After reading about my Lyme blog on Twitter, Pam agreed to share her story of hope and her experience with Lyme. Here is Pam’s story.

I’ve probably had Lyme since the 1960’s.  I found out I had Lyme in a chance meeting in 2005 with a Russian-trained physician and medical researcher who connected many seemingly unrelated dots in my health history.

Along with brain fog, vertigo, lack of verbal fluency, sinusitis, and joint tenderness, my most serious Lyme issue has been the loss of my left hand and lower arm.  One cold winter day in 1983, I went to put my left hand into a glove and couldn’t move my thumb. By the next day my wrist had dropped and I lost the use of the whole hand. Numbness, tingling, and no strength. Just like that. No warning.

Like many others with Lyme, I trooped from specialist to specialist, but no one knew for sure what my problem was. Even a week in the hospital turned up nothing definitive.  I was sent home on high doses of Prednisone. When I learned how dangerous steroids are, I stopped taking it after five months. No one ever tested me for Lyme.  In the back of my mind, however, I thought the cause might be a virus. Guess I wasn’t too far off.

Enduring Hope

Lucky for me I trusted my instincts and never pursued further diagnosis and treatment until my chance meeting in 2005.  Yes, I might have gotten a Lyme diagnosis sooner.  But more likely I would have spent large amounts of time and money on multiple misdiagnoses with multiple treatments that didn’t work. Trusting in my innate intuition has always been my hope. It’s never once let me down, even if no one else agrees with me.

I’d love to be able to report that after 3 1/2 years of treatment, my Lyme is cured.  It isn’t, but I am a lot better.  The brain fog has lifted. I can find appropriate words. My hand is still weak but I have much greater range of motion.  The battle isn’t over, but I so appreciate that I know who the enemy is.

Inspiration

My inspiration through all the ups and downs of this frustrating disease has come from my husband (who probably got Lyme from me), my dedicated doctors, my friends and acquaintances with Lyme, and the greater Lyme community.  It’s very comforting to know that others understand and care about what I’m experiencing.

Also, once I stopped fighting the disease and the medical establishment that doesn’t want to admit it’s a big problem, the more at peace I’ve become in my own skin. My wishing things were different doesn’t change them.  It is what it is and I’m still learning to live as best I can knowing that.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at 4:40 AM and is filed under Living with Lyme. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.