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Lyme vs Anxiety
So I went to the hospital last week because I fell in the shower ( I got dizzy and kinda just let my self fall naturally) but my mom has been telling me not to think too much into my symptoms being lyme because "I don't know what it is yet" but it all matches what everyone else is going through. She believes it was brought on because my grandfather passing ( around the time he passed I was having seizure like episodes where I couldn't connect my thoughts to my mouth but I could make noises .. still happening ) but the thing is is that I was overly upset like how i used to be ( I've struggled with anxiety since I was 12, since two years ago I have not had an issue and I have not had to be on medicine ) but she now thinks all of my symptoms is just hypochondria and I'm kind of annoyed by this because everyone will look at my health records and just write it off as that.
Ever since I got sick the first time, I've been getting colds/flus on and off and I feel weak both physically and mentally. I'm supposed to be naturally tan but my face looks really pale and I just feel like it's been getting worse. My boyfriend sees it too and he's extremely worried about me ( I'm trying to stay calm about it all because I don't want to jump to conclusions)
In a month I'll be 20 so I'm fully capable of going to the docs by myself but my moms involved because she wants to know whats wrong which I'm okay with, and I'd like her there because she's good at explaining what I'm trying to say (I have trouble with that and remembering thing ... I've written it all down in a book though)
Yes, a year ago I did get a bite and it was really bad but my doc only gave me 1 week of antibiotics and itch relief cream and that was it. Denied there was anything wrong. Since then I've had things going on with my body that I've never had before but my family tends to not believe me ( when I was a child they said I was dramatic about everything so they've kept that idea of me and doesn't believe I've changed idk they're weird )
I'm just worried they're going to write me off as being fine and ignore how I'm really feeling. I know my mom will just ignore it after the appointment with the neurologist in November if she says nothings wrong.
The one thing I did ask her though was "Why would I put myself through all of this bloodwork and stress and just fall over for no reason?" (I really hate needles) and she told me that people with hypochondria will put themselves through anything because the brain takes over.... (which doesn't make sense because I still wouldn't willingly want needles lol)
Has anyone had to go through this where it was just written off as hypochondria?
Ever since I got sick the first time, I've been getting colds/flus on and off and I feel weak both physically and mentally. I'm supposed to be naturally tan but my face looks really pale and I just feel like it's been getting worse. My boyfriend sees it too and he's extremely worried about me ( I'm trying to stay calm about it all because I don't want to jump to conclusions)
In a month I'll be 20 so I'm fully capable of going to the docs by myself but my moms involved because she wants to know whats wrong which I'm okay with, and I'd like her there because she's good at explaining what I'm trying to say (I have trouble with that and remembering thing ... I've written it all down in a book though)
Yes, a year ago I did get a bite and it was really bad but my doc only gave me 1 week of antibiotics and itch relief cream and that was it. Denied there was anything wrong. Since then I've had things going on with my body that I've never had before but my family tends to not believe me ( when I was a child they said I was dramatic about everything so they've kept that idea of me and doesn't believe I've changed idk they're weird )
I'm just worried they're going to write me off as being fine and ignore how I'm really feeling. I know my mom will just ignore it after the appointment with the neurologist in November if she says nothings wrong.
The one thing I did ask her though was "Why would I put myself through all of this bloodwork and stress and just fall over for no reason?" (I really hate needles) and she told me that people with hypochondria will put themselves through anything because the brain takes over.... (which doesn't make sense because I still wouldn't willingly want needles lol)
Has anyone had to go through this where it was just written off as hypochondria?
Deer ticks in the nymphal stage are only as big as a pinhead, and they are quite able to carry multiple infections. I got bitten last spring by an adult deer tick, which when engorged was slightly larger than a pencil eraser (but was not the one that gave me Lyme) and I am embarrassed to admit that I thought it was a new skin tag until 4 days after I noticed it, it started itching and fell out dead (I was doing whirlpool sessions for the joint pain and perhaps that killed it). The good thing about that tick was that it sent me to an LLMD and now I know what is wrong with me.
Reading through your profile, this doesn't sound like a tick bite to me. Ticks are about the size of the surface of an eraser on the end of a pencil when they attach, and they embed their heads into your skin and hang on for 3-7 days until they're engorged about the size of a small grape, and then they release and fall off. They won't just release and fall off before that time, although with some effort you can pull them off, leaving their head inside your skin. Putting on jeans or something like that might have caused the tick to break off and leave it's head inside your skin, but even so, the head would have been obvious.
Tick bites don't itch and it seems extremely unlikely that you wouldn't notice a tick on your knee for 3 days. Usually when people become concerned about Lymes, they have noticed a tick bite and have removed the tick, or the bite is in an area of their body they might not have noticed for three days, like their back.
Your symptoms sound more like Multiple Sclerosis (MS) to me, and you are an age and gender where this is commonly diagnosed. There are lots of new medications that help with this, and science is advancing really fast to make MS much less difficult than it used to be.
Tick bites don't itch and it seems extremely unlikely that you wouldn't notice a tick on your knee for 3 days. Usually when people become concerned about Lymes, they have noticed a tick bite and have removed the tick, or the bite is in an area of their body they might not have noticed for three days, like their back.
Your symptoms sound more like Multiple Sclerosis (MS) to me, and you are an age and gender where this is commonly diagnosed. There are lots of new medications that help with this, and science is advancing really fast to make MS much less difficult than it used to be.
The Lyme bacteria can invade all the major systems in the human body, so symptoms really do vary person to person and even in the same person over time. I agree with Jackie, find a lyme dr. and see what they say. You were smart to write everything down - take that along with you when you see him/her.
... and another thing I forgot to mention: where you are (your bio says NJ, as I recall) is prime country for Lyme ticks and therefore for Lyme disease, as well the other infections that ticks often carry.
If I were in NJ, I would be finding a good Lyme doc like ... yesterday. The sooner you get a firm diagnosis of whatever it is you have, the sooner you get treated and get well.
Let us know how we can help, based on our experiences and reading. Take care!
If I were in NJ, I would be finding a good Lyme doc like ... yesterday. The sooner you get a firm diagnosis of whatever it is you have, the sooner you get treated and get well.
Let us know how we can help, based on our experiences and reading. Take care!
I think MDs are often confused when a patient with Lyme comes along, because everyone with Lyme is a different: Lyme can affect thought, concentration and memory ('brain fog'), or it can affect joints and muscles, and it can affect everyone with Lyme quite differently -- that's a big part of what confuses the docs: they are simply not accustomed to patients who have such wide varieties of symptoms.
As a result, docs reach into their grab bag of possible ailments, and often hypochondria is the label docs use, for lack of any other ideas. I saw some 20 MDs without any diagnosis being made, and then Doc #21 tested me for Lyme disease, since everything else had been tried and discarded. Another incorrect diagnosis docs often make (instead of Lyme) is 'fibromyalgia' [which means 'painful muscle fibers' in Greek -- which is a good description of how some of us with Lyme feel], but a symptom like muscle pain is not an illness or infection. So, no, it's not uncommon for docs to tell a patient with Lyme that the patient has hypochondria (meaning an imaginary illness). That's the reason to find a doctor who specializes in Lyme disease and related ailments, and those docs are often members of ILADS. I had Lyme disease and another infection often carried by the 'Lyme' ticks, and once properly diagnosed, treatment was quite straightforward: specific antibiotics against each infection, and several months to begin to feel less tired and foggy-brained. It was worth every effort (and the cost of certain antibiotics) to get well again, which is now about 8 years ago.
Lyme disease will not go away by itself without antibiotic treatment, and the sooner it's done, the better. You go!
As a result, docs reach into their grab bag of possible ailments, and often hypochondria is the label docs use, for lack of any other ideas. I saw some 20 MDs without any diagnosis being made, and then Doc #21 tested me for Lyme disease, since everything else had been tried and discarded. Another incorrect diagnosis docs often make (instead of Lyme) is 'fibromyalgia' [which means 'painful muscle fibers' in Greek -- which is a good description of how some of us with Lyme feel], but a symptom like muscle pain is not an illness or infection. So, no, it's not uncommon for docs to tell a patient with Lyme that the patient has hypochondria (meaning an imaginary illness). That's the reason to find a doctor who specializes in Lyme disease and related ailments, and those docs are often members of ILADS. I had Lyme disease and another infection often carried by the 'Lyme' ticks, and once properly diagnosed, treatment was quite straightforward: specific antibiotics against each infection, and several months to begin to feel less tired and foggy-brained. It was worth every effort (and the cost of certain antibiotics) to get well again, which is now about 8 years ago.
Lyme disease will not go away by itself without antibiotic treatment, and the sooner it's done, the better. You go!
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PS Some people with Lyme prefer herbal-type approaches, but my Lyme doc was an 'antibiotics only' kind of doc, which worked perfectly for me and a member of my family who also had Lyme. My strong preference, if I got Lyme again, would be antibiotics, but others may see it differently.
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