My Story

[Guest guest]

Hello ladies: I received an email from a member asking to tell my

story because some of you are considering getting tested for Lyme

since a few of us have it.

I've always had a rather weak immune system and got sick very easily

all my life. As I got older (late 20's then 30's and then 40's) I

would get sick more and more frequently. About 15 years ago a Dr.

labled it " Chronic Fatige - you know that new yuppie flu " and said

there is nothing you can do about it. So as the years went by I led

a relatively normal life until about 3 years ago when I was sick as

often as I was well. I was then diagnosed with Fibromyalgia - and

told " learn to manage it and live with it " . Then after a three month

yeast infection, dermatitis and a super swolen vulva I was diagnesed

with Vulvar Vestibulities. For about 8 months my pain was at a 10 -

it was horrible. I had one sleeping position. After seeing

specialist Hope Haefner a few times (not very helpful - I'm so happy

she was able to help - my first visit was the day of her

surgery, coincidentally)I realized that I didn't have a Vulvar

problem and that I had a " Whole Body " problem. It was something that

Dusty on this board said in a post that lit up the bulb over my head.

I used my search engine and found a Fibroymyalgia and Fatigue Center

in my area. They took 20 vials of blood and tested me for

everything, including Lyme. They use Quest Diagnostics and I am very

blessed to have received a postive Lyme on Band 41 as Quest is very

inaccruate for Lyme. They then tested me for Lyme at Igenex. FFC

catches a lot of Lyme - but in my area they use Quest first.

Unfortunately, the FFC Dr. here is not very " Lyme Literate " so I am

now with a very good Lyme Dr. that takes insurance and I am slowly

recovering. I was doing very well until recently super stress at

work caused a little backslide - stress affects every health issue, I

think. Anyway, my husband is taking my job (later on when I am well

I will help him just as he helped me when it was " my " job) so I can

stay as stress free as possible.

Lyme is known as " The Great Imitator " as it mimics many other

diseases. Sometimes it stays dormant in your body for many years

until a trauma activates it.

I would recommend that every woman with vulvar pain that also has any

(even one) symptoms of Chronic Fatigue and/or Fibromyalgia run to the

nearest Doctor that will give you and Igenex test. For those of you

who aren't sure - there is a new test coming out soon (from Bowen

labs, I believe) that is supposed to be super accurate. Even Igenex

can give false negatives.

I hope this helps!

By the way the best thing that helped me literally overnight was to

change to a more alkaline diet and avoid high acid producing foods -

that's another whole story - I learned a lot about it at the FFC -

but it's a very healthy diet that EVERYone shoud be on to avoid all

disease and inflamatory issues.

Hugs

Molly (mojo)