This is part 2. If you haven't already, please go read part 1 - What is Lyme: Basics and the Bite.
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So I left off in my last post at the point where you have Lyme disease, you don't know that, it goes diagnosed, and the symptoms start getting worse.
Lyme can affect about every system in the body, and cases can look very different because of that.
Some people will have many physical symptoms, and start losing control of their body. It can be certain joints or arms or legs that stop works, seizures, or twitches and tics and look like Tourette syndrome or Bell's Palsy. Or you can become paralyzed and/or bedridden.
For others it can be an invisible illness. Headaches, muscle/joint pain, achy all over, and neurological issues such as memory loss.
Or it can be a mix of the two. Either way there will be many more symptoms than the ones I've mentioned here. (I have mostly invisible, but I do have twitches and involuntary movements sometimes.)
There is a pretty good (but medical sounding) list here - Lyme Symptoms List
If left untreated, you can eventually become bedridden and die. You wouldn't think that something the size of poppy seed would cause so much pain and havoc, but it does.
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The everyday life of Lymie (nickname for those with Lyme! :)) isn't easy. Sure, the symptoms may not sound bad, but trust me, they are bad. I can't speak for others, but a case pretty similar to mine would be something like this.
Imagine you've been hit by a truck. You ache all over, and the pain doesn't go away. You have join pain, and hearing things pop or having to pop things back into place is a regular occurrence. Headache is pretty familiar. You can't be on your feet, walk, exercise for long periods or time because of fatigue and it hurts to much. You're always tired, and the fact you have insomnia and have to drug yourself to sleep doesn't help. Sometime you can have fun days or do stuff running on adrenaline when you don't have a choice, but you pay for it x10 later.
You don't remember a day you weren't in pain. You often want to die. You take an absurd amount of medication a day. Your sense of smell, and appetite is messed up (some days I feel hungry all day long, and others I will realize at supper time I haven't eaten all day even though I don't feel hungry). You have sensitivity to light and sound. You judge how good a day was by how much ibuprofen you had to take. And then you force a smile and tell people you're doing ok or better than you were.
Yes, it's awful, but it is what it is, and there's nothing you can do about it besides keep pushing through and seeking treatment.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
So I left off in my last post at the point where you have Lyme disease, you don't know that, it goes diagnosed, and the symptoms start getting worse.
Lyme can affect about every system in the body, and cases can look very different because of that.
Some people will have many physical symptoms, and start losing control of their body. It can be certain joints or arms or legs that stop works, seizures, or twitches and tics and look like Tourette syndrome or Bell's Palsy. Or you can become paralyzed and/or bedridden.
For others it can be an invisible illness. Headaches, muscle/joint pain, achy all over, and neurological issues such as memory loss.
There is a pretty good (but medical sounding) list here - Lyme Symptoms List
If left untreated, you can eventually become bedridden and die. You wouldn't think that something the size of poppy seed would cause so much pain and havoc, but it does.
++++++++++++++
The everyday life of Lymie (nickname for those with Lyme! :)) isn't easy. Sure, the symptoms may not sound bad, but trust me, they are bad. I can't speak for others, but a case pretty similar to mine would be something like this.
Imagine you've been hit by a truck. You ache all over, and the pain doesn't go away. You have join pain, and hearing things pop or having to pop things back into place is a regular occurrence. Headache is pretty familiar. You can't be on your feet, walk, exercise for long periods or time because of fatigue and it hurts to much. You're always tired, and the fact you have insomnia and have to drug yourself to sleep doesn't help. Sometime you can have fun days or do stuff running on adrenaline when you don't have a choice, but you pay for it x10 later.
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| I made this awhile back... except the teacher thing kinda fits into the family thing for me since I'm homeschooled. ;) |
You don't remember a day you weren't in pain. You often want to die. You take an absurd amount of medication a day. Your sense of smell, and appetite is messed up (some days I feel hungry all day long, and others I will realize at supper time I haven't eaten all day even though I don't feel hungry). You have sensitivity to light and sound. You judge how good a day was by how much ibuprofen you had to take. And then you force a smile and tell people you're doing ok or better than you were.
Yes, it's awful, but it is what it is, and there's nothing you can do about it besides keep pushing through and seeking treatment.
There is no cure for Lyme disease. There are many different treatments, but none that are guaranteed to work every time on everyone. The reason for that is because Lyme can take so many different forms and hide in so many areas of the body. It can even hide from the immune system and antibiotics. The Lyme bacteria, borrelia burgdorferi, is spiral shaped, so it can "drill" through tissue and into about every area in the body.
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Thank you for reading! This is the second of my What it Lyme posts. I have more posts about this, and other Lyme stuff coming soon. I meant to get them all done in May (Lyme Awareness Month), but that didn't happen. So we'll make June Lyme awareness month on this blog too. :)
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