Hello, I am 27 years old female, always healthy (good medical history, very healthy parents etc), and I ve had most of Lyme symptoms for the past 3 months. I have to say though that all my symptoms occured after a few dramatic events in my life so maybe that was the reason. My symptoms were in chronological order :
- Stomach pains - Heart beat increase - chest pains and back pains - butterflies in my stomach (in irrelevant time of the day and before going to bed) - trembling on my left side (breast and all left side) constantly and more strong after eating)
then those symptoms started to disappear and I had new symptoms :
- numbness (something like pins and needles but nor strong) in my left feet and left hand , very occasional feeling almost all the day - the same as above but in my right side - vision problems (feeling that I see better from my right than my left eye) - sometimes i feel that my left ear is a bit blocked - dizziness (not everyday , once every 2 weeks) - problems sleeping - trouble concetrating, fatigue, depression (because off all these symptoms) - fear that i am going to die
For all the above symptoms , I ve been to 3 pathologists ( full pathological exams), 7 cardiologists (I did all tests involved, triplex etc), i was checked from ER doctors for my lungs and did all necessary blood tests involved, one ofthalmologist, and 1 neurologist who is the best in the town (capital city of a west European Country) and he did the classical tests to me (without any instrument involved )and he said I should not take any MRI or other scans because he is positive I have stress related problems. All doctors said that I suffer from stress and panic attack syndrom.All my blood tests (classical)showed nothing weird and my reactions to exams were those of an normal adult. If I had Lyme would I have experienced fever? Is there a chance that the doctors are wrong and I suffer from brain tumor or something serious as such?
I have to admit that the tingling in my feet and arms is getting better from day to day , but is not completely gone. I am worried about my vision, even if the doctor said i am ok. In general I think I will loose my haid if this continues for longer.
To give you more details about myserlf, I was always healthy not getting sick very easly. I have passed all childrens illnesses normally. I am thin, 1.81 m height, 60 kgr weight. I was always exercising from teh age of three, and stopped 3 months ago when I started feeling weird. I do eat normally, a lot o fish and olive-oil based nutricion (I live in a mediterrenean country), I do smoke about 15-20 cigarettes daily, I do not drink much of alcohol (1-2 glasses per week), and the only drugs I got last year were antibiotics (CLARICID 1000mg) and painkillers because I had my teeth done (not finished yet). In general I rarely took drugs only when I had flu and those were just painkillers.
DO I REALLY SUFFER FROM LYME? If it is a virus, shouldn't I have experienced sometime fever? What blood test should i take?
Thanks again for your support,
Good luck to you all,
K
Posted by map1131 (Member # 2022) on :
K, I'm sorry to hear you are experiencing such disturbing symptoms for someone so young. I was 42 when my world fell apart.
Your symptoms are all consistant with chronic lyme disease. Lyme is not a virus, it's a bacteria infection. Many people are carrying a virus in them according to what the insect that bite them was carrying. Parasites, protazoa, virus, bacteria, etc.
I had lyme disease for about one year and only experienced painful knees and carpal tunnel like symptoms. Don't remember feeling feverish.
Then I was bite by a dozen insects I thought were chiggers (maybe nymph ticks) and three weeks later the flu from h@&* happened. That's when my body couldn't take it anymore, and my immune system couldn't keep up. I did have daily fevers for about 3 mths. Not everyone remembers fever or flu-like symptoms.
Hopefully someone that can answer your questions about testing and such in your part of the world will respond. Is it Athens, Greece?
Take care, Pam
Posted by treepatrol (Member # 4117) on :
Read this Drb's stuff in Newbie links and Yes its possible you have lyme you need a LLMD which you can post in the Doctors section here to find one.
Could it be Lyme? Possibly. Could it be anxiety or several other things -- just as likely.
What makes you suspect Lyme? Heavy tick area? Outdoors in wooded areas a lot? Rash?
Just from what you have told us thus far, my first thought isn't Lyme.
Whatever ails you, I hope you feel better very soon.
Posted by dontlikeliver (Member # 4749) on :
I agree with Duramater. What you describe could be some Lyme symptoms, but they could also be a lot of other things, including stress and anxiety related disorders, I think.
What are your risk factors for Lyme? Known tick bite, rash, fever? Visit to woods, or spending time outdoors (on grass, etc), in parks, etc?
Posted by duke77 (Member # 5051) on :
I had two ducks tell me all I had was stress too. I am the most laid back person. I stress over nothing I never have. This is not a diagnosis but your symptoms sound a lot like what I went through. Especially the pins and needles in the extremeties. As a matter a fact I don't think I ever had a fever. Actually with Lyme it is more common for a lower body temp than a high temp. I had a neurologist tell me "if you had Lyme it would start with arthritis and you would have a bullseye and Bells Palsy." He was wrong on all accounts but I don't blame the messenger. He was regurgitating the one crappy paragraph on Lyme in his medical text books.
I somewhat agree with a previous poster who had mentioned risk factors like being out in the woods, etc. The problem with that is you could of been out in the woods 5 years ago and now something is triggering the Lyme to come out.
Posted by cantgiveupyet (Member # 8165) on :
It could be lyme. When i first got hit hard in August...i had the butterfly type thing you were talking about. I thought it was just anxiety.... i would have anxiety like attacks too...which were so odd for me. Then the dizziness hit...and i knew something just was not right...followed my sensitivity to light. Now i have many neuro symptoms.
If you think it is lyme trust your gut instinct and get to an LLMD as soon as you can.
Posted by imanurse (Member # 7022) on :
[ 01. June 2006, 03:07 AM: Message edited by: imanurse ]
Posted by Carol in PA (Member # 5338) on :
Hello Erinka, Welcome to LymeNet. I am the person who found you at the Neurology forum and advised you to post your question here.
Although some people think your symptoms may be due to stress, you should know that Lyme Disease can cause anxiety and other mental health symptoms.
Welcome to LymeNet. Have you looked at the list of things to read in the "Newbie help links" which is the first post on this page.
Carol
Posted by Cinder Binder (Member # 8225) on :
Hi:
I personally believe that too much emphasis is placed on stress. It is such a cop-out, especially when doctors don't know what is wrong with you or don't want to try to find out what's wrong with you.
It is nice to have blood work tests, scans, and MRIs to rule out other possible causes for your problems. If everything comes back negative or normal, at least you would know that you didn't have a brain tumor, bulging discs, or diseases like MS.
You know your body better than anybody else. If your gut is telling you Lyme, than you should pursue it. Do not let the doctors dismiss you because their tests came back negative. Doctors are not God and do not know everything.
You need to research and read as much as you can about Lyme. Most importantly, you need to see a LLMD. Keep a record of all your symptoms and dates they began, if possible. This will be very helpful.
Good luck, take care, and God bless,
Cinder Posted by welcome (Member # 7953) on :
Your experience closely resembles mine.
Let's clear the air a little bit here. You could be sick with Lyme, and in my opinion are.
The chances that you have any other ailment that could possibly cause your symptoms is e-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y remote.
The lack of a fever, the length of "illness", the wide spread and changing symptoms and your prior history all clearly indicate a stealth pathogen.
You've been living in your body...what does it tell you? Has stress caused your symptoms like the "doctors" suggest?...or are you "stressed" b-e-c-a-u-s-e of your symptoms?
If they say you're "depressed' ask them if they have any training as a psychologist or psychiatrist. Make sure you adamantly demand that they NOT make a record of such a diagnosis if they are not qualified to make one.
If they claim "anxiety", calmly tell them the only thing in your life that is making you anxious is your SUDDENLY FAILED HEALTH. Deny any other stress or anxiety which you feel is normal for your life.
If they ask you to take ANY KIND of psych test, or refer you to a mental health professional, calmly refuse and tell them they are not qualified to make such a clinical diagnosis, and you are not mentally ill.
As to cancer: It almost always presents with limited and progressively worse symptoms, and when it finally does present, it usually doesn't "take" long.
Other diseases with similiar symptoms usually don't present so suddenly.
You also may be confusing "butterflies" with naseau?
For those on this board: Lot's of us are almost as guilty as the Lyme illiterate doctors, by emphasizing only ticks as the possible vector. In my case it was almost assuredly a mosquito.
And with many folks claiming they're sure it can be transmitted through things like sexual contact etc. let's not be too hasty in asking (and possibly confusing) new ones by only mentioning ticks.
The only real reason that ticks are always mentioned is because that's where Bb was originally found, and that's where the research is focused.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)