Please help me

Hello everyone

I'm at my wits end here and am greatly suffering. I have been ailing over the past six or so months with a strange and often debilitating illness.. each day is something new and worse.. I was tested for Lupus, RA, and Thyroid twice, all results came back negative and normal, which really sent me scratching my head.. then I was tipped off to Lyme.

about 6 months ago my fiancee and I were vacationing up in dutchess county new york near the taconic mountain range. (I was very shocked to discover that dutchess county led the nation in cases of Lyme)

We spent alot of time in the woods hiking and enjoying the mountain air. When we came home in about mid October I was fine. By thanksgiving I remember being very tired and achy and slept alot. That lasted for maybe two weeks. I was feeling ok for a few weeks after that.. then I started to get sore like I had just done some crazy workout routine and my stomach started to really give me problems. Embarrassing problems.. like vomiting randomly in public and having to rush to a public toilet to have horrible diahrea (sorry) these attacks would strike randomly and I remember I had misgivings about working because I didnt know when that was gonna happen and I didn't want to have some accident.. These problems still plauge me to this day only now the added crippling gut pain that doubles me over has started more regularly as well.

After christmas everything really started going south..

Things I have been experiencing since then are

severe joint pain in fingers, wrists, knees, hips, ankles, toes, and shoulders

these areas also swell, get red and become very stiff

I have lost range of motion in my neck, it hurts something awful to turn my head.

My right shoulder has been bothering me a great deal for about a week and this morning woke up to find it had migrated to my left shoulder as well.. In the same spot no less..

the muscle pain is widespread at this point, it hurts to sit on a hard chair because the muscles in my legs are so tender..

I have to tell my fiancee to be careful when he touches me as my arms are also very tender.

Something new Ive also noticed is that my limbs will randomly go dead and start to really burn and tingle and areas of my skin will hurt so bad that it feels like im being torched with a blow torch..

I feel like at this point I have a permanent headache and the fog on my brain is absoultely astounding..

I really try to avoid talking face to face with people because they either think im slow or on drugs..

I'm stuttering and slurring my words, repeating myself, and not remembering a conversation I had 5 mins ago.. Ive even had to stop in the middle of a talk to ask them what we were talking about..

I feel like I have become the town drunk! I'm stumbling and tripping everywhere when Im walking.. losing my balance in a stationary position..

Im very rashy lately as well, my face and chest mainly.. but the splotchy rash on the back of my neck was what prompted the RA test along with the fact that I have reynauds.. But I didn't think that was a part of Lyme?

The fatigue Im getting lately is crazy.. Ill be out somewhere and Ill just get slammed with exhaustion like I have to rest for a min. I even fell asleep a few times on a bench!

My hair is also falling out.. I wear a hat alot because im embarrassed of it..

I went in for a Lyme test today but after what Ive been reading chances are, they used the standard test so Im waiting for that to come back negative as well.. Im so frustrated and just want an answer!

Im tired of hearing that its all in my head and I need to get over it..

also, hair falling out could be low iron. I would ask for your thyroid labs... a lot of drs think in range or bottom of range is normal, when in actuality you want to be optimal. I know thyroid issues can cause hair loss, but so can low iron/
Also, are you planning to test through igenex??

Hi, welcome aboard. You are in the right place. I had 90% of the symptoms you now have. You need to find a llmd in your area as soon as possible. In the meantime you can go to a treatment center or walk in and tell them youve been bitten. A short course of doxy will improve some symptoms to allow you to function better. We have all been where you are, so hang in there. It takes a good 6 months of treatment to start to feel better. But you will. Good luck to you and keep in touch regarding your progress.

Thank You everyone for the quick and caring replies :)
I did some more reading on this forum, so much information and found that some other strange symptoms I have had, like extreme light and sound sensitivity and mood swings. I just chalked those up to stress.. I feel relieved that i'm finally able to start getting some answers. Most of all, Im glad that im not going insane! Believe me, over these past 6 months i have heard it all.. faker, attention seeker, hypochondriac, told that I need to see a psychiatrist, yadda yadda..
I'm still waiting on my results from the western blot test (I discovered this was the test they used), through quest diagnostics labs.
I live in Connecticut, New haven area.
thewitness, the calender idea is great, as the symptoms of this are indeed strange...
I sent an email to ilead.orgs dr.refferal service but Im also gonna post a new thread to look for lyme literate drs.
I will keep everyone updated! Its so wonderful to know that Im not suffering alone anymore :)