Hi Aem,
I'm so sorry that you are going through all of this! Considering that you had a dog not only very seriously ill with Lyme, but died from it, I would say that your chances of having Lyme with the symptoms that you have listed are high enough to be concerning. Many with Lyme also have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and many of the other symptoms that you listed.
To start, I would highly recommend that you read through our "New to Lyme? Start here!" thread as it's really packed with all kinds of information - from symptom lists, to simple detoxing that you can do, to links of all kinds of things that have to do with Lyme and healing. This would be the best place to start!
Having been on Doxy 6 months ago won't do you any good now as far as testing goes, but your reaction to it is interesting! It sounds like you could have experienced a herx from that! At this point in time, I wouldn't think testing should be at the top of your list of things to do, as the bacteria are really good at hiding out so that our immune system won't respond.
Why don't you read through the symptom lists and see what all you seem to have? There are several tick-borne infections that can be passed to a person.
Then I would suggest that if you have enough symptoms, that you get in to see a Lyme specialist - a LLMD (Lyme Literate Medical Doctor) or a natural medicine practitioner.
There are several ways for you to locate one - you can start a new thread titled something like:"Looking for LLMD
/LLND
in the _______ area." Although you will need to enable your email option in your profile in order to receive any recommendations, as we don't allow doctor's names and contact info to be posted on the forum for several reasons. You can enable your email option in your profile, under 'edit profile'. Be sure to click the submit button to actually save your preference.
You can also email our long time member, Dan's Mother at:
phassan@optonline.net You can also email Stephanie at:
stephanie@turnthecorner.org You can also go to:
www.turnthecorner.org/ if you want to learn a little bit more about
Lyme Disease.
You can also go to The Lyme Disease Association and search for LLMD's 3 times in a month. You have to register first. Here is the link:
www.lymediseaseassociation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=277&Itemid=74 You will want to find an ILADS (International Lyme And Associated Diseases Society) trained doctor, as ID Docs (Infectious Disease Doctors) believe Lyme is hard to catch and easy to treat, and don't believe in the reality of chronic Lyme. The ILADS site is another great place to read to get you started on your Lyme journey.
www.ilads.org/lyme_disease/treatment_guidelines_clearing_ilads.html