lyme situation? + results.. need help

Hi all,

I just wanted to start with an intro and background, and dive into my results, just so you have all the info you need. I really appreciate everyone's time.

I'm a 24 year old M. In August 2015, I started taking antibiotics for what was a mild infection brought on by a stupid ear piercing I got (which I eventually took out).

I started feeling tired on day 8 of my antibiotics. Then, things got weird. I felt extremely fatigued - a feeling of fatigue I've never experienced before because I also felt sick, like the feeling you get before you're about to get hit with some phlegmy bacterial infection.

This lasted for months, and was worsened with additional symptoms.

Everything felt foggy as I walked. In fact, I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs. It also felt like I was having a perpetual panic attack for months. My head was out of control.

My hands started feeling stiff and dry, which is the best way to explain it. Then, the bottom half of my palms started feeling very painful, and were throbbing day in and day out. Some days I would get tingly sensation on the tips of my fingers.

Every morning was hell, and got only slightly better. I felt sick and gross and my mouth was so, so dry. I would also wake up to my hands feeling like logs of wood every morning and would get slightly better.

Then a couple of my fingers swelled up, mildly and were red. They eventually resolved within three weeks.

Then, I started having this weird urge to pee in the morning, which lasted for about 3 weeks. Of course, when I went to pee, I didn't have to, but the feeling of it was unbearable.

My doctors diagnoses were practically useless, ranging from stress to pinched nerve (lol, that doesn't make any sense). I had the "standard" blood work done, which was quite inclusive, including diabetes, thyroid, blood count, etc. etc.

The sensation to pee is what basically was my wake up call, that I needed to take matters into my own hands. I insisted I needed to see a rheumatologist in December, after reading some stuff on lyme.

Also, I went to college in a county/area that apparently has the highest rate of lyme disease in the country (I graduated college in Spring 2014 - and started getting these symptoms in the Fall of 2015).

OK so just this January 2016:
The rheumatologist ran tests for autoimmune disorders, including lupus, etc. and Lyme.
When I saw him, there were some considerable improvements worth mentioning.

I don't have the throbbing and burning pain in my palms anymore.
I don't have the fatigue anymore (for the most part).
I don't have the brain fog.
I don't have the pins and needles on my fingertips.
I've gotten the urge to urinate, without anything coming, only twice so far this year lasting two-three days only in the morning.

After getting tested, in the course between seeing the rheumatologist in January and following up on my results in March, I've developed this weird heart thing, where my a heart beat is thumping/skipping a beat/about to fall out of my chest. It started happening one night after I came home from the bar. It happens singularly, but it happens multiple times a day (around 25-30 times). It's improved, it's less dramatic, but happens more often. I can almost feel when it's about to happen, which is the weirdest part.

So when I saw the rheumatologist in March for a follow-up (two months after they drew blood) he said everything was fine and that if my primary doctor sees that I'm lyme positive in the lab results, it's fine, because I'm not really lyme positive...

WAIT - what?

Yeah, so he said I was positive, but technically not positive. Anyway, I told him to print out and give me the results, and he did.

Since then I saw a cardiologist because my heart situation was persisting. I got an EKG and wore a monitor for one day. The cardio said I was fine, but 'wondered" if it was lyme since his own son had it. He checked my medical record, saw the lyme positive, and said that he can't interpret these results and that heart palpitations are probably just a "normal thing." BUT I'VE NEVER HAD ANYTHING LIKE THIS IN MY LIFE.

Oh, and quick side note, I also developed this weird feeling under neath my foot and hand - it feels like is yarn underneath my foot - like a bandaid stuck there. On my left hand, half of it feels stiff, and lacks sensation. The hand and foot feeling come on and off. I've had it three times already, both lasting around 2 weeks.

ANYWAY -

So now, I'm sitting here with my lyme results on a sheet of paper, and this weird heart thing, and I don't know what to do. Do I get a second opinion? I'm terribly afraid that my symptoms have moved to the heart, and that the fatigue and other fog symptoms I experienced in the past, while more debilitating, were simply a precursor to what seem like scarier symptoms (for me).

My lyme results:

LYME Ab., IgM ......... *H 1.00
LYME DISEASE Ab., SERUM ....... *H 1.12

I don't know what the lab's references are, but hopefully this says something? Overall, my mom and my friends are so tired of hearing about this, and honestly so am I. I just don't know what to do anymore.


Any help is appreciated. :)

Thanks so much girlie. I looked up LLMDs through: http://www.lymediseaseassociation.org/

But I'll start a new thread tomorrow morning for an LLMD near me.

I'll also go and check out the pinned thread. Thanks so much for hearing me out. I just remember seeing the bold red numbers on my rheumatologists computer for both of my lyme tests, which signifies that they're positive, and him telling me "yeah, it's positive, but you're not positive"

Haha

<3