Find out what you might have if you’re been suffering from migraines, muscle and joint aches, insomnia, dizziness, depression, inability to focus and a fast pulse.
Misdiagnosed for Years
I’m a mama blogger to three who helps guide women in nutrition and fitness.
But most people don’t know that the secret reason of myself being so into nutrition and fitness is my 10 year battle with a disease that was misdiagnosed for six years!
At the young age of 13, the summer before beginning high school, I went on vacation with my family to the mountains of California.
Upon returning home I got what seemed like a bad cold for weeks. Shortly thereafter those symptoms subsided and school began, but so did headaches.
I had never had a headache before in my life, but suddenly I had one every day — varying in intensity and location. Then began debilitating migraines, about one a week in addition to the daily headaches.
Within a few months I began getting muscle pain, knotted and tightening constantly. Pinched nerves, aching joints, dizziness with blackouts upon standing, and trouble sleeping followed shortly thereafter.
I began seeing doctors to identify the underlying cause of these symptoms and was diagnosed with chronic daily headache, migraines and fibromyalgia. But that was only the beginning.
By the time I was 15 I was severely depressed, having constant indigestion; inability to sleep was a daily occurrence.
I couldn’t focus on school, and my honors straight A’s began to slide.
My heart became tachycardic [abnormally high pulse].
My mentality and moods were irrational to say the least. I felt like an old dying person in a child’s body — and none of the handfuls of doctors I saw each week knew what was wrong.
The list of medications I had to take and diagnoses I received began to grow. I was said to have ultra-rapid cycling bipolar I, insomnia, tachycardia and more.
My life became chaotic, I was only 16 and on over 11 heavy medications for my many diagnoses.
After years of many hospitalizations, psychiatric hospitalizations and beginning dangerous self-medication, I had given up.
It wasn’t until six years after the symptoms began that my mother heard of Lyme disease and reached out to her wild 18 year old daughter, who had completely given up hope of ever healing, to please get tested.
The tests came back beyond positive. Testing positive for acute neuropsychiatric Lyme disease (meaning it culminated not only in severe physical symptoms but severe mental symptoms as well) along with a host of co-diseases including babesiosis.
Babesiosis is a parasitic infection usually transmitted by a tick bite – the same bite that causes Lyme disease.
The tick that carries the Lyme disease bacterium may also be infected with the Babesia parasite.
The myriad of diseases were believed to be contracted together and caused the more rapid and severe set of debilitating symptoms.
From that point it took four years of varying treatments and agonizing Jarisch–Herxheimer reactions [reaction to antimicrobial medication] before the Lyme disease was put into a dormant state.
More on Lyme Disease
The signature bullseye rash of Lyme disease. Not all victims get this.
Allie Edwards runs two blogs: The Perfect Pregnancy Plan and Vigor it Out. Edwards, a mother of three, is a certified personal trainer specializing in prenatal and postpartum fitness. She’s also certified in nutrition and lifestyle during pregnancy, and child nutrition and cooking.
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