The warmer months are here and for most families that means it's time to have some fun in the sun. Hiking trails, going camping, playing in the yard, all of these things are great, but for an unfortunate few they might also be deadly.
One mother's heart-wrenching video of her daughter is going viral, and now she's urging others to be on the lookout to protect their children.
In her Facebook post, Amanda Lewis told the world about her 3-year-old daughter Evelyn. After being outside all day Evelyn came in for a bath. Afterwards she wouldn't stop fussing.
"Evelyn started acting a little weird last night around bedtime. She didn't want to stand up after her bath to get into her pajamas. I helped her and got her in bed. She was fussy all night and I ended up sleeping with her," she wrote.
The next morning the little girl was even worse. She couldn't stand up straight and seemed to be frustrated.
"She could barely walk, or crawl, and could hardly use her arms," Lewis wrote.
Worried, the family took her to the ER, and a Doctor had a hunch almost immediately.
See The Diagnosis on the next page
Being in Oregon, ERs are no stranger to injuries and illnesses that result from camping. Overexposure, sun stroke, broken limbs, any number of these things can happen when you're in the Great Outdoors.
However there are other dangers lurking in the tall grasses: ticks.
"The doctor talked to us for a minute and said over the past 15 years he had seen 7 or 8 children with identical symptoms and more than likely she had a tick," said Lewis.
Staff combed out the young girl's hair, and sure enough, nestled in her scalp was a tick.
The condition, known as Tick Paralysis, is a rare side effect to a tick bite, but is dangerous if left untreated. Toxins in a tick's saliva affect the nervous system, causing paralysis in the limbs and eventually the whole body.
One good thing is that the treatment is easy: simply remove the tick.
"Evelyn is doing much better. She is now pretty much completely back to her feisty little self," wrote Lewis.
This year experts are warning parents that ticks are worse than usual. They recommend using bug repellents with DEET, wearing long sleeves and pants while hiking, and treating clothes and equipment with permethrin to kill ticks and tick nits.
You can see Lewis's post and video here, be warned, it's unsettling:
We had a little bit of a scary morning today...luckily everything is ok but I wanted to share this so the rest of you are aware. Evelyn started acting a little weird last night around bed time. She didn't want to stand up after her bath to get into her pajamas. I helped her and got her in bed. She was a little fussy last night and I ended up sleeping in bed with her all night. This morning she was having a hard time standing. She could barely walk, or crawl, and could hardly use her arms. We took some video this morninh to send to family to see if they had any idea what could be going on. We decided to take her into the ER right after we took this video because her symptoms were getting worse, and given Lantz's history with cancer we were quite concerned. We got into a room quickly, thank God, and were seen almost right away. The doctor talked to us for a minute and said over the past 15 years he had seen about 7 or 8 children her age with identical symptoms and more than likely she had a tick. They looked her over, combed through her hair really well and sure enough found a tick hiding in her hair. This condition is called tick paralysis. It can affect dogs also and can be fatal. I'm glad we took her in when we did and that it wasn't something worse and that we found it before it got worse. The ticks are out like crazy right now in this area so if your children or dogs start acting a little off, check them thoroughly for ticks! I feel awful for not having seen the little bugger sooner but I never would have even thought to look for a tick. It's crazy that a little bug can do this! We're still in the ER. Now that the tick has been removed, Evelyn should start feeling like herself in a couple of hours. She's enjoying popsicles and watching cartoons ☺ They want to monitor her for a little longer then we can go home Crazy morning UPDATE: I didn't realize how widespread this video would end up! So for those of you who don't know us personally, Evelyn is doing much better. It took her until the next morning to start acting like herself again. She is now pretty much completely back to her feisty little self. She complains a lot about her head itching but otherwise she's just fine. My husband and I are still in shock that this happened to our baby girl and I'm glad we were able to spread some awareness about this. It's not terribly common for this to happen but it's good to be aware that if your children or pets start having weakness in their limbs to look for a tick! The doctor told us that the type of tick that was found on her does not typically carry lyme disease (dog tick) but we are keeping a close eye on her anyway. "Tick paralysis results from injection of a toxin from tick salivary glands during a blood meal. The toxin causes symptoms within 2"“7 days, beginning with weakness in both legs that progresses to paralysis. The paralysis ascends to the trunk, arms, and head within hours and may lead to respiratory failure and death. The disease can present as acute ataxia without muscle weakness" For more information on Tick paralysis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick_paralysis http://www.cvbd.org/en/tick-borne-diseases/tick-paralysis/human-tick-paralysis/ I'm so thankful that we got her to the doctor quickly before her symptoms got worse and that the doctor in the ER that day had experience with this otherwise who knows how many tests they would have been doing on her trying to figure out what was wrong! Thank you all for your kind words and support through this crazy time! ♥ UPDATE AGAIN: We're located in Eastern Oregon USA. Ticks though can be found all over. They're causing all kinds of problems on the east coast of America right now as well
Posted by Amanda Lewis on sábado, 13 de mayo de 2017
