Need Help with LYME Disease

[Mrider21]

I tried to post this under the proper discussion but for some reason it did not take.

I could sure use some help finding a LLMD.

In 2012 while in Minnesota, I was bit by a tick. I started feeling poorly but life was busy and I had to keep working. I never even considered that I might have Lyme Disease at that time. In fact, I thought I was overdoing it working three jobs. By March of 2013 I was in bad shape and no one could figure out what it was. My joints were swollen so bad and hurt so much that I could hardly walk. I had all kinds of symptoms. After seeing several doctors, and being tested for everything under the sun, the best they could tell me was my immune system was attacking my body and there was nothing they could do. At this point I had to take matters into my own hands. But I am no medical professional so what could I do?

Determined not to let this thing win, I started by trying to clean up my life and did what I could to take the best possible care of myself,such as changing my diet to eat good clean, organic and nonGMO foods,eliminating caffeine, buying a good water filter, and eliminating as many toxins from my home as I could. I had been forced to take it easy because I was nearly bedridden anyway. Gradually I felt some better. But something still was not right. So I found yet another doctor who ran more blood tests.

In addition to being low in vitamin D3, I  tested positive for H-pylori stomach virus (which I likely had for years)and was given a course of two antibiotics to take over two months. Wow! Did I start feeling like myself again! Finally, I felt good enough to add exercise back into my life. My energy was back and life was good....for a while.

Slowly I felt my energy level begin to decline and other symptoms such as achy joints, etc, start to return, so eventually went back to the doctor. By this time Lyme disease articles kept coming across my radar and I began to pay attention.

By now it was well into 2014 and I had some good information to empower me so I insisted on being tested once more for Lyme. Tho the final determination was was a negative result, when I looked at the numbers and saw that I had only one negative protein. while one was Active - Band 23 - and the rest were inactive, I knew I had to pursue this until I could rule out Lyme completely.

Since then I have not been able to find a Lyme Literate doctor and my symptoms seem to be winning. I just found a new doctor and insisted once more on being tested for Lyme, hoping to compare those results with the ones taken in 2014. Unfortunately, when the results were in and I asked for the breakdown, I was told that the test was binary. So there was nothing to look at. And the results...negative.

I could really use some help. I live in the Chicago area and have no idea how to find a LLMD. Your assistance is much appreciated.

Thank you.

[Mrider21]

Update: I found a tick attached to me this afternoon and when straight to the ER to have it removed. They gave me a two week subscription to Doxycycline (which I will begin to take tomorrow) as a preventative measure. Does anyone know if that might "cure" the older infection?