Hi everyone! *waves* I want to share my story and tell everyone that I am getting my blood drawn for igenex in two weeks, and of course I will post the results on here. Sadly, I believe my untreated lyme resulted in my daughter having a neurological disorder called autism. I hope I can help create awareness.
I was bit in 2003 when I was 13 years old playing in the school yard. I got the bulls-eye rash on my back right away within a day and had it for 6 weeks. My
parent's thought it was a spider bite. I got really really really sick.
2003, It started with severe back pain which I couldn't sleep or use a
pillow to lay down. I could not wear a bra either because it was too
painful. My parents didn't know what was wrong. I went to a
chiropractor and tried all sorts of things there, even electrodes that
pulsed on my back; nothing helped. I was taking 10 ibruprofen along
with tyenol everyday at school. I put them in a plastic baggy in my
pocket. Yes, I carried a baggy of pills to school at 13.
2004 I developed severe stomach pains, which got worse and worse. I
felt like there was somehing inside my abdomen eating my insides. I
figured out that over time drinking a full glass of milk would help
the stomach for about
2 hours. I would then continuously chug milk all
day. I kept tums in my pocket at school. The back pain remained was still so bad.
2005 I'm now 15 years old. I play volleyball now, but I'm in severe
pain all over. I visit urgent care and get a catscan. I tell the
doctor I've had pain for a long time, doctor tells me there's nothing wrong and I should just pull it together and get through it. I get
depressed.
2005, I wanted to die. I take 20 pills of ibruprofen hoping I would
die of an overdose. I get really sick and start throwing up clear
liquid. My mother calls the poison center. I don't remember, but my
mother is sad. I get better within hours. I didn't take enough to kill
myself. My mom looks online for help. She finds a gastroenterologist.
I see the gastroenterologist and have an endoscopy. The
doctor tells me I have heliobacter pylori. He prescribes me
antibiotics. I get better immediately. Within days, I'm feeling so
much better and am so happy!
3 months later, the back pain has returned but now I am experiencing
neck stiffness. I describe it as feeling like a cracking glowstick. My
knees now lock and elbows start to lock when playing sports. I'm
falling apart as a 15 year old.
2006, 16 years old, my primary physician tells me I hurt my back from
sports and need to take it easy. He doesn't understand the pain I'm
in.
At school, I pass out during volleyball practice while standing up. I
just fall to the ground. The coach and everyone rushes around me to help. I feel fine within minutes but I have no idea why it happened.
The coach tells my mom about
the faint and my mom schedules an appt to
get my heart checked. The cardiologist puts electrodes on and around
my body and gives me a carrying case and I wear it for a day doing my
daily routine. I go back and the cardiologist says the results look
good, and my heart is fine.
I develop moderate acne (i had mild before). I am put on various
antibiotics through 2006 and 2007. These antibiotics include
erythromycin, doxycycline, tetracycline, clindamycin and soldyn. I
don't take these responsibly and as directed because they hurt my
stomach. My mother stops taking me to the dermatologist in 2007.
2007, I'm used to the pain as much as a person can get to use to pain
after 4 years. In class as a senior, I constantly stretch, huff and
puff and learn how to breathe a certain way so that my pain is not
aggravated.
2008, I graduate high school WOOHOOO! I meet the love of my life and
he sees me in pain and asks me why, I tell him I don't know. I now use
bengay regularly with tyenol, heating patches during the day and a
heating pad at night. I haven't used a pillow for 5 years. I accept
that I'll never get better and no one can help me.
2009, 19 years old and I'm attending college. I get pregnant. I start passing out, luckily always by someone who can help me. Obgyn tells me
it's my body changing with the pregnancy. My glucose tolerance is perfect and my blood
pressure is ideal.
June 2010 I give birth to healthy baby boy. He's super smart
and I continue to ignore my pain.
2011, I talk to a new doctor about
my back pain and she prescribes my
cyclobenzaprine and tells me to go get physical therapy. I don't seek
out physical therapy because I'm mad that she think pt can help me. I
try the cyclobenzaprine and it makes me sooooo sleepy. I stop taking
it. I give up again.
2011 still- I get stomach pain and have to get a colonoscopy. The doctor tells me I preliminarily have IBD and lots of eosinophiles lining my colon. Dr says I need a second colonoscopy in 6 months to confirm the dx.
2012, I'm 22. I'm in microbiology class because I'm studying to be a
medical laboratory technologist. I see slides on lyme disease with
pictures of the bulls-eye rash which make me so sad. I think I finally
realize I have lyme disease because it is the exact rash I had back in
2003.
I decide that I must have chronic lyme and that I must have somewhat treated it during the years of taking antibiotics for acne. I, however, am nervous that I still might have active lyme because I didn't take my doxy as prescribed but I shrug it off. I'll have to accept and live with it.
2013, I'm in clinicals for college and find out I'm pregnant again! I
start passing out regularly to the point where the teacher's make me
go to the er. The er says I need to take it easy while being pregnant.
2013, I give birth to a healthy baby girl, and I graduate from
with a bachelor's.
The thing that hurts the most isn't the back pain, it isn't the neck pain, nor is it the knee pain. It's the fact that my daughter has a neurological condition called autism. If I can help anyone, I will spread the awareness of what undiagnosed lyme can do to someone. I'll post my results when I get them.
Post Edited (JoOnTheGo10) : 8/5/2015 8:33:07 AM (GMT-6)