Scared Tickless....A long and lonely journey

HERE IS MY STORY.....

I have started this blog site to not only document my journey through a very difficult and complex disease; but also, to help others who may be experiencing similiar situations. I am not a physician and do not intend for my blogs to be used as medical advice or to be anything other than a sharing of my personal experience. I am thankful to those ahead of me who have shared thier experences because many of these have helped me during my research and given me insights that I would otherwise not have had.

Me and my husband, Charles

THIS IS MY STORY!

It's really hard to know where to start but, I suppose, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18TH 2010 would be a good place. At that time, I was a 48 year old female in the best condition of my life. You see, just three and a half months prior, I had ridden a bicycle for 500 miles over a 7 day period. It was my personal best and I couldn't have been more proud of my accomplishment! I am a Registered Nurse and had a job for a top medical device manufacturer as a senior clinical manager in Arkansas. As part of my job responsibilies, I was required to call on health care professionals which worked in hospital settings. Some new regulations had passed which were being adopted by many hospitals which required sales representatives coming into the facility to obtain certain vaccinations and provide proof of a negative TB skin test. So, hence, Thursday, November 18th 2010. One day I would give anything to take back and do over. To remove from the calendar. To have not happened. What happened to me that day has changed my life! I had gone to a local clinic to obtain a TB skin test and, even though a flu vaccine was not required, I thought "what the heck, I may as well get a flu vaccine while I'm here". I had had flu vaccines in the past but this year the vaccine was a dual vaccine to include H1N1. So this was the first time for me to get this. And here begins my journey. That night I was awakened from sleep with severe itching and burning in both palms of my hands. Because I am a nurse, I knew immediately that I was having a reaction to the vaccination. Within a few minutes the symptoms had increased to include the soles of both feet. This got me out of bed to look for any type of rash. I didn't see any. I took 50mg of Benadryl and went to my computer to google Guillian-Barre' Syndrome. I had been made aware by the nurse pratitioner that administerd my vaccine that in rare instances the H1N1 vaccine had resulted in this syndrome which could lead to ultimate paralysis of the respiratory system requiring admission into an intensive care unit and ventillation by a respirator. So naturally, I was highly concerned. My symptoms were not the usual side effects from the flu vaccine, such as local soreness in the muscle, mild flu-like symptoms. My reaction was a systemic one and this concerned me and I told myself that at any point, if my symptoms got worse or advanced that I would wake my husband and asked to be taken to the emergency department. But....relieved that my symptoms had gone away within a couple of hours, I allowed myself to go back to sleep. My husband sleeping sound beside me had no idea any of this had happened.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19TH 2010
When I woke up the next morning I had, what I would describe, as the worst case of arthritis possible in every single joint of both hands and feet. I could not close my hands any more than if I were holding a softball. And, if I tried, it caused a tremendous amount of pain. Over the next few hours after messaging my hands and feet, the symptoms actually got better. I was relieved. Only for the next morning and EVERY morning after to go through the same thing! It was like the movie Groundhog's Day with Bill Murray, but not in a good way. I had gone to see my primary care physican and explained what had happened to me. That I believed I had a bad reaction to the H1N1 flu vaccine. He did a thorough history and physical, prescribed me an anti-inflammatory and referred me to a Rheumatologist.

FAST FORWARD 5 MONTHS!
In April 2011 all the laboratory data and MRI results taken by my Rheumatologist came back negative. I did NOT have Rheumatoid Arthritis but was told that just because my lab and MRI was inconclusive that it was still possible at some point it could show up positive. So, he wanted to go ahead and prescribe Methyltrexate which is a drug used to treat severe Rheumatoid Arthritis and which can have very serious side effects. Five months was a VERY, LONG TIME awaiting these results and gave me plenty of time to research H1N1 vaccine reactions and complications. OMG!!! I could not believe what I found. To make a long story short, we all believe that the H1N1 vaccine (and all vaccines for that matter) is safe, when in fact, there are so many people getting severe, chronic debilating diseases from it such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Mutiple Sclerosis, Autism, infections from contamination, Alzheimers and many other autoimmune illnesses. Straight from the CDC website!  Based on my research (which I will share with you in a later post), I was convinced that it would be extremely important for me to find the CAUSE of my symptoms so that I could properly be treated. Instead of taking drugs like Methytrexate and anti inflammatory agents which only work to "cover up" or "minimize" the symtoms and do NOTHNIG to treat the underlying cause.

I WAS NOW ON A MISSION! A MISSION TO FIND OUT WHAT IN THE HELL WAS HAPPENING TO MY BODY AND WHY!

You ask "what in the world does this have to do with Lyme Disease?"
Great question. I hope you will read on.