Wow, it has been a while since I was on here last. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I am just checking in to say hi and give a brief update.

It was 2 years ago next month that I had become incredibly ill with what I now know as Lyme disease and the lovely co-infections that come with it and finding out that most likely I had contracted it in 2009 when I came down with "viral meningitis". After 3 months and 20 different office visits with 15 different subspecialists who could not figure out what it was I was diagnosed clinically with Lyme, Bartonella, and Babesia by an LLMD thanks in part to the good people on here!!!

Fast forward to today and I would never have guessed where the journey would take me. Of my wife and four kids, my wife and 3 of my kids tested positive for Lyme and were treated. My mother who had dealt with Bells Palsy episodes for over 5 years was diagnosed and in treatment for Lyme. My father contracted Anaplasmosis 4 months ago and is in treatment. And I had an uncle die of Dementia due to neuroborreliosis. An eventful time in our house for sure.

That being said without having gone through it myself it would remain to be seen if we would have been able to figure out the medical mysteries in our house. Of course with the usual challenges such as hearing the MD's say "it sounds like Lyme but your test was negative, so you can be assured it is not". Being an outdoor family living on a farm in southern WI it should have been top of mind.

I digress though, I am doing better than I was 2 years ago for sure but have had lasting issues arise such as coming down with carditis a month ago for no reason so am now on the 4th course of treatment. I did take the DNA connexions PCR urine test 3-4 weeks ago to see if anything would show on that having had 4 negative Lyme's tests in the last 2 years and sure enough as my LLMD assumed I was positive for Borrelia and for Bartonella.

While a bit concerning that after 4 rounds of treatment there would still be living bacteria in my body it was a tad relieving to realize that contrary to current thinking I am not just crazy or "making it up". I am now finishing up my 3rd year of pre-med classes with the intent to go to med school in a couple of years to be able to treat chronic infections Lord willing. Am still working full time. and have a busy schedule of family activities, and just bought a house to top it off. so staying very busy despite the Lyme.

I hope that my story may encourage some of you to keep going and know it will potentially be a long journey but nothing is impossible. I also hope that those who have given me advice on here over the last two years will know that I thank them from the bottom of my heart for the advice hope you are finding success on your journeys.

Thank you for checking in with the update. Those of us new and struggling need all the positive stories we can get!

nberg you need to treat as long as it takes to kill the bugs and get rid of your symptoms. this tends to be far longer than most people think because what ailments require you to consistently treat for a year or longer to get well?

Dr. J said most of his patients take between 9 and 15 months to get better. if you've had infections longer it will probably take longer.

its nice to have a positive on lyme and bartonella but any good LLMD will treat you for all 3 B's regardless of test results. that said you might not want to waste $500 on each test when you could spend that money on treatment instead.