All of a sudden two days ago, my right knee was swollen and painful to move. Initially I was hopping around, but within one day it went from annoying to almost debilitating. To my delight, my orthopedic surgeon (who'd helped with my left knee some months ago) had time to see me today. He immediately notified me that he would be draining the fluid (and that there was a lot of it) and that I might need a cortisone shot.
The weird thing about the onset of this pain and swelling was that there was no obvious cause: no painful fall, no bad twist, no overexertion. It made no sense. Then the doc mentioned that when kids come in with my symptoms, it's usually Lyme disease. I looked it up on Wikipedia, and sure enough, everything fit. The disease can come on suddenly and produces the painful swelling as well as a few symptoms I could also attest to, namely fatigue and mild irritability. Then I remembered that about six weeks ago, I was bitten by a deer tick.
We decided that the chance that I have Lyme is pretty high. Because of that, and because cortisone and Lyme don't usually mix, the only treatment for today was the fluid drainage. The syringe is huge, as is the needle, but they barely hurt going in, and the swelling and pain were mostly gone by the time they came out.After seeing Maeve at school for a little pre-winter-break party, I went for a blood test and picked up my pills. I'll know the results of the test pretty soon, and in the meantime, just to be on the safe side, I'm on amoxicillin 4 times a day (for a month). Then I came home and took another nap.
2 comments:
Dude, sorry to say, but you most likely have Lyme...seeing how you KNOW you were bitten. I have been dealing with Lyme, and the horrible, painful, debilitating symptoms for 8 months now. Straight thru on MANY different antibiotics for 7 months! I have exploded with rheumatoid arthritic-like symptoms all over...both knees, shoulders, hips and right wrist. My r-shoulder was so bad recently that I finally got a Dr to write an MRI. You would NOT believe what that report said: tears, inflammation of soft tissue, synovitis and finally "anterior shoulder dislocation episode!" PS: I had cortisone shots in the r-shoulder! Daaa.
I've seen every specialist in the past 8 months: Neurologist, Rheumatologist, Ortho surgeon and LLMD (Lyme literate). Wanna bet he'll suggest surgery?
My approah has been a VERY aggressive attack on the disease as I have never let it go, constantly research and finally a breakthru! No, not another idiot Dr. who'll 'label you symptoms' ie: Fibro, Rheumtoid Arthritis...but "you don't have Lyme!!"
Thru my months of relentless research, I was extremely blessed to cross paths with Lyme-Literate people who been down this same road. I was told to research RIFE machines. I suggest you do the same. Long story...I purchased the MOST AFFECTIVE lyme killer around: the 'Doug Coil' machine. It works on 'elctromagnetic frequencies' that you send thru your body and it absolutely kills the spirochetes. You can believe it or not. I'm sure your skeptical, so was I. But now, after 2.5 weeks of using it specifically on my shoulders, they're healing. No Dr. will acknowledge it because they no NOTHING about Lyme, nevermind this new technology. BTW, its not FDA aproved, but its a perfectly legal device. They just can't claim 'medical benefits'.
I strongly urge you to research this. I have much more I can tell you about my Lyme and the coil and everything else. You don't need to (or want to) go down a long, painful path. I would also not go asking your Dr(s) about this until YOU know what your talking about when it comes to this therapy. They'll say its quackery and your nuts. They can't comment on it intelligently because they know nothing about it!
Educate yourself. Research, talk to other people as proof positive (usually on-line), also look up the book "Lyme Disease and RIFE Machines" by Bryan Rosner...you'll need it b4 you start treatment. Basically, you'll be treating yourself. Very empowering! and it WORKS!
PS: I live in Ulster Cty....
I'll check back to see it you respond, then we can talk more off this site. God luck to you.
E
Thanks so much for your comments. I really appreciate the time you put in. Obviously you were hit pretty hard.
I went to my ortho guy. Of course he's not LL, but he is very good about joints. His take on it was that I should have another blood test next month but that since the early test came back negative, it's somewhat unlikely that I have Lyme's. In addition, I have had no other obvious symptoms (like achy joints) and can't tell whether my sleep problems are Lyme-related or just life-related (which is to say that I've had the same sort of sleep issues for a long time before the tick).
So for now, I'm waiting cautiously but working under the assumption that either I never had Lyme's in the first place or that the month on antibiotics took care of a very mild case.
If I were suffering any symptoms, you bet I'd be taking a different approach. Good luck!
David
Post a Comment