meekaleek
 |
| Rank | New Member |
| Online Status | OFFLINE |
| Member Since | 08/15/2010 09:01 AM |
| Last Online | 01/05/2011 03:23 PM |
| Gender: | Female |
| City: | Madawaska |
| State: | Maine |
| A little about me: | MY LONG STORY: After 6 years of living in the newly acclaimed, high tick-infested area of Southern Maine, I began to display very bizarre symptoms that seemed to come on "all of a sudden". I do not have any recollection of a tick bite or "bulls-eye" rash- and coincidingly, no fever or flu that could have gone along with that. We would pull ticks off dogs constantly- and sometimes- would even find them in our bedroom and bed! Seems wild, but they were everywhere! I am also a believer that Lyme can be passed from person to person in the right circumstance, or from dog to person and vice versa (maybe not a popular view- but the morphological ability of this bacteria is something we do not understand. In fact, we understand very little, and continue to find new strains of these buggers). It began with panic attacks that would occur while sleeping. They happened once or twice per week, then increased in frequency, day and night alike, for about a month and a half. Despite my efforts to research the possibilities, I continued to stumble upon adrenal exhaustion (which of course, I also had due to Lyme, and a vegetarian diet loaded with high glycemic foods!), copper toxicity, mercury toxicity, aluminum toxicity, mold toxicity, etc. While all of those DID play their part in bogging down my system, they were not the sole players. After a 5-day panic attack of heart palpitations, hypoglycemia, insomnia (or if I did fall asleep, would be jerked awake by adrenaline and tinnitus, or a hot and cold alternating body temp), no appetite, dizzyness, low blood pressure, unquenchable thirst, intolerance to heat, and intense anxiety and weakness-- a doctor diagnosed me with general anxiety disorder and prescribed Ativan to take the edge off, and help with sleeping. While I knew that G.A.D. was not the answer to my problems, lest Ativan, I continued to research. I read a wonderful book by Jen Crippen called, "Anxiety, It's Not All In Your Head", and began to get pointed to the phyical symptoms that cause anxiety, namely, the adrenals. After a month of feeling depressed, I went to see a Women's doctor who had me take an adrenal-cortisol test to measure the amount of cortisol in my body at different times of the day. Sure enough, it was hiked up at night, and lower during the day, hence my insomnia. My vitamin D levels were also found to be suboptimal. The only thing I found to help with my insomnia at night, despite my fatigue during the day (I tried Ativan, L-Tryptophan, Melatonin, GABA, etc), was late afternoon moderate exercise. Because I had been vegetarian up to this point, and decided to start eating meat and fat again, and that helped my mental wellbeing very much- I felt happier and less depressed. If anything, this took "the edge" off the daytime anxiety. I continued into the next phase at this point, a feeling bizarre left-sided "lameness" or heavynes/weakness, accompanied by tremor, occasional limb numbness, as well as occasional intense head pressure alternating with cold sweats. The bizarre limb feeling changed into burning from the peroneal area to the IT band. At this point I had lost 15 lbs in two weeks (and was not too big to begin with). I was still dizzy upon standing and would see spots. Insomnia would come and go, some nights a full 8-9 hours, sometimes none. Sometimes low grade headache to migraine to nothing, focused on the left side, with intense pressure behind eyes. This would leave me with more boughts of insomnia and puffy eyes. The daytime began to get easier, with the worst time being at night, never knowing if I would fall asleep or not. Random muscle spasms from left to now the right side insued, as well as bizarre left chest and sternum tightness, even abdominal "spasms" of tightness. When "it" moved from left to right, I felt like it was no longer on one side of my body, but on both, and I was symptomatic on both sides. My SCM (front of neck) muscles would feel tight. The back of my neck and back felt sore. A hair analysis came back with elevated mercury and aluminum levels, as well as a copper problem. Mineral levels and ratios showed extreme adrenal blowout. I had impaired digestion and consequent constipation. Moving into the next stage, I began to experience bizarre heart "twinges", which progressed into pain on the left side of my chest that would wake me in the night, accompanied by palpitations. It would get worse each night. My heart beat was no longer regular. Hand and arm coordination and weakness continued, and I began to feel arthritic in the joints of my fingers and hands, as well as feeling random pains in random parts of my body. It constantly felt like I was on edge of a raspy cold, especially in my throat where phlegm always seemed to collect. I had put some weight back on by this point, assuming that was a good thing in comparison to starving. Cracky joints, blurry vision, and muscle loss came with the weight gain. Today I feel dizzy, and not being present. My memory is horrible. I have brain fog. I am achey, regardless of having a good night's sleep. It is sad that there is a forum for such a horrible disease to even exist, but I am thankful that this forum is here, because Lyme is present- does exist- and it feels good to be accompanied by others who are also going through it. |
My Awareness Ribbons
|
|
"Until doctors recognize Lyme as one disease, instead of treating it's thousands of symtoms separately." |
| Awareness Ribbons | |
| Add as Friend |
| Private Message |
| Give a Hug |
My Hugs
 | Sending hugs and prayers to you, my fellow Lyme Warriors.... Let us stand strong and united this weekend for Worldwide Lyme Disease Protest day... Let us speak the truth... the ugly, shocking, scary, unbelievable truth... Let us be heard... and Let us be healed. *hugs and prayers* purple |
| Hugs to all my fellow Lyme Warriors and Lyme Supporters :)~~~~~~~ Until the site problems are cleared up. ~~~~~Please use the GREEN REPLY button instead of the quick reply box when responding to a post.~~~~~ hugs and blessings, purple |
| (((HUGS))) |
Give meekaleek...
My Diary
LymeLight
This is where I vent about daily challenges, symptoms, and the relationship turmoil (intimate, family, and friends) this disease has caused.
This is where I vent about daily challenges, symptoms, and the relationship turmoil (intimate, family, and friends) this disease has caused.
| Title | Date | Views | Comments |
| Pets, Lyme & Unknowledgable Vets | 09/09/2010 | 141 | 0 |
| Insomnia - Maybe This Will Help? | 08/23/2010 | 124 | 0 |
| Blood Sugar & The Copper Personality | 08/21/2010 | 1410 | 0 |
| "Ticking" Off Family | 08/15/2010 | 210 | 2 |
My Health Topics Contributions
No health topics contributed yet
My Photos
No photos added
My Support Groups
My Friends
My Recent Posts
| Red Root and clogged Lymphs | 08/23/2010 | ||
| Practice for stress & insomnia | 08/21/2010 | ||
| Diet- WHAT WORKS? | 08/19/2010 | ||
| Antibiotics-- how big were yo... | 08/19/2010 | ||
| Antibiotics-- how big were yo... | 08/16/2010 | ||
| Heart Pains? Any advice helpfu... | 08/15/2010 | ||
My Articles
No articles published