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LYME DISEASE - the illness

© Barbara Hall

So you find yourself puzzled feeling like you have the flu and it's July.......or perhaps you look down on the back of your knee and you see this big, red rash in a vague circle.......perhaps you have a few days of vicious headaches that go away.......or the back of your neck begins to ache and you didn't 'sleep funny'.......or perhaps none of the above. You could have Lyme Disease.

Having had 6 different cases in a 10 year period (only 4 of which had actual bite rashes) I can honestly say I think I've had every symptom in the book. The fatigue was like the first few weeks of being pregnant. My head hurt so badly I couldn't even touch the skin on my temples. My neck was in SO much pain I woke myself up every single time I moved in bed. When I did want to get up, I had to put my hand behind my neck and 'lift' my own head. Breakfast consisted of coffee and three Advil - ANYTHING to take the edge off the pain. I had a week of skipped heartbeats, a week where my hip joints barely worked, I endured a Summer Theatre Reunion with Bell's Palsy (one half of my face just wasn't connected to my brain) and whenever anyone asked what I was doing, my only answer was "I have Lyme Disease" . For TRULY, that was ALL that I was doing. And I couldn't even do THAT in a straight line. I'd have two good days and then three bad ones. I'd try to go back to work and not last through the day. The longer it went on, the harder it was to convince my boss, the doctors or even myself that I was 'STILL SICK'.

I took the antibiotics every single time, but I just couldn't get well. Eventually I lost my job and then my apartment. I could never get disability because even if you DID have a verifiable titre test result, if you took a month's worth of antibiotics, you were considered 'cured'. It was nightmare to say the VERY least.

Now I am not really one for the doomsday report. I don't think it does anyone any good unless someone just isn't

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