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is it possible i have lyme disease

ok when i was young i stayed in the woods hunting or camping with boyscouts in 03 i had flu like symptoms then two weeks later i was in the er with a headache that had been going on for days the dr. did spinal tap to test for spinal menegitis but they did the wrong test on the fluid so he just diagnosed it as menegitis 6 months later i had headahes that lasted for weeks at a time i went to er and dr. many times they did ct scans and mris couldnt find anything they tried me on every migraine med nothing would stop it so he would give me a shot of morphine to put me to sleep and one day they just suddenly stopped now for the last 4 years i have been having traveling joint pain but recently it has been staying in my knees alot i have had xrays bones are good blood work for gout and rhemetoid arthritis and they came back negative have been trying to figure it out im only 27 so i shouldnt have pain like this already dr. is wanting to do scope of knees next.
ohh i almost forgot every year since i had the menegitis i have had atleast 5 sinus or upper resp infections a year
i cant remember if i had a rash have really bad memory
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1763947 tn?1334055319
I lived in San Antonio, Tx when I first got real sick and there was no doctor who believed in Lyme. The University of Texas medical school teaches Texas docs not to believe in it. I heard that by phone from a real live Texas Doc that has Lyme himself. I experienced it first hand being misdiagnosed and sent for painful unnecessary tests and I got sooooo sick. I met that doc  on yahoo Tx lyme support group and he saved my life by telling me what to do., I found this group afterwards, wish I had it before. The Tx medical board has shut down the majority of LLMD in the state.  So if you are closer to another state I would try there first. As the others have mentioned seeing an LLMD is your best next step.
Good luck!
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Avatar universal
Your symptoms are consistent with Lyme Disease. I am surprised none of your doctors have considered Lyme, as you have the most commonly expected symptoms: headaches, sore knees, and traveling joint pain.

Definitely find yourself an LLMD to get checked out by someone who knows the disease well.  Travel to wherever you have to.  Lyme doesn't get better on its own.
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Avatar universal
Welcome to MedHelp --

Sorry to hear what you are going through, but good for you for working on figuring it out!

Lyme and other diseases the same ticks bring are everywhere, and I *know* the piney woods are full of ticks.  

The trick will be finding a doctor near you who understands Lyme.  There is a war in the medical community currently over how serious Lyme is, how widespread it is, and how to diagnose and treat it.  "Mainstream medicine" says Lyme is rare, hard to get, and easy to cure, but there are other docs who know more than that, and that is the kind of doc I would look for.

I see you are about half way between Houston and New Orleans.  Lyme docs are very hard to find in Texas generally, because the state medical board has taken as their official position the 'rare, hard to get, easy to cure' approach, and docs who know better than that are not able to practice medicine according to their consciences.  

But ... there is a Texas Lyme Disease Association, website www.txlda.org.  Try contacting them for a referral to a Lyme specialist close to you; they may have some suggestions.

I also just did a google search for 'louisiana lyme disease association', and one of the things that came up was this, a hit from the Tulane website: "Lyme disease, or Lyme borreliosis, is a debilitating disease caused by a corkscrew-shaped bacterium ... Deer ticks able to transmit Lyme disease are common in Louisiana. Why there is virtually no Lyme disease in Louisiana is not known."  (www.tnprc.tulane.edu/public_lyme.html)

That doesn't mean there isn't any Lyme in LA, however; that means that docs are not recognizing and diagnosing it, because Lyme is very widespread.

You could also email to:

              contact [at] ILADS [dot] org

and tell them where you are and how far you can travel.  ILADS is the main organization for Lyme docs, and that email address is a referral function for people looking for Lyme docs.

All of the symptoms you describe I have heard others with Lyme also mention ... especially the sore knees and the bad memory.

Don't worry about not remembering a rash:  I never had one, or didn't see it, and I didn't ever see a tick on me either.  A Lyme doc knows all this, and would also know from your symptoms what other infections the ticks may have given you that need different antibiotics from Lyme.

All this sounds very complicated, I know, but finding the right doctor is the most important thing you can do; the doc will then know what to do.

Above all, don't stop trying to figure out what's ailing you.  The sooner you treat it, the better, and can go back to enjoying life more.

Take care, and let us know how you do, okay?  Best wishes --
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