Posted 10/17/2009 5:36 AM (GMT 0)
I had lyme disease as a child (age 7) and was treated with IV antibiotics for two weeks and I was hospitalized. I never assumed I would ever get lyme disease again. In 04" I worked on a horse farm in NJ and saw this mysterious rash.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l180/pugsnchickens/yucky.jpg
At the time I had just been diagnosed (age 23 in aug of 04) with what I would learn to be a life long disability, a bleeding disorder called ITP. I still have it and also some other issues I developed as an adult (asthma, graves disease). I am now 28 years old. I originally came here when I was first married, and Ticker helped me out with some information.
I never ended up seeing the doctor in Jackson due to financial difficulty (I was a newly wed and we were in debt). I forgot about it and went on in my life, as the doctors that were covered by my insurance just threw their hands up and didn't want to further investigate. I came to a point where I just didn't want to see doctors anymore. I am now covered under disability and I see my oncologist every month for my bleeding disorder (ITP). Since then in the past year and a half I had a baby girl, who was born two months premature (very high risk pregnancy, placenta previa, multiple placental abruption).
A friend of mine believes they were infected with lyme or a similar disease from a mosquito bite. They have had crippling illness ever since, but seem to improve with a short course of antibiotics (cipro) and go back to illness when off the medication. I sent him your email along with Dr. B's paper. I am sad to see how that poor doctor was shunned for his efforts. I was too, too bad doctors won't make a clinical dx and place more value on the tests. So my point of emailing you was that ever since I have been thinking about my friend, I have given a little hope on trying this again, even though it's been almost three years. I still have unexplained health problems, and I still have a picture of my rash, and my western blot which showed the 18KD band was reactive (but only reactive band) on my test, along with a high Lyme AB screen. They said I had to have 5 bands to be diagnosed, even though my rash was back in 04, that was a long time ago and I'm sure could effect my diagnostic tests. I was put on steroids for my bleeding disorder and it only seemed to make things worse. Since all of that my health had improved surprisingly enough with being pregnant with my daughter. I had a good year and a half of no brusing, but I look diseased again. On the inside I look beat up, but on the inside I have improved, I stay active, exercise, eat better, I am in love with my husband and baby girl, and low stress levels. That's probably what has helped my overall health. I still struggle with fatigue at times, but push through it.
Now that my husband and I are more financially stable, I am thinking of going to see her, but I'm wondering if there was somebody closer in my area. Do you know of one in NE PA? I'm in Emmaus, although I'm still not opposed to seeing the Dr. in Jackson, NJ.
What is your honest opinion should I pursue this? My oncologist never saw anything in my blood smear. Maybe the rash has no significance, I'm not sure. I'm just curious. Thank you all for reading.
Kara