Hello and welcome. This blog is for myself to log this journey, but also for family and friends and really anyone who is interested. I have to cite the old "what you read here is strictly my opinion" yada yada.....but seriously. What you read here is reflects only my experience and opinion, and is not intended to influence anyone's choice of treatment plan and/or health care practitioner, spiritualist, supplements, tinctures, homeopathic treatment, emotional healing, therapy, biofeedback.....etc. So.
I've had Lyme disease and several co-infections probably since my early teens. There were many opportunities for a bite. I spent years riding horses bareback (and sometimes barefoot) in long grasses, I went to summer sleepaway camp in the Santa Cruz mountains, I went on backpacking trips. I was in very good health and exercised a lot. This I believe was responsible for its remaining dormant for many years, rearing its head now and again in times of stress (college exams, graduation, boyfriend issues, work issues). I know this only in retrospect of course. I was bitten again in 1996 on a hike in what is now known to be endemic territory: Marin County, CA. A classic bullseye appeared but since I knew "Lyme doesn't exist in California" I thought it was a spider bite and wrote it off. I left the next day on a ten day camping trip and did not get sick until after the birth of my son in 2005, when symptoms came on like a freight train.
A note here: how ridiculous is the statement "Lyme doesn't exist in California". Has anyone asked ticks if they feel compelled to observe state lines? "Whoops, this is the Nevada state line guys, do not cross!".
After my son was born I felt wildly hormonal as any new mom probably is, but about 3 months after his birth I knew something was up. My fingers tingled and sometimes went numb in the night. I woke my husband up in a panic telling him I thought I had a brain tumor (flashback to college when I thought the same due to headaches and tingling). The symptoms went away and new ones appeared.
After maternity leave was over, I went back to work. I noticed I was having a terrible time concentrating and learning new things. I got very upset about small silly things. I had memory problems. I saw flashing lights in my peripheral vision. I started having terrible, unrelenting headaches and heart palpitations. Insomnia followed, as did back pain, elbow pain, and eye pain. I was convinced that I was dying.
Panicking, I sought the help of a psychiatrist. We worked together for a few years and I learned how to control my mind from playing its crazy tricks. She did the best she could, WE did the best we could. The illness progressed.
In December 2005 I was laid off from my software marketing job, along with quite a few others, in a large restructuring effort. I was not surprised that I was chosen to go: who would want to keep an employee who couldn't remember what a meeting was about a few hours before, who couldn't complete a spreadsheet without help from someone else, who had to go lie in a dark office during work hours?
