If you could go back in time...

I think I would have gone to DrJ sooner… instead of sticking with the LLND for a few years.

As far as prediagnosis - I don’t know how I could have gotten a diagnosis sooner - it’s not something the drs here know about - not on their radar.

Id drop my HMO insurance way back in the late 80's early 90's, so I could see a Dr of my choice.

HMO's put a road block on seeing your choice of DRs- they have rules. They did back then anyway.

My HMO main Dr REFUSED to let me se anyone else, referrals were MANDATORY!. What BS!!!

There I was, shaking in the clinic with a HUGE infected bullseye and the DR is saying there is no Lyme in North central US. No diagnosis but to go home. What a joke. I went down hill fast.

I was young and did not understand the system. There was no worthwhile internet back then. Everything you learned was in print or from others mouths!.

Drs killed many people back then. Would like to piss on that Drs grave someday. She screwed my life up by doing NOTHING.

Rant over (for now).

It took me a long while to get worse, but say one year after I first went to the hospital and when my girlfriend crashed and stopped working. I don’t think I had Lyme back then, but I got sick after high stress and living one year in mold.

Advice to myself:
Take one year off from working, rent a cabin or small house somewhere in nice nature and reconnect to nature through walks, mountain-bike, kayaking, surfing, swimming, etc.
Maybe 6 months in New Zeeland and then 6 months in Switzerland.
https://www.airbnb.se/rooms/28382755?source_impression_id=p3_1624099835_psxqosmqgg1gg%2bpo&guests=1&adults=1
https://www.airbnb.ch/rooms/29454036?source_impression_id=p3_1624100047_ydzfzl7bqc%2bjaohu&guests=1&adults=1

Eat clean, have access to a sauna, and go to group yoga.

No, I think stress lowered my immune system so I got more sensitive against mold. Mold lowered it even more. Then I think I got Lyme 2-3 years later, so hard to say.

I would have taken the threat of tick borne illness more seriously. I would have taken my tick bite more seriously. I would drag my 28 year old self kicking and screaming to the doctor at the first sign of something being off instead of holding on to this illusion of "toughness".

That being said, I was like most people I've encountered in my life...stubborn...have to learn the hard way. Back then I was young, ignorant, arrogant, and never had really had something serious happen to me (minor fractures and the Flu several times but nothing crazy).

But I really try to not to worry about the past. What's done is done. There is no changing. Additionally, if I could magically transport back into time into the exact same situation, with the exact same life experience and mindset, I doubt I would do anything different.

Thank you dcd2103! I think you're right.

Garzie: That's a great quote!

And thank you to everyone else sharing in this thread.