I have been having worse and worse muscle pain. My legs ache. Sharp pains sometimes come on too.

More and more muscle twitches in my legs too.

My legs are always tired. I wake up in the morning and on my way to the shower, my legs feel like I've been walking around Disney World for days.

Can muscles atrophy while a person is using them? Do the muscles atrophy because a person stops cause it hurts, or do they atrophy and therefore a person stops using the muscles?

2nd Part

I still have to call about the last three test results tomorrow.

How do I go about making an LLMD appt.? I have the doc's info, but I'm new to this.

Insurance? Do I have to be referred? Is this out of pocket? (At this point, I'm not sure I care)

I have had those type of pains in my legs also, it has gotten better for me with treatment for lyme and Babesia.

I don't know about the atrophy questions. Hopefully someone who knows will answer.

I would suggest calling the doctors office and asking them what you need to do at this point. I know it's overwhemling, it was for me too, but it gets better.

Once you see a LLMD, it makes all the difference. Hang in there, and let us know what happens.

- with effective treatment, the pain can increase at first with the herx, then reduces, then goes away. In our case (the hubby's and mine), treatment for babesia and then bartonella made as big a difference in reducing pain as treatment for Bb. It takes a long time -- a year for us, since we started this new protocol. Muscle pain is probably a combination of toxins from the bugs, problems with tissue oxygenation (from babs), and neuropathy caused by Bb and possibly the coinfections.

- muscles do atrophy from lack of use, but can be rebuilt. DON'T try "doing a work out" when you're very sick. It's absolutely counterproductive. Gentle movement and stretching is fine. You'll get to a certain point in your healing, as I am now, when you can start to rebuild your muscle strength, and then your cardio endurance. It's coming back slowly but surely for me.

- at one point, my arms would get so tired I couldn't hold them on the steering wheel well enough to drive the car. My legs felt as if I was always walking through water, with weights on. Aerobic excercise of any kind made me horribly nauseous. This has passed.

I do a gentle weight routine an hour every other day now, and will soon be moving to daily workouts. I was very weak when I started (I used to be very strong), but I'm getting back to normal now. I'm about 30 years older than you and have had LD for 16 years -- so you can take heart from that! There is hope!

I don't know about what the process is for your LLMD appt.--it depends on your insurance. With our insurance, we just call directly. We get reimbursed for only about 20% of the total cost of the visit.

Beverly is right -- it does feel overwhelming, but it is manageable, and going to a good LLMD makes all the difference in the world. Make sure it's one who's been recommended through ILADS or this board if possible -- there are major fakers out there.

Good luck. BTW, I take magnesium per Marnie's posts -- it does help, and seems to ease the pain a little. Otherwise, use pharmaceutical pain killers as needed. Or herbal ones if they work -- Dr. Burrascano suggests boswellia. Acetominophen does wonders for me; Esgic (butalbytal, caffeine, and acetominophen) also works excellently when I'm really hurting. Other people need stronger pain meds. Your LLMD will help you with this.

My doc allowed four of the 200 mg Advil Gelcaps. (Anything less than four did not help.) Take them at the onset of the pain.

As far as the insurance thing, you may want to call your insurance company first. Insurance policies vary greatly and you will want to understand how this will work for you.

When you call to make your first appt with this doctor, you may want to ask about their payment options.

Just a short tip: This first appt is especially important and you may feel overwhelmed by the amount of information.

Take someone you love and trust in with you when you see the doctor.

They will remember the stuff you don't remember.

It turned out that LD had severely depleted my Mg reserves. My ND gave me weekly Mg IV's and now I have these Iv's every other week.

The weekly IV's were the only thing that reduced the pain for me. Then when I started abx treatment, the swelling and joint pain decreased, too.

My other muscle pain is the sharp pain which is from tight muscles. It's as if the Lyme causes inflammation in the muscles, which tighten and form knots. It took me a long time to find relief.

What finally worked was taking a muscle relaxer, Flexeril, and working with an excellent physical therapist that used hands on manipulation of the muscles, then stretchig, and then strengthening. I couldn't have done any of it without the Flexeril though.

2) My first step would be to call the LLMD's office and see what helpful suggestions as far as getting help through your insurance they might have. Since they deal with getting things approved and paid all day long they probably have somebody on staff that knows the ropes, and hopefully are willing to offer suggestions.

After that your PCP is probably the one you need to be friends with, to get needed referals and cooperation.