Unique way of becoming infected

Hi everyone!

I am new the forum! Looking for some opinions. Everyone seems really helpful on here!

I'm 24 years old and an avid outdoorsman. I live in Wisconsin. This past fall, I was bowhunting and shot a buck on November 6th. During the process of field dressing my deer, I cut myself very badly on my hand, it was very open and probably could've used stitches. Against my better judgement, I continued field dressing the deer, in the process getting a lot of the deer's blood inside of my open wound. Eventually my cut was completely clogged up with not only my blood but also the deer's blood.

I was really far back in the woods and didn't get a chance to clean my cut out for a good 4 hours. I didn't think much of it at the time. In January, I began to notice a decline in cognitive ability. Mostly brain fog, fatigue, feeling very tired and cloudy and confused despite a healthy (relatively speaking) diet, plenty of sleep, and exercising 4-5 days a week.

Since then, I have only gotten worse. I went to my regular MD and had a physical, and also ordered up a number of blood tests. Everything came back perfect. I also had the standard CDC Lyme test done. Negative. However, I have continued to decline. I also have developed an extreme sensitivity to alcohol, to the point that I have completely stopped drinking any alcohol. I become intoxicated very quickly all of a sudden and my symptoms are twice as bad the next day if I drink anything at all.

I reached out to two separate LLMD's and both confirmed that I certainly could have become infected via the deer blood in my cut. It is worth noting that the deer was covered in ticks (as all whitetail are).
I am pretty convinced I have Lyme and possibly co-infections.

My question is, is it normal to only be experiencing neurological symptoms? I can't say I have joint pain, nausea, headaches, or many of the other common symptoms of early stage Lyme. All of my symptoms are neurological so far. I am to the point where I am ready to go to a LLMD and test through Igenex.

Any input would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks for reading!

Hi youngcd12 - welcome to our community!

Yes, you were definitely exposed - whether from blood to blood transfer...or from one of the many ticks on the deer.

Symptoms do vary from person to person.
But the fatigue, in addition to the decline in cognitive ability and brain fog are common symptoms of lyme.

For the first three months I did not have joint pain, headaches or nausea. (No flu like symptoms).
(I still have not had headaches or nausea)

I think you are wise to see a LLMD for an evaluation and treatment.

We encourage all new members to take a look through the thread at the top of the page titled: "New to Lyme?..Start Here!" It's packed full of useful information.

If you need help finding a LLMD, you can start a new thread titled: "Looking for LLMD in/nearJ____" and fill in the blank. then enable your email option (through My Profile) so members can send you names privately. We don't post the names on here for privacy reasons.

In addition to members' recommendations, you can also contact the ILADS Physician Referral:

ilads.org/ilads_media/physician-referral/

You can also email me - by clicking on he envelop below my screen name on the left. I will check my lists and send you what I have in the area you are looking.

Thanks for the information and responses.

I will certainly look into Brucella and Girlie I will be reaching out about LLMD's!

Update: Last week was worst yet for symptoms. Fighting constant exhaustion and mental fog.

I have an appointment with a LLMD and testing with Igenex on Thursday.

k07 said...
Please also look into brucella. I have read about a chef getting it from cleaning rabbits.

I was just going to post that.

Brucella and Lyme have several overlapping symptoms and in my research this is actually one of the ways it (Brucella) is spread-through field dressing.

I intend to ask my vet about it Wednesday, I'd probably have a better chance getting me tested for it by him than my PCP.

No more abx, though!

It was just a thought. Seems to me they have a much more reliable method of detection on livestock and pets than we have for humans. Cattle are tested routinely by law. (Anywhere else on the 'net I would have just set myself up for an old cow joke.lol)

Post Edited (julymorning) : 3/24/2017 10:21:12 AM (GMT-6)

Thank you everyone!

Best of luck with your testing!!

julymorning said...


He informed me that Missouri has been Brucellosis free for some time now!! That is a huge relief.

But as far as I know, they still test every bovine that comes into a sale barn, just in case.

But what is the testing like? If it's like lyme/bart/babs testing - it can't be relied on.
Do you trust that information that "Missouri has been Brucellosis free some time now" ?.