How in the world was I able to afford his fee? The initial consultation for Lyme was 2-3 hours. We had one consultation. He agreed to take the fee in payments so that when I did find a Lyme Literate Medical Doctor, I would be able to see him/her. A day or two later, he called me with a referral of a doctor who was willing to see me. What a relief, and he was only an hour away. The tests confirmed my suspicions. I was found positive for Babesia, Lyme, and Bartonella.
In September 2009 I began antibiotic treatment. The doctor had recovered from Lyme and Babesia as well. He was aware of the CDC and IDSA guidelines; he knew first hand that some of us do not recover as quickly as the guidelines state, for he had experienced this himself. I am grateful for his diligence to help me become well. Although the road I traveled earlier with Lyme was horrible, I was blessed that this time that I did not experience the symptoms all at once that had caused me to become bedridden.
At first, I thought that I could not go through this again because I experienced the sensation of burning if anything touched my skin. With every breath I took, I felt the burning pain. It became very difficult for me to walk once again. I had to bring out the cane and knee braces I had once used. Oh, how I despised that! The night sweats, fever and chills were overwhelming at times. I couldn’t understand how you could be burning up and freezing at the same time. The night sweats drenched my clothes and my bedding every night.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
I Will Beat These Beasts--Lydia Niederwerfer:Part 1
The Story Begins
After a gorgeous day of picnicking and canoeing, I discovered a tick buried in my shoulder. Who knew that this small insect would change my life? I went to the ER and was given 10 days of Doxycycline just to be cautious. A couple days later, I had the Bull’s Eye rash, mild headaches, minor flu-like symptoms, and a stiff neck. The standard regimen seemed to help because I felt better.
A couple weeks later, I began getting stiff knees. Besides my stiffness, I was experiencing headaches, hot flashes, chills and fatigue. I asked for another treatment of antibiotics and was refused, not only by one doctor, but many. The Western Blot and Elisa tests were defined as negative, only 3/5 bands positive with others described as IND. Despite the tick, all the early clinical symptoms and some positive bands, the doctors refused to think Lyme was to blame. It had to be something else.
After numerous tests to rule out ms, lupus, meningitis, rheumatoid arthritis, celiac disease, etc., my central nervous system functions began to go awry. Quickly, I became completely debilitated. It was as if someone poured a bucket of symptoms over my body all at once. The list was endless: severe nerve pain, one stiff hip, uncontrollable shaking of hands and arms, constant low grade fever, peripheral neuropathy, temporary loss of sight, tunnel vision, chest pains, severe pain all along my spine, flu-like symptoms, loss of night vision, loss of speech, loss of motor functions, loss of coordination, difficulty walking, numbness and tingling of head, hands and feet, arthritis, short term memory loss, loss of hair, loss of cognition, inability to hold urination, diarrhea, and severe migraines. With each breath my entire body burned. I hoped each breath I took would be my last. I became bedridden, severely depressed and unable to do any work. I had to endure the indignity of having to be bathed and clothed by my husband.
After a gorgeous day of picnicking and canoeing, I discovered a tick buried in my shoulder. Who knew that this small insect would change my life? I went to the ER and was given 10 days of Doxycycline just to be cautious. A couple days later, I had the Bull’s Eye rash, mild headaches, minor flu-like symptoms, and a stiff neck. The standard regimen seemed to help because I felt better.
A couple weeks later, I began getting stiff knees. Besides my stiffness, I was experiencing headaches, hot flashes, chills and fatigue. I asked for another treatment of antibiotics and was refused, not only by one doctor, but many. The Western Blot and Elisa tests were defined as negative, only 3/5 bands positive with others described as IND. Despite the tick, all the early clinical symptoms and some positive bands, the doctors refused to think Lyme was to blame. It had to be something else.
After numerous tests to rule out ms, lupus, meningitis, rheumatoid arthritis, celiac disease, etc., my central nervous system functions began to go awry. Quickly, I became completely debilitated. It was as if someone poured a bucket of symptoms over my body all at once. The list was endless: severe nerve pain, one stiff hip, uncontrollable shaking of hands and arms, constant low grade fever, peripheral neuropathy, temporary loss of sight, tunnel vision, chest pains, severe pain all along my spine, flu-like symptoms, loss of night vision, loss of speech, loss of motor functions, loss of coordination, difficulty walking, numbness and tingling of head, hands and feet, arthritis, short term memory loss, loss of hair, loss of cognition, inability to hold urination, diarrhea, and severe migraines. With each breath my entire body burned. I hoped each breath I took would be my last. I became bedridden, severely depressed and unable to do any work. I had to endure the indignity of having to be bathed and clothed by my husband.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Remembering a Life I Once Knew--Martha B
As I sit with pen in hand, weighing upon how to give an account of my battle with Lyme, I have no recollection of a tick or mosquito bite resulting in a bulls-eye rash or flu-like symptoms. I question how I got to this place in my life. I remember a life I once knew--what it felt like to run three miles a day, freedom to socialize with friends at a favorite neighborhood restaurant, eating without thought of the biological aftermath, and living without annoying and debilitating symptoms every moment of the day. I dream of a day where I can be free of Lyme, and will find normality as I join others in living.
My journey into a life with Lyme began unknowingly at the age of 31. I was a newlywed. I married a wonderful man at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 1, 2003. It was not an expensive wedding, but a beautiful one. Shortly after, we began to train for the Peachtree 10K in Atlanta, Georgia. We had planned it early on and had been looking forward to it for months; it would be the first race would run together as a married couple.
Three weeks before our July 2 departure, I woke one morning to find I was severely constipated, and I knew at that moment that it was not just an ordinary episode. I did all I knew to relieve the symptoms, but was unsuccessful. The symptoms stayed with me all day and all night, and were more intense than anything I had ever experienced. I felt awful, but made the trip and successfully ran the six-mile race. Once I returned, the doctor’s visits began.
My journey into a life with Lyme began unknowingly at the age of 31. I was a newlywed. I married a wonderful man at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 1, 2003. It was not an expensive wedding, but a beautiful one. Shortly after, we began to train for the Peachtree 10K in Atlanta, Georgia. We had planned it early on and had been looking forward to it for months; it would be the first race would run together as a married couple.
Three weeks before our July 2 departure, I woke one morning to find I was severely constipated, and I knew at that moment that it was not just an ordinary episode. I did all I knew to relieve the symptoms, but was unsuccessful. The symptoms stayed with me all day and all night, and were more intense than anything I had ever experienced. I felt awful, but made the trip and successfully ran the six-mile race. Once I returned, the doctor’s visits began.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Unbalanced--Randy Gibson
My ordeal with Lyme Disease began when I was infected in October 1989 on a trip to New York. Unfortunately I was unaware I had been bitten by a Lyme tick, though I returned home to Twentynine Palms, California with a rash on my forearm. We had never heard of Lyme disease at this point and it was nearly two years later that we would hear about it.
At first I had flu like symptoms and as a pastor had to struggle through the Thanksgiving and Advent season. I had assumed that I had a bad case of the flu and would just have to get by till it passed. I was terribly worn down by January when I first saw a Doctor. He too said I just had the flu and to take it easy.
A couple weeks later I went back with severe chest pain and after an Xray he said I had possible pleurisy and gave me some antibiotics. I had some improvement but was still not back to normal. I was scheduled for a 6-week visit in Argentina in April with the Rotary Club and made that trip with a relapse in the third week. I was staying with a doctor in Buenos Aires who gave me more antibiotics and I felt better in a couple of weeks.
At first I had flu like symptoms and as a pastor had to struggle through the Thanksgiving and Advent season. I had assumed that I had a bad case of the flu and would just have to get by till it passed. I was terribly worn down by January when I first saw a Doctor. He too said I just had the flu and to take it easy.
A couple weeks later I went back with severe chest pain and after an Xray he said I had possible pleurisy and gave me some antibiotics. I had some improvement but was still not back to normal. I was scheduled for a 6-week visit in Argentina in April with the Rotary Club and made that trip with a relapse in the third week. I was staying with a doctor in Buenos Aires who gave me more antibiotics and I felt better in a couple of weeks.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Another Battered Soldier--Holly Heisey
I’m twenty-four and I’ve been sick since I was ten. I got sick on the first day of fifth grade, and nobody believed it wasn’t because I didn’t want to go to school. A month later my parents pulled me out and I was homeschooled. I went through countless doctors, and that’s terrifying when you’re an adult, let alone ten. I found a nutritionist who helped me get well enough to go back to sixth grade, but by then I had many allergies and physical weaknesses that kept me from really fitting back in.
I stayed mostly healthy until eighth grade, when I got sick all over again. I had to leave school in the middle of the year. I was having panic attacks (of course it was all in my head!), short breath, vertigo, and I always felt like I was going to be sick or pass out. Another round of doctors ensued, one of whom wanted to admit me to a mental facility because he was convinced I was suicidal. Tell that to a fourteen-year-old.
I finished eighth grade at home and continued to homeschool, but I also continued to get worse. Finally, my family found out our home was infested with stachybotris, a deadly toxic mold. We moved, and we have nothing today that we owned before fall of 2001. It was a miracle that we got out relatively unscathed. We thought all our health problems were over.
I stayed mostly healthy until eighth grade, when I got sick all over again. I had to leave school in the middle of the year. I was having panic attacks (of course it was all in my head!), short breath, vertigo, and I always felt like I was going to be sick or pass out. Another round of doctors ensued, one of whom wanted to admit me to a mental facility because he was convinced I was suicidal. Tell that to a fourteen-year-old.
I finished eighth grade at home and continued to homeschool, but I also continued to get worse. Finally, my family found out our home was infested with stachybotris, a deadly toxic mold. We moved, and we have nothing today that we owned before fall of 2001. It was a miracle that we got out relatively unscathed. We thought all our health problems were over.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
A Series of Miracles--Victoria Bylin
"Something terrible happened to you.”
These are not words you want to hear from an ophthalmologist. At the time I was sitting in his fancy chair in a dark exam room, my eyes red and hurting, and my vision distorted in the way of pebbled glass. I had no idea at the time and neither did the ophthalmologist, but this was the beginning of my encounter with Lyme Disease. By a series of coincidences--I’d call them miracles--I was blessed to be diagnosed early and treated successfully.
My Lyme ordeal began while I was working at the computer. I blinked and thought, “I need new glasses.” A few moments later I looked in a mirror and saw that both eyes were bloodshot. I figured I had conjunctivitis and met a friend for lunch as planned. By the end of the meal, my eyes weren’t just red. They hurt every time I changed my focus. That evening I developed the strangest fever I’ve ever had. It spiked at 103 degrees and then disappeared.
These are not words you want to hear from an ophthalmologist. At the time I was sitting in his fancy chair in a dark exam room, my eyes red and hurting, and my vision distorted in the way of pebbled glass. I had no idea at the time and neither did the ophthalmologist, but this was the beginning of my encounter with Lyme Disease. By a series of coincidences--I’d call them miracles--I was blessed to be diagnosed early and treated successfully.
My Lyme ordeal began while I was working at the computer. I blinked and thought, “I need new glasses.” A few moments later I looked in a mirror and saw that both eyes were bloodshot. I figured I had conjunctivitis and met a friend for lunch as planned. By the end of the meal, my eyes weren’t just red. They hurt every time I changed my focus. That evening I developed the strangest fever I’ve ever had. It spiked at 103 degrees and then disappeared.
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