MUM OF TWO Claire Sidwell from Worcester has always been fairly fit and well – often enjoying her garden and the local nature reserve with her two youngsters.

But all that changed a year ago when the 41-year-old from Cherry Orchard was bitten by a tick carrying the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes Lyme disease.

Claire does not know exactly when and where this happened and was not immediately aware of it but started to develop a rash on her leg.

She explained: “I spend a lot of time outside and last April I developed a rash and had a bite mark on my ankle. I went to the doctor and he thought it was a fungal infection or eczema or psoriasis. It was not painful or itchy – it just spread.”

At around the same time she developed flu symptoms and for two weeks suffered from extreme tiredness. “I could not do the school run and had to arrange for a friend to walk my daughter to school. I also had a very high temperature. I was totally wiped out.”

Claire also started to develop a bullseye rash which was about 15 cm and developed vertigo, tinnitus and ear popping.

“I do not suffer from any of these normally. I could not leave the house and thought ‘This is not right’. I went to the doctor who referred me to an ear, nose and throat specialist. The ENT doctor said there was nothing wrong with my ears.”

Claire started to do her own research and put her symptoms into an internet search and Lyme disease came up straight away. “That is when I started panicking. Vertigo is so scary.”

On one visit to her doctor she asked for a second opinion and she was seen by a locum who wanted to do tests.

The routine test for Lyme disease is a two-tier ELISA blood test to detect and measure antibodies in the blood. Claire’s first test came back positive but the second test, done two weeks later, came back negative. Claire believes this was because between the two tests she was taking antibiotics for another infection.

“If you take antibiotics it will affect the results of the blood test. It was nearly the end of August when I found out I had Lyme disease. You have definitely got it if you have the bullseye rash,” said Claire who was shocked that the doctors seemed to know so little about the illness.

She was given a 10-day course of the antibiotic doxycycline (also used to prevent malaria) but that was not the end of her problems.

“I was also having neurological symptoms – pins and needles in my feet, electric shock pains down my back, memory problems and difficulty with concentration.

“My neck has been swollen and it is still swollen. They referred me to an infectious diseases doctor. When you get bitten by a tick you can get other things because they carry other infections.”

Claire contacted the charity Lyme Disease Action. “They were very good and have lots of information. They recommended a higher dose of antibiotics for 30 days based on the neurological symptoms.”

A year after first contracting Lyme disease, Claire is on her third course of antibiotics and she has discovered that people in the UK with the disease who can afford it often go the America for treatment. She is trying to raise enough money to do that through crowd funding using Gofundme.com/u8wtz2x6.

Also, through the Lyme disease UK Facebook group – a patient support network for people with Lyme disease and their loved ones – she has have found about seven people in Worcester with the condition.

Claire explained that the symptoms come and go – she has good days and bad days. “Although the symptoms have got better and come back, I have not had the dizziness as before. The brain fog has been worse.

“There have been days when my knees swell up. That comes and goes. You can be fine in the morning and not in the afternoon. The symptoms come and go.

“Last year I was in the second year of my accounting course which I was paying for myself. I was doing really well but I have had to pull out of the course. I cannot retain any information.

“I am having to take sleeping tablets because I can’t sleep. I have never had sleep problems before. I have also had a prolapse and it all started after this,” she said.

“I do want to go back to my accountancy course and they have said I can pick it up again. At the moment I feel I want to go to sleep after two or three hours but I make myself keep going. I am trying to keep positive.

“It is a real battle. I am on week one of a three-week course of antibiotics. This is the third course of antibiotics for Lyme disease and I am using all my spare money to buy supplements to boost my immune system.

“I just want to be well and I want to go back to studying and enjoying life and looking after my children and making their lives enjoyable too.”

With the tick season just a few weeks away – traditionally people are bitten by ticks from May to October when they spend more time outdoors – Claire wants to raise awareness of this hidden danger.

“If I had known I could get bitten and get Lyme disease I would have worn protection. I have made the school aware of it. Ticks need grass and undergrowth. I could have been bitten in the garden or in the local nature reserve. They do not jump onto you, you have to brush against them.

“I just do not want anyone else to go through this especially as it can be prevented. Tick season is usually May to October but if it’s been a warmer winter they can be around in January. You might not necessarily know you have had a tiny tick on you.”

For more information about Lyme disease visit http://www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/; http://lymediseaseuk.com/ and http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Lyme-disease/Pages/Introduction.aspx

• Not all ticks carry the infection causing Lyme disease.

• It's estimated there are 2,000 to 3,000 new cases of Lyme disease in England and Wales each year. About 15 per cent of cases occur while people are abroad.

• Some people with Lyme disease go on to experience inflammatory arthritis; problems with the nervous system; heart problems and meningitis.

• People can reduce the risk of tick bites by keeping to footpaths and avoiding long grass when out walking; wearing appropriate clothing in tick-infested areas (a long-sleeved shirt and trousers tucked into your socks); wearing light-coloured fabrics that may help you spot a tick on your clothes; using insect repellent on exposed skin; inspecting your skin for ticks, particularly at the end of the day, including your head, neck and skin folds (armpits, groin, and waistband) – remove any ticks you find promptly; checking your children's head and neck areas, including their scalp; making sure ticks are not brought home on your clothes; checking that pets do not bring ticks into your home in their fur.