On August 5 a friend of mine and I went riding. Later that day, I realized that something had bitten me. We figured it was a spider. A few days later, I developed a "bullseye" rash where i was bit. It lasted for about a month. I kept applying benedryl and neosporin to it to keep the infection down. 4 months later you can still see where it was.
In the past 4 months I have noticed I am tired all the time. Also, I remember telling my husband I can not think clearly. Like I was trying to think through fog or something. Something as simple as planning dinners for a week was extremely difficult. About a month ago I noticed my hand joints were aching a little bit. I just blew it off.
Well, the week of thanksgiving I noticed my back and neck hurting more. The last week of November I started to take pain medicine (from a wreck I was a while before) so I could get comfortable enough to sleep.
Monday Dec. 3rd I had a Christmas party at church. I wore shoes that were slightly too big and when I got home my toes hurt so much I could hardly walk. I just assumed it was because they worked extra hard to keep my shoes on. lol. Also, my back and legs were aching too. I was in too much pain to do any house work so I just went to bed, exhausted.
Tuesday morning when i woke up I realized my ankles hurt too. Too much. i was wearing flats the night before. I could not make an excuse up for my hurting ankles. My hands were also hurting much more. I told my husband my body was hurting. It was the only way I could explain it. I also told him I wanted to go to the doctor, he wanted me to see if the chiropractor could fix it first. Around dinner time, I found myself getting more "achy". When matt got home from work, he took over with the kids and let me soak in the bathtub. I also applied a cool pack to my neck. That night as I slept, I kept waking up to my limbs falling asleep. I could not keep them away. They would just go numb. weird, uh!
Wednesday morning I woke up hurting again. I wanted to go to the doctor, but Matt can not call in sick on Wednesdays so I had to wait because I could not see trying to chase my boys around a doctors office. So, I went home and tried to take care of them. About mid-day I realized that my knees hurt so bad I could not stand up with out help. It was like there was a hammer inside my kneecap and every time I tried to lift myself down into a squat or up from a squat, the hammer BANGED into my bone. It was horrible. My elbows were also hurting if I tried to pick too much up. Later that evening after the boys went to bed a couple of friends stopped by. I told them that my muscles were aching badly, my joints were hurting. I don't think anybody really took me seriously. I remember I could not walk bare footed. I had to have think socks because the bottoms of my feet hurt so bad (along with my toes and ankles.) My legs felt as if I lfted heavy weights the night before. Everytime I took a step I felt knife like pain in my toes, ankles and knees, and my legs were so sore and achy. I was miserable. I took a pain pill and tried to wrap some gifts. I wrapped two gifts and my fingers hurt so bad from it I had to stop. I took a hot bath to loosen my neck, but it didn't help. I tried to explain to Matt that it felt like I had a tight spring in my neck. Everytime I turned my head it hurt, then forcefully returned to face forward.
The next morning was like waking up in a nightmare. After tossing and turning all night long because I was huting so bad and my hands and arms were falling asleep, I awoke before the sun. I remember my hands were numb so I started to move them, but they hurt so bad. Then I realized I could not force my hands to make fists. I also wiggled my toes, but wow did that hurt too. So I decided I was going to soak in the tub to loosen my muscles and joints and then do more research. Oh yeah, NOTHING was going to stop me from seeing a doctor...but what kind of doctor should I go to???
Well, walking to the bathroom was out of the question. as soon as my feet hit the floor, waves of pain shot through my body. I had to kinda crawl to the tub. The hot water helped a lot. I soaked for a bout an hour. Matt came in to wash my hair (I could not even grasp the bottle). Matt also helped me out of the tub and helped me dress. After that I got on the computer and looked up arthritis and other things. In the middle of it I ran across "lyme disase" and it was like a red flag. I looked up the symptoms and realized that I had to have it.
I made an appointment with a doctor my grandmother referred me to. I told him everything, about the insect bite and all the other symptoms. I told him I thought I had lyme and he said it was the only logical explanation. So he prescribed me 100 mg doxycycline for 3 weeks.
Wow this antibiotic makes me feel like crap. I either become very queazy or just vomit with this drug. However, after the first couple days passed, I started to realiaze my body felt so much better. After the 4 th day, no more joint pain. Unfortunately, it makes me so sick I haven't been taking it like clockwork. I either take the pills too close together or too far apart. I need to be better. This mornign I woke up with stiffness and joint pain in my right hand.
Other things I have noticed is pins and needles adn my arms are still falling asleep.
Well, ganna play the weekend by ear. Hopefully my achyness and stiffness goes away. Monday I plan on calling a lyme specialist.
I am only 4 months into this disease. My lab work does not show it at all, but if you know anything about LD, you can not count on the lab work to be accurate. There are people who have been dealing with this for more than 10 years. I am one of the blessed few who have identified it from an very early stage. I just pray that God provides me with the tools necessary to heal me without any relapses.
I was wondering why God would want me to suffer at the hand of this illness. I have come to the conclusion that I would never know how serious and dangerous this illness is and how fast it is spreading across our country. It is so important that somebody learns more about this disease and educates people about it. If I would have known anything about it, I would have taken some precaution and tried to prevent a tick bite.
