Anyway, on July 8, 2006 I visited my aging mother in north central WI where she is confined to a nursing home and took her out on to enjoy the scenery on the lovely grounds overlooking a lake. About three weeks later I noticed a small bug bite on the inside of my left arm just above where my watch band is. The bite grew from something minor to something itchy, bigger, strange, and eventually ugly enough to need to be covered with band-aids when I had to attend a formal event, in order to insure that the others in attendance wouldn't see it and think I had leprosy. A side note here...I grew up on a farm in the same area I was visiting wehn bitten by this tick. Growing up on a farm meant I was raised to just keep on going...a bug bite, regardless of how unusual would most certainly NEVER have been reason enough to seek medical help. Thus this bite eventually just went away. A month after the bite first appeared I came down with what I assumed was some passing flu albeit a really bad case of one, including one of the worst sore throats ever, the biggest cold sore I'd had since I was a kid, a horrible sore neck and chills while sitting out in the August heat. Again...nothing bad enought to make me seek medical help...just went to bed until I felt better. In September, 3-4 weeks after the flu bout, my left eyelid began to twitch and continued for at least two weeks which finally made me seek medical help...worried I'd be seen as looking shifty if this never stopped.

Living in central IL, my primary care physician listened to the run up to the twitch story and decided to run blood tests for West Nile and Lyme Disease. The tests came back with the local county gov't requiring a retest on the West Nile since the original blood draw was insufficient to run all the WN tests and the Lyme ELISA came back at .27 with a recommendation to be retested in 2-4 weeks, something my Dr overlooked and I didn't discover until much later after getting copies of all my medical records. The retest on the WN were of course all negative.

Meanwhile I grew progressively more exhausted while developing ever increasing joint pain, something I never had before.

At my semi-annual teeth cleaning in October, the dentist made note of some 'patches' on my gums that appeared to possibly be something viral according to him and I was told to 'keep an eye on them'...hmmm.

By Xmas I was so beat that for the first time ever we wrote checks as xmas gifts for the kids and bought a fake tree with lights pre-attached. In January my husband and I made the 12 hour trip to PA to take care of three of our grandkids for a long weekend and I spend most of the drive to and from sleeping because i was so exhausted.

In February I finally came down with a horrendous sinus infection, 1st one in who knows how many years, along with a really nasty case of bronchitis...both bad enough to make me pay a visit to my allergist. Her physician's assistant listened to my symptoms and decided I needed to be tested for Epstein Barr Virus (I'd had mono 22 years previous while in my mid 30's). The EBV came back at 1000+ on one (don't have the stack of medical records next to me so...) and 545 on the other, thus I was told I had a reactivated but not contagious case of full-blown mono in addition to the sinusitis and bronchitis. I was given prescriptions for prednisone, both oral and inhaled via a nebulizer as well as three different courses of various antibiotics over the next 6 weeks before I finally felt like I was half alive/no longer coughing day and night.

In April I went for a routine teeth cleaning and ended up with the most hideous case of teeth sensitivity imaginable, went back to the dentist a week later and was told that I suddenly must have gum disease and to purchase an over priced bottle of some nasty tasting mouthwash and come in for gum disease treatments. I insisted that I had NEVER had even a trace of gum disease before and most certainly did not have it now since there were no visible signs of it, just pain...haven't been back to the dentist since but have switched to the nasty tasting sensitive teeth toothpaste and mouthwash ICK! http://www.mdjunction.com/components/com_joomlaboard/ emoticons/tongue.png

The fatigue continued to worsen, I developed severe gunked up eyes (a continuation of what started with the twitch over 6 months before) dry mouth and in desperation Googled these symptoms + fatigue and joint pain and took the result with me to my PCP who was very receptive to having me tested for Sjogren's Syndrome. After a complete blood workup, MRI of my head and neck, visits to a rheumatologist, neurologist, ear,nose and throat specialist, and ophthalmologist...all eventually satisfied to settle on the Sjogren's Syndrome and blepharitis even though the only test that possibly pointed to it was a positive ANA and negative everything else...treatment...live with it and try something for joint pain...how about Mobic...took it for three days, thought for sure I was going to have a heart attack after walking from my house to my garden where I found I had to lie down on the lawn before I could muster the strength to pick a few veggies then drag myself back indoors in disgust and near despair. I finally decided after three days that extreme joint pain was preferable to even one more day of Mobic. http://www.mdjunction.com/components/com_joomlaboard/ emoticons/shocked.png

July rolled around and another bout of sinusitis with extreme fatigue...I'd now gone from being a person who lived on 6-7 hours of sleep a day and raced through life accomplishing tons of stuff each day to one who needed 12 hours of sleep just to be able to drag myself around to the never ending doctor appointments. The PA at the allergist's office decided to run the EBV test again, this time the results were 1700+ and 650+...more short course antibiotics AND prednisone.

A month later in August, another sinus infection, another short course of antibiotics, CTscan of my sinuses, exhaustion so bad I spent most days slabbed out in my recliner thinking that if only I had the energy or strength I'd drag the thing out to the yard and start it on fire from sheer disgust of having spent most of the year lounging in it.

I finally convinced the allergist to rethink the original bug bite and subsequent rash (my PCP had the ELISA redone in May, came back at the same .27...'the test says NO' level) idea. She ordered the ELISA...same tired story...negative. So, in desperation she called in a favor with one of her colleagues at Mayo Clinic and I spent three weeks in a row in October traveling to Mayo Clinic to be examined by 'experts' to see if they could solve this medical mystery.

Of course they did a full battery of blood tests for everything imaginable, including once again, the ELISA which of course came back at the same old .27...everything else negative except for some liver enzymes and blood calcium level being slightly off (I'm an artist, NOT a medical person so I've spent my life ignoring all these things up until just this past year, thus my lack of precise names and levels of whatever). I was 'seen' by an Infectious Disease 'specialist' who came into the examining room holding the blood test results, listened to me for a few minutes telling her I definitely by now, after reading everything I could find online about Lyme Disease, suspected that it was the cause of all my symptoms and if she cared to see it I could show her endless pictures online of the EM rash taken of other people that looked exactly like mine. She cut me off right there telling me that 'the test says NO', I did NOT have Lyme Disease. She then proceeded to tell me I probably had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I asked her if she cared to go over the by now long list of details of symptoms, she declined and told me that if it wasn't CFS them it most certainly must be fibromyalgia. I told her I was sure it was neither since not one symptom was present before July 2006. She finally said that since I had been treated for depression when my son was in Iraq in 2005 and had still not managed to be weaned off Cymbalta (insane side effects YIKES!http://www.mdjunction.com/components/com_joomlaboard/ emoticons/shocked.png

) that my real problem was depression, at which point I burst into tears and went on a rant about 'you d*mn right I'm depressed!!! I'm depressed because I've driven over 6 hours one way, to Mayo Clinic three weeks in a row which by most people's estimation is the equivalent of going to see the God of Medicine and all you can tell me is that I'm depressed!!??!' She patted my arm, told me to get help 'for that depression'. I asked her why, since I had experienced my first bout of depression in 1991, when this son who I had been force to give up for adoption, found me when he was 23 and I was forced to deal with the return of the repressed grief, then in 1994 when his natural father was murdered and I hit another depression rock bottom, none of these symptoms appeared. Her reply was a repeat of the 'seek help for depression' and that she was late for her next appointment after which she literally backed out of the room! I went then went off to have two double martinis with my early dinner.

While at Mayo Clinic I was given a 4 hour memory test because my short term memory/spelling etc had really tanked in the past year. It turns out that one has to be bordering on dementia to come up short on that insanely boring memory test...reminded me of everything I HATED about elementary school! The neurologist I saw there discovered that he had gone to high school in a town near where I had grown up and had just been back there for his 45th class reunion, thus wanted to talk about the area including telling me he'd actually driven past the farm I grew up on! http://www.mdjunction.com/components/com_joomlaboard/ emoticons/silly.png

In his report of what he thought of my condition he mentioned that I seemed to have no problem remembering the details of my symptoms but talking to me seemed to be very disjointed...yeah, because I thought I was there to discuss what was ailing me and he obviously thought I was there to marvel at the fact that we'd grown up in the same general area ARGH! He looked at the copy of the MRI I had brought with me and decided the white spots on the top of my brain were probably just caused by age or a history of mild migraines, which actually had gotten much worse in the past year...nothing to worry about according to him. He had me take a mini-sleep test with the ET glowing finger thing one night which showed my blood oxygen level dropped to 70% during REM sleep, thus a recommendation to follow up at home for a few nights at the $3000 per night motel/sleep clinic where I was diagnosed with sleep apnea (managed to snore 8 times in 5.5 hours of testing but had the same bleak oxygen levels, thus now sleep with the lovely alluring elephant apparatus strapped to my face).

The only Dr at Mayo Clinic who seemed to be willing to really try to think beyond the obvious was the rheumatoligist. He questioned me about every possible symptom imaginable, bent my limbs every which way, discovered that I'm 'double jointed'/hyper-something or other which causes it's own unique form of arthritis that I have in my elbows (this is a family trait that my dad, siblings and several of my kids all have), that I now have full blown osteoarthritis in my knees and left thumb, do NOT have fibromyalgia and other than that he could not come up with any explanation for my severe joint pain, especially in my feet and ankles but would have to 'mull it over'. I'm still waiting to hear what he came up with after mulling...doubt I ever will find out.

So, after blowing well over $12,000 of insurance money at Mayo Clinic I came away with a diagnosis of NOTHING while continuing to feel like absolute wrung out crap. I took myself off the antidepressant and the bi-polar med the prescribing shrink put me on to hopefully ease the hideous side effects of going off the antindepresssant...oh and off the DayPro she had prescribed for pain which made my joints feel a million times worse, but being a dutiful patient I took them as prescribed for an entire month! http://www.mdjunction.com/components/com_joomlaboard/ emoticons/sick.png

I finally resorted to calling the WI Dept of Public Health to see if they could shed any light on LD and where to go for treatment. I was told they couldn't actually recommend any specific clinic but did give me names of two that treated many cases of LD. I called the first one and was told I needed to fax them all the test results I'd amassed thus far. Thus I called the second one and was referred to a phone triage nurse who sounded astounded that no one had treated me for LD while of course saying she couldn't diagnose anything over the phone. It turned out her challenge was to figure out which doctor to refer me to who might be willing to treat me WITHOUT positive ELISA tests.

On December 3 my husband drove me back up to a clinic within 5 miles of where my mother is living, a few miles from where I grew up and where the Mayo neurologist had a great time on the weekend of his class reunion and I saw a Dr who actually listened to the now long litany of symptoms and endless dead ends and in spite of the negative tests saw fit to prescribe a month's worth of 1500 mg amoxicillan per day(I had past problems with tetracycline, thus ruling out doxycyline)...cost $10. Within a week I no longer had palpitations nor teeth sensitivity and gradually got to the point where I could actually do things around the house for three or four hours without needing to rest in between. Within days of finishing the medication all the symptoms began to return. Not wanting to make another 12 hour round trip to see this guy again (who by the way ran the Western Blot test even though he was sure it would come back negative after this much time and the various rounds of prednisone and short course antibiotics I'd had...he was correct on that) and called to see if I could get a refill.

So it is now the middle of January and I'm back on the magic amoxicillan, feeling better than I have in well over a year although having to attend business functions with my husband two nights in a row took me two days off three hour naps to recover from...still pathetic by my old pre LD standards. The joint pain is still there but once I get moving it seems to subside except for doing stairs (living in a 100+ year old farm house is all about 'doing stairs' unfortunately) and lack of any kind of hand strength, which meant I had to sign some legal something at the pharmacy so I can get prescriptions with the little old lady easy open tops on them.http://www.mdjunction.com/components/com_joomlaboard/ emoticons/sad.png

Finally, by way of a news story one of my sisters-in-law saw about some family in WI trying to find treatment for their 5 year old, not succeeding until he was 10, I now have an appointment for the end of March at the clinic in WI that treated this kid. in the meantime my husband is having rotator cuff surgery on Friday (brought about by running with a young dog past garden equipment after dark) and I'll get to take care of him...should be interesting. http://www.mdjunction.com/components/com_joomlaboard/ emoticons/dizzy.png

Hopefully he'll have a speedy or at least timely recovery so that I'll be able to travel to MI in mid February when my second youngest daughter gives birth to her first baby (our 6th grandchild). I'm holding out hope that this month's amoxicillan proves to be absolute miracle drug magic and I wake up one day back to my old 'running through life' energetic self with NO need to be part of any support group for Lyme Disease ever again. While waiting for my magical thinking to come true! http://www.mdjunction.com/components/com_joomlaboard/ emoticons/w00t.png

I'll stick around here and look forward to learning tons of helpful stuff from all who the veterans of LD carnage.

What have I learned in the past year and a half...NEVER ignore a really strange bug bite/rash regardless of how tough you had to be while growing up; never admit to a regular medical person that you have ever been treated for depression AND tell them which medications you have been given including the ones used to get you off the first one, because some of them will be overcome by the temptation to automatically label you as mentally deranged, thus suffering from imaginary physical maladies; to be grateful beyond belief for the truly great health and boundless energy I was blessed with for my first 58 years of life while holding out hope for possible more of the same somewhere down the road; to NEVER take 'the test says NO' as an answer and go home resigned to suffer for however long it takes to waste away from something like this...'be your own doctor' as the local neurologist told me NOT to be when I saw him for the second time and told him that I just didn't agree with his extremely quick and easy assessment of going along with Sjogren's Syndrome, since if I hadn't been my own advocate I'd still be slabbed out in my recliner for most of my pathetic waking hours. I've learned that in spite of the critical oversight by my primary care physician in not having me retested for LD when I was retested for WN I feel he is a doctor that I can continue to trust with my medical care. He has been open to discussing all of this, including my money/time/energy wasting trips to Mayo Clinic (no longer the God of anything in my mind) and even agreed to take that wild and crazy risk to prescribe a simple antibiotic if the Dr in WI hadn't agreed to. If the symptoms return at the end of this course, I'll try WI Dr 1st and Nice Local Dr next to keep me functioning at least through the end of March.

Finally, I highly recommend reading a book the oldest of my four daughters gave me for Xmas, 'How Doctors Think' by Jerome Groopman...extremely pertinent after how I've lived this past year and a half.

My apologies for the length of this missive...I either need an editor really bad or there is no other way to cover the hideous waste of over a year of my life where the only thing I managed to accomplish was dragging myself to medical appointments and resting. I look forward to learning from all of you already here.

Thanks for listening.http://www.mdjunction.com/components/ com_joomlaboard/emoticons/smile.png

Sorry for the use of Emoticons...just couldn't resist!

First, Welcome:

Second: Well it does sound like lyme. Have your blood tested via ingenix out in CA, go on there web-site and order the kit, they will send it to you. I was bitten in late July I live in Lake Villa, IL on the border of Wis. became sick 8 days later.

I've also heard the Clinic in Marshfiled WI is good for lyme, that is where I will be heading. Mayo will only go by the CDC standers.

Below is a list of lyme and co-infection sympthoms. My main problem was numbness, burning skin, and flu (and it was July)

I hope this list will help you.

Julie

Short Symptom List: Lyme Disease & Common Co-Infections

Borrelia, Babesia, Bartonella, and Ehrlichia

The following symptoms were excerpted from Diagnostic Hints And Treatment Guidelines For Lyme And Other Tick Borne Illnesses, by Joseph J. Burrascano Jr., M.D. (Fourteenth Edition, November, 2002).

Borrelia

(Borreliosis, neuroborreliosis; also known as Lyme Disease)

Spread primarily though the bite of infected ticks that live on a wide range of mammalian species; secondary human-to-human transmission through semen, breast milk, and possibly in utero

Bladder dysfunction

Burning or stabbing sensations

Cardiac impairment

Change in bowel function

Chest pain

Confusion

Depression

Difficulty thinking

Difficulty with concentration and reading

Difficulty with speech, writing

Difficulty finding words; name blocking

Disorientation: getting lost, going to wrong places

Disturbed sleep: too much, too little, fractionated, early awakening

Ears/Hearing: buzzing, ringing, ear pain, sound sensitivity

Exaggerated symptoms or worse hangover from alcohol

Eyes/Vision: double, blurry, increased floaters, light sensitivity

Facial paralysis (Bell's palsy)

Fatigue, tiredness, poor stamina

Forgetfulness

Headache

Heart block

Heart murmur

Heart palpitations

Heart valve prolapse

Increased motion sickness

Irritability

Irritable bladder

Joint pain or swelling

Lightheadedness

Mood swings

Muscle pain or cramps

Neck creaks & cracks

Neck stiffness, pain

Numbness

Pelvic pain

Poor attention

Poor balance

Poor short-term memory

Problem absorbing new information

Pulse skips

Rib soreness

Sexual dysfunction or loss of libido

Shooting pains

Shortness of breath; cough

Skin hypersensitivity

Sore throat

Stiffness of the joints or back

Swollen glands

Testicular pain

Tingling

Tremor

Twitching of the face or other muscles

Unavoidable need to sit or lay down

Unexplained breast pain

Unexplained fevers, sweats, chills or flushing

Unexplained hair loss

Unexplained menstrual irregularity'

Unexplained milk production

Unexplained weight loss or gain

Upset Stomach or abdominal pain

Vertigo

Wooziness

Babesia

(Babesiosis)

Babesia is a protozoan spread by ticks, blood transfusion, and in utero. Despite there being 13 known forms to date, current testing only looks for two of them.

Air hunger

Cough

Fatigue

Fevers

Headache

Hemolysis

Imbalance without true vertigo

Mild encephalopathy

Shaking chills

Sweats

Bartonella

(Bartonellosis, also known as cat scratch fever)

Spread by bites from infected ticks and in utero

abnormal liver enzymes

encephalopathy

endocarditis

flu-like malaise

headache

hemolysis with anemia

hepatomegaly

high fever

immune deficiency

jaundice

lymphadenopathy

myalgias

myocarditis

papular or angiomatous rash

somnolence

sore throat

splenomegaly

weakened immune response

Ehrlichia

(Ehrlichiosis)

Bites from infected ticks

elevated liver enzymes

headaches

myalgias

ongoing fatigue

persistent leukopenia

thrombocytopenia

As I said, I can understand how my local Dr could have missed the boat on the connection to the bite (especially since the EM rash was long gone by the time he saw me) and the subsequent pile-up of symptoms since he readily admits that he had never to his knowledge seen even one case of Lyme Disease in his practice...he is probably in his late 30's). What I will never understand is the practices and extremely smug attitude at Mayo Clinic, insisting that ONLY the results of the ELISA test which from my endless reading appears to be notoriously inaccurate even under circumstances uncomplicated by passage of time and treatment with at least five rounds of prednisone. On the other hand I will give them credit for testing me for every other possible infectious disease possible including the additional ones spread by the same ticks that spread Borreliosis. Why I would trust those results when I don't trust another thing they did except for the sleep stuff and the rheumatoligist...who knows?

Thanks also for the list of symptoms which seems to be similar to others I've found online...I've counted 33 that I've had. Oddly enough in addition to the seemingly never ending joint pain, the short term memory stuff all all that goes with is is the most frustrating. I will add that I completely lost interest in all of the art, craft, building, fixing stuff that I used to LOVE to do. Since treatment began I've actually gotten to the level of being able to at least contemplate doing some of these things again some day, meaning finish the stuff that got dropped in mid project when I began my journey down this nasty slippery slope into barely existing. I was all ready to tuck point the bricks in our basement walls a year ago this past fall...everything needed is still neatly stacked up, waiting for the job to start, covered with a year + worth of dust.

I do have a question...is it even remotely reasonable to be so optimistic as to think that with treatment I will someday return to what I used to be and be free of this disease or will it be a case of learning to live with accumulated damage?

Also, I'm still more than a little outraged at the complete waste of medical money on places like Mayo and at least one local specialist I was sent for with one of the sinus infections, who was from all I can tell the closest thing to a quack I've ever been to...I am planning to file a complaint with the state against this guy.

Oh, last and most importantly, I went to the ingenix website by couldn't figure out what in the world I am supposed to be ordering? And if I order a kit for a blood test...hmmm...how do I go about having this done since there is NO way I'm going to be sticking a needle in my own vein and drawing blood...as if I even had the talent to do anything like that. :>

Thanks again for the info.

can I ask what branch at Marshfield you went to? And you said they did help you? Marshfield is about 5-6 hours from me, but I'm willing to take the drive.

Yes a lot of people get well from Lyme it will go into remission and may never show its face again. I feel much better then I did in September. I was on an abx from Oct until mid Dec, I then had to go off it due to a reaction, I'm allergic to most meds..

Oh, on the Ingenix web-site, just email them or call them and tell them you need the kit send to you for lyme testing. Then you have to have a doctor sign the order and draw the blood, my doctor did without a problem. Expensive but well worth it.

I hate Mayo Clinic went there years ago, big waste of 20,000 (for another reason)...

Can I ask where in Illinois do you live?? I grew up in Oak Lawn (South) and moved to Lake Villa (North) 9 years ago. I also spend 5 years in Rice Lake WI.

I hope this info helped you, ask away if I can't answer the questions, I'm sure Jamie or someelse can.

Good Luck

Julie

Have you heard of Fox Valley Wellness in Fond du Lac ? http://www.foxvalleywellness.com/ This is the place I've got the appointment to go to in March. They supposedly specialize in the treatment of LD along with a long list of other things and include nontraditional medicine in their treatment regiments. This is where I first heard of the Ingenix testing. Although I really liked the Dr who I saw at Marshfield Clinic, I'm really not sure if he saw treating me for this as a once in a lifetime visit or not. And since my goal (or perhaps it's become a mission) is to do everything in my power to beat into submission/remission, I guess that is why I'm willing to try this other place. At the same time I've never had any experience with anything but traditional medicine and am not sure I have the genetic make-up to actually believe anything else will work...this idea stems from something I read long ago about some people having a gene that predisposes them to believe in things to do with religion and others lack this gene. In spite of (or maybe because of) my strict Catholic upbringing I find it absolutely impossible to go the absolute blind faith route in anything. Does any of this make sense...considering I'm not believing I'm feeling much better (if still far from pre tick attack) after just ingesting amoxicillan, one of the most basic and affordable drugs out there.

I live in the country just west of Bloomington IL...land of the vast sea of corn and soybeans...also 'land of the bland' but a calm and certainly safe place to live. We moved here in '99 from Princeton, IL (60 miles east of the Quad Cities) when my husband's employer moved their IL office here. Before that we lived in Lancaster County PA (where our oldest daughter, son-in-law and three middle grandkids still live)for 6 1/2 years. I grew up between Wausau and Marathon WI, 'in the shadow of Rib Mt', the subject that so interested the Mayo neurologist, good grief! Anyway, I spent most of the first 18 years of my adult life living in various parts of WI until my husband's employer sent us endlessly packing to other places .

My middle kid, second oldest daughter, her husband and 20 month old daughter live in Chicago on S. Dearborn St since moving there about a year ago from Buffalo NY. My second youngest taught art for CPS for five years before getting married a week before my tick encounter, and moving to MI. So Chicago has been on our 'travel to' list for some time now.

The majority of my extended family still live in various places around Wisconsin...I think one of my nephews is living in Minocqua...is that north and east of Rice Lake?

Thanks again for the info...it's just good to finally be able to communicate with others who know where I'm coming from with this...that maybe I haven't just been stricken with a horrible case of Chronic Whining.

Yvonne

Thank you so much for the information about Marshfield, I will call them next week. I did not know if I needed a referral from my Doctor or if I could just do it on my own. He is the one that recommend the place. I also have a positive Western Blot.

Oh I know the feeling, I was planning my wedding when I got sick, had to cancel our honeymoon it was so bad, I cried a lot that month of September...Finally got married in September felt ok that day just not great...

This is no fun...I still have neck, knee and leg pain and tired oh so tired, I can sleep my life away...Since I can't take any of the abx's this is making it very hard for me.

No you are not whining, just venting and this is a good place to do that, hell we all do it...

Julie

Yes I have heard of that place Fox Valley Wellness but they don't take my insurance...

So nice to meet you, and i love you sense of wit

"medical circus" lol...i am sure everyone can so relate!

I just wanted to welcome you, and let you know i am a fellow Illinoian! I live in southern "Little Egypt" around the Mt. Vernon area. Pfff, our very own Public Health Department, says "we don't even have ticks down here."

Ok, sure Health Department. My saga, is quite like everyone elses...long and dragged out and i will spare you the gory details.

Even tho i am 60 miles east of St. Louis, Mo...where there are TONS of good doctors, NONE of them treat for borrelia, so i must drive 3 hours south, so see Dr. M.

It's a sad sad day on Sesame street, when you have to fight tooth and nail for your health.

Again, welcome and hope to get to know you better!

hugs*

Dottie

Currently am on Methadone for chronic pain and anti-depressant and anti anxiety meds. If I could get the Lymes treated I wouldnt need the rest!

It is so frustrating. I have believed it is Lymes from the beginning.

Thanks in advance for your help. Ill post my whole story one day soon.