I recently moved to NC from Maryland but have suffered from what I believe to be Lyme for at least 3 years.
I remember having a 'bug bite' on my leg in the fall of 2003 but didn't take it seriously. I gave birth to my daughter a year later, and in early 2005 began experiencing extreme fatigue and pain in some lower joints, especially my left knee and ankle.
As the pain and fatigue got worse, it started to affect my job, but it took me another year of doctor visits and medical tests for me to seriously consider Lyme, as tests were otherwise normal (except on one occasion unusually high thyroid activity, although a subsequent ultrasound extra bloodwork came out normal and I never scheduled a radioactive test). This is where things get more confusing:
In the Summer of 2006 I asked my GP in Maryland to administer a Lyme test. The Western blot came back with one IgM band positive (no positive IgG bands). Although this does not meet the CDC definition of a positive test, my GP didn't know this, and put me on Doxycycline for 2 weeks. Naturally, 2 weeks didn't help at all, so she referred me to an infectious disease specialist - this was maybe 3 weeks after I had finished the Dox, and this doctor gave me an additional 3 weeks of Amoxicillin, and insisted that, even though I *did* test positive, I was now cured. Basically, that Summer of 2006 was the last time I had antibiotics to date, even though I was thrown around to different specialists (a rheumatologist told me it was probably Fibromyalgia, and a Neurologist grudgingly did a spinal tap to look for Borrelia but apparently ordered all the tests on the spinal fluid except for Borrelia (he said everything looked normal, I asked "what about the Lyme" and he said "Lyme? Oops" - I kept calling him for the next 2 weeks until I was told that the Lyme test came back negative as well - but due to the strange circumstances, who knows?)
I moved to North Carolina 9 months ago but have been steadily growing worse. My hip started to throb sometime last spring and that hasn't gone away, it only joined my other problems in my knees, ankles, lower back, wrists, and shoulders. I also frequently have numbness/tenderness on my left cheek, especially when I'm stressed. I have not had a chance to look for a job here because I'm afraid I can't handle it, I can barely keep my arms up and I'm usually in too much pain to sit comfortably. Doctors here In NC have also given me the Fibromyalgia go-around.
My only wish is to find a doctor here in the Greensboro/Winston-Salem area (or beyond) that is willing to really test me properly - after all I did have one band positive the first time I was tested. I'm afraid to get pregnant again until I know it'll be okay. Finding a doctor who will send my bloodwork to IgeneX or a similar type facility would be great. Please let me know of any such LLMDs in the area (I understand it would be via email and not this forum). Thanks so much!!
Posts: 1 | From North Carolina | Registered: Jan 2008
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Hi Abby, Welcome to LymeNet! I have sent you a P.M.
Take Care! iseekids
-------------------- Please remember that I'm not a Medical Doctor. Research, then make up your own mind. Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us. Thomas Paine Posts: 185 | From SW Missouri | Registered: Dec 2007
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