the vaccine worked without the blood test.  

I asked my doctor why I'd get a rash from the bite if I had antibodies 
fighting the disease.  He replied that I can still get a local reaction to 
the bite, even while my antibodies are fighting the disease.  

I've had a few minor side effects this last week like a brief fever with 
profuse sweating, achy lymph nodes and a horribly sore neck and shoulders.  
All those symptoms disappated within a day.  

I am going to finish up my two week supply of Doxycycline anyway (100 mg x 
2 daily) to err on the side of caution.  You've only got one life and one 
body.  I'm not an "abuser" of antibiotics, I just realize how serious Lyme 
Disease can be.  

Don't be afraid and stay inside this summer - enjoy those birds.  Use 
DEET.  Stay aware and see a doctor as needed.  Promote population control 
for deer - this was not such a big problem when there were fewer deer and 
more predators in addition to helping our ground nesting birds. But save 
that for another thread on another day. 

Now, is there a cure for Bird Watching Fever? 

Denise Ryan
Cheverly, MD
savetheocean at yahoo.com