Posted 3/15/2013 5:51 AM (GMT 0)
Hello.. well I've been reading through these forums and they seem to be filled with a large variety of people who have all kinds of knowledge, so I wanted to share my story and see if anyone can offer me any advice.
For a few years I have been struggling with fatigue, but it wasn't until this past autumn that it started getting really bad. I had been diagnosed with hypothyroidism in 2011, and I think I was starting to feel better, but then things started going downhill. Last month the Dr. ordered more blood tests and when they called me with the results said hey did you know you have lyme disease? I was quite shocked because I have never noticed a tick bite on my body. I don't know at what point I got lyme, but my personal guess is that it is fairly recent-- within the year-- and that before that it was just the untreated thyroid issue. This is my guess because of the way it just got so much worse throughout 2012. Here are my symptoms that I've been having:
-Extremely tired, sleeping for very long amounts of time, but never feeling rested. No energy, feeling like my body has had the energy sucked out of it... to the point that at times my body feels sort of lifeless. I spend all my free time laying in bed, mostly sleeping, but sometimes just laying there, awake but too tired to move.
-Always very cold, and so sensitive to the cold that-- and I know this sounds silly and dramatic-- but when I know I have to go outside into the cold I literally feel fear and dread. It's like my body can't tolerate the cold. It makes me miserable in a way that is somehow both mental and physical. When I do get cold I shake very violently, and it takes me awhile to stop shaking even after getting into somewhere warm, to the point that I have had people approach me to ask me if I'm on drugs.
-Strange episodes of my body sort of .. trembling.. most often upon waking. This trembling is different from the way I shake in the cold. It happens when I'm not cold and it feels different.
-Also, I got sick a lot this past year. I was having actual fainting spells at work (near blacking out accompanied by nausea and shaking) and was treated for an ear infection and it went away. And a bunch of other times I just got sick with throat hurting, fever, chills, congestion, just your typical flu stuff, which always seemed to run it's course but be back in a month or two... two of the times this happened, I noticed it was right after I had treated myself to my favorite sugar cookies, which had me thinking the dough was undercooked but now after what I've read about lyme and sugar...
-Possibly/probably unrelated but I'm throwing it in just in case, but all of a sudden I have a problem with my feet getting sweaty and downright stinky :( and foot powder isn't helping.
-That's all I can think of right now but I feel like I'm forgetting stuff.
Now, last month after my blood tested positive for lyme they started me on doxycycline right away and I have never missed a single dose. Right after I started it I started feeling worse. Right now I feel worse than I ever did, and I feel like it gets worse every day. I never had issues with joint pain until starting the antibiotics, but now my knees ache, throb, burn. I have to cling to railings going down stairs and lean on the counter at work (lucky me, I have a job where I have to always stand) because my knees tremble. I have never felt so weak.
My mom and our doctor are friends and email each other. My mom emailed her about how I've been feeling worse and she said to stop the antibiotics now (I've been on them for almost but not quite a month). I get my blood tested again on monday and then I have my appointment. I have no idea what is in store.
I think what I'm mainly looking for info on is
-How possible is a misdiagnoses of lyme? Do I definitely have it?
-How treatable is this? Am I ever going to feel better? What might possibly be in store for in in terms of treatment?
To anyone who read this disorganized spiel, I thank you for your time.