My name is Allison and I am 28 years old. I have been with my husband for almost 11 years now and our son just turned 3 in October. I started with my symptoms shortly after he was born. After reading the first post here, I may have actually had some symptoms while I was pregnant. At 5 months pregnant I had a needle stick with a Lyme-infected needle at work. I was told not to worry about it then because Lyme didn't transmit that way, so I didn't think about it again. At 6 or 7 months pregnant I developed a rash all over my belly, but I was told it was just dry skin....never thinking anything about it. Anyway..as time went on I developed aching in my legs and feet, sometimes sharp pains so severe I could hardly walk. I have a headache almost every day, muscles that are so tender just rubbing up against something is very painful, extreme fatigue, dizziness, high blood pressure....the list goes on and on.

Anyway, finally after almost 2-1/2 years my doc decided to test for Lyme and sure enough it was positive. I cried for about an hour yesterday because I really didn't think that is what was going on with my body. I will be getting a PICC next week to start my 4 weeks of daily Rocephin. I honestly can say that I am really scared about this....how is my body going to react to such a harsh drug? I have never seen a tick anywhere. Now I am concerned for my son and husband. My son actually had a tick embedded 2 weeks ago, but has not developed a rash or anything, so I am thankful for that. The only thing is that I just don't think some docs know enough about the disease and I'm very anxious about my son developing it.

I will be frequenting this forum very often as I don't know where else to go to get support and answers. I really hope that I can come out of this with some new friends so I don't feel so alone and a lot of information and other people's experiences with the disease. Any feedback, stories, or words of encouragement are absolutely welcomed and appreciated.

Post edited by: amccaffrey, at: 11/27/2008 07:24

I would REALLY recommend you have your son be put on antibiotics to be safe, and I'd INSIST on AT LEAST 3 months of doxy or some other really strong ab known to kill Lyme, if it were me. I wouldn't play around with this, if I were you, hun. My heart just goes out to you. I know it must be awful to be in your situation, though I won't pretend to have a clue how you actually feel, as I haven't been in your shoes.

I have, thanks to many other helpful members here, collected a bunch of sites that may be helpful to you as you learn more about this disease. If you are interested in them, please feel free to send me a PM, and I'll send them to you, so you can poke around at your leisure. Please also feel free to send me a PM if you just want to chat, have a friend, someone to vent with or whatever. So many of us know what you're going through, even if we haven't been in exactly your circumstances.

*hugs*

Jen

As for how you will react to IV, I can't say. EVERYONE reacts differently to every single drug or supplement. There's no clear cut treatment for lyme. My lyme doc openly admits it's a crap shoot. Sometimes you get lucky with the first drug and it helps the strain or co infections you have, but usually you have to try a few drugs, sometimes in combination with eachother.

Be aware of a herx reaction. It can be mild to severe, basically it can be a worsening of current symptoms, and sometimes new ones appear. It's a good thing, in an ironic way. it means that the drug is killing the bacteria. Of course if it gets too bad, definitly call your doctor. Some things you can try to help make it easier are some gentle detox things, a warm bath (not HOT), with epsom salt, peroxide and fresh grated ginger is my favorite.

Drink plenty of water to help your body flush the toxins out. some people do a detox water, I think it's just warm water with fresh lemon squeezed into it. I know there's also one where you add a little bit of sea salt too.

are you seeing a llmd? (lyme literate doc), or is this your family doc treating you?

Please feel free to pm me anytime with any questions or concerns you have, I can get into some more detail thru that. It's usually the best way to get a hold of me here, I usually don't have much time on the boards anymore unfortunatly. My inbox is usually full of people looking for doctors, so I'm usually doing that.

you just have to click on "send a pm" under my picture.

warmest regards,

jaime

I will definitely be calling my son's doc to get him tested tomorrow, as today is Thanksgiving. I really just don't want to mess around with him. My husband is also getting tested.

I'm really just not sure how to fight the needlestick incident with my contracture. It happened at work...the same place I still work...and if my doc says no way, then there is no worker's comp possibility. It would help a great deal if I could get it, though. My doc has dealt with a lot of Lyme and I felt very comfortable in her treating me, but the fact that she completely denies the blood transferral makes me angry because I have heard that there is always a possibility because it is not a completely understood disease.

Anyway...thanks again so much for your comfort and support. I look forward to speaking with you again!

Allison

I can't believe they would say that it can't be transferred thru blood. I don't believe we are even supposed to donate blood, so you could look into that, call places that do the blood donations, maybe red cross does it, they call it the blood mobile here, so not sure what the specific names are, ask them "hey, I was diagnosed with lyme disease, can I still donate blood?" and see what they say. It will be a no. some of them will say, after you are treated you can. But in many opinions it never really goes away, just goes into remission.

let us know what happens.

jaime

I'm so sorry to hear about your results. I just feel for you so much. I'm pretty new on this site and I have found so much help and support. You are in with great people. People who care and truly want to help you try to figure all this out. Especially when you new, there are just so many questions. There's always someone to help you with an answer and if they don't know, they will guide as to where to get it.

I did 1 month of IV rocephin. I had to go into hospital each day to get it done. The only thing that I remember is that I was very tired and slept alot. I was very fatigued all the time. This was about 5 months ago. I don't remember any other side effects. Of course, we are all do different.

I do hope you get your little one tested. That is so important to get him on treatment right of way if he is. I hope to God he is not but make sure.

You will find many people here to help and give support. Most importantly is making sure you have a doctor that you can work with. One that understands you and lyme disease and sincerely want to help you getting better. I hope that makes sense.

We are all here for you and please ask away... I have found that I'm able to get more information from everyone here than I can get from my doctor. They understand and truly want to help.

Hugs,

I am relatively new to this forum as well. I was diagnosed a few weeks ago. I have found so much information and support. And most of all so many questions answered. I also heard we were not allowed to donate blood or even organs -- I can't remember where I heard that but I am sure it was from doing my own research. Please remember that you are your biggest advocate. I was blown off by so many doctors - checked for MS and when my labs came up negative for Lyme -- they moved on to something else. Jaime is correct -- Labs are extremely UNREALIABLE many doctors see positive or negative and that is it. I was negative 4 times with local labs before I tested positive with Igenix. But even that is not 100%. Always trust your self and you gut -- the doctors just don't know enough and for some reason don't want to. Good luck and stay strong.

Also, just a thought. You are saying you want to have your son tested. I would suggest even as you are testing that you have him treated as a prophylactic situation, for AT LEAST 3 months. Even doctors who have family who get bit by ticks will treat them for 3 months, regardless of what tests come out as. This early on, your son may test negative, and then later down the line, he could test positive, and how much time then will have been wasted? I'd sure hate to see that happen.

The main reason I may seem pushy about that, and I certainly don't mean to, is that I have dealt with this for 14 years, and only in the last YEAR have I figured out what's going on with me, and I've had to do it ON MY OWN, with ZERO help from my doctors. They've left me out in the cold, to deal with it on my own, and they've basically told me I was crazy, and that my pain and suffering was all in my head. So, I probably come off aggressive, in your business, and like I am telling you what to do. If it offends you, I am truly sorry, because I certainly don't mean to do that, not by a long shot. But I would hate for anyone else to have to suffer what I have. And I'm certain I'm not the only one. In fact, if it weren't for cmany, another member here, I wouldn't have figured this all out.

Anyway, those are my thoughts, if they can help you, wonderful. Please take what you will for what you can use! *hugs*

Again...thank you all so much for your stories and support. You've all been so wonderful and I hope someday I can pass along your great spirits to someone just like me. Keep your chins up!