posted
I was only three when I first contracted Lyme. Still, I remember it well. I remember waking in the bathroom unable to stand the glare of the bright light. My father was in front of me slapping my face begging me to wake up.
I wanted to tell him I was awake, but my head hurt so bad and my skin burned. I closed my eyes and the ringing in my ears turned to sirens.
I was diagnosed with encephalitis. Later, I was brought in to have a tick removed from behind my ear.
I nearly died, or so I've been told. I spent the next year or two having horrible nightmares and hallucinations. Nobody knew about Lyme back then and all anyone could do was pray.
During my school years I had a lot of illnesses difficulty in school and pain in my legs that eventually moved to my hip by the time I reached my teens.
Later in my 20's the low back pain started. I was finally diagnosed with sacroiliitis at the age of 32. After a horrible ordeal with medications, I decided to deal with it myself and abandon the medical community.
Unfortunately, I still had the occasional hospital visit due to kidney infection, diverticulitis and pains that I just couldn't bear.
On February 26th of this year, my adopted little brother passed away. That very day the headaches began in the back of my head.
More symptoms followed...stiff neck, shortness of breath, crushing chest pain, shaking and tingly hands, short term memory loss, confusion, rage, loss of appetite, unusual clumsiness, eye pain, fevers, fatigue and a strange purple 3inch diameter circle/ring on my skin.
That was when I stumbled across an article about Lyme.
Since I cannot afford an actual LLMD, I tried to put my trust in my regular doctor figuring my symptoms were too obvious to ignore. I had the tick, the rash and the symptoms.
She referred me to a neurologist, but my appointment isn't until July.
In the meantime she wants to experiment with migraine medication and muscle relaxers for my head aches. I tend to have severe reactions with new meds so I'm scared to take them.
Am I being paranoid, or does this not sound like a very good idea?
(The medications are EPIDRIN and TIZANIDINE.)
Posts: 7 | From Washington | Registered: Mar 2009
| IP: Logged |
posted
Hi, I'm new here too, so I don't have much good advice for you.
First of all, I wouldn't even go the Neuro. It seems to be a huge waste of time, unless it is a LL neuro (which would surprise me).
I didn't think I could afford an LLMD either, but I called one to ask some questions.
I was very surprised to find that he takes my insurance, so at least my initial visit will be covered.
One thing that I can relate to is having bad experiences with drs.
After being sick for many years and going from one dr to another with no help, I gave up pursuing any treatment.
Then my symptoms worsened, and I found out how serious lyme disease is.
My advice: don't waste time with a dr who can't help you.
This is your life. You deserve to have it be the best life possible.
As far as the medications go, I have taken migraine medicine for years and have tried all of them.
In my experience, they all bring some hefty and unpleasant side effects. And I tolerate medication really well.
If you haven't had a reaction to muscle relaxants, that might be helpful, at least to get you some good sleep. Sometimes that helps with my headaches.
Sorry I couldn't be more help. I hope you feel better soon.
-------------------- Take care -kelly --------------- Posts: 330 | From TX | Registered: Mar 2009
| IP: Logged |
Shosty
Unregistered
posted
Headaches in the back of the head are usually not typical of migraines. Sounds more like some sort of inflammation in the neck or the muscles of the scalp. Could also be from food allergies, believe it or not.
Is epedrin similar to Midrin? Funny way to start off w/migraine meds anyway.
Muscle relaxants will help you diagnose, anyway, because if the pain is better, you can assume that it is, in fact, from muscle spasms or inflammation.
There are creams you can use, if you want to avoid meds, and also the Ben Gay type of thing. Have you tried that? Or compresses?
No matter what med you take, or what you take it for, please know that for some of us, taking like 1/4- 1/10 of the expected lowest dose is often the best way to start. Then ramp up until the med is effective, but before side effects are bad.
In our family, we have managed to get some good results from some drugs that we had previously rejected as totally impossible because of side effects even at 1/2 the "usual starting dose."
If you start very low and very slow, you don't have to be afraid of meds as much.
But I still wonder why the epedrin-?
Have you tried tylenol/codeine at all? If you really are having migraines, caffeine can help too.
Good luck. I am not even getting into the need to see an LLMD, and the lack of knowledge among specialists like neurologists. Those things are very important for you to listen to, and many here will advise you.
IP: Logged |
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic