My name is Chelsea and I have Chronic Lyme Disease, as well as Babesia and Mycoplasma (co-infections). My symptoms began in 2010 but it took almost six years to figure out what was causing me all of the pain and suffering. This is my story, and it’s not over yet.
I gave birth to a beautiful daughter in 2009. It was the best time of my life. I had prayed for a child for four years and was given this perfect gift from God. Everything was going well. Other than being borderline diabetic, I was relatively healthy. That’s when the symptoms started. They came on slow so as not to raise suspicion. The flu? A bug of some sort? No need to see a doctor. Then the pain started. Joint pain. Muscle pain. I had the cross of pain that focuses on the span between shoulder blades and neck. The pain developed from mild to moderate to severe.
I saw doctors for pain. Had physical therapy for a short while. It didn’t really help much. Other symptoms began to pop up. They included: heart palpitations, dizziness, headaches, chills and night sweats, brain fog, stomach problems such as chronic gastritis, and much more. Over the course of six years I saw two rheumatologists, a cardiologist, a neurologist and gastroenterologist, as well as seeing several general physicians. Labs were run. Other than blood sugars and some signs of arthritis, there was nothing. I was told…
“Labs were normal. You are fine.”
“There’s nothing wrong with you.”
“Maybe you’ve just got fibromyalgia.”
“It’s probably just anxiety.”
“If you lose weight you’ll feel better.”
“We’ve already gone over this. You’re fine. I could give you an anti-depressant if you want?”
It was insane. The doctors weren’t interested in helping me. They didn’t believe me. They couldn’t see my pain in their lab results so they dismissed me as being depressed or anxious. They treated me like an annoyance and did was they could to get rid of me. I can tell you that I was abandoned and poorly treated by the majority of the medical community. I even had a doctor from the Visalia Medical Clinic yell at me and send me crying to the parking lot. I’ll never forget that.
Time went on. The symptoms got worse. Then someone who suffers from Chronic Lyme Disease told me that it seemed like I might have it too and that I should be tested. I was sent to an NP who had learned about Chronic Lyme and was able to refer me to an LLMD (Lyme Literate MD) in the Bay area. Thus my war with Lyme began.
While it was good to finally get answers, Lyme Disease is not something that I would wish on anyone. Treatment is hard and expensive and usually not covered by insurance. My life has been no easier since starting treatment. In fact, it’s gotten worse. Still, I know we are going to find a treatment that works for me. In my case, we are dealing with the Babesia first, since it can be worse than the Lyme in many ways.
I’ve started this blog to share my story, as well as provide information and help to others dealing with Lyme Disease. I am disgusted with the medical community and how it has turned its back on Lyme patients, denying us fair treatment. I believe we have to stand and fight. We fight the disease. We fight for prevention. We fight for better treatment and insurance coverage. We fight those who would keep us sick. The war is on and we need to stand and fight. Will you stand with me?
Faithfully Fighting Lyme 