![]() ![]() Lia understands that the more Lyme disease is discussed and researched, the better the outcomes will be for others in the future. Only recently has the CDC put out information warning people about the effects that the Lyme bacteria can have on the heart (e.g. The fact that Lia was not properly diagnosed and treated until her second tick bite, 10 years after receiving her first infected tick bite, certainly contributed to the magnitude of her illness. Lia Gaertner with her childhood friends at the Tough Mudder endurance race in the Sierra Mountains, California The mysterious cardiac symptoms of the prior 10 years and all of her new symptoms were eradicated and she was able to run the Tough Mudder race. It took over a year of treatment with several different antibiotic combinations, integrative medicine treatments, and nutritional support to return Lia back to health. The doctor explained that because her symptoms mimic a variety of other diseases, misdiagnosis is common. The doctor and the labs confirmed that Lia was positive for Lyme disease and a co-infection with Babesia and that she had both old and new infections - one from the New York tick bite and one from the recent California tick bite. Her husband suggested that she talk to one of his UCSF Santa Rosa family medicine residency colleagues who was familiar with tick-borne diseases. Over the next few months, Lia developed a stiff neck, migratory joint pain, fevers, night sweats, neurological issues, swollen lymph nodes, and many other confusing symptoms. After a 2008 family camping trip in Mendocino County, one of the most Lyme endemic areas of California, Lia found a red annular rash on her chest and a few weeks later, her cardiac symptoms worsened, while new symptoms emerged. She married her college boyfriend, returned to the West Coast for her husband to start medical school, and started a family. Over the next 10 years, Lia experienced many life changes, but her cardiac symptoms and mysterious illness persisted. No test for Lyme disease or co-infections was recommended or performed. The resident physician diagnosed a new onset heart murmur and cardiac electrical abnormalities, but could not identify the cause. After noticing several alarming new symptoms, such as heart palpitations, tachycardia, air hunger, and interstitial rib pain, Lia visited the Cornell University Health Center. No one realized it at the time, but her symptoms were the result of her first infected tick bite. Eventually, after a year of leading forest field trips with her students and engaging in field research, Lia developed what she thought was the flu. She didn’t know that nymphal ticks can be the size of the period at the end of this sentence or that ticks inject anesthesia so most people don’t feel their tick bite. Despite the fact that upstate New York had one of the highest rates of Lyme infected ticks in the country, Lia was not told this, nor was she taught about tick bite prevention or how to recognize the symptoms of tick-borne infections. In the mid-1990’s, after graduating from the University of California, Berkeley with a bachelor’s of science degree, Lia moved to upstate New York to pursue a graduate degree at Cornell University. After years of living with undiagnosed Lyme disease, Lia had finally received a diagnosis and proper treatment, and was finally well enough to enjoy the activities that she loved and to work with the Bay Area Lyme Foundation to further tick-borne disease research and education. For many competitors, this was just another difficult race, but for Lia this was a milestone in her remission from two Lyme ( Borrelia spp.) infections, one contracted from a tiny tick bite in New York and another one, 10 years later, in California. The race challenged participants to overcome an 11-mile military-style obstacle course while running at high altitude with a 1500 foot change in elevation. Synopsis of Open Program Funding OpportunitiesĪ few years ago, Lia Gaertner and a few of her childhood friends completed the Tough Mudder endurance race, a fundraiser for the Wounded Warrior Project, in California’s Sierra Mountains. ![]() Psychological Health/Traumatic Brain Injury.Clinical and Rehabilitative Medicine Research Program (JPC-8).Radiation Health Effects Research Program (JPC-7).Combat Casualty Care Research Program (JPC-6).Military Operational Medicine Research Program (JPC-5).Military Infectious Diseases Research Program (JPC-2).Medical Simulation and Information Sciences Research Program (JPC-1).Defense Medical Research and Development.Additional Supported DOD Programs/Projects.Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychological Health. ![]()
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