posted
Hi.... some of u by now may know my story, if not quick recap:
got sick 1993, tested neg to Lyme never really thought about it being Lyme after that....many misdiagnoses(ms, lupus,fms,crazy, etc)
So my ? again is , if I was never treated for it, how have I had normal times over the past 15-16 years?
Is that possible? I just tested positive to IgM 23 and 41. No positives for IgG.
I was always better during my 3 pregnancies, and again have not always been in a debilitating state. That confuses me.
And now my health is really bad. Why?
It doesn't make sense to me not having ever treated it.
One other thing, I contracted 5th disease about 5 or 6 years ago. Was put on prednisone and it cured the th disease. Would that not have made someone with Lyme worse taking a steroid, or was it just ok because I did have the 5th disease too?
Lots of ?'s ......I go to an Infectious Disease doc on the 24th and I am so nervous. I feel like he may say "oh u don't have Lyme, that's not possible in NC" or just simply not know what he's doing cause I can't find a Lyme literate doc around here to take Ins.
Thanks
Posts: 117 | From Winston Salem NC | Registered: Sep 2008
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Dawnee
Unregistered
posted
I got infected around 1988 when I was in elementary school, age 11. Bitten on the head in Arkansas Ozarks and the tick was there for at least 48 hours before I found it.
Lyme progressed slowly in some ways and fast in others... within 2 years my vocal chords were scarred up and my voice turned gravelly. Nobody thought anything of it. I had bad "growing pains" now and then in only my right knee, chronic ear aches and sore throats, bladder issues.
5 years after being bit I developed a heart murmur, but nothing serious. Within 6 years my eyesight went from 20/20 to legally blind without glasses. I had trouble learning/concentrating in 8th grade on up.
7 years after my tick bite I started having slight sensitivities to touch... I couldn't have my feet rub on carpet, or even watch anyone else rub their feet on carpet. Everyone thought it was funny.. didn't suspect anything medically wrong.
I felt fine... I didn't feel sick or suspect that I was sick. I had a child at age 15. Got married at age 21. 10 years after the bite I had miscarriages for no reason. But didn't suspect. Went on to have two children. Then in 2003 I got rebitten... got a rash around the bite but didn't look like a "bulls eye". Dr thought I had Scarlet Fever. I thought I was dying... high fever, hallucinating, chills, stiff painful neck. The heart rhythm issues started shortly after, severe anxiety, fatigue. Nobody could find anything wrong though.
After a Hysterectomy in 2007 and then a traumatic tooth extraction in 2008... that is when I got seriously sick with the neurological and central nervous system symptoms and heart symptoms were worse.
I've likely had Lyme for 21 years. And I felt fine before I got rebitten 5 years ago. Just diagnosed 6 months ago.
I don't know why it happens that way... but a lot of people find out they have had Lyme longer than they thought and it was a stress, surgery, trauma, other sickness..that brought the Lyme active. Others know they contracted Lyme, and are "treated" for a month and seem completely fine until years later.
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lymeinhell
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 4622
posted
I did. I got sick in 1995 and was told it was EBV and that I would have chronic fatigue syndrome the rest of my life.
quote:I go to an Infectious Disease doc on the 24th and I am so nervous. I feel like he may say "oh u don't have Lyme, that's not possible in NC" or just simply not know what he's doing cause I can't find a Lyme literate doc around here to take Ins.
Big Mistake. Do what you have to do to get to an LLMD. You'll end up wasting thousands on copays for visits that get you nowhere and prescriptions that don't work. Please learn from others' mistakes.
-------------------- Julie _ _ ___ _ _ lymeinhell
Blessed are those who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed. Posts: 2258 | From a better place than I was 11 yrs ago | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
I have had it for 35 years and had four distinct times it made me ill. The first three times it resolved on its own.
You can definitely have borrelia in your body and not feel sick with Lyme Disease .... then it can rear its ugly head at any moment.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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cactus
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7347
posted
I had it for 24 years before being diagnosed.
Lots of "normal" times interspersed with periods of being ill for months at a time.
Many of us have had the remitting and relapsing experience. You're not alone.
Please do find an LLMD, so you have someone experienced in looking at the whole picture, and experienced in *successfully* treating Lyme patients.
-------------------- �Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?� - A.A. Milne Posts: 1987 | From No. VA | Registered: May 2005
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treepatrol
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 4117
posted
I was infected 1988 too.Proved it in 2001 I was tested over and over always neg some times tested 2 or 3 times a year negative. Lyme takes its time in some people like in me I had symptoms but far and few between in the begining then started getting joint pain in big joints & eyes went bad then both hands began to shake especially when I did any heart race increases. Some of my foirst signs were tingleing in figers and joint pain in fingers come and go slight fevers over the year then some big fevers then bad joint pain jump to end right before I found a LLMD joint pain that lasted in my big joints and bad fevers once a year or every two years. Then my mind went the crapper couldnt think somedays so bad I could hardly talk. And at this time in my my life I needed all my brain at work and my ability to walk that scared me so I found my LLMD and he tested different he put me on abxs immeaditly then sent me home with a 3 day urine test which came back all +++ then when I returned to him the western blot was done all possitves +++ my immune system was all tied up every antibody I had wass engauged attached to spirochetes thats why the abxs and the possitives because abxs killed spirochetes and freed my antibodies thus showing up in blood and urine.
-------------------- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Remember Iam not a Doctor Just someone struggling like you with Tick Borne Diseases.
TerryK
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 8552
posted
Borrelia has several forms. The cystic form can remain dormant for 10 years, possibly more.
The immune system can often keep borrelia in check. It is thought that while the immune system keeps it in check, it remains protected in cystic form in the body tissues.
When a stress of some kind (car accident, other illness, emotional trauma etc.) depresses the immune system, borrelia has an opportunity to emerge from it's protective shell and cause illness.
quote:Originally posted by TerryK: When a stress of some kind (car accident, other illness, emotional trauma etc.) depresses the immune system, borrelia has an opportunity to emerge from it's protective shell and cause illness.
Terry - is that anecdotal, or do you have any links to supporting medical data? It's what I experience, so I'd study what the research says.
Posts: 727 | From USA | Registered: Mar 2006
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quote:Originally posted by katc: So my ? again is , if I was never treated for it, how have I had normal times over the past 15-16 years?
Is that possible? I just tested positive to IgM 23 and 41. No positives for IgG.
To determine if you are infected, some tests look for signs of immune system activity. If, for whatever reason, your immune system is not actively fighting Bb, the tests will detect nothing and therefore generate the false impression you are not infected.
quote:Originally posted by katc: I was always better during my 3 pregnancies, and again have not always been in a debilitating state. That confuses me.
I've heard similar reports from other women. Some researchers believe lyme is a "Th1 disease" (q.v.) which means the Th1 branch of your immune system becomes overactive, resulting in many of the symptoms you experience.
Well, during pregnancy, your body automatically damps down the Th1 response so as to not mistake the developing fetus for a foreign invader. With less Th1 response, you have less inflammation, and you feel better.
quote:Originally posted by katc: One other thing, I contracted 5th disease about 5 or 6 years ago. Was put on prednisone and it cured the the disease. Would that not have made someone with Lyme worse taking a steroid, or was it just ok because I did have the 5th disease too?
Steroids also damp down your immune response, so just as in pregnancy you get less inflammation and you feel better. Meanwhile the infection is being left to grow unchecked. Many people who have taken steroids feel better for a short time, but then even worse when they wean off the steroids.
Posts: 727 | From USA | Registered: Mar 2006
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disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
Yes, this is possible.
I was bitten when I was around 14 years old. Found the tick in my arm, pulled out, went about my business and thought nothing of it.
I never saw a rash (except had "excema" over the years), didn't have very many symptoms whatsoever except some arthritis pain in my hand at around 14 or 15. I didn't really think much of it. Then I had HUGE swollen lymph glands in my neck. HUGE. You could see them just by looking at me. Went to the doctor and he said not to worry about it. Only to come back if they got bigger.
Didn't really have any other problems until high school when I had a headache pretty much my entire high school career. It got to the point where I thought I had a brain tumor... my headaches were always localized in the same side of my head, near my right temple. Went to the doctor about that and all she said was to take 3 or 4 Ibuprofen a day and don't worry about it. Thanks a lot!!!
Then I started having episodes of depersonalization, feeling as if I was not in the world, like I was outside of myself. Literally, forgetting for half a second who I was and why I was where I was. I remember that happening at work and it frightened me to the point of crying.
Then in college, started having IBS, tachycardia, heart palpitations, etc., etc.
Besides all of that, I could function normally and I 'felt' healthy for the most part.
Right after college, it all started to get worse. I started feeling very lightheaded and had a fainting episode. I wouldn't be able to stand long without sitting because of shortness of breath and feeling very woozy.
Then my now husband and I got married and moved to MD. One of my big fears was I would faint during my wedding. Luckily, I didn't and got through it. But after that, I went downhill fast. Overnight, I literally was hit with just about every symptom at one time.
I never heard of lyme disease that entire time. The first time I heard of lyme was when I was extremely ill and I found that all my symptoms fit what I had found online. Otherwise, I don't know if anyone would have ever told me - especially not some mainstream doc. One doc told me to stop looking stuff up on the Internet.
If I hadn't, I don't know where I'd be today.
So yes, it is possible to get bitten years ago and then not get very ill until years and years later. It happens to many people.
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
Yes, it is possible. The only tick bite I remember is when I was 10 living in Mass. in about 1975 and wasn't diagnosed until 2005 with lots of positive IgM and IgG bands.
I had a progression of things until finally was overwhelmed entirely, beyond words to describe.
The testing is famously flawed.
Your ID doctor will likely not have a lot of understanding of the true nature of the disease.
At the same time, long term antibiotics are also problematic. For me, they brought me back to the land of the living (after all that horrific encephalopathy and anoxia and etc), but they created lots of different problems too. It's as hard to decide when to stop antibiotics for this as it is to trust the diagnosis at all and decide to go on them at all.
There's more than Lyme going on in many people and that is a tough one to remember when many of us are just desperate for help and latch on to the only person who will not only listen but also uncannily actually understand. These LLMD's are highly expensive and many don't take insurance.
TerryK
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 8552
posted
dguy wrote: Terry - is that anecdotal, or do you have any links to supporting medical data? It's what I experience, so I'd study what the research says.
There are studies that document that stress brings down the immune system. Doing a quick google search I came up with a meta analysis of 300 studies on psychological stress and the immune system. http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/bul1304601.pdf
It's been awhile since I read the studies that I gave in my first post but look under the survival under adverse conditions link. I think that explains how the cysts survive the immune system by going into cyst form until conditions are right for the infection to re-emerge.
Still, as I mentioned before, this is a contested theory as a mechanism for persistence. That said, in the face of numerous studies proving otherwise, there are still arguments that the infection perisists at all.
I guess studies on animals are acceptable for everything else but persistence of lyme disease.
Terry
Posts: 6286 | From Oregon | Registered: Jan 2006
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Ocean
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3496
posted
Hi Katc, I got sick in 1996 in highschool. I went hard and fast. Diagnosed first mono, then chronic fatigue syndrome. Lyme kicked my butt for 2 years. Went on a crazy healthy raw foods diet and many supplements.
Got 'better' went off to college. Stayed pretty healthy, then relapsed with my second pregnancy. Felt fantastic with pregnancy #1 and #3. I got better again using diet. then relapsed last fall after a really stressful event. I got the flu, mastitis (was breastfeeding my one year old) and cellulitis all within a month. Things have been downhill since. The panic attacks came back with a vengence, fatigue, ect. Had my first 2 episodes of swollen, painful knee that lasted each about a day. I actually went to an MD turned alternative who uses a biomeridian machine for testing and he told me I had Lyme and Babs.
I kinda poo pooh'd it since it wasn't a blood test. When my symptoms kept getting worse and I started feeling like I did back in 1996, I went to an LLMD, tested positive for Lyme from IGENEX.
So, as many others have said. It is possible to have periods of normalcy. I think as long as our immune systems can keep it under control, we feel pretty asymptomatic. I know in each of my relapses, I was eating waaaaay too much sugar, I read somewhere that the amount of sugar in a can of soda almost wipes out the immune systme for an entire day. If that is the case, my immune system didn't have a shot! After the stress I was under, chocolate was my comfort.
Anyhow, sorry you are going through this. Please take care and welcome to LN!!!
sparkle7
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 10397
posted
It very hard to say how this all works since we don't have accurate tests.
There are a number of things that contribute to ill health. I think it's important to get tests for all of the contributing factors & try to put the puzzle together.
It may ultimately be a combination of things contributing to your health issues. Some of them could be: Epstein Barr Virus, mycoplasmas, all of the herpes viruses, environmental toxins, mercury fillings, allergies, fungi, mold & yeast, co-infections like bart or the others, etc.
In some cases, it's just a process of elimination. It also has to do with genetics & the different strains of Borrelia. I think there are over 200 & they seem to effect people differently. Some people seem to have more arthritis type issues, others have fatigue, cognitive issues, fibromyalgia, headaches...
It's not easy. You just have to keep at it, addressing the different "layers of the onion".
Posts: 7772 | From Northeast, again... | Registered: Oct 2006
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jamescase20
Unregistered
posted
I am certain due to a good memory that I was bit and infected the first time in 1975 in my backyard on my lip. I did get the bull rash but lyme was not even really known then. I was treated breifly with doxy but clearly it didnt clear it.
I was just tired all the time, but was able to attend school and work for the most part normally.
The fatigue led me to addictions, caffeine, alcohol, smoking, illegal drugs, etc.
I was famous as a kid as the only "drunk" that was in 4th grade! Even by the school!
They tried to figure it out, thought it could be my parents, but the school figured out they simply didnt have control over me.
They left me alone. And I slowly got worse over the next 32 yrs. I finally landed soberity and that helped much, but I slept for about 3 months when I finally stopped all drugs and smoking/alcohol. Then, after 17 yrs in "soberity" I relapsed on smoking first, then alcohol, and this is when I really started to fall apart. So clearly, my case as others, the immune system held it down until stressors let the lyme take over.
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
34.5 years MISDIAGNOSED by 40-50 drs.
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posted
I had migraines which led to a spinal tap which led to remission as a child. Could this have been Lyme? For the past 15 years, I have had cranial paresthesias (feels like a spider crawling in and on my head.) Could this be Lyme? Finally, after a year of working the graveyard shift and dealing with the stress that comes along with dating and kids, my wrist starting hurting. Could this still be Lyme? Finally, went camping and got clobbered by ticks. Only way I knew it was Lyme was by fighting for a Western Blot because someone at The Road Back Foundation told me the ELIZA doesn't work. So...who knows? I may have had Lyme all of my life. Probably, I have Lyme and Master's disease. But, I am hanging in there thanks to the nice people here. Thanks for asking.
-------------------- Dying is easy. Living is harder. Posts: 257 | From owensboro kentucky | Registered: Mar 2008
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LisaS
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10581
posted
Been sick for 17 years, took 15 years to get diagnosed. I was consistantly sick for about 12 years, but not disabling sick. Then I was ok for a couple years but I think a bout of drinking binges brought it on to the disabling point. I dont know how its related but after not drinking my whole life and then starting , it seemed to bring it out in me. Now I cant even have a sip without getting violently ill. and I am applying for disability because I can hardly function for the last two years.
I received a bulls eye rash in the early 90's but probably had some form of the disease even before that. I did have a engorged tick attached to me as a young child and had strep a lot and a very evil case of mono.
I had cycles of illness and some years or at least times before being diagnosed with feeling okay. Stress did seem to give me a return of symptoms at times.
It seems like the older I get the less I feel anything close to normal and since taking ABX I have yet to feel normal again. I honestly feel the ABX were hard on my body and might have left some effects that I am praying are not something I will always have to live with.
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quote:Originally posted by katc: ......I go to an Infectious Disease doc on the 24th and I am so nervous. I feel like he may say "oh u don't have Lyme, that's not possible in NC" or just simply not know what he's doing cause I can't find a Lyme literate doc around here to take Ins.
I guarantee you that is what he will say. Find a REAL doctor....one who believes in Lyme. YOu may have to travel.
I taught school for 21 yrs while having Lyme. I got sick periodically. I somehow managed to recover each time. It was HARD.
YOur body can sometimes cope and handle it for years ... then something traumatic happens and you crash.
Sometimes it's just "age" that does it.
Everyone's immune system is different. Everyone eats differently and has different stresses. I believe I was able to keep going [in part] because I ate pretty healthy and took good care of myself.
I HAD to or I could not function. One year I missed 35 days of school [as a teacher] and I was finally able to get my body back on track.
Then later, I crashed and had to retire early from teaching.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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bejoy
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11129
posted
I had lyme and co's for probably about 35 years before diagnosis.
I was left in bed for two weeks at about age 7 with "mumps encephalitis" which I would now bet my brand new cowboy boots was my first lyme bite, with swollen lymph glands and meningitis.
I still have a bump behind my right ear from another nasty bite that swelled for weeks. Nobody had discovered Borrelia yet, so we didn't look for a bullseye.
The other tick bites I remember were on a cross country trip at 22, so I've got strains from most every part of our great nation.
I was ashamed of my multiple seemingly unrelated symptoms and sensitivies throughout my life, sometimes annoying, sometimes just crazy, and sometimes life threatening. Now I know they were all a lyme cascade.
I got worse after each pregnancy, and fought my way back with diet and excercise. Then worse again with any kind of stress or sleep deprivation.
Thank all of you at lymenet for helping me find the answers, and helping me think outside the box for wellness. I have a good life now.
-------------------- bejoy!
"Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." -Ralph Waldo Emerson Posts: 1918 | From Alive and Well! | Registered: Feb 2007
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toby67
Unregistered
posted
I'm 41, and i can't remember a time without symptoms... lots of good days, yes... but bad days always - since grade school... i think i've gone in and out of remission for years...
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posted
Im of the same opinion about the ability of the lyme to change between forms based on the immune system stress/weakness.
I believe I was bit years ago, maybe decades ago, but it wasnt till my immune system was extremely weak from a knee surgery that the lyme went from inactive to active, and started creating havoc.
I think lyme is like ebv, mono, shingles, chickenpox, zoster virus in that when stressed, weakened immune, it comes out.
Using that thought process..it makes sense to not only use abx to kill the different forms of lyme, but also to take additional supplements and really work towards creating a healthy body environment (diet, exercise, good sleep, low stress), to bolster the immune system to long term thwart off Bb and the other viruses.
Posts: 514 | From . | Registered: Apr 2008
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JillF
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5553
posted
I probably ended up with Lyme in middle school. We had ticks everywhere when I was growing up. Inside the house, on our cats/dogs, I constantly was pulling them off of me
By 8th grade my B average went to low C's. Suddenly, no matter how much I tried studying I could not retain the information. Concentration problems started. Insane weight gain even though my mother watched me like a hawk for the next few yrs monitoring every single thing I put in my mouth. She and the pediatrician could not figure out why I continued to gain weight
This is probably when anxiety problems hit me
In high school I was lucky to graduate. I couldn't concentrate, when the teacher (or anyone: pastor, parent, friend, etc) spoke most of the time I couldn't keep up with the conversation. Their speaking was like a buzzing to me and I could see their mouths moving but not understand what they were saying. It was as if they were speaking another language. I would read my text books (or anything in general) and not get past the first paragraph...usually couldn't get past the first sentence. I would study and study and study and not be able to remember anything 15 minutes after studying for hours on end. We would have open book/open note tests and quizzes - which I failed. I couldn't concentrate, my thinking skills/problem solving skills were gone. I felt so dumb that I couldn't even pass an open book test
I went through-out my entire high school thinking I was just plain stupid
Then I had odd headaches off and on (migranes I was told). I had problems tripping over things or over my own feet and my limbs (esp the legs) felt so fatigued
I had a rash that was noticed in 2000 on the back of my head under my hair - has been there since and nothing makes it go away
I lost all night vision by the time I was prob 17 and about the time I started having IBS type symptoms
I'm sure I had other odd symptoms off and on over the years but I just never thought anything of them all
Then in pregnancy my memory completely left me. I was told 'women become dumb when pregnant'. And for the first time I started having problems sleeping, which I was told was due to pregnancy
After my child was born, symptoms hit me. I forgot my/other people's names, I forgot how to do daily things like start the dishwasher or unlock the door, I started getting lost driving to simple places like the grocery store, my sleeping became atrocious (if I actually was able to fall asleep and/or stay asleep), the word finding problems started, the slurring, the losing myself in the middle of a sentence/conversation started, the balance problems, air hunger, over-extended vision, floaters, sensitivity to light/sun, sensitivity to hearing/smells, problems swallowing, the constant and consistent fatigue, metallic taste, tinnitus, stiff neck, daily low grade fevers.
And the pain: muscle spasms, muscle twitches, bone pain, muscle pain, a vise around my head, pain when touched, charlie horses head to toe, chest pain, rib pain like I had been kicked/hit, joint pain, TMJ symptoms, teeth pain, burning/stabbing/prickling sensations
There was a time I thought I was dying and I'd only be diagnosed after my death. It's so sad we go through all that we do
So, after giving birth it took me 3 yrs and over 12 doctors before finally seeing a LLMD
Now that I look back I can see the symptoms from almost 20 yrs ago
I'm not cured. But I'm so much better than I was. I need to go back to treatment
Posts: 1485 | From USA | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
While doing forestry research on the coast SC in 1979, I would pull copious blood sucking evil bast**d ticks off my body daily never to know how it would impact my life later.
When I "caught" a summer flu, I thought I had been burning the candle a little to much at both ends. LOL
My cognitive ability plummeted and I went from being a straight A student to failing organic chemistry but then of course I had an excuse--being in love.
Whenever I had a lyme flare up, I could blame it on something else.
When I was pregnant I felt better.
It took a hurricane, my friends' diagnosis and watching my lyme infected daughter suffer from a mental illness that did not respond to any medication to realize that perhaps my daughter and I could have Lyme.
Thank God for a Southern LLMD who did not drink the kool-aid and treated the Lyme victims in our area.
Eight months of IV treatment, a short relapse and a blessed return to orals, I am back on my way to being me again.
My daughter however still battles--on a second round of IV antibiotics...
Yes you can have Lyme for decades and not know. You can be misdiagnosed for decades. You can live in South where our "experts" believe it does not exist. Our tide here is slowly turning..
Only with faith, an open heart and mind can you find answers to Lyme and life.
-------------------- be wild, celebrate life and hug, cuddle and snuggle the ones you love!! Posts: 4 | From Holly Springs, NC | Registered: Nov 2008
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Vermont_Lymie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9780
posted
Yes to what Chandler said above.
I had lyme for many years, and some symptoms, but managed to live with it for years.
It took a very bad flu and a stressful time to start a rapid descent into a full-blown debilitating illness that could not be ignored. The co-infections like babesia can be like this too.
Like that other spirochetal disease, syphilis, lyme can go into remission or remain mild for years, only to suddenly get very bad and debilitating.
Please be sure to get to a real lyme literate doctor. I have not read all the responses above, but that is probably what others have said.
Too many ID doctors know practically nothing about tick borne diseases. You can get better if you get treated by a llmd. Best wishes.
Posts: 2557 | From home | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
The more I learn and think back on my life, the more opportunities for the onset come up:
I got the mumps at 5, and then got it again on both sides--my neck disappeared, I was so swollen. I was never taken to a doctor. (1957) I think I was the least generally healthy child in my family, so may have had subtle symptoms.
There were ticks where I grew up. I remember picking a tick out of my sister's head.
When I was 18, for one month, I lived with a family and my chore was pulling 40-60 ticks out of their dog every day.(1970) How could I not have gotten bit at that time?
I started losing energy in my early 20's, but then I was supporting myself, working hard.
Right when I got engaged, my energy level dropped, and my future husband asked me to stop work for the month before we wed. That helped me regroup, since I was able to rest for months after that, and started to feel better.
Six months after we got married, I got the "flu that never went away" (1977) and was almost bedridden for years. I eventually was able to maintain a normal schedule for several years, but was careful not to overdo it.
I had a physical trauma in 1986 that brought on a serious relapse, and again was almost bedridden for years, slowly getting better, but not well. After this time, I was left with worse insomnia, and muscle pain along with it--called fibormyalgia.
During menopause, I felt myself losing ground, and really tried to improve my diet even more, and researched supplements. It seemed to help, until I underwent a dental procedure that involved a shot and laughing gas. I was so sick from that time on, I knew I was in trouble. I found an integrative doctor who helped me a lot, and I thought I was almost well.
Then, I was hit with horrible pain, with other symptoms, and at that time, ended up by accident in the office of a LLMD. He recognised Lyme disease in me and started treatment before any tests even came back. I think he saved my life.
I was on ABX for a year, chelated for lead and mercury, treated for Babesia, and now I'm on Samento and Cumanda. I'm MUCH better, but know I'm not out of the woods yet. I'm so thankful to have found a good lyme literate doctor.
Posts: 552 | From New Mexico, USA | Registered: May 2007
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Angelica
Unregistered
posted
Pulling ticks off a dog without gloves even if the tick does not bite you can lead to lyme disease. Diseases can go into you transdermally especially if the tick was squeezed in the process and their stomach contents came out.
As I child I removed many attached ticks from our dog and did not know to wear gloves.
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