Lymes Again...

This seems to be an never ending story, this Lymes. I thought back then it was gone. I did what the doctors said take the meds (a lot of them)and do physical therapy. Then everything seemed to look and feel normal again.  

Then last year my leg started hurting this time I went strait to physical therapy and after awhile it to felt normal.

 

Then, see never ending, this year my arm and leg started going numb and / or throbbing pain. After a couple weeks it got to the point were holding a pencil became difficult. Which for me was the last straw,  I need to sketch. So back I went to the doctors. Again my test results came back with everything is normal. That is when I started to do some research of my own.

Did you know that most Lymes disease tests are inaccurate. In fact 20-30% of tests are in accurate, according to Lymes Disease.org. Late stages or Chronic Lymes does exactly what I have been going through. "If Lyme disease is not diagnosed and treated early, the Lyme spirochetes can spread and may go into hiding in your body. Weeks, months or even years later you may have problems with your brain and nervous system, muscles and joints, heart and circulation, digestion, reproductive system, and skin. Symptoms may disappear even without treatment and different symptoms may appear at different times." - LymesDisease.org

 

Then God intervened into this madness of test and results and no results. My Pastor's wife recommended a holistic doctor in town. She recommended him in just being a good pain management doctor. But, you know what else he is a Lymes specialist! He did a new subject test that some doctors are now using. A minimum score for Lymes is 45, I scored a 79. At last I feel like I have an final answer to my pain. And most importantly a plan of action to treat it.

It's a start and I am so thankful for that.

 

~ Cassi

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Stupid little tick

The last few weeks has been a crazy. Not only have we been to camp and to the lake we have also seen the medical industry way more than I would have liked.

About three weeks ago, my right arm started hurting, by the next morning the right side pinkie finger and along that edge of my arm was numb. Within in a few hours I started to get sever headaches. But they were brief, almost like an icy headache (or brain freeze). This continued throughout the day, by night the headaches were coming more often so we went into the ER.

This started around of test. That night we did a CAT scan and some basic tests. They looked for all sorts of scary reasons to why I would be having sensation issues (as they called it). They came to the conclusion that my right side is now 10% weaker than my left and for a right handed person that is wrong. So the Dr. recommended that I see a neurologist and get an MRI. Then next morning I got an MRI and then had to wait two weeks before I saw the neurologist.

Our meeting with the neurologist was pretty funny actually. He had a great sense of humor and kept Steve laughing through most the appointment. Which was good Steve was getting pretty nervous about my health by this time. This Dr decided on another MRI and some blood tests. We can praise God that all my MRI's came back fine. Once those came back fine, I was really at peace with whatever the blood work came back with. The really scary stuff was out of the way.

Two days later and one day before camp started I got the last of my blood tests back.

Lyme's Disease...

The Dr. recommended I start treatment right away. Even though I did beg to wait until I returned from camp. The first treatment is a round of a high dose of antibiotics. This means that I have to be careful in the sun. Stay covered up, wear sunscreen all stuff I would rather not do in a state where we only get a few weeks of summer. But I found out quick those precautions are stated for a reason. I haven't burned to much yet. I will be on this medication for the rest of July and then meet up with the neurologist again to see where my levels are at. And really from there I have no idea.

This is all still so new. I have only been able to gather stuff from the Internet to understand what is going on with my body. All I know is I went to bed at 32 and woke up one morning feeling 82. Lyme's symptoms vary a lot from person to person. For me it is swollen and painful hands, elbows, shoulders and feet. It is kind of like getting sudden arthritis.

But this too shall pass.. and Steve says I look cute in my big floppy sun hat.

~ Cassi

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