CajunGrl said...Hi Miki,
Welcome to the forum hun. Why don't you post a new post and tell us about
yourself and what you've been through so far with Lyme Disease.
Hi Cajungrl and everybody else on the forum. Sorry about
not replying to you sooner but I've had the mental capacity a similar size to the tick that bit me, for what seems like a long time. I feel that I have been consumed from the inside out, extremely slowly, for the last couple of years. I really have been meaning to join in with this great forum but LD had not only twisted my mind but stole my confidence too. I've spent many hours reading and then having to re-read all your comments and questions and trawling the internet for scraps of information to explain this maddnass. Although I saw the embedded tick and had the rash three weeks later, I had no idea what LD was. I know now..................oh yes I do!!
I have a brother (a microbiologist) who knew what the rash was, he sent me to the Dr (who hadn't a clue) armed with the rash information and the recommended dose of Doxy (100mg 2x a day for three months) and a pineapple sized EM rash, the Dr (bless him) gladly gave me the Doxy.......I went away and finished the ABX, the rash went and all was forgotten. Three months later along with a slipped disc like pain in my neck and flu like symptoms, I visited the Dr again, this is when all the fun started. Eventually my wife was so perplexed with the way I was acting she asked me if I had Alzheimer's disease. This was a year after my first bout of "flu". We then looked deeper in to LD, found this life saving forum and lots of internet info and took it all to my Dr. After three ELISA blood tests (done in the uk and all negative) I was dismissed time after time. After a frustrating six months I travelled 200 miles to a LLMD in London who cliniclly diagnosed me to start with and then also sent blood for a westernblot test to the USA (Igenex), this came back "strongly positive" according to their criteria and the CDC's.
I've had many different symptoms, from fatigue and arthritis to stabbing pains all over my body and tingling up my neck and face to what seems like every sinew in my body wanting to snap, you all probably know how that lot feels, but the worst by far was the slow mental torture I experienced. Most days I couldn't function at all as my ability to think was always so blurred, I was anxious alot of the time too, if anxiety didn't trash my days then apathy did. Irrational and illogical thoughts ate away at me turning me in to a paraniod wreck. Reasoning things out was sometimes impossible, the "brain fog", rage, tearfulness, depression, forgetfulness ......etc...... was destroying and nearly did destroy me. I could go on and on describing my symptom and pains but I know all of you have experienced something similar too.
Since then I have been taking Doxy 200mg/ 2 times daily with Metronidazole 400mg/ 3 times a day for two days a week. These are due to change very soon to three other ABX, Amoxicillin, Erythromiycin and Tinidozole (doses yet to be prescibed) taken with Amoy as a base and the other two staggered, one every three days the other every four. Within a month of treatment starting I regained alot of my mental ability and other symptoms subsided too. I'm still getting some very bad days, some not so bad days and now I have a few good ones thrown in. I'm detoxing and taking lots of probiotics, vitimins, milk thistle and fish oils. My LLMD has put me on a dairy free, gluten free, caffine free and alcohol free diet...................these carpet squares taste ok with relish on them!!!
Although from central England I was bitten in southern Hungary in Sept 06, that bite has nearly ruined my families; and my life too. My wife has been great through the whole, very bizarre last couple of years. We have watched the forum for over a year as we suspected LD was the culprit to my slow destruction, but LD as you all know, is very misunderstood espeasially in the UK. I couldn't get any response from my Dr other than depression. You all have really helped us to a greater understanding of LD and my wife describes this forum as her "lifeline", she now grasps, as do I, the basic complexities and symptoms of this disease, mostly thanks to this forum. I would like to thank all you fantastic people for not only keeping my marriage together but also getting me to realise my symptoms were not in my mind. Your honesty and frankness has helped us immeasurably to understand this illness, I feel part of your community and will continue to read the threads with interest. My wife and I feel that we already know most of you but this is my long over due introduction, I'm really sorry if it has dragged on but as I've been trying to this for a year it's all just spilled out.
Thanks for reading this and I'll try to have more input as time goes on.
Miki.
Post Edited By Moderator (CajunGrl) : 1/22/2010 3:37:51 PM (GMT-7)