Sorting out symptoms

I tend to attribute most of my symptoms to the disease - unless there’s an event that indicates otherwise.
For instance if I banged my knee and it bruised and hurt for a week - not going to blame lyme.

But the time I woke up in the morning and could not raise my arm - the pain just below my shoulder was excruciating. There was no incident - I woke up with it - it hurt so bad I went to my Dr. It took a couple weeks to get better.
I blamed lyme for that one.

Sometimes it’s hard to know - like a week ago my stomach looked bloated for a few days - was it lyme? or was it the ginger ale I drank.

I think the older you get, the harder it is to differentiate. There are some, like Astroman, who have recovered enough through a lot of hard work and focused treatment who are healthier and more able bodied in their 50’s than when they were younger.

Another difficulty I deal with, which you have alluded to in your other posts, is when did we actually become infected with Lyme and coinfections. While some get sick following a known tickbite, others, like me, never had a known tick bite.

My life altering symptoms started in 2009, at age 39, and were neurological. I didn’t know it was Lyme until 7 years later. During those 7 years, which happened to be in my forties, I developed new symptoms including musculoskeletal ones and greater fatigue, exercise intolerance, gut dysfunction, and hormonal upheaval. For the longest time, I thought menopause was the cause of my symptoms. My doctors shook their heads and so, no, menopause wouldn’t cause all that. Problem was they couldn’t tell me what did cause all that.

Once I tested positive for Lyme and ehrlicia, I started researching bartonella and babesia. I quickly realized I had had symptoms and signs of both since birth or early childhood. When I joined this forum and read others’ stories and symptoms, especially those who were truly healthy before a tickbite changed everything and knew what they were like before and then after, I began to recognize things I had dealt with for years before I knew I was sick. I thought those things were odd and unexplainable, but I didn’t know there was something really wrong with me. Here are some examples:
- bone pain in my legs and later my forearms; pediatrician said growing pains; never outgrew them
- bone pain in my feet since childhood
- light, sound, smell, and touch sensitivity since childhood
- couldn’t run or play hard as a child without extreme muscle fatigue in legs and giving out of breath much more quickly than my peers
- in my early twenties, I couldn’t get halfway through a beginner’s aerobic video without the same muscle fatigue and breathlessness, even though I was not an overweight couch potato
- in my early thirties, nearly fell trying to step up about 18 inches to cross over a concrete wall; my thigh muscles couldn’t lift my 105 lbs
- compared to very obese people much older than me who were active, I couldn’t do half of what they could physically, even people my parents’ age

I had enough sense to know something was very wrong with that, but I didn’t know what or how to go about identifying what could be the cause. At that time, I didn’t complain of much except headaches, leg pain at night, and sinus problems.

I have to stop here. My mother interrupted me, and I lost my train of thought

Quin said...

Girlie said...

Sometimes it’s hard to know - like a week ago my stomach looked bloated for a few days - was it lyme? or was it the ginger ale I drank.

or more likely bartonella or rickettsia.

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I was saying “lyme” meaning one of the infections (not particularly lyme)

Wisco woman said...
I got sick at 27 and am now 30 and still treating. My friends have aches and pains and say "oh were getting old." I on the other hand blame everything on lyme becaus I bet I would be a very healthy 30 year old if it weren't for this stupid disease. Also unlike my friends I took care of myself (exercised and ate well). Can you tell I'm bitter?

Getting old at 30? I didn't have any aches and pains when I hit 40.


It's hard not to be upset with what this disease has done to our lives. The lost time....the lost freedom...the lost $$
It's devastating....