Finally some answers! (LD Post #4)

Where were we? July of 2007 in NJ
I was about ready to give up looking for answers to what was wrong with me, but by the grace of God, I decided to give one more doctor a chance (I'm sure there would have been more doctors after her at some point - but since she found the answers, she's the "last" one I went to :-)


Based off of some old notes, I'll attempt to make a list of the symptoms I had been experiencing up to that point.

• Headaches/Migraines
• Extreme Fatigue
• Depression
• Dizziness
• Loss of Appetite
• IBS
• Muscle Pain
• Joint pain, especially bad in my hips
• Head Cloud/Brain Fog
• Inability to focus/think/concentrate
• Anger/Irritability
• Irregular Periods
• Skin problems
• Shaky/unsteady
• Weakness
• Fuzzy Vision
• Weight Gain & Loss
• Hair Loss
• TMJ 
• Cold extremities/bad circulation
• Swollen eyelids
• Memory Loss 

I made an appointment with the doctor. She mailed me a packet of papers (10+ pages) to fill out and bring to my first appointment. It was extremely detailed, and I did my best to answer the questions accurately which can be difficult since many symptoms come and go... and the memory loss makes it difficult to remember! 


I can't remember how long I waited to see her - she was usually backed up since she was the only doctor and she took as much time with each patient as was necessary. Anyway, we reviewed the papers I filled out - page by page, line by line - and she was fairly convinced I had Lyme disease just based on my symptoms. She drew many vials of blood and sent me home with a kit to do a stool test to mail to a lab. Yuck. 


I returned 3 weeks later or so to go over the results. Here is what she found, what 15+ medical professionals were not able to figure out.

• Lyme disease
• Babesia (co-infection - I'll explain that more later)
• Ehrlichiosis (another co-infection)
• Bartonella (and another co-infection)
• Low potassium level
• Low vitamin D level
• Asymptomatic urinary tract infection
• High levels of a few different viruses, including the Epstein Barr Virus - now up to 2440
• Tapeworm
• Dairy allergy
• Extremely depleted immune system - this one takes some explaining

 Everyone has a mucous layer starting with their nose/mouth and going all the way through your body to your colon. That mucous layer plays a big role in your immune system, because you are consistently taking things into your body - whether it's the air you're breathing, the water you're drinking, food, germs you're exposed to because of all of the above. If your immune system is depleted, your body is less able to fight off invaders. The test used to check mine gave a normal range of 400-880. My result was 28. So basically my immune system was hardly doing anything for me.

But I shall end this post here. I have already typed an additional 7 paragraphs expounding on the above information - and I wouldn't want to overwhelm you with too much information at one time. And the story continues...