PS I also lost a significant amount my hearing in my left ear and some in my right. I understand that this is quite common with Lyme. I'm just hoping it's not permanent.

When it happens to me my whole face (on one side) hurts. It makes my eye, cheekbone, teeth, nose, head, jaw and neck hurt on that side.

My doctor finally figured out that my Trigeminal nerve (which runs under your ear) was getting inflamed. He Prescribed Indomethacine and Prednisone which I take ONLY when the pain flares up. It works wonders!

I hope you figure out exactly what is going on and how to fix it!
Naomi

As far as whether the infection is still in your system . . .

Unless caught immediately, often Lyme disease becomes harder to treat. It can be a chronic infection. At this point it needs to be treated with long-term antibiotics in that case. Treatment can last for months or years depending on each individual case.

I would assume (which we all know what they say about that! ) That if you were in the hospital being treated IV, you were probably not diagnosed immediately.

Also, I know that I was in the late disseminated stage of Lyme. I'm pretty sure I found a tick on me in April. Since that time I made 4 trips to the emergency room and 3 trips to my PMD. When the rash finally showed up - last Monday - it wasn't a typical EM rash the associate at my PMD's office refused to treat me. I ended up back at the ER and the doctors were insisting I had menegitis (which it was but because of the LD), and I refused a spinal tap. Luckily for me, the blood work came back positive for Lyme.

I have to go back to my PMD for a referral for a specialist in Lyme Disease. Luckily, there's a practice near me that specializes in infectious diseases and deals with Lyme.

I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping that I'm not going to suffer lingering effects, but I'm not all that optimistic since it's obvious those little spirochetes invaded my central nervous system. I've already used up all my sick time at work.

This whole perception of ever getting a rash and determining treatment and diagnose based on what a "typical" rash is, is absolute ignorance.

Get an LLMD e-mailed to you from the Seeking a Dr. Forum.

Good luck and learn from the posts on this board. The good people of LymeNet will not steer you in the wrong direction.....well most of them won't anyway.

Good luck,

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ICEY

I still have headaches, but not as bad, sometimes it is the whole head, sometimes shooting pains that can be in anyplace.