posted
Hi, I think I have been suffering with Lyme for about a month. I went to my doctor June 3 for extreme dizziness, confusion, severe headache and what I thought was an infected insect bite of some sort. He said the infection could cause dizziness, and put me on 10 days worth of cephalaxin. That night, my "bite" blistered (looked and felt like a burn)across the back of my knee. I spoke to dr over the phone and he prescribed 10 days of Valtrax to treat what he now believed was shingles. Stayed on Cephalaxin, as well. Followed up with doctor on June 7. Those test results came back negative for Lyme (ELISA?), and no elevated white blood count.
Fast forward to June 19. All symptoms recurring, except the rash blisters dried up and appeared to be healing. The entire area around it was very sore and inflamed (Urgent Care doc called it cellulitus and did not believe it was caused by shingles). She suspected tick infection of some sort, and insisted on IV antibiotic treatment before I left. Began 100mg doxycycline 2X/day that night. The rash is finally much better, but I continue to feel fuzzy-headed and exhausted, achy, with off and on earaches and ringing. Sore skin on other parts of my body (feel sunburned, but I'm not). Flat personality - I am usually pretty perky and athletic - not the past several weeks. As far as I know, I've never had a fever. Urgent Care doc called with results today: Western blot reveals Lyme, but no elevated white blood cell levels. Also evidence of infection with Rocky Mt fever, but not sure when. She is concerned that I still feel fuzzy/dizzy and recommended that I follow up with an infectious disease specialist.
Any guidance as to how to proceed from here would be much appreciated. Thanks so much!
Posts: 6 | From Spring Mount, PA | Registered: Jun 2011
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posted
Hi, sorry you are going through this =( It's not fun for anyone.
A positive western blot means you definitely have Lyme. You need to get an appointment with a lyme literate physician or nurse practitioner ASAP. An infectious disease specialist is not going to treat you properly for Lyme and coinfections and you could very well end up with chronic infections if not treated properly (not to scare you but this IS scary, sorry!).
Post in seeking a doctor and I'm sure some nice folks will help you. PA is a veritable hotbed for Lyme infections and there are many people on these forums from PA who should be able to recommend a good doctor.
Keep taking your antibiotics, it's normal to feel WORSE before you start to feel better when dealing with Lyme.
Hope it all works out for you!
Posts: 156 | From Virginia | Registered: May 2011
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