Do/did you have Lyme disease (not a yes/no question, please read details)

I had Lyme disease for about a year. I was always tired, but soldiered on. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with me, until I got a sinus infection, and was prescribed a medicine. Researching the medicine online, I found I was taking the correct dosage (but for half the time) for Lymes as well. I looked at the symptoms, and got a “replacement” prescription for the “lost” medicine, then took it after then first.
It fixed my issues, but I suspect it weakened my resistance to diabetes, which I had a year later.

@filmfan. Would you be comfortable saying what that medicine was?

I had Lyme disease. I got bit by a tick while exploring some woods in Tennessee with my cousins. About a month after removing the tick, I got the “Bulls Eye” rash. It didn’t itch or anything, it was just a big red ring-like rash around the tick bite. I went to the doctor the next day and they immediately knew it was Lyme disease. I got prescribed amoxicillin for 2 weeks and the rash disappeared. I’m now living life like a normal person. I’m very lucky I found out when I did. It doesn’t sound like a pleasant disease as it progresses.

I do not have Lyme disease but my neighbor did and I was her caregiver for a while. (The diseases she had, had progressed to the end of life stage). Most (ALL?) doctors simply do not know what to do with somebody who does not present with a bull’s-eye rash or a positive blood test. It’s even worse in areas where Lyme disease is not well known such as Texas, etc.

See, Lyme disease grows and lives in the synovial fluid of the joints. It just uses the circulatory system to travel to other joints. That’s why they swell. So if you do not have a positive blood test, have them pull some fluid out of a swollen joint and test that. Now here in the US, that probably means your insurance company won’t pay for this. After all this procedure is far more expensive than a simple blood test, and they’re in business to make money, not to properly diagnose or make you well!

(Sarcasm not intended. It’s just the truth!)

@snowberry, thank you! I have actually heard this, that the accurate tests aren’t always covered, and treatment won’t be if the more popular (and much less accurate) tests come out negative. Very frustrating.