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TEXAS
Becky Bailey - Shortly after a cruise ship vacation to
Cozumel, Mexico I began having symptoms of "Morgellons".
Thankfully, there was Ginger Savely on the news, trying to reach out
to people like me. My family and I were tested for Lyme, and much
to our surprise we were diagnosed with the disease. Living with the
brain fog, the extreme fatigue, and the body aches is an every day
challenge. I have managed to get the "Morgellons" under control.
If anyone out there would like to receive a list of my advice please
send me an email (beckybailey2892@hotmail.com).
* * * * * * * *
Harriet Bishop - This is my Lyme
story: when I was about six years old in 1934 my family spent the
summer tent-camping in the pine woods of Northern Arizona. I
developed a birght red circular rash on my back that my brother, two
years older, said that he could use for target practice with his bow
and arrows! I was very sick with undiagnosed illness all that
winter, and a special bed was made for me in the living room near
the heater. I now scarecely remember anything about second grade,
though first and third are clera in my memory. Throughout life I
could not perform sports well due to muscle weakness, continual
episodes of tendinitis, bursitis and unexplained continuing severe
musculoskeletal pain. Raised five children, and to put them all
through college, I worked for the Texas Dept. of Health as a Medical
Social Worker II for nearly 17 years. But the pain never left me,
and remained unexplained by numerous MDs. After retirement, my
husband and I moved to Vancouver, B.C. Canada where we gently hiked
the North Shore mountains every Monday for years. I believe I was
bitten by several ticks there, and some left small red circles.
Suddenly in 1991 a near-fall resulted in "injury" to my back and
left hip and leg. The exercise treatment by an MD only made the
condition so much worse that I was bedridden all that summer,
sometimes screaming in pain. Muscle relaxants, medication for
"depression," sleep medications, anti-inflammatories, cortisone,
etc. all made it worse rather than better. I was diagnosed with
Chronic Fatigue syndrome and Fibromyalgia. My arms were too weak to
hold a fork in my hands. My husband fed me. After about 2 years I
could walk short distances again with difficulty, and took on a
volunteer job doing simple gardening at our cooperative apartment
building. On Aug. 14, 1994 while gardening I scratched the skin of
my fingers on wild blackberry roots. The sores became infected in
spite of prompt treatment with antiseptics, and the sores proceeded
to spread and go deeper into the finger tissue until the fingers
were blackened and swollen with infection. We left Canada and came
home to Texas where a local MD prescribed antibiotics, but only for
three weeks or so. Improvement was quick but only partial, and the
raging infection continued unabated after the end of the
antibiotics. Finally in May 2005 a smart Lyme-literate practitioner
diagnosed Morgellon's Disease, and said I had to have had Lyme
disease for many years for that skin condition to have resulted.
Lyme disease was diagnosed, verified by Western blot, (but
interestingly an ELISA test given at the same time came back
negative). Antibiotics were begun immediately. Subsequent lab tests
proved positive for Bartonella, Babesiosis and Ehrlichia, all of
which have been treated. After another year, the skin condition had
still progressed to Acrodermatitis Chronica Atropicans, with a
chronic open oozing split on the back of my right hand. Now another
year and a half later, December 2007, that split has healed over,
and my fingers are on a road to wellness though deep open lesions
still exist. That's nearly 14 years of bleeding fingers--inability
to get my hands wet in normal household activities, inability to
type or sew or to play the piano. Sometimes I still cannot hold a
pen due to the open lesions. Had Lyme disease been diagnosd and
treated sooner, might all this have been prevented? During September
and October 2007 my doctor halted the antibiotics for a trial
period. After the exertion of merely attending our one-day TXLDA
LymeRyde Nov 3, I was unable to function due to pain and crushing
fatigue. I was relieved to restart antibiotics, with a quick
recovery that remains as long as I continue to take them.
* * * * * * * *
April Blalock -
In late summer 2000 I began having flu
like symptoms more often than would be considered normal. I noticed
my usual busy self barely had the energy to get across the room. I
felt like I was anxious all the time and I began having heart
arrythmias frequently.I was told I had cardiomyopathy which is damage
to the heart muscle. The cardiologist said my heart had been
attacked by a bacteria or virus and it was damaged. He did not check
to see if the infection was ongoing, he just attributed all of my
symptoms to a weakened heart. At this time I had deep muscle aches in
my calves and thighs, that I still have today, along with joint
pain, headaches, shortness of breath, energy depletion, memory
problems, and generally sick all over. I went to the diagnostic
clinic in Houston. They did test from blood samples. I remember the
doctor calling after several days. He referred another doctor for
(infectious disease). I was lucky. I got the most wonderful
doctor. He began treating me with antibiotics right away, along with
further test for lyme. He explained that the test were not very good
at determining if you were positive. I was not recovering. He told
me we would start I.V.s and give me what was considered protocol
treatment. I had LYME CARDIOMYOPATHY! I guess I should add that I
cried every day and I prayed to just have some good days so I could
play with my children. The days were ticking off I was attached to
an I.V. pole with a cure that was almost as bad as the disease. I
was bed ridden for most of 6 months. I was brought to the doctor by
family that thought I would not live. I had home health care come
and go changing midlines after they would blow or the time was up
and to prevent infection. They would use a giant needle and run a 9
inch catheter in my vain. It was very painful. This went on for the
better part of 4 years. I am better now . I have many good days and
still some bad. I was optimistic about getting rid of lyme until
they told me I was chronic and still tested positive for it. I have
been sick for a long time. I am so sorry for those who have walked
in my shoes. I hope I have enlightened those who have not. I was
treated for a full year for my heart . All this time Lyme was
ravaging my heart muscle and nervous system. I live in Texas and
Have 2 homes. One is in Austin where the deer population may out
number people. My primary home is in Kingwood. I ironically live on
Deer Mountain.
* * * * * * * *
M Bucuk - Two of my three sons
contracted Lyme disease while living in NJ. It has been devastating
from many perspectives (including emotionally and financially) for
our entire family.... especially for my eldest son who has been ill
with Lyme and Babesia for over 7 years now. All the specialists we
saw for the first year of my son's illness were baffled. Have you
ever met a 13 year old with severe headaches who had to walk with a
cane, and had memory loss? Forgot to mention about how he might pass
out and fall flat on his face...Lyme sucks.
* * * * * * * *
Karen Chisholm - Misdiagnosed for
18 years. I wish I had known about Lyme Disease when I got that tick
bite as a young woman. I knew it was infected, the other tick bites
didn't look like this one, so I put Neosporin on it. I just didn't
know any better. I went to the doctor when the fever hit, but he
said I a virus, I've never been the same since. One ailment after
another.
* * * * * * * *
Patricia Duncan - I have had Lyme
for about 36 years and still hurting, and have so many problems. I
don't have a Dr. who knows anything as I HAVE LOST MY Dr. to the
Medical Examiners. What a waste and insult to those of us here in
Texas. Why do Lyme patients get thrown away and other diseases that
require the same treatments get all they need to stay alive. Why
haven't they asked us? I have been diagnosed since 1988 and have had
symptoms since 1970's. Now I am very ill and in a wheelchair . I
need help as there are no Dr.'s here that are aware of Lyme Disease
leaving me in great pain.
* * * * * * * *
Julie Donnelly - I was bitten as a child in 1977 in Oklahoma. I
don't remember the events exactly, but recall fever, aches, 'hives'
and swollen joints to the extent that our family dr. wanted to
hospitalize me for testing for rheumatic fever and juvenile
arthritis. But after 7 days of antibiotics, the rash was improved,
so all was forgotten. I suffered with mild symptoms for
decades-memory loss, getting lost, joint pains, ear infections,
'allergies' to medications, ocd, anxiety, hallucinations, heart
palpitations, etc. I just learned to live with it all, and did
fairly well with it aside from the constant gnawing feeling I was
secretly dying and didn't know why. Part of my success can be
attributed to the nearly obsessive runner I was. Lyme is an
anaerobic bacteria, so my compulsive exercise helped kill it. But,
during my third pregnancy I was found to have lupus blood clotting
issues ( from all the years of undiagnosed Lyme infection I now had
autoimmune, also.) But it just didn't fit. So I found a naturopath
after my third delivery in 2002 who performed an electrodermal
screening and found Lyme in every organ system in my body. I was so
incredibly at peace with a diagnosis! Treatment with abx started
rough-such a bacterial load that I only made it a week on pediatric
doses and the herx (which by this time included lupus), caused my
kidneys to fail. Now as my abx change though the years the herx
continue on all levels. Tremors, to the point of not feeding or
dressing myself for 11 months, and bone pain that would make me pass
out. One hospital stay, I was taking abx when a herx came on in my
shoulders. I tried to explain to them, but they insisted insisted on
doing 14 xrays of my shoulders to see if I'd somehow broken them
both in my bedridden state! Ugh!I am thankful for my Lyme dr. he's a
rare find. He is actually able to make progress with me and my 3
positive Lyme children. Just to have a diagnosis, treatment and hope
for a normal future for my precious kids makes it all worthwhile. * * * * * * * *
Nita Ellingson - I am a
Registered Nurse (retired). Before the tick, I was swimming across
lakes, leveling one acre of land with a shovel, able to lift 180
pound patients without becoming tired. I came back from Burkeville,
Texas, where I had walked shortly in the woods behind the house of
my mother just before going home. Tired from the five hour drive, I
just lay down on my bed, still in the sweatshirt that I had been
wearing. I had long sleeves, but had pushed them up to wash my
hands. That was my greatest error. When I woke the next morning, I
was making my bed, and there upon the sheet was a flesh colored
tick, the size of a capital "O". I knew this was not a good thing,
so I placed the plump tick in a jar. It was two days later that my
right elbow was hurting. I could not see it until I raised it up and
looked in the mirror, and there it was...the bull's-eye rash. But in
the center a boil like sore had formed that broke open later that
day. My temperature dropped to 97.6, but I felt ill and anxious. I
made an appointment with a doctor I had never seen in Cleburne,
Texas. I took the tick in the jar. After inspecting the area which
had already faded, I was treated for a possible spider bite, because
he said we had "no Lyme ticks in Texas." He looked at the tick and
said it was the "wrong kind" and threw the jar with the tick into
the trash. I took the fourteen days of tetracycline, and the area
healed although it was as painful as a boil. My personality changed.
I was anxious about everything. I could not sit still or sleep
through the night. During this time, I was chosen to go to college
to change my twenty years of being an LPN to an RN. I was able to do
this, but was losing function in my knees and putting on weight. I
contributed this to not gardening or building my house. I went
through several bouts with urinary track pain and infections and
took medication. The condition would not clear up, so I was forced
to take it for several months. I was having my teeth filled often,
so I had intermittent erythromycin and penicillin to control teeth
and gum infection. I would become very ill each time I started the
medication. After this condition cleared, I had bouts of diarrhea
and took Pepto Bismol which also stopped my anxiety. I remember
getting dizzy when I took long walks in the Texas sunshine, I
attributed THAT to heat. My weight continued to evolve. I went from
145 to 190 while walking and doing exercise. It made no sense. I
then became angry at daily problems. This was not my normal
behavior. When given codeine for a painful tooth extraction, the
anxiety stopped and my life became more pleasant for the first time
in three years since the tick bite. I worked long hours in a nursing
home and enjoyed it, until several months of feeling I was more ill
than the patients I cared for. I had less strength and also shoulder
spasms. I thought it was the aging process. I finally had to quit
work due to anxiety. I went from one doctor to another with a
variety of problems. I was treated for symptoms that usually cleared
within weeks. I noticed that one breast was leaking a fluid that was
bluish green and was treated as if I were stupid by a doctor that
said it was nothing. I was getting on the hypochondriac list as each
doctor passed on their diagnosis to the next. I became more
lethargic, having to rest during the day and going through severe
anxiety attacks with all the symptoms of herx, of which I had been
unfamiliar. My heart raced and I had irregular heart beats. I went
to a doctor that checked my thyroid. It registered low, I explained
the tick bite as I had to all the other doctors and they dismissed
it. This doctor checked for Lyme because I insisted. It came back
positive, but he said that might have been a false positive and did
another test within two months, which was negative. He said he
tended to believe I did not have Lyme because I did not have all the
symptoms. Through what I call a miracle, my husband overheard the
company language translator explain her husband's Lyme Disease to
one of the deaf persons in the room during break time. My husband
recognized all the symptoms. He asked for the doctor that he went to
and that was the first time I was diagnosed with Lyme disease. It
was found I also had Babesiosis and went through an intensive course
of a mixture of medications for four months. I was put on penicillin
injections for at least a year. My condition became worse, and
muscle spasms took over my legs and intestines. I had constant loose
stools and incontinence due to spasms of the bowel. I became
homebound due to this condition. I began to sleep all day, but was
up at night. I could no longer run, swim but I did keep a garden. I
forced myself to stop being lazy and would spend long hours digging
or moving earth. I was constantly fighting lethargy and knee pain. I
was told I would have to be on medication the rest of my life. I
can't remember all the tests I took, but they were extensive. I am
disabled, but cannot get disability from Social Security because I
am not considered terminal. I have no further proof except my
physician's recommendation that I not work because it was causing me
to become more ill. So, my gardening stopped so that I could have
energy to overcome this illness. I finally gave up, before my mother
died, I could drive a car, lean on the shopping cart to get her food
and make it home. Slowly, I could not do this. I am now bedfast and
forced into a motorized wheelchair because I do not have the
strength to turn the wheels to get any distance. The insurance
refused to pay for it. I have a chair lift to walk the fifteen steps
to bed. I use to try to walk up, but eventually became faint and
almost fell down the stairs, so I quit. I work on my computer and am
looking to advance my art degree so that I can work from my bed in
the animation industry. My husband, who has been there for me during
all this has diabetes and it has caused him to have to take time for
himself. I learned to take antihistamines when the aura of a herx
starts. I take half a child's dose and go to sleep for about two
hours, till it is over. That is the only thing I found to work. If I
wait too long, I will have to take more and sleep longer. With the
work of 2 doctors who believed me and worked with me for over twelve
years, I have medications for the symptoms. I went to half the
medication I was on. I took 500mg for three years, the weakness is
controlled and the herx are less. I finally stopped taking it, and I
use Quinine for muscle contractions. I take Gabapentin to prevent
headaches. I take several allergy medications and an inhaler to
promote breathing ease. I take blood pressure medication, but can
get the same effect from anxiety medication. I take codeine for pain
once a day and more on rainy days. I have had to fight to keep
prednisone because the estrogen does not help. I have had to fight
to keep the Quinine for muscle spasm, because nothing else helps and
muscle relaxers make me too lethargic and interfere with breathing.
I use all medications cautiously, and have realized that taking half
the normal dosage works well. I have just made peace with the fact
that I can no longer tolerate the antibiotics and the herx reaction
to them. I am doing okay and have made plans to go on with my life.
* * * * * * * *
Vickie Green - Nine years ago my
husband, Mom, and I were bitten by ticks in Arkansas while visiting
family. I was 6 months pregnant with our first child. When we
returned, I immediately told my OB about the bite and was told not
to worry because "there is no Lyme in this part of the country."
During my second pregnancy, I began to have chest pains, but again
my OB blew me off saying, "you are too young to have anything wrong
with your heart." I also began having debilitating headaches and
recurrent "bladder infections" though tests were negative. I was so
tired and achy, but that was because I had two babies under age two
and was finishing my degree, right? So after graduation and baby
number 3, things got worse. I was exhausted all of the time and
getting up nearly every hour to go to the bathroom - day and night!
My OB (new one) referred me to an urologist who after submitting me
to several invasive and PAINFUL tests, diagnosed me with
Interstitial Cystitis. He told me it was degenerative and incurable
and that my only hope for remission was pregnancy. So because I
wanted a large family to begin with and because it gave me some hope
for remission, we became pregnant with our fourth child. Things went
from terrible to worse very quickly and I spent nine months in PAIN
and going to the bathroom 60 or more times a day. I was virtually
homebound. With the aid of a nutritionist, I started some
supplementation and began to do a little better. After the birth of
our son, things improved greatly for a while and then finally
through the advice of a dear friend with similar symptoms, I got
tested for Lyme Disease. I was positve. Since then my husband and
one of my children have also been diagnosed. We recently had to
switch doctors and treatment is frustrating to say the least. My son
was diagnosed with autism at age 4, ten days before the birth of our
fourth. Is it autism or Lyme, or both? We continue to search for
answers...
* * * * * * * *
Karol Halter - As a museum
studies student at Baylor University, I interned summer 2000 at a
living history farm in New Jersey. Immediately upon arrival, I was
forewarned this was “tick country” and I should check myself daily
for ticks to prevent Lyme disease. I was instructed to use a mirror
to see hard to reach spots for the little buggers as small as poppy
seeds. As summer wore on, my paranoia wore off. I had only seen one
crawling on me and it wasn’t engorged. One day I had a tiny, round
rash on the back of my neck. I thought it didn’t resemble a
bulls-eye, (what I was told was a Lyme rash). I knew this was Lyme
country so I had it checked. The doctor drew the same conclusion-no
bulls-eye, no Lyme. After a few weeks, I felt like ants were
stinging me all over my body from head to toe. I thought it an
allergic reaction so I took an antihistamine and went to sleep. The
sensation happened days later, but failed to reappear so I put it
out of mind and returned to work. A few weeks later my world turned
upside down. I became so dizzy and my vision distorted; I couldn’t
tell up from down. I staggered as if drunk, and trying to focus my
sight was so difficult it nauseated me. I was so fatigued that
shampooing my hair was overwhelming. I visited several specialists
in the next weeks, but no tests revealed anything. Doctors doubted
Lyme, but ran a test anyway and were not surprised when it returned
as negative. I was worried and confused. I was extremely ill and
away from home for the first time. The farm staff and my instructors
at Baylor were very understanding. I was allowed to leave my
internship a few weeks early. Returning home in Waco, Texas, I
started over again with the doctors and tests. By then I had done
internet research on my own, and I thought alot of my symptoms
resembled Lyme disease. I learned that tests for Lyme were very
unreliable, especially the ELISA and more so, following infection.
I went to my physician and begged for another Lyme test. She was
very reluctant, but agreed due to my insistence. That test returned
negative and my doctors felt vindicated. I continued pleading with
my neurologist to at least consider Lyme, even though I conceded it
might not be. He answered curtly, “You just THINK you have Lyme
disease.” That is when I gave up trying to figure out what was wrong
with me and tried to live life as best I could. Luckily for me, my
symptoms slowly started to disappear. Part of me thought it a
miracle, but the other part thought whatever disease I had, would
return to haunt me. I was right. In 2004, I rushed to the emergency
room with involuntary muscle jerking and intense shooting pains down
my back. Several MRIs revealed nothing. Again, I thought about Lyme
disease. All the other possibilities, like MS, a brain tumor, had
been ruled out. I begged my neurologist for a spinal tap thinking it
would show Lyme, not knowing they are only about 20% accurate. He
seemed agreeable, but when I saw my medical records, he wrote as if
coerced into the decision. When that test returned negative, I was
devastated. I had full body jerks three to four hours per day,
extreme fatigue, and horrible shooting pain. But all of that was not
as bad as not knowing its cause. I all but surrendered again when I
saw a news report about a Lyme specialist. I had nothing to lose,
so I made an appointment with her the next day. I staggered into
her office, my limbs spastic. I was doubtful anything would result
from this appointment, for she was the fourteenth doctor I had seen.
Still I retained a slither of hope. She seemed to know Lyme disease,
and if I didn’t have it, at least I could feel validated that
someone seriously considered it as a possibility. She gave me a
trial of antibiotics to increase the accuracy of the tests, and
ordered specialized testing none of the other doctors had done. I
received a phone call that both of my Lyme tests were extremely
positive, and I rejoiced as if I had won the lottery. In a way, I
HAD won because I was one of the lucky few with chronic Lyme who
would have access to a Lyme literate physician and receive proper
treatment. A year and a half after beginning grueling treatment of
long-term antibiotics, I have regained my life. Yes I am aware of
the risks to long-term antibiotics. For me, it was worth it. I
control my limbs instead of them controlling me. I can leave my
house and drive my car to the store. I can do more than one activity
per day because I have energy. Lyme was slowly taking my life away.
My Lyme specialist and long-term antibiotics gave it back.
* * * * * * * *
BG Jenkins - I'm just beginning
the journey, one that I don't want to take. I noticed a rash on my
leg, thigh sometime before Oct. 2006. I remembered it because I had
to go in for a physical at that time and forgot to ask the doctor
about the rash. The rash didn't hurt, itch or anything so I just
figured it wasn't anything. The first of this year I woke up with
tingling in my left arm and hand...I went ot the ER thinking I was
having a heart attack. They felt it was some kind of compression
problem on one of my nerves. Then the first of February I went to
the doctor for burning and tingling in my feet. They checked me for
diabetes and it was negative. Since then the tingling has mocved to
other parts of the body. They took blood work and some things in my
blood were off but they couldn't figure out what was going on. So
they took more blood. My daughter was on "webmd" looking for my
symptoms and along with many other things came across Lyme disease.
We started reading. I took the info to my doctor and asked if she
would test me for it, which she gladly did. The test came back
negative. The nurse told me that many times lyme tests come back
negative, but the doctor offered to give me antibiotics just in
case. I've been on these for about 3 days. I've not been diagnosed.
I know from reading that many times it comes back false...but I
don't want to wait until "symptoms" take over my body. If this is
what it is, it's already been in my body for over a year. I'm almost
certain that the initial rash was a bulls-eye. It doesn't look like
that now. It has started filling in some. Anyway, I would gladly
rather not have Lyme disease, but if this is what it is...I want to
jump on it as quickly as possible and find a reliable test and
testing facility so that I can start whatever process to bring my
health back. Thank you for listening.
* * * * * * * *
Linda Messier - Contracted Lyme disease decades ago. Was
untreated until thee-and-a-half years ago when symptons and positive
test results spoke for themselves. Initially I was treated by LLMD
in TX who then retired. I am disabled as a result of chronic late
stage Lyme and Babesia and not able to work. My world is very small
and for obvous reasons is focused on for medical issues/medication
and trying to rebuild my immune system. Pain, Nausea, muscle
weakness, vertigo, hearing issues, brain lesions, short-term memory
loss and neurological issues are just a few of the issues I have to
deal with on a daily basis.
In order to receive treatment, I travel to NC which is physically
exhausting and financially draining. For the first time on 30+
years, I do not have private health insurance and am on Medicare and
a supplemental insurance which is terrifying for me. TBME deines
that Lyme exists in Texas and persecutes doctors and practitioners
for treating Lyme patients. I am uncertain about the future. I want
my health and life as I once knew it back. The medical community
needs to take back their decision making ability and control, stop
living in fear and stop letting TBMS, pharmaceutical and insurance
companies tell them how they can treat and if they can treat Lyme
patients at all. This is America and medical care should not be
about the political machine but saving lives. Dr. P and your co-horts
at the TBME, what about the oath you took when you became
physicians. Have you forgotten what you said and meant?
* * * * * * * *
Mary L. Nyquist - My youngest
child was 6 months old when I became really sick. I had the classic
Lyme symptoms, but in 1964 they did not know what Lyme disease was.
I was in the hospital 9 days and at one point the doctors were not
sure that I would make it. I had four small children then and I
really despaired that they would have no mother to raise them. They
called in an older doctor from Walter Reed Army Hospital in
Washington D.C. and he started me on three different kinds of
antibiotics and I began to improve. Although I got better and was
functional, I started to have problems with my joints and also my
gastrointestinal system. This continued to get worse until I had
colon resections in 1982 and 1983, then cysts on my ovaries in 1984
when called for a hysterectomy. Then in 2001 I had blood clots in
both my lungs and my right leg. I was very blessed that it didn't
prove fatal. Then I had a hip replacement and then a knee
replacement. Somewhere in all that I was diagonised with
Fibromyalgia. About this time I was able to get my records from the
hospital where I was in 1964. I went to a doctor in Austin and she
did the Western Blot and it came back positive for Lyme plus
Ehrlichia. I am still fighting it. I have no doctor who really
believes in Lyme now so I am not being treated as I should be I'm
sure. Sometime I despair that I will just fade away without the
treatment I need, but I can't afford to go long distances to see a
doctor. Oh well!!!!
* * * * * * * *
Mason Robinson - Let's Get some
recognition!!
* * * * * * * *
Jennifer West - On Sept. 2005 I
was bitten by a very small tick on the stomach. The tick was so
small it looked like a splinter. Within a few days my symptoms
appeared, flu like symptoms with horrible headaches, insomnia, red
rash all over my body within 2 weeks. Then along came severe
depression, which I have never had. One Dr. told me it was shingles,
another suspected Lyme but the first test was negative, so that Doc.
released me. My symptoms persisted and I was persistent on finding
out what was wrong. I was only 27 with a husband and 14 mo. old son,
I just wanted to enjoy life as before. Thank God I found a Lyme
specialist in east Texas, I feel that I was so fortunate to get in
to see her so fast, and she understood what I was going through. She
tested me, and by this time I tested + with 2 other tick-borne
illnesses. She started me right away with IV antibiotics for 14
days. She was 4 hours away so I made that drive everyday for 14
days. I felt so much better after 2 day. I am still on oral
antibiotics and have 4 weeks left. I am a fortunate one, so many
people do not get diagnosed as quickly as I did, and unfortunately
their Lyme turns chronic. I feel that I am healed, but only time
will tell. I just hope that I do not relapse or pass this disease on
to future children that I may give birth too. It is scary that
doctors are so naive, and some even disregard lyme, especially if
you live in the South! So many think it is a " Northern" disease. I
got this bite while fishing with my father and son in southeast
Mississippi, but I reside in Texas. Thank you reading my story and
may God bless and heal those who suffer.
* * * * * * * *
Paxton Williams - Been through
the mill. Seen the proverbial 20 physicians and specialists. "You
couldn't possibly have Lyme Disease, we don't have that here";
(Kansas at the time). Or my favorite, "Who told you you have Lyme
Disease? You don't have Lyme Disease. "...or better yet, " You don't
have Lyme Disease until I SAY you have Lyme Disease." or "It's all
in your head". Run to the hills if you hear that one, because you
are dealing with a truely dangerously incompetent MD. After about
$45,000 up front, I was finally diagnosed with Lyme Disease. (I had
been pleading with doctors for over 10 years prior to please, please
run the Lyme test(s). Please...Pretty sure I've had it since the
late '70's. Finally, after I dropped to the floor at work,
coincidentally, a test came back positive. Unfortunately, it was
with an 'Infectious Disease Specialist', NOT, who only gave me 3
weeks of Rocephin and pronounced me cured. I found somebody else.
Well, 4 years later, I am still totally disabled. Have many of the
accompaning conditions, including Chronic Lyme, Babesiosis, Immuno
Deficiencies (Aids without HIV), Hypercoagulable Blood, CFIDS,
Fibromyalgia, severe Arthritis- including Osteo and Rheumatoid, Bone
Spurs up and down the spine, Scoliosis, very severe Osteoporsis of
the spine and pelvis, Roving Pain, Adrenal Fatigue, Hypogandism,
Hypothyroidism, major Hormonal imbalances, Heart Block (no that
wasn't a heart attack...but it could have killed you.". 4 times now,
but, "it wasn't a heart attack"), Chemical Depression, Periodontal
Disease (though I've been diligent all my life in the tooth decay
department), Dry Eyes, Cataracts, Retinal Degeneration, slight
Lattice Tears to both eyes, Psoriasis, Tinnitus, incredible Fatigue,
severe Memory problems and major Neurological problems. Oh, and did
I mention MAJOR Neurological problems? I have spent approximately
$165,000 of my money and the insurance companies' money. It has been
a long hard battle with the disability companies and the insurance
companies. And beware, the Social Security Administration is full of
incompetent, mentally deficient, criminal types. Even though I was
finally awarded Social Security Disability; after they played the
FRAUD card, they only awarded me 5 months back pay, not the actual 4
years due. That saga continues. It seems if you don't threaten, cry,
beg or sue, that you will not get your due. Good luck to you,
because YOU will need it. Do not be afraid to shred some peoples
sensitives and or medical licenses. This is YOUR life after all. It
is their INCOMPETENCE after all. You do not need to put up with it.
Fight back. Get even. Embarrass and fire those who are doing you no
good. And please, destress...PS, my ex wife and my oldest son have
it too, Jason has been on SS Disability since he was 21. He's 33
now. Again. Good luck, unfortunately, you will be needing it.
* * * * * * * *
Suzanne Williams
- In theory, I was born with Borrelia. Since both my parents have
suffered with it since the 1950's and most of my symptoms and my
sisters went haywire during puberty that is my theory. You should
see the doctors faces when I tell them that. Then it changes when I
point out that the other more popular spirochete, syphilis, is widly
sexually transmitted. Oh, yeah humm! I just wanted to post a few
things in my 25 years of experience with treating myself with side
debilitations that go along with permanent damage done by borellia.
Recently, I have discovered many things. I know a lot of you have
adrenal hormone issues like my family but I have found a few
treatments that have helped me tremendously. Bio-identical hormones
are great! First, for an underactive adrenal gland that will in turn
cause the kidneys to be underactive that will in turn cause
dizziness. low temp, hormone imbalance, heart palpitations and LOW
blood pressure. I have discovered Pregnenolone. It is an adrenal
precursor hormone that your body decides what to make out of it:
aldosterone, estrogen, DHEA, testosterone, etc. It has given me
loads of energy and now for the first time in 25 years I can
decrease the overdose of thyroid I was taking to raise my blood
pressure and stay upright! It's worth trying if you have similar
symptoms. I was actually diagnosed with hypoaldosteronism but I
figured it out myself first. The presrciption of fluedrocortisone
(western treatment) was horrible and made me feel like I was dying
so I quit taking it and switched to Pregnenolone. The other is
something several people try and some do not like it but I think
it's because they may not do it right. Human Growth Hormone. It's
awsome. I use an injectable of 10 units a day for 5 days a week from
a tiny diabetic needle, you don't even feel it. Of course my hgh was
low to start with but yours will be too if your older than 35ish. It
has increased my muscle and bone density! |
