I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia about four years ago, and it destroyed my life. My symptoms were severe: full-body pain, fatigue, migraines, etc. I developed Raynaud's. I had a seizure, followed by an abnormal brain scan, followed by a normal one. Degenerative disk disease was discovered in my back and cervical spine and a huge amount of arthritis in my knee. My eyesight went downhill fast. I developed neuropathy last August and it has gotten a lot worse, verified by EMG then and again two weeks ago (small fiber, large fiber and autonomic nervous system). I was put on disability for awhile but was just denied continued support. Everything has been hard on my family. My husband is a saint.

I had a bullseye rash on my arm in the late 90s. My (now ex) brother-in-law, who was a doctor, said it looked like Lyme but that it was impossible to get Lyme in Michigan. And since I had no other symptoms at that time, I didn't take it further. When my symptoms started, I asked for a Lyme test (remembering the rash), so they ran an ELISA test. It was negative. I asked my neurologist for a Western Blot when I was first diagnosed with neuropathy (my mother-in-law knew someone with similar symptoms as mine who was diagnosed with Lyme from a Western Blot). He chuckled and said it wasn't necessary - it was only used to confirm a positive ELISA. He ran another ELISA and it was negative.

For some reason, I let it drop, not really believing I had Lyme. But when the neuropathy started going nuts and attacking everything, I started doing research. Thanks to people on this and other boards, I am now seeing a local LLMD.

So, thanks to those who answered all my questions...I really appreciate the help!

Lori

Welcome back – great to have you

I hope the LLMD will help.

Keep us informed.

roy

Trust me, the doc's I know take NO chances if they suspect they or a loved one have been bitten. Immediate and sufficient doses of abx. All this inaccurate testing and fooling around is for us "great unwashed".