Two months later finally went to a dr in my small town and he gave me a prescription for antibiotics for 10 days (he said, "Just in case") when the Lyme test came back negative I was relieved.

However got worse and worse with fatigue, muscle pain (couldn't even stand to be touched) and painful joints (had to stop my walking excersize). Went to emergency room in Okla City and was told to be tested for fibro and MS (which I havent had done).

But by the end of December 2003 until end of March 2004 there was a reprieve--symptoms less. However in April 2004 that rash came back along with the symptoms.

The arthrites symptoms jump from joint to joint, my knees ache walking up and down stairs, (developed a knot in my index finger first joint finger, which stragely after 9 months is going down) but my fingers are so sore sometimes I can't even open a simple jar.

Anyway I went to a different dr. in my small town (I guess I'm a slow learner) and he said that rash looked like Lyme D. rash...he referred me to an infectious disease dr. in OKC. By the time I was able to get into that dr. the rash was gone...I explained my symptoms and he just rudely said, "You are just getting old, live with it." (Well, I was 50 years old then but had had no problems until that tick bite.)

I just thought, "O forget it", which I've tried to do. Since then I've been on the internet and learned a whole bunch. Well 1 1/2 years later I still have symptoms plus now my mind is doing wierd things...recently I was driving our car of 6 years and couldn't find the cruise control...that scared me and I decided to check this out again.

I know this is long and I do have many questions... but will start with this one:

Have you heard about that bullseye rash coming back a second time? What in the world would cause that? I wish I had taken a picture of it. It looked exactly like on the internet (my husband saw it and that one doctor too).

I am looking for a doctor to go to in Oklahoma or Texas.

Then post the drs. request on DR. POST area making sure you put :"OKLA & TEXAS drs. needed!" You'll get better results since it is buried at bottom of long paragraph.

Sounds like you have been bitten AGAIN because of another bulls-eye. Look at the newbie links here for more info ok.

Others will chime in too.
http://flash.lymenet.org/ubb/Forum1/HTML/029917.html

Welcome to this 24/7 educational support group board! Betty G., Iowa

You'll need to click on above NEWBIE links to make it work correctly.

Here's TREEPATROL's and tincup's combination newbie links.

I suggest that your friend print off the links then check them off as she reads as she could spend several months reading all of this.

Pprint & read Dr. Barrascono's info first. She will come back to this often.

It is very important to be tested for the tick borne coinfections Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Bartonella, and Mycoplasm since these can be transmitted by the same tick. If you have any of these it will dictate what type of treatment protocol is followed. For instance, Babesiosis is a parasitic infection which attacks the red blood cells and is malaria like in nature. It needs to be eradicated with an antimalarial treatment before the lyme and other coinfections can be treated.

It is important to find a knowledgable LLMD. Hopefully someone will be along who knows of LLMDs in your area or you could check out the support groups listed here on lymenet and contact them for LLMDs in OK or TX.

Two weeks of antibiotics is never enough to properly treat lyme disease. The bacteria has a long cycle of replication (20-28 days I think it is) - it is when it is replicating that it is most vulnerable to being killed by abx...so 14 days is never enough.

quote:

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Originally posted by bettyg:
KB, may I suggest you go back into this post and EDIT into 6-8 line paragraphs. We need this with all the brain fog each of us has.

Then post the drs. request on DR. POST area making sure you put :"OKLA & TEXAS drs. needed!" You'll get better results since it is buried at bottom of long paragraph.

Sounds like you have been bitten AGAIN because of another bulls-eye. Look at the newbie links here for more info ok.

Others will chime in too.
http://flash.lymenet.org/ubb/Forum1/HTML/029917.html

Welcome to this 24/7 educational support group board! Betty G., Iowa

You'll need to click on above NEWBIE links to make it work correctly.

Here's TREEPATROL's and tincup's combination newbie links.

I suggest that your friend print off the links then check them off as she reads as she could spend several months reading all of this.

Pprint & read Dr. Barrascono's info first. She will come back to this often.

Betty G., Iowa

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So, its possible that you were reinfected, but something else may have also triggered the infection into activity.

A knowledgeable doctor is absolutely your best bet with this illness. second, you need to learn as much as you can, so you can make informed choices in your treatment.

Even the best doctors will not know everything about tick borne illnesses, simply because so much is unknown about treatment. If you can participate in decisions you will be better off.

Here are some good places to start learning:
International Lyme and Associated Disease Society
Dr. Joseph J. Burrascano's Treatment Guidelines
Making The Most of Your LLMD Visit
Camp A and Camp B