Lyme?

Hey all,

I've been around the board off and on reading through things. I have a few questions about symptoms I've been having.

First, I live in Arkansas, a place where ticks aren't supposed to carry Lyme. I am skeptical of this but unfortunately there are no Lyme docs near me. To keep this simple, I will start out by what I remember and my symptoms.

When I was 18/19 (24 now) I remember being bit by a tick that left a nasty little rash around the bite area. It was small, not like the normal lyme rashes. I had went to the doc, they said it was nothing. After that, it was whatever. I remember my jaw issue starting around that time. It being a small "tic", where it randomly jerks up. Not violent, but enough to make me notice is and become annoyed. It was so small though, I thought surely it was nothing to worry about. I brushed it off. Also, I have had lower back issues since then that I have just brushed off thinking it was from poor posture.

Fast forward to the last year and now, I have had terrible symptoms. Neurologically, I experience terrible headaches. They say migraines but I don't have any "triggers" the pain is just there. Coming and going when it wants. I have pain in my neck, my joints off and on, my muscles feel like they are burning, my face is out of line when it wasn't like that before (bell's palsy? it's very mild nonetheless), jaw pain/teeth/ear fullness pain/tightness of pretty much all those muscles, chest pains (mainly it feels like the bones or joints), tongue issues where is feels tight and difficult to move, tons of small random all over spasms of my skin/muscles. It just doesn't end.

I posted in the MS forum but I was given a brain Mri and it came back normal. I have also had a stress test and tons of EKGs, normal. I see an ENT next week for my tongue/jaw/ear/etc issues but I am sure she will just find nothing.

Just wanted to post here, maybe get some tips on if it is Lyme what to do to try and help myself. I am not really sure what to do. I see my neuro in a month again. He did a Lyme test before and a lot of other blood work but it all came back normal except vitamin d was a smidge low.

Let me know what you guys think!

Thanks.

Peteza,

Thanks for the quick response!!! It was actually Quest where I got it done. I will check into those and see what I can do. I am wary about bringing this up to my regular GP, afraid I will just be blown off, but I really want to see if I have it or not. I keep thinking about that tick bite and with all this happening all of the sudden I am just not sure where to go or what to do... it has been incredibly emotionally draining. I cannot even live my life to the fullest without feeling pain or something.

FYI my LabCorp blood test was negative also. Igenix test came back positive. I managed to have my internist sign for the test, and after the result I found an LLMD.

Hi tune, you'll want to take care reading the results too, since especially if the spirochetes have had a while to burrow in deeply, your levls may not be high enough to get an official positive but they may still indicate lyme. Ihope you get an answer -good luck!