Andie333
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7370
posted
I was trying to go through some old papers and journals in the basement and found a daily journal I'd written in 1992.
I talked there about two nasty rashes I'd had-- one full body and one of them streaking up my back--followed by flu-like symptoms both times. Both those rashes were treated with high-dose prednisone.
I kept getting tired, too.
I tried to explain it all away back then but now realize I'd already begun to get sick.
My bullseye rash was in 1996 (I seem to be a walking tick-magnet), and then I was given 15 days of abx to treat. For about two years, I felt okay, with periodic flu-type episodes.
And then in 2003, everything fell apart. I was finally dx wtih Lyme and started treatment in June 2005.
All this is surprising to me, because I had more years of these illnesses than I had imagined. There were times I was pretty hard on myself, when I couldn't figure out what was wrong and just couldn't seem to get things together.
Funny to see things in hindsight sometimes.
Andie
Posts: 2549 | From never never land | Registered: May 2005
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cantgiveupyet
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8165
posted
Hi Andiee thanks for sharing, isnt it amazing when we find these things?
I was going through some old emails from early 2005- I became debilitated in Aug 05.
But in March/April 2005- I found instances of me saying how my ribs and lower back hurt(must have slept wrong) , sore throat, tired (must have stayed out too late) feeling sick for days after going out for a few drinks.... carple tunnel like feeling in wrists(typed to much)
It was all right there in front of me, the start of my decline in health.
-------------------- "Say it straight simple and with a smile."
"Thus the task is, not so much to see what no one has seen yet, But to think what nobody has thought yet, About what everybody sees."
-Schopenhauer
pos babs, bart, igenex WB igm/igg Posts: 3156 | From Lyme limbo | Registered: Oct 2005
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Intesting once looking for things that happened a long time ago.
I had panic attacks for ten years and never could figure out WHY they started. Around this same timeframe I had my 2nd child, and after her birth I seemed to always get sinus infections, abdominal pains (that sent me to the hospital) started and monthly migraines!!
I think I got reinfected or my whole immune system just crashed in Fall of 2003. I did have a very gross reddish/purple rash at that time & exactly one month after the rash is when I got so extremely tired and things began.
When I was 11, I had a heart valve problem & at 14 I developed myoclonic seizures. I grew up in the country we always had ticks on us!! Never got a bullseye rash though.
I also had mono when I was 14 and that really knocked me down for some time.
Gail
-------------------- Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will ~ Gandhi Posts: 562 | From Wellsville, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2004
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Melanie Reber
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 3707
posted
Hey Miss Andie,
I'm glad you are so much better as well...it gives me a lot of hope.
Much love, Melanie
Posts: 7052 | From Colorado | Registered: Mar 2003
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heiwalove
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6467
posted
i too can relate. i'm starting to think i've been infected since i was a very small child. symptoms such as frequent infections, fatigue, brainfog, sensitivity to light & crowds, stomach/bowel problems, etc, go back as far as i can remember. i just thought that was me.
it's amazing, actually. my mother always accused me of being a hypochondriac (she has never been supportive when it comes to my health, but that's another topic altogether). i knew something was wrong with me, i knew it in my gut; i just didn't know what it was. so, yes, at the age of 8, 10, 12, etc, i constantly thought i had some kind of cancer, some sort of dire illness. doctors of course said i was fine, and i started to think that maybe i was a hypochondriac, maybe they were right and i was just crazy. for YEARS i doubted my own sanity, and in fact have been given every psychiatric diagnosis in the book.
i sat down and cried and cried the other night, because i finally realized that i've been sick, really, truly, genuinely sick, for most of my life. it was the most profound, heartbreaking, overwhelming realization. i have no words with which to describe it.
TheCrimeOfLyme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 4019
posted
That is amazing. How are you doing nowdays?
When I started treatment at the age of 27, I never expected a symptom I had since I was SIXTEEN to go away- severe sweating under my underpits, even though I was a mere 100 lbs, and didnt have high bp or diabetes or anything.
Now its gone and rears its head only once a month. Thank goodness. I can FINALLY wear clothes without putting tissue under my underpits.
-------------------- You want your life back? Take it. Posts: 3169 | From Greensburg, Pennsylvania | Registered: Jun 2003
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Andie333
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7370
posted
I think the difficult thing for me is to realize how hard I was on myself when I didn't know I was sick (and getting sicker).
Gail, like you, I also had ticks on me all the time as a kid, from being in the woods, climbing trees, rolling around in the grasses. I couldn't tell you whether or not there were ever any rashes.
But I do know I got into what seemed like a whole field of ticks in about 1982. Again, I have no idea if I had a rash and wouldn't have been especially attuned to that back then.
cant, you're so right: seeing it all right in front of you but never putting it together, and heiwalove, I also cried when I realized this.
At the risk of boring those of you who know but to answer crime's question: after 2+ years of continuous antibiotic treatment for Lyme, Bart and Babs, I'm now back at work fulltime (well, actually 6 days a week recently) and exercising.
I still have slight flares of symptoms, but they're manageable. And every single day, I'm beyond grateful that I've made it this far!
Andie
Posts: 2549 | From never never land | Registered: May 2005
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just don
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1129
posted
Andie, Nobody is happier than all of us,,,including me that you are feeling so wonderful!!!
Crime, IF your able, I am sure an update to the life of 'Crime' would be appreciated by all. We think about you all the time!! Hows it going?? Did you ever get the house fixed?? OR did you move?? mostly--just don--
-------------------- just don Posts: 4548 | From Middle of midwest | Registered: May 2001
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Vermont_Lymie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9780
posted
Hi Andie, Thanks so much for sharing your story.
It sounds all to familiar to me too -- I was only mildly sick or had years of a latent period before becoming severely ill with lyme and babs. At the same time, I also was always hard on myself when sick and having problems (before I knew it was lyme), blaming myself for having no energy, etc.
My best wishes for your continued great health!
Posts: 2557 | From home | Registered: Aug 2006
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bejoy
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11129
posted
I hear you on this too.
I once read a story about a boy with a clubbed foot who asked his friend, "how can you run so fast when your foot hurts?" His friend answered, "my foot doesn't hurt."
I think I grew up that way. I had all these lyme symptoms, but didn't know that things might have been harder for me than those around me. Kids take life its hardships for granted.
When I first joined lymenet, I had to crack up every day reading lyme symptoms. You mean that's from lyme too???? Everybody doesn't feel that way?
I'm about to enter a new era of my life. Complete health is something I never have known, but never knew I hadn't had it until recently.
-------------------- 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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posted
I had always placed mine back to 7/99, when I had the bulls eye rash, after that i went down hill.
When I got my appt with LLMD in 8/07, I got my medical records from my GP - saw him since I was about 13-14.
i copied them all before I sent them and went through and did a chronological hisotry, more condensed, to avoid going through all the pages each time I wanted to look at it, plus it makes it a bit easier for a dr to review.
In doing this I saw I was having issues at 13-14 years old, strange things and my first fibro dx was in 94 I was 25 yrs old - that was 5 yrs prior to falling to pieces!
Now I also realize that my 3 miscarriages may chime in too! I even had corrective surgery on my uterus, thinking that was the issue between my 2nd & 3rd and spent 5 months out my last pregnacy on bedrest and medication to maintain - had her premie after all....
So now, I realize that I probably ahve had this for YEARS too and both my kids are symptomatic. I hate this!!!
My oldest has been diganoses with Tourettes and was having hallucinations at the age of 9. She spent 19 out of 28 days 2 months ago vomiting and debilitating fatigue. She has had an endo & colonsocopy, blood tests out the yahoo and now has high insulin levels but her glucose is in line. She has headaches, bad ones & brain fogs!
She sweats every single night and has for years, her muscles twitch in her face, legs and arm - I only learned these things about her in the past 2 months as she thought it was normal!!! She also has insomnia, anxiety and depression - sometimes even rages, those are fun! She is only 16.
my youngest has major brain fogs, transposes words, stomache aches, headaches, her ankle and knee swell up at times and really bother her. She ahs insomnia, anxiety and depression. She also has chronic sinus issues. She is only 10.
It is sad to know that I have been ill for so long, but much sadder to me realizing now that my children have no real idea what it feels like to feel well at all. At least I have that memory, therefore I have that to strive for
and I will know when I get there. They will experience an entire new level of life one day, I can only hope.....
Man, that was tough, emotional, to write about....
-------------------- Seeking renewed health & vitality. --------------------------------- Do not take anything I say as medical advice - I am NOT a dr! Posts: 830 | From TN | Registered: Aug 2007
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