Need some help. ( Should I be tested for lyme? )

I'm sorry if this is a bit long. I'll try to keep it as brief as possible, but I really want to explain what's been going on with me so I know if it's worth going to get tested for lyme. Basically, in 2012 I did a lot of traveling, I went to Hong Kong and South Korea from January till June, when I got back I went to Europe for a month in June and July going to places like Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, France, and the U.K. A month later I visited my friend in Maryland ( he lives in a very woodsy small town area) during July and August for a month, and I recall we went walking in the woods a lot. It was after this summer I started having symptoms.

basically, 3-4 weeks after the Maryland trip I went back to school, and I remember getting hit with a terrible cold, so bad I could hardly sleep. It lasted like 2 weeks and I didn't have any other problems. Then during January through june of 2013, I started getting symptoms. I noticed a few times my testicles would be hurting, I was getting muscle twitches and pain in my back, and I noticed I was seeing a ton of floaters, more than normal. I also noticed I was getting a feeling of something being stuck in my throat all the time, and a few mornings I woke up with pain in my stomach that was so bad I could hardly get out of bed or use the bathroom. I was also getting times where it felt like pressure was moving my head forward. This stuff Kind of came and went, and for the most part was easily ignored, summer came and the symptoms went away.

It was towards the end of summer and till this day where I really starting getting some terrible symptoms. It basically started with me feeling really cloudy headed, and really out of it. I was getting anxious for no reason, and just felt awful, and even was having some panic attacks for no reason. I thought it was psychological at first, but I now know it isn't. Basically now I have developed twitching all over my body, like it comes and goes. The twitch never lasts for more then 10-15 seconds, and twitches like crazy and then stops, and reappears in a different spot of my body. I get days where I'm getting headaches, and horrible pain behind my eyes. I always feel like i have something stuck in my throat. Always feel like theres pressure in my head and eyes, like I'm slightly dizzy and its slightly hard to concentrate. It feels like my neck sometimes tightens up, and my head doesn't want to stay still, like a pressure moves my head sometimes. I get random stabbings pains in random areas, like thighs, neck, head, shoulders, back. Sometimes I feel a burning needle feeling in my foot or hands. I also have days where my legs or my whole body will start feeling really weak, then start to feel stronger an hour or two later. There are times when I get shaky. I seem to be getting tired a lot easier, and I keep waking up feeling terrible. I have times where I get pains in the side of my ribcage. I also keep seeing like dots, or white lines just suddenly appear then drift off. I also sometimes get random jerky movements in my legs and torso, though this doesn't always happen. I also notice that I seem like I'm losing my train of thought more than normal, like I'll being doing something, and I forget what I'm doing. I know that's normal, but it's been happening way more than normal. There is always tingling in my forehead. I also have constant ringing in my ears, that seems to be getting louder, but I'm not doing anything to damage them. Sometimes my hearing will go down, and all of a sudden I just hear a loud ring and my hearing slowly comes back. Another thing which isn't fun to talk about is, twice now I have had moments where when I go to urinate, it starts tingling and burning and it feels like I have to keep going when I'm done. Hasn't happened in a week though. I also have had a few instances where my legs spazzed out on me, like they started tightening up and shaking like seizure for 20-30 minutes, but that hasn't happened for a month now. Overall, I just feel off, like I don't feel like I use to, I feel mentally great, but physically I just feel like crap. It's just a really off feeling.

- What's so strange about all of this is the majority of this stuff comes and goes. Like some days are better than others. One hour I'll feel ok, then the next hour I feel like crap, and the symptoms are all over the place. Like I'll go a week with no pain, then one day, I'm getting shooting pains all over the place, and It REALLY hurts.

Sorry that was long, I'm just wondering if I should get tested for Lyme, it seems like one of the few things that keeps coming up based on my symptoms. I have had some head injuries in the past, and I fell down the stairs on my butt and back 2 months ago, but my head mri came back clean, and an xray of my spine just showed some subluxations. I really don't get what's going on with me as I'm a healthy 21 year old male. I'm really confused, and doctors can't seem to figure out what's wrong with me. They keep telling me it's in my head, and it's not, and it's really pissing me off they keep telling me that.
Do you think this could be possible lyme?

I read the symptom list, I somehow missed that sticky. I seem to have a ton of the symtpoms. I'm getting a feeling this might be what's going on. How come no doctor told me about this?

Sorry to say, sounds like Lyme.

I went 15 yrs and nobody found it till Nov. you need a Lyme Literate Doctor to diagnose it.

I am new to the forum but somebody with a lot of knowledge will respond to you soon.

Hope you feel better soon and go to the first thread, New to Lyme and read all that info, if you haven't already.

Thank you so much for the replies, you seem like a group of very friendly people. Few questions, I went ahead and got two different tests to start me off, the first one is called Lyme Disease Antibodies, Total and IgM (ELISA, Recent and Past Exposure EIA test) and the other is called Lyme Disease, Western Blot (Recent and Past Exposure Western Blot test) which tests for both IgG anf IgM. Now, I read how a lot of people come up negative when they really have it. So regardless of my results, should I see a LLMD?
Also, with my symptoms it seems you guys are saying mine are typical of lyme. Like what's strange about it is, I'm able to function but I feel like I have this huge brick wall in my way, and the symptoms keep changing around, and some days aren't that bad and others are horrible.

- thanks

Thank you so much, I'll probably make a new a new thread looking for a LLMD and get an appointment as soon as I can. I have read through it, and it's helping me a lot. I know it's not confirmed that I have Lyme, but I had an xray of my spine, and it was fine, and my head mri came back clean. having something like Lupus Als, or Myesthenia Gravis is extremely uncommon at my age, so I feel like lyme is the only possible explanation at this time, and the symptom list in that sticky matches about 75 percent of what is listed. I have a question, is it normal when you have Lyme to where you get random symptoms for a year, then out of nowhere the symptoms grow and become more often? Because after that summer in 2012 I got sick for a few weeks, then I was having night sweats, testicular pain, and some back twitching and pain for like 6 months, and it wasn't that bad, as I could function through it. Then the summer came and I didn't have hardly any symptoms, then I got hit with symptoms during August after the summer and been having them ever since, and I keep getting new things happening every two weeks. I noticed in august it started with brain fog, anxiety, then I started getting fatigue, then muscle twiching started happening ect.. the list just kept growing as the weeks went on. Now it just seems like it's cycling through those symptoms, while I get knew ones every once in a while. My newest one was one day my cheeks and part of my face felt like it was going numb. It felt like what dentist inject into you when pulling a tooth, it was kind of scary.

Ok, thank you so much for your responses. So I got the two tests Total and IgM (ELISA, Recent and Past Exposure EIA test) and the other is called Lyme Disease, Western Blot (Recent and Past Exposure Western Blot test) which tests for both IgG anf IgM. Apparently half the people come back negative. So if it does, I'm guessing I should get a test from Igenex. How do you go about doing that?

In the mean time I'm going to make a new thread looking for a LLMD.

I would suggest that you locate the LLMD first - many like to order the tests themselves. And some don't worry about the tests if you have enough of the symptoms (as you do) since they are so faulty.

Ok, I posted thread seeking out a LLMD for the north eastern Georgia area.

This is what I mean about these symptoms. Just earlier I was feeling halfway decent, then I got really tired for an hour, and now I'm awake and I feel really out of it. Not fun.

Welcome, and sorry you need to be here.

My recent experience with a LLMD wasn't that positive, so be aware that not all llmd's are equal and educated with correct knowledge.

My IGeneX came back positive, but the llmd said I was a false positive, whatever that means. I have six positive bands, and that's positive for lyme.

I no longer see this llmd, but I located a llnd that I see tomorrow for my first visit.

Educated yourself, ask questions, and don't give up.