Month 3

I expected everything to calm down this month, and for the most part it has- thankfully. What I have been able to pin down was definate reactions to overwork or undersleep. For example, when I did some running/hiking on the trails, the next day(s) I get sick with a cold or sometimes worse, like a flu. It's the same thing with not enough sleep. The beginning of the month, arm weakness and/or a sense of dizziness followed after stressful events. When I got sick with flu symptoms, I went back to the liver detox pills and those helped alot. Mid month, I had a few days of mental blocks where I lost things again, forgot what I was doing, and was really sick in bed, but this followed after too much caffiene (3 cups after being caffiene free for a couple months) and a good workout that happened on the same day. Toward the end of the month, I am noticing weird patches of skin sensitivity, feeling like bruises, that travel around randomly. They don't last more than a few minutes to a day and the eye twitching still comes and goes; both of these are not tied to anything I can track. However, twitching appears to have occurred after taking liver detox a couple days. Also, yeast infections keep recurring. I have been off probiotic last few weeks, but never had to take it regularly to stay healthy in the past. I may have to reconsider taking them for another month.

Month 2

I spent all weekend researching Lyme and found it cannot survive heat and heat multiplies the antibiotic effect, so I visited the sauna a couple times and did some detox baths with Epson sales and hydrogen peroxide. My left eye twitches around lower lid and intensifies over 3 weeks. Occassional to frequent dizzy/ woozy/ buzzed/ floating/ detached feelings while trying to work that causes me to lose balance or really focus on where I am. I have occassional forearm weakness like they are falling asleep or overworked to failure. It feels like they are shaking but they are not. I cannot regulate temperature easily. For example, on my day that I work the freezers, I cannot warm up for hours. I need a heater every morning at the office-its August! As far as memory, on the follow-up appt with Dr, who noted, "You REALLY have it," (I wish I knew what that meant) I tend to ramble and forget what I was talking abou, and my conversations look a lot like that last sentence. Later, I might remember that I meant to tell you that I blanked out on the way to the office and couldn't remember where it was! It wasn't a long blank, but enough to really alarm me and suspect early Alzheimer's. The Dr now informs me previous Dr suspected Lyme and was the reason he put me on doxy. Wish they would just deal straight with me. Exhaustion or sickness, or both, follows the day afer a strength workout...I can't muster energy for cardio. The runny nose is still here. During doxy treatment, I added vit b6 for nausea, magnesium for twitching, a multi vitamin, vit c, and a probiotic three hours after the antibiotic. After the doxy was done, I have continued the probiotic until I run out. All in all, without the Lyme, it's been a stressful couple of months with major events, so I am hoping for all things to settle down a bit.

Week 5

I took pictures of my bite again as it has developed a lighter center surrounded by red edge and darker center. At first I thought it might finally be fading, but it could also be a bullseye. Size is now 10-12 inches across, 8-9 inches wide. I have sudden and intensifying sharp pain INSIDE my hip that made work difficult. During trail running, my whole rash felt like it had meat hooks in it and every step was ripping it down. I had to hold rash area in place to be bearable. Upon returning to the car, I was in searing pain all the way home at the bite site. This felt like a knife was inserted in my hip. Because of this, the spreading, and bullseye, I showed up unannounced to dr the next day and was put on doxy 100 mg 2x day 21 days for possible cellulitis. Rash faded drastically in 2 days. More night sweats, fatigue, night nausea, a 4-5 day migraine, and I've had a runny nose for a month. I received results on Friday...I am told I "definitely have Lyme."

Week 4

I saw my doctor on Monday and she thought it could be a tick bite. They drew blood for 'the whole tick panel.' I was told to call back on Wednesday for results, but none were available this week. I misplaced my keys and phone 3 times over the week and everyone said they told me things I don't remember. I am sick in bed all weekend and sleep most of it. I am sensitive to sunlight while driving, office lights, and screens. Noise bothers me.

Week 3

This week the rash is still growing. I took pictures to ask others' opinion if it was possible Lyme, but is large (8-9 inches across) and red/hot to touch. Only the very edges of rash are itchy occasionally. I am treating it with colloidal silver and coconut oil. This makes it as red as the shower. I am messing up words in conversation and feeling more ditzy than normal. I almost fell down stairs 3 seperate times in different places. I have very little appetite. I ran the race with no issues, but my arms/hands felt weak and shook all the way home.

Week 2

Still trail running and notice a weird lava-hot sensation in my quads when we stop to take a breather. The rash is still growing, but more horizontally now. It gets cherry red when I work out or take a shower. Sudden pregnancy level exhaustion makes me fall asleep at work 3 times in one day and I'm dragging the rest of the week. I chalked this up to my work schedule and mud run training. When night sweats start, I thought 'pre menopausal.' Palpitations were credited to too much decaf...yeah, I know, but even this small amount of caffeine was my best guess. I'm losing things left and right. I'm forgetting whole conversations or tasks I did. I attributed this to stress, but this scared me enough to want to see my doctor for this reason only.

Week 1

The days following the bite were unremarkable except that the rash grew about a quarter inch every day, which was concerning come the end of the week. It hurt to touch when I forgot and scratched, and it was still red. I now suspected a spider bite. I began training outside for a mud run on the wooded trails by my house. We always checked for ticks at this point.

Bitten

The moment was sometime on Sunday, June 23. I decided to attack the overgrown brush that ran the property line.  Note that I live in the Berkshires on a residential street with a fenced off swamp across from our house and woods behind us. The next morning, I mindlessly scratched what I thought was a mosquito bite on my left hip. Two things happened simultaneously...I felt like I knocked off something, like a fat spider, and I immediately regretted scratching because it hurt like a previous tick bite or like a bee sting.  The bite itself looked like nothing more than a very large, red mosquito bite with a raised center. I looked for an insect on the floor but couldn't find one. The bite was 1 inch in diameter.