TICK, TICK..BOOM!

These tiny menaces can cause more than Lyme disease. Here's what you need to know about a new spate of tick-borne illnesses.

- JEANNE ERDMANN

If you live near the woods, have a dog who loves to romp in the grass or have kids at summer camp, you may already be on high alert for Lyme disease, an often debilitating infection that is passed to humans via tick bites. But it's not just about Lyme anymore: Ticks are being connected with new outbreaks of numerous diseases. Here's how to keep your family safe.

A Mystery Illness

In January 2018, Nikki Smith, now 40, was lying in bed watching television when suddenly her chest hurt, her blood pressure plummeted and she thought she was going to pass out. Scared for her life, she went with her husband to the ER, where a battery of tests ruled out heart problems. She was sent home with advice to try to lower her stress level.

Nikki, a retail manager in Kentucky, went through this several times over the next two years doctors blamed stress and eventually diagnosed her with panic disorder. But she was also plagued by a variety of gastrointestinal problems that her doctors believed were due to complications from gallbladder surgery. Her symptoms, she says, had "no apparent triggers or rhyme or reason." She was prescribed antidepressants, which didn't help.

Meanwhile, her seasonal allergies worsened, and in one of her ears was fluid that felt as if it was moving constantly. Allergy tests turned up sensitivities to beef, pork, lamb and cow's milk. Nikki was surprised, as she'd eaten meat for decades and hadn't experienced hives, swelling or difficulty breathing, the symptoms typically linked to food allergies. She left the allergist's office with a list of foods to avoid and a prescription for an EpiPen.