Jackie said it all!! She's awesome,,, I had pretty much all of the same symptoms as you, and I finally got a clinical dx of Lyme, babesia and bartonella. I had Cat Scratch Disease as a teenager and now I understand how all of my symptoms started from that time on...... Cat Scratch Disease ( which is Bartonella) is a co-infection of Lyme.. I would've never thought about it had I not come here!!!
My LLMD is in Mt. Kisco, NY... He is pretty great, and very, very knowledgable about this. Take the advice and get a LLMD (ASAP), LOL
Don't yu love all the abbreviations!! LOL
Take Care, and Good Luck!!
Pam
Welcome to MedHelp Lyme --
Sorry to hear what you are going through -- you are, in my not-medically-trained opinion, having symptoms that could be associated with Lyme disease. Many MDs are not familiar with the broad range of symptoms that may appear in a Lyme infection and often cycle seasonally and also every few weeks (it's different in everyone). That is, I think, part of what makes it hard for docs to recognize Lyme when they see it. Also, Lyme often comes with companion infections ('co-infections') that have their own array of symptoms to complicate the presentation and confuse the docs.
I would suggest that you find a Lyme specialist for a work up. It's what I would do in your situation. The bad news is: Lyme is all over Connecticut; the good news is, there are Lyme specialists nearby. You will see the term "LLMD" used by patients to refer to MDs who specialize in Lyme and its coinfections, but it's not a formal title or one that the docs themselves use ... it's patient shorthand for 'Lyme Literate MD.'
I would suggest that you locate an LLMD (who can be a GP, an internist, an immunologist, or any kind of MD, but has to be one who has an open mind and an interest in Lyme+). I understand they can be hard to locate in CT proper, but they are findable. (Oddly enough, infectious disease docs and rheumatologists are often the loudest deniers of Lyme, although their fields of study should make them the docs best prepared to treat Lyme. It's all based in 'power politics' within the medical community.)
Here is a website with an explanation of how find an LLMD:
www [dot] chronic lyme disease [dot] com / llmd - referrals
You could also look at the website www [dot] lyme [dot] org, which is based in Tolland CT and may be able to suggest a nearby LLMD. Looks like your general area.
[[Take out all the spaces above and replace the [dot] indicators with a period, and you're good to go.]]
Columbia U has a renowned Lyme *research* center, but I don't know if they take patients for *treatment* as well. They have a website and you might give them a call to inquire.
Also be aware that different states and their medical societies have different views of Lyme as being serious vs trivial, how long to treat, whether to test for coinfections, etc., so if you run into a brick wall in CT, NY may be more patient-friendly.
I would recommend strongly that you involve your family in figuring out how to approach this situation and find a doc. If you want to read more about Lyme+, the ILADS [dot] org website is the main group of LLMDs in the US.
You will also see some websites that are full of conspiracy theories about the government having created Lyme in a lab and it got away from them, etc., but to my thinking, that kind of theorizing doesn't help any of us get well, and as you already know, being sick is enough of a chore.
NonLLMDs scoff at LLMDs and can be very dismissive of the idea that Lyme is a serious, long-lasting ailment if not treated properly. It makes finding diagnosis and treatment difficult, but it is well worth doing.
Please let us know if you have any questions or we can help further. I hope you don't have Lyme, but if you do, getting it (and its coinfections, if any) treated is important; they don't go away by themselves.
Best wishes to you -- let us know how you do, okay?