Do you consider yourself a mild, moderate or severe case of LD?

How many of you have multiple family members with LD?

thankfully i am able to drag myself out of bed most days...although some days i just sit here at work in a daze..

i guess i am mild to moderate depends on the day...

i just can not wait to see a light at the end of the tunnel..that would be the best

Yes, my mom was diagnosed about 3yrs ago and still on therapy.
My 7yr old and 13mth old and myself have LD. Have not checked for co-infections yet.
I am having my husband tested when he comes home from Iraq. Very probable he has it. Also we WILL use protection (do not like that, but will) until we feel like we will not be spreading it back and forth.

Oh, did I say hello and welcome to lymenet.....where are my manners?

Ive been back to work for a year though. I hvae to work, lest my kids dont eat.

Dont feel guilty if you cant. Some psycho on here once said I mustn' be that sick if I am working.

I would consider my Lyme very mild, but I have moderate to severe reactive arthritis. It's hard to sort out what symptoms are what, but the more I read about the reactive arthritis, the more my story makes sense.

The only reason I can work is pain management and physical therapy. At one point my hand pain was so bad I couldn't even read a newspaper.

I was lucky enough to respond positively to treatment and was able to go back to work - catheter and all - after 6 months on IV.

I think my case was moderate. Heard of those better, and worse than me.

Im well now and working alot to pay off the med. debt.I live by myself, with no other lymies, and concider that a good thing, because I know it was hell enough on my own. I really pray for those of you in multi lymie households..

I think that working or not working depends not only upon what ones job is, but, in what stage of the disease the patient is and if the treatment was doing the patient well enough to work.

I am no longer working and am on SSD.

Many people here are on long-term disability whether with the government or their private disability insurance that they may either have personally or with their employer.

Several posters here are only working so as to have insurance. But, in reality, they many not should be working.

I know that through talking with my daughter, Lookin4answers, that she has said that this has at times interfered with her work.

Many employers don't have the wherewithal to allow a person the time off for the illness and tests and doctor's visits and expecially the herxes in between, and they let the person go or the person just quits.

As far as finances, I was lucky that my late father provided substancially enough for my mother that she was able to pay for all my treatment and doctor's visits and tests for the past few years.

I am now on Social Security Disability and since I recently got married, we are now taking care of things the best we can.

I had surgery earlier this year and that has set us back and the PT afterward for 3.5 months will really hurt.

But, just be up front with your doctors and they will work with you as best that they can. But, they only can if they know your situation.

Hope that helps.

I would have times when I needed to take off work sick, but usually not for long.

This went on from the mid 1980's until I came down really sick in Oct. 2001.

I continue to wonder if there isn't something else going on as others at work came down sick at the same time with the same bizarre symptoms.

One of the other co workers who has yet to return to work dropped by the other day to inform me that if we hadn't gotten sick, we would be taking home $4,000 a month net right now.

Instead I am living on SSI of $700 a month. Ouch. I wanted to shoot the messenger.

She is receiving workmen's comp so her lifestyle has not changed. She also is higher functioning than I am....traveling a lot right now.

She was dx with valley fever and then CFS/fibro and is refusing to see my LLMD because she will need to pay out of pocket.

Others were told it was heart, stress, diabetes complications, etc.

Since then, I haven't been able to work although I have tried to return to work 3 times.

I do believe I will be able to return to work. I just didn't believe it would take this long.

I've had LD for approx. ten years. I have continued to work full time at an insurance analytical position, although it is more working with people then numbers. I have sporadic spells of time where my personality slips into a more shallow, nervous and cloudy profile. As with most folks, it is incredibly hard to find a productive path through the day when it is often extremely hard to make even the simplest of decisions. I am currently struggling at whether to/how to take that step to work at something less stressful/analytical. This is mostly due to a strong work ethic as well as fear of loosing good insurance. It's about time I step up the action to find a better source of income. Thankfully, my wife does make a good income which clearly gives a lot more breathing room. I just think that i won't resign to leaving work until I absolutely have to.

quote:

---

Originally posted by cityzen:
[B]
.....My vacation is coming up soon and I was supposed to go backpacking but now I put that on hold indefinitely. I don't know if I'll be able to enjoy myself cause I'll be so paranoid about getting ticks on me. So I'm a bit depressed about that but happy that I'm feeling normal again.

B]

---

I apologize for changing topics for a moment....Cityzen: If you are still following this thread, I seem to be in a similar situation as you in many ways. One way is that I enjoy backpacking as well. I have been fortunate enough to have gone on many trips since coming down with LD.I just stick to trails at elevations of 1800 abv sea lvl. I have heard many rangers & folks say the risk is much less. Plus, when I do make it there, I kind of feel exulted from the depression.Feel free to email me at [email protected]

I do also work very part-time - about 15 hours a week in the summer and only about 5 hours a week during the school year. Most of the time lately when I'm not working I'm in bed resting. I consider myself a moderate or borderline severe case.

--Annie

Then the actual job that ones does. I certainly can not do accounting right now with my lyme brain...like that. I believe it depends on oh so many other factors.

Some work, some don't.

#1
My husband, a moderate case, falls into the category of those who can not work.

He is/was an industrial electrician. Brain fog etc. and 480 volts of electricity do NOT go together!

Currently he is in the process of being fired from his job because he is not able to return at the end of his FMLA.

At this horribly stressful time he must try to figure out what he can do.

Not an easy task for someone having problems thinking clearly enough to make decisions!

#2
Other than the lack of income, I am very thankful that I am not employeed outside the home. I would say I am mild to moderate depending on the day.

My three young children are almost more than I am able to handle. I really do not know how the working mothers survive this disease. After being up all night with a crying baby I couldn't possibly survive a day at work.

What do we do for finances?
Currently we are living on the remainder of our savings and my husbands short term disability. After that????

#3
My mother is moderate to severe. She has worked the last 3 years in missery trying to hang on to her job and insurance.

She is about to start iv treatment and has been told that she will loose her job at that time.

If she had not worked so hard in the last few years we believe she would have recovered rather than gotten worse.

We know that all things are possible through Christ Jesus, and we know that somehow, some way we will make it through this!