Hi All,
I joined this group because I'm scared. I wanted to find out if others have or are experiencing the same symptoms as me.
My story began on July 12, 2015. Went on a family hike to Cunningham State Park in Maryland for my husband's birthday. Over the next two weeks I recall lots of really "hot flashes" that I just attributed to menopause symptoms. I was a little confused because the hot flashes had really heated up to the point of dripping sweat. Never took my temp. at this point.
Three weeks after the hike, I broke out in a full-body rash that was mostly concentrated on my torso but did have a few on my neck and back of arms and top of thighs. At this point I felt fine, the rash didn't itch. But the next day everything changed. My BP shot up off the charts, I felt panic, something was way off. Decided to go to ER. They simply looked at the rash, forgot to take my BP until I asked. They realized they never took my BP so quickly did so (go figure). They asked the usual questions about changing laundry soap and sent me home with prednisone and Benedryl with "rash" as my diag. The prednisone did nothing except probably further elevate my BP.
Went to see my general practitioner the next day. At this point all I had was the rash and high BP and felt "off." Not a lot to work with. He did a biopsy of the rash and blood work. He also took me off the prednisone and Benedryl as they were not helping. Blood work came back normal but biopsy would take longer to process.
Now things really get BAD (of course it's the weekend, again!) Just short of 1 month from the hike. My husband and son want to go to Home Depot to pick up some things. I told them I was coming with them even though I had a horrible migraine headache, felt like I was coming down with the flu and felt extremely anxious. I suffer from anxiety and depression so I couldn't figure out what in the world had just triggered this episode out of no where. Was my antidepressant not working anymore?? The panic grows and symptoms get worse. I felt so drugged and out of it as we walked the aisles (the only non-standard med I had taken was the migraine med. so no reason to feel so strangely). I tried to stay focused on not having an anxiety attack (very unlike me to have one). I also have OCD on occasion, which was at an all time high at this point. It has been well under control for years now, so yet another mystery, why now? We get home and the fever takes over. I'm dripping in sweat, literally. Take temp. and it's 102 degrees. Take Tylenol and it goes down a bit. I now have the worst headache of my life. Every time I move my head the pain is beyond words. I'm crying and have no idea what is happening to me. I was sure this was the beginning of the end...but I'd already been to ER...I get in bed sure that whatever this is will do me in before morning.
Morning arrives and I'm afraid to call my doctor, my God do I want to know? I do... but I don't and I feel so horrible I can't deal with the phone call to his office. By afternoon I force myself to make the call with my new list of symptoms. He wants me to come in for a re-evaluation. He asks me a few questions and says this sounds like Lyme Disease. I had never even considered this diag. He puts me on two weeks of Ceftin 500mg twice daily. Week one just ended. I'm feeling much much better but still feel tired easily with mild headache at times.
I really hope he nailed it. Thanks for reading my story and may God bless you and help you along your healing process.