My Story. *PLEASE READ* Open to suggestions NEED help

I am a young male from MA.I recently graduated (in May) college with a BA in crime and justice studies with a life long goal of working in the law enforcement field. Before then I lived a very active life often pushing my body and mind to the limit pulling all nighters in the library to get assignments done as

well as participating in college shenanigans with my friends and exercising at the gym 5 times a week. Well it seems that in the beginning of June my whole world came crashing down. I started feeling funny after working out and wasn't recovering as well as I used to. My joints started to pop and I mean

every single one of them made cracking noises some of them painful some just annoying. Then I got what the hospital called "anxiety or panic" attack one day sitting there doing nothing at all. My heart

started beating out of my chest I could barley breathe, my thoughts were racing and I was scared out of my mind pretty sure I was going to die. Well that passed and the doctor said it was probably the stress from the school to home transition. So a few days went by and I went to the movies and while I was

sitting there it happened again, then a third time while golfing, then a fourth while driving home from work. Then everyday I felt like I was having a constant battle with breathing. I could breathe but deep

breathes weren't satisfying. I went to the doctor and got a pulmonary function test done. Of course everything clear no asthma no problems. I started getting more and more tired and freaked out about all of these random symptoms coming on so I demanded that my doctor do every blood test she can. Sure

enough I tested positive “off the charts” for lyme. She prescribed me a 4 week course of doxicycline and sent me on my way. The first two weeks of the treatment I was feeling good no symptoms or anything then all of a sudden I was hit by a wall of symptoms. I had huge headaches, crazy “anxiety

attacks”, feeling tired all of the time and just not normal. I went back to the doctor and told her everything and she told me to finish the antibiotics and I would be fine. I fought through the symptoms for a while but I just couldn’t take it anymore and she told me that I needed to go to a specialist if I

wanted further help. One specialist who is great in all fields and really takes time to see you was the first one to accept me and then I made a back up appointment with the head of the infection disease department at my local hospital but he couldn’t see me for 3 months (October). The ID specialist who

did see me right away said I might just happen to have anxiety and tried to push xanax on me and anti
inflammatory and said come back in a few weeks. Well I didnt respond well to the xanax it made me depressed so I never took that again and after a few more weeks of being lethargic I had to quit my job

and I went back to the ID. He put me on another round of 4 weeks of doxicycline and thats when all new symptoms started to come out, I couldn't sleep, my head was screaming, had zero energy, no
appetite, dizzy etc. I was then ordered by him to be evaluated by a neurologist and get a spinal tap. The

spinal tap of course came back negative of any possible infection including lyme so the PICC line that I was begging for was taken off the table. They told me to finish my antibiotics but then one day I was starting to have trouble seeing the ID said it was from the doxy and told me to stop taking it and then

switched to Cerfuroxime 3 times a day for 10 days. I went to the eye doctor because my vision seems to be getting worse but he said everything was fine 20/20 gave me some eye drops and sent me on my way. It is now october and I prayed and prayed that the head of the ID department appointment would solve all of my problems. Welp turns out he told me I was fine and that Ive had lyme for months-year before I noticed any of the symptoms. He told me that I'd be fine go get a job go back to the gym and that was that. I was devastated. Since May the few initial symptom are lingering but now I have a whole list of scary symptoms including:

Headaches
Migraines
Sinus aches
light headed
dizzy
Head pressure
Eyes hurt/ feel tired/ cant see very well/ black dots
Light sensitivity/ After images
Ears hurt/ Ring
Neck hurts
Trouble Concentrating
Mental Fog
Horrible Short Term Memory
Trouble Sleeping
Chest Pain/tightness
Shortness of breath
Shoulder/Knee Pain
Muscle Aches
Restless Leg Syndrome
Core Shaking
Extreme Fatigue
Leg Weakness
Weight loss
Frequent urination

I am only 22 far too young for all of this to be happening to me at once. My parents think I am making it up and doctors keep telling me I am fine and referring me to psychologist. I have seen the documentary under our skin and I am pretty much terrified at this point. Am I going to be blind? Paralyzed? Someone please help

* Sorry I tried to break up the text as best as I could to make it easy for people to read. *

Thank you for the concern. I have been referred to two Lyme literate doctors because everyone on the forms says that there are no good ones in MA. One is not to far from my house and one in rhodeisland also not that far away but one of them has a waiting list until January and the other wont seem to respond to my calls. Is there anything I could be doing in the meantime? I have a six figure student loan bill I need to pay so can't afford to not hold a job for much longer. Also neither of these doctors take insurance only cash so I am also nervous about that.

Thank You Again

Thank You again but as a recent college grad without a dollar to his name moving back in with my parents and no job would make traveling those distances close to impossible. My family is middle class and could probably afford it but I think I have used that asset up by putting the burden of my school loans and useless medical bills from non LLMD on them. Not to mention the fact that they think Im crazy and making it up becuase thats what all these non LLMD "specialist" say right to their face.
Ill try to figure something out :/

Thank You Again

Hi Tbrown2, maybe I can help you a bit with some positives. First of all, look at the top portion of this message board "new to Lyme" and read it all. There is a bunch of stuff that you can do RIGHT NOW to help yourself, such as detox baths, that don't cost much money. Don't drink alcohol, no smoking, watch your diet, eat as best you can, no junk food.
You have one good thing going for you, your age. You stated that you work out a lot and are a very active person. You are young and strong and you WILL beat this. You caught it quick instead of years that a lot of people experienced. Most were either misdiagnosed or told they had panic attack/anxiety disorder. You, on the other hand, know you have Lyme, that GIVES you the upper hand.
Seeing a LLMD is important, as Asada13 noted.  I would say crucial. The sooner the better.
I had very similar symptoms as yours, mine started in June. It took some time, but I'm now seeing a LLMD, you will too.
Come to this board often and ask questions, WE UNDERSTAND what you are going through, even though most of your family and friends might think "its all in your head".
You have friends here. Good Luck

Post Edited (mikeb2308) : 10/14/2013 10:34:32 PM (GMT-6)

Thank you mikeb2308. I was very active and healthy until this happened now I am afraid Im quite out of shape from not straying far from bed in fear of what next new symptom that would flare up. But thank you again for the support.

PlzDieLyme I know it stinks I can relate to the missing out on life feeling. It can be depressing watching all of your friends live normal happy lives while we're here fighting a controversial battle because of a stupid bug. What I need to do is get to a LLMD asap so I can salvage whats left and make up for lost time. Man I could use a beer haha

Hi Tbrown,
Just wanted to echo everyone else - you definitely need a LLMD! I also live in Massachusetts and see a LLMD in CT. You're right - there are no LLMDs in Massachusetts! If you email me I can send the name, if you'd like.

Hang in there, okay? We'll help you get through this.

Hi hun,

Email me when you get a moment. You can click on my name to get my email.

~beth

Hi TBrown and welcome!

This is truly a wonderful forum with lots of support and knowledgeable members.  Keep it simple..  Yes, read the "New to Lyme? Start Here!" Sticky Thread, especially about detoxing which is something you can start tomorrow, all you need is a bag/box of epsom salts and at least 1 bottle of hydrogen peroxide.  Both work together in the bath and they will pull out the poisons in your body.

I believe in educating oneself and the books I recommend are:

Healing Lyme by Stephen Buhner (www.amazon.com) and:

Beating Lyme by Dr. David Jernigan (www.hansacenter.com) and click on store (soft cover is less money).

Good luck to you! 

Denise

Welcome to our little community!
No one seems to have mentioned that many people heal with the use of alternative medicine. This is often cheaper than using a LLMD. So if you are interested in going that direction with your health care, there are many options left for you!

I used a Traditional Chinese Medicine/Acupuncture/Western Herb Practitioner and have healed nicely. There are Homeopathic, Naturopathic, and Herbal doctors that can all be used to help you heal as well. They do have to be open-minded though, as most haven't knowingly treated these infections and you can present information to them if they will accept it.

I have been free of active symptoms from all of my infections for 10 months now!! My active Lyme and Bartonella symptoms have been gone for 1 yr and 10 months! So I know that it's possible to successfully treat with natural means.

Also Bbrian, I'm sure TBrown is old enough to make his own decisions as you stated but when it comes to lyme disease he is asking for help as this is one crazy disease and a very scary one when people first experience it and go through all the craziness of the disease.  And it doesn't  help that TBrown's parents think he is making it up which I find very sad but very common.   I went through the same experience myself.  Please reread this last paragraph of TBrown's first post:

"I am only 22 far too young for all of this to be happening to me at once. My parents think I am making it up and doctors keep telling me I am fine and referring me to psychologist. I have seen the documentary under our skin and I am pretty much terrified at this point. Am I going to be blind? Paralyzed? Someone please help"

Bbrian, where is your compassion?  Where is your support for this new member?  It's not about attacking Traveler, it's about helping another member.  

Denise

Hi Tbrown welcome aboard. Although the disease can be overwhelming you have friends here who want to help. You need to get the abx as soon as possible. You can either go to a walk in treatment center or local dr and get a short script to tie you over or you can get to a LLMD. Borrow money to see this person. Once you are on that path you will begin to stabilize. It takes some time and high doses of abx but you will be okay so hang in there. I am not far from you and have an excellent dr. If you need help give me a shout out.
Dont try to get through it youself and if you have ever had faith in God you will need to use it to help you through this. And dont ever believe that He wont help you through it bc he will. So ask for help. And good luck to you. We have all been where you are now. :)

Hi Tbrown I would not get off the antibiotics. I relapsed early in tx when I tried to. It acts as a band aid but might help you until you get the bigger guns, abx to really wipe it out.

I hope you listen to your doctor, it is not worth taking a chance on damaging your vision.