orchid_rain said...
Hi st0rch, welcome to the forum!
Im sorry to hear about how you have been feeling. Im glad that you have found us and that in itself is a good thing and shows you are in the right direction of healing! I have had just about every symptom that you have listed above so it is very likely lyme/+co-infections could be whats ailing you. Especially when you have so many multiple symptoms all over the place that change from one thing to another and migrate.
Lyme is EVERYWHERE. Anywhere a bird can fly...ticks that carry lyme can go. Utah is certainly not an exception.
Regarding the tests, Im sure you have heard on the lack of reliability due to a few diff factors. My sister has been told she has been sick from MS but got the lyme tests last week and is currently waiting on the results so she can know what treatment direction to follow. It just sucks because even if it is lyme, the tests may not come back positive. She is hoping for lyme as opposed to it being MS.
In regards to your tinnitus symptom I am wondering....have you been on many antibiotics for treatment yet?
Or, have you taken any or many benzo drugs (such as xanax, valium, klonoping, etc.) for your anxiety?
Im am asking because I HATE the tinnitus symptom and Im trying to figure out what it is attributed to!
If I had to say, I would say to explore the possibility of the co-infection babesia as a good amount of your symptoms point to that in addition to lyme. The doctor who is running your lyme tests tomorrow, ask them to run a test for 'babesiosis' co-infection as well along with the other co-infection tests (ehrlichia, bartonella, anaplasmosis, etc). If your lyme dont come back positive but say one of your co-infections tests come back positive, then you know that you have been exposed to tick-borne illness's and it is probable that you have lyme as well because the co-infections rarely travel alone. This is what my sister requested last week with her test (although the doctor said the typical "noooo, you dont have those, those infections are rare", she still insisted on getting tested for them). All in all though, lyme is a clinical diagnosis because of the poor reliability of the tests.
I really hope you feel better soon :)
~Courtney~
Thank you Courtney,
The tinnitus came after loud noise exposure at a concert. I was on Xanax that year, though don't attribute the tinnitus to that as it was months prior. Benzos don't have a very high ototoxicity from what I know, and are sometimes used to treat tinnitus (obviously just the anxiety part of it). I just can't quite understand why someone who is 24 years old got tinnitus at the concert and literally no one I was with complained about
anything after, it feels like something had to be damaging my ears beforehand. I probably don't know much more about
lyme than most of the people on this forum, but I'm guessing if I DO have it, that could possibly have attributed to the tinnitus. Trust me though, I know, it's very painful. May I ask how long you've had tinnitus? It's been about
two years for me, it does get better.
I'm so scared right now though, scared of how I'll feel when the tests come back negative, and scared of the path I'll have to choose after that. My body is failing me for whatever reason, and while it's a nice thought to think it's something like Lyme that I can put a name on, I just can't be sure, especially living in Utah and being told it's not here and having close to zero resources. I also have similar symptoms to MS, but I guess Lyme can do that too. If I have had it, it's been in my body for well over a year and a half, gradually getting worse by day.
Like you said, doctors and family just say "You just need an antidepressant. If you don't try it, you are doing this to yourself." Call me skeptical, but I REFUSE to believe that my limbs are numb laterally when I wake up because I am "anxious", or that the nosebleed inducing headaches, chronic fatigue through 10 hour nights of sleep, tinnitus, full body twitches, derealization, panic attacks, full body muscle aches, ETC are all due to a random case of anxiety when I have absolutely no reason to be anxious at this point in my life.
I'm 24, but like I said, I feel like I'm freaking 84. I want my darn life back. MS doesn't explain some of these symptoms. Lyme explains ALL OF THEM. Anyway, I feel very alone right now and these symptoms are unbearable. I'm depressed, and yes, anxious. My brother died after this all started due to an overdose, and my girlfriend of 4 years left me when I started to lose it. I'm so frustrated, sorry if I'm venting. Life is cruel to some of us. I have hope, but it's hard to maintain some days...
Post Edited (st0rch) : 6/16/2015 10:22:49 PM (GMT-6)