If you have no ticks in your area, count your lucky stars.
It will be 2 years this November that I've been battling Lyme. I'm winning... I think... and I'm now about 95% back to good health. It was BAD for awhile and I thought there was a very good chance that I'd die at any moment... and that went on for months. That's a really bad place to be.
I never had the rash. Only approximately 30% of Lyme sufferers will get a rash.
I was all-but bedridden. Stepping up or down a curb was agony and I crawled on my hands and knees to ascend the stairs in my house. The pain involved in getting out of bed and dressed in the morning was excruciating. My heart would stop and then beat out of my chest day and night, breathing stopped a few times and I had to concsiously tell myself to breathe, but mostly it was system inflammation that kicked my butt.
I tested 'equivocal' on the Lyme titer my family doctor gave me and I was full blown infected at the time. All the doctors, surgeons, and specialists I saw after that test turned their heads to the possiblity of Lyme, until I took it upon myself to go to a Lyme specialist and took the Western Blot through IgenX lab in California. Bingo, positive. Treatment began, and I've been improving since.
I take several prescription medications as well as an extensive list of vitamins, supplements, antibacterial and immune system boosting herbs, extracts, special diet, various forms of detox, etc. and it's working, but progress is 'painfully' slow. I don't care though as long as I'm headed in the right direction. I take upwards of 70 pills a day. My Lyme Dr. closely monitors my kidney and liver functions and immune response indicators... among other things.
I missed last bow season completely(first time in 30 years) because I couldn't begin to pull a bow back... heck, I couldn't even STRING my wife's bow. But I can shoot now. This year, I'm going... ticks or no ticks