Are these Lyme symptoms?

fibrogal

welcome to the board, i am sorry your sick. and if its possable you may want to seek a LLMD. as they can answer many of your questions and check you best for lyme. you do have many of the sx for lyme tho.

wishing you the best.

Now I have to go to the list of abbreviations and see what LLMD, WB and IGENEX are! ;)

Seriously, THANKS!!, I'll get right on those.
Just sent an email to the turn the corner folks to find a local lyme disease doc.
Will check out IGENEX now.

I was pretty horrified when the young woman told me that her mother, my age, was tested years ago, but it came back negative so they didn't test again. Her husband finally demanded more tests and the last ones came positive, but she is in a wheel chair and can barely speak now. So sad!

I have had a cat for years, and certainly my share of cat scratches. I haven't seen a tick here, after moving from the South to the Seattle area, but have heard that they are certainly out in the woods. And I have spent a fair amount of time hiking and camping here.

I also keep goats, rabbits and chickens, but got them after the Fibromyalgia diagnosis.
any possible connections there?

This is my first attempt to look at the Lyme possibility, mainly because it was my mother's idea! :)
I am not sure if I want her to be right, or not, based on what I have been reading here.
You guys have gone through SO much suffering to get help.

My doc put me on anti-depressants, sleep aid, first a narcotic for the pain, and now Gabapentin. So the pain is better, but I am super dizzy, and it has not helped the other symptoms.

Thanks everyone for being so helpful, great community you have here!

Thanks CajunGrl! I sent the email to stephanie, and read the basics thread first. I just wondered if I was even barking up the right tree, but sounds like I should at least dig deeper here! thanks again,

Thanks for understanding! I just emailed Ticker. I asked my doctor to test me the last time I was there, and she became vague. No tests were ordered. So obviously going to a LLMD makes the most sense!

fibrogal
i was lucky in some aspects, as i had a MRI and it showed brain lesions. and 1 of the reason for it was stated as lyme. seeing as my dog was dx with lyme last yr i asked to be tested. my PCP did a WB and it came back positive for IgM. then my luck ran out. as there isnt 1 Dr here in Tx who treats lyme or even understands it really.

so if your able to see a LLMD, its your best bet for the right DX and treatment.
i was also sent to a Dr for my disability and she even asked me if anyone had thought of fibro. it does happen to many lymies.

the more info you have the better armed you are when dealing with your DR.

i just found this out from my Px there was a man here who had lyme, i was trying to find out who was treating him. well turns out the man died, and his Dr thought he has a stoke. he didnt it was from the lyme. this is so sad.i think DR make to light of lyme and when its left to its own we suffer for it, not our Drs, who should i think.

sorry for rambling on. i wish you well :)

Meclizine? hmmm, more great info! thank!
I can't believe there isn't a doc in TX, considering all the ticks down there! Seems there would be plenty in the South!

That's crazy! The south is full of ticks! I plucked them off constantly when I was a kid in Arkansas. My kids were trained to not get off the path, or walk through tall grass. When we moved to the Northwest, I warned some neighbor kids not to walk through the field or they would get ticks and chiggers. They froze, panicked. Never heard of a tick or a chigger before! :)

Hi Fibrogal and Welcome.  The others have already given you lots of great information.  I am another one who was diagnosed with Fibro. but actually have Lyme.  Definitely seek out a Lyme Literate MD.  It makes all of the difference.  You are definitely on the right track!  Good luck to you.

There are a couple of good LLMDs here in the Seattle area. NickyD goes to Dr. R (probably sees most of the Lyme patients in this area) and I go to Dr. M. I think I got Lyme in Tx or intermountain west before I moved here. Since I didn't have the rash it's hard to know.

Fibrogal- you get the blood taken at a regular lab (where you do other blood tests). Bring in the requisition form, because it tells them what they need (whole blood, Serum, spun, etc.). They may get confused at the administrative side, if they haven't seen one of these before, but usually the actual blood-taking goes smoothly. Igenex will mail you a testing kit for free.

Yes- I see Dr. R (I missed that you were near Seattle). I've only seen him once, but he seems wonderful- and he works a lot with international patients, which is great for me. And he does phone consults- so you only have to go in in person every 4 months. I was orginally seeing a ND (I think that's the same as NP in the US). But (personally) I felt more confident in the antibiotics route. Some people don't - they like the natural route. But it's important to consider that when choosing a doctor, as NP's cannot prescribe antibiotics. Of course, I also know (from Agmaar) that Dr. M is willing to refer people to Dr. R if she thinks they need more aggresive treatment.

That might be premature, since you don't know if you have Lyme, but I thought it might help

NickyD: Thanks for the info on the blood draw, I was suspecting as much. I just learned that the NP in Seattle works with the MDs to get the antibiotics along with the other modalities.

Agmaar: Well, Rich, I have been teaching character design for Video Games for years, and am a LOTR fan. ;)
The MDs sound like they take the whole picture. I do not currently have insurance, so all that testing will probably set me back a couple thousand, but it will be worth it to find out!