Hi, my name's Ellen. I was just officially diagnosed with Lyme's disease in March but its assumed that I've had the disease for 5 years. Up until recently i was on a local swim team year round and a High Honors Student.
I first started getting sick December of 4th grade.I had extremely painful headaches, fatigue, and a really bad cough. It wasn't really unusual for me to be tired, considering the hours i was putting into Tae Kwon Do, but when i couldn't go to the Talium to practice my parents were worried.
We went to the pediatrician and I was told it was mononucleosis, though all the symptoms didn't exactly match up.However, we treated my sickness as if it was mono and after about two months of being out of school i was better.
Everything continued normally until the next year. Once again in December i had the same symptoms. However my headaches had become increasingly worse and moving had started to become hard. We went to my pediatrician once again, and i tested positive for mono again, but nothing else. I learned that i would always test positive for mono because i had already had the disease, but this didn't mean i had mono again.
My mom decided to look for help with a holistic approach and we ended up finding a pretty good doctor. He treated me with lots of herbal and homeopathic substances and had me 'better' within 3 months. So now i figured i was better.
However, the next year i relapsed again. The headaches had become worse this time and i was starting to get stomach pains along with the fatigue. Luckily, this only lasted a month before going away, and i hadn't seen a doctor at this point. During this time period i had tendinitis as well in my ankle and was on crutches/wheelchair for about 3 months of school. This eventually led to me having to give up Tae Kwon Do, after being a memeber for 5 years and having attained my black belt. It was extremely upsetting, to say the least.
Seventh grade was another short relapse, however the symptoms were slightly worse with very intense headaches that caused blind spots and stomach pains. This started in late December as it had the past 3 years. I was able to recover by February though i ended up with tendinitis once again and was on crutches for all of april and most of may.
Eighth grade i thought i was better, and seemed to be until April where the disease hit in full swing, once again keeping me from school and other after school activities. We visited a doctor again, and i was told i had mono once again. This seemed off, but my parents and i treated the disease as we were told. I was sick until early June, though i was in and out of school.
Now I was in Freshman year of High school. I had worked hard to apply to a Magnet school and had managed to get into all honors classes. I had been on my swim team for 3 years and had really improved. I was competing with the fastest swimmers and i was entering the high school of my choice. Everything was going great and as planned until December of this year, in the middle of the biggest swim meet of the year.
This meet was particularly special because our entire team rented a hotel and all the members had fun partying on their off time. I had been having a great season the whole year, but for some reason, i was doing horribly at this one meet. My times were off and i was oddly sluggish and out of energy. Instead of socializing with my friends and running around the hotel all day, i sluggishly followed my friends around and eventually napped.
We went out to eat with friends that night and on the drive home i randomly broke down. I burst into sobs and started shivering harshely. My mom noticed i had a fever and naturally my family was very worried. My mother helped me to my room, because by this point i was dizzy and having problems standing. I pretty much collapsed once in the hotel room and cried to sleep. I missed the meet the next morning, my head pounding and my body feeling completely numb and unusable.
We were on Christmas vacation at this time in school, but i never got to go back. Normally i would have gotten better by february but my symptoms only increased. It wasn't the same as every other year. Moving was now a problem and my concentration and memory were starting to become affected. I was constantly having headaches and was dizzy all the time.
We went to countless doctors to find out what was wrong. I was first told mononucleosis, but when we sought a specialist on Mono, He told me there was no way i could have Mono 3 times. He said that i had an auto immune deficiency problem, but this was proved wrong by another doctor soon. We looked for help from an infectious disease specialist who found nothing after taking countless bloodtests. He suggessted high blood pressure, which i absolutely was not buying.
During all this, 3 months of school had passed and i had only been back once. It was frustrating and depressing. It was my dentist who suggested that i see a lyme's specialist, telling me that the disease was very similar to what i was describing and that a patient of hers had gone through something similar to my story.
After travelling 2 and a half hours away from my home to see a specialist, i was perscribed doxycycline. After a month i started responding slightly, but was switched to amoxicillin. I managed to get a tutor to help me with school as well. The tutor was only supposed to be temporary, however i never managed to get back in school.
I was homeschooled for the last 6 months of my freshman year, which was hard on its own. My teachers were not very cooperative, going weeks without giving me any works and then slamming me with due dates and piles of work.
I'm on summer vacation now, but i'm still very sick. I'm relieved to know that i do have a disease, and that its not all in my head, but I'm not progressing very fast. I can't see my friends or go to parties like i normally would in the summer because my stamina is ridiculously low. I've been forced to quit the swim team because i can't swim 25 meters without needing to nap. But worst of all is that no one i know really understands what im going through or how much pain im really in.
My Family has been really supportive, but my Mom realizes that none of them can really sympathize with me, and suggested that i look for a help group. I was skeptical at first, because i'm not really the type of person who likes to talk about their problems, because i don't like wallowing. But it's been almost 7 months now and i think that what i need now is to talk to someone whose going through the same thing, or something worse so i can stop being a baby and wallowing in my problems. I'm pretty excited to have found such a big a supportive group online, so im looking forward to talking with anyone on here going through the same thing as me.
"Before i found MDJ i was in the deepest darkest part of my life after my abduction. I wanted to feel safe. I wanted that sense of being a normal person.Finding MDJ and the people with in it has steered me down the correct path into the light of hope. The feeling of hope that i was not alone,the feeling of hope of understanding,and the feeling of hope to move on. I never give up hope." (1magicman)
