PatientsLikeMe ™

I started being symptomatic back in late 1991 or early '92 but did not know what was wrong. I went to many doctors for various problems, some of them listened, some of them thought I was imagining things. In 1995/1996 I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and was somewhat relieved to know that at someone reconized there was something going on. In late 2003 a close friend approached me and asked if I had been checked for Lyme disease, and I was not sure; I knew they had ruled out RA,Lupus and MS. After having multiple labs sent out to specialty labs, I finally got some answers. I was positive for lyme and another tick co-infection called babesia. I kept on working until 8/2005 when the stress of my job finally got to be too much to deal with in conjunction with my illness and that is when I stopped working. I was diagnosed with clinical depression, PTSD, and anxiety -- which are all issues that Lyme disease can cause. It wasn't until early 2006 when I had a brain scan and my lyme specialist made the decision to put me on IV antibiotics for at least 5 months. I still have "good" days and also bad days. My "good" days are still not what a normal day in my life used to be before I became consumed with fighting the lyme. I still deal with the permanent damage that such a late diagnosis left me with. Arthritis, depression, RLS, anxiety, sleep issues, and much more. On top of that, just in the past couple of weeks I also found out that I am also dealing with a genetic condition called ankylosing spondylitis which is an arthritis of the lower back and gradually moves upward and can cause very debilitating symptoms later on in life if not managed correctly. I am on an exercise program which involves strengthening my arms, shoulders, neck, upper back and so forth which is also good to help with the lyme. I now have made it my mission to help others and to be a source of encouragement to others that are newly diagnosed or have family members with symptoms similiar to mine. Someday, I hope that medical science and technology will come up with a better means of treating these debilitating diseases and even maybe a cure. Since I have been to my rheumatologist for follow up, He feels that psoriatic arthritis is more of a posibility than the spondylitis, but is still very painful

Thank you so much for the opportunity to share with others my experience and hopefully I can help guide someone in the correct direction or just give a tip that might be of some help to someone else.