Health problems after hike?

[mogilews]

After six months on the trail, coming home was a bit easier than expected, except for this damned Florida sun! Psychologically, it just feels like I've stepped into Narnia a bit- no big deal. The one thing I didn't expect was how much of a physical wreck I'd be once I stopped hiking.

This thread is a shameless appeal for medical advice and maybe to share experiences of 2006 hikers who are having the same problems when they get home. We can sit around on the porch here at Whitblaze and talk about all our health problems and shoot rock salt at the kids on the lawn. It'll be a great preview of being old and curmudgeonly.

I'll start this hour's entertainment with my symptom list.

> Sleeping all damn day
> Joint pain in extremities (1st joint of right big toe, left ankle, left forearm)
> JOINT PAIN
> Nausea
> Diarrhea
> Vomiting (just once thank Jesus, but I'm on the BRAT now)

C'mon, everybody, join in the fun! GIVE US YOUR SICK!

(Oh yeah, and if this topic's been posted before, post a linky PLEASE. My search-fu is weak.)

[MOWGLI]

Sounds like you might have Lyme. I suggest you go see a doctor immediately. That's based on my wife having long term Lyme, which you definitely don't want!

Now about that trail name??? Bow to your sensei!

[Footslogger]

Sounds like a classic case of reality syndrome, secondary to trail withdrawal.

This is a well known phenomenon which has been successfully treated and cured.

Report to the visitors center at Amicolola State Park, face north and start walking. You will notice immediate relief of symptoms.

'Slogger

[mogilews]

Sounds like you might have Lyme. I suggest you go see a doctor immediately. That's based on my wife having long term Lyme, which you definitely don't want!

Now about that trail name??? Bow to your sensei!

Lyme?! Dammit, I was afraid of that. But it's been months since I had a tick bite! I thought you started developing serious symptoms way before that. Still, better joint pain than dribbling at the mouth limited to a single-syllable vocabulary.

Mogilews is actually the first eight characters of my (real) last name. My trail name is/was Mash.

Man, sounds weird to introduce myself that way, now.

[MOWGLI]

Lyme?! Dammit, I was afraid of that. But it's been months since I had a tick bite! I thought you started developing serious symptoms way before that.

Go to the doctor - ASAP. Seriously. This is nothing to fool with.

Good luck!

[jlb2012]

might be one of the other tick borne diseases like Babesiosis or Ehrlichiosis instead of Lyme - have the doc check for other tick borne diseases also

[Ender]

Sounds a lot like Lyme, though there's no way to tell without a test, and even then it's not 100% accurate. Go to the doctor, go on the meds ASAP. Lyme will **** you up if you let it go for too long. Seriously, call the doctor today and have him prescribe you the meds over the phone (they can do it... my girlfriend has had to do that twice this year) and then go into the docs office on Monday to get the bloodwork. If you don't have it, then no harm done. If you do have it and don't go on the meds... well, the results can last a lifetime.

[waterboy99]

You really need to get to a Doctor. The only person I knew that had symptoms that you have had lyme.

[freefall]

I agree with everyone here, sounds a lot like Lyme. My Aunt got it about 10 years ago and waited to go to the doctor then they mis-diagnosed. Finally after 6 months someone figured it out. To this day she still has joint pain and some permanent hearing loss.

[mogilews]

Well, the good thing is that my body is not actually a golem bound by hiking the AT. I was actually thinking for a moment that hiking was holding my body together. Oh well. Magical thinking gets you nowhere. Just ask Athanasius Kirchner. It seems that Lyme's ties together my symptoms pretty well . . the problem is that I've probably had the symptoms on the trail for a good long while, but now is the only time I've been able to notice. Lyme symptoms are synonymous with hiking symptoms, so they're hard to notice until you stop moving.

Anyways, thanks for the advice everyone. I'll try and see a doctor monday.

Don't let that stop everyone else from posting their mystery post AT symptoms though! I might see someone I know!

Stop that rhyming, this time I mean it.

[freefall]

Anyways, thanks for the advice everyone. I'll try and see a doctor monday.

Don't let that stop everyone else from posting their mystery post AT symptoms though! I might see someone I know!

Stop that rhyming, this time I mean it.

Good you're going to the doctor!!! Hope we're wrong!

After getting off the trail, I had 3 things. 1) My appetite didn't go away so I ended up gaining most of the weight back that I lost while hiking.
2) I developed a perpetual ringing in my ears. I think it's just from the noise level living in the city but after 3.5 months it's still there.
3) For a while my joints ached but a figured out if I walked a couple of miles every day, it went away.

See, no rhyming.

[Lone Wolf]

After my first hike I was mentally irregular.

[MOWGLI]

After my first hike I was mentally irregular.

That means he shat his brains out. Sporadically.

[Lone Wolf]

I luv you too jeff.

[MOWGLI]

I luv you too jeff.

My favorite moments on WB are the times I'm sitting all by myself, laughing at something I've posted.

[Lone Wolf]

My favorite moments on WB are the times I'm sitting all by myself, laughing at something I've posted.

My favorite moments on WB are when I get online the morning after being at Dot's for the duration and posting shortly thereafter. I can't believe how comical and knowledgeable iI am. Cracks myself up.

[Appalachian Tater]

Good you're going to the doctor!!! Hope we're wrong!

After getting off the trail, I had 3 things. 1) My appetite didn't go away so I ended up gaining most of the weight back that I lost while hiking.
2) I developed a perpetual ringing in my ears. I think it's just from the noise level living in the city but after 3.5 months it's still there.
3) For a while my joints ached but a figured out if I walked a couple of miles every day, it went away.

See, no rhyming.

#2 & #3 are symptoms of Lyme. Both of you guys need to get to an MD. The tests are pretty much useless with a lot of false negatives.

The antibiotic treatment is cheap and relatively benign so if it were me, I would insist on a course of it regardless of which way the MD leans. The other tick-borne diseases are mostly covered by the same antibiotics.

[MOWGLI]

After getting off the trail...
... I developed a perpetual ringing in my ears. I think it's just from the noise level living in the city but after 3.5 months it's still there.

Me too. It's called tinnitis. I noticed it somewhere in Virginia, and it hasn't stopped since. I have never had it checked out. I have no other symptoms of Lyme, so that is not it. I read that prolonged exposure to cold temps can cause tinnitis. Maybe that's it. Or the 100s off concerts I went to over the years.

[refreeman]

Yep, I vote you have Lyme, GO!!! to the Doctor. EVEN if you don't have insurance. Scam the quacks --- OR --- Run!! Run to the store and buy a wheelchair!! And then run to Barns and Noble and buy one text book on theoretical mathematics and one on theoretical astral physics. You can be the next Steven Hawkings!!

Go to the Dr. and save your life.

[Bare Bear]

I went to the Doc after finishing to have my stress fracture checked outand found I had one in each foot, and Lyme and am going back for a re-check in Dec. Seriously, I had one embedded tick for a short timeon a leg, no rashes, no circle, bullseye mark, etc. It takes several tests to confirm and then the antibiotics, then re-check to make sure the AB worked. Best wishes,