A Clean Bill of Health

Have you heard the one about the girl who limps into a doctor’s office, tells the doctor she had Lyme disease in 1994  and is certain she has it again, and then launches into her list of symptoms that include loss of feeling in her hands and feet , a fiery sensation in her legs, frequent short term memory lapses and bursts of irritability, trouble using her hands for normal every day things like opening doors, joint and muscular pain that is so bad that she compares herself to the Tin Man before he got oiled, and then a few days later receives a letter in the mail telling her all of her blood work was negative and she is in good health? 

Well, you just did. 

By early Sept 2011 I had diagnosed myself with Lyme disease. This wasn't one of those self diagnoses performed after happy hour with the help of Web MD. This was based on my first experience with Lyme disease in high school which will be discussed at a later date. For now, let’s take a look at what led me to the doctor’s office.

2011: Hindsight is always 20/20 Timeline:  

March: While most people were excited about their March Madness brackets, I woke up feeling feverish one morning and for the next week tried to identify the source of a traveling rash that would materialize for hours at a time on my face or neck in the form of really itchy hives or really tiny reddish bumps that produced a lot of heat and would then conveniently disappear when I would go to the doctor. This vanishing act made it hard to diagnose as anything other than an allergic reaction to some new lotion or shampoo I was using (although I swore up and down I was not using any new products). 

April-May: Felt sore and tired but I was training for a half Ironman triathlon so soreness in my back and knees after a bike ride or a run was not alarming. My right leg was bothering me and I went to the doctor and was told my Sartorius muscle was irritated. I just added it to the list of my aches and pains and diligently did leg, back and core strengthening exercises and stretching as directed.

Early June: Completed the 1/2 Ironman in Cambridge, MD and was incredibly sore after the race. Of course I was. Who doesn’t get sore after a big race?  [Side Note: From June 5th - August 28th I was sleeping on an air mattress at a friend’s condo. My lease had run out and I was in the process of looking for a place to buy while my furniture was in storage. The air mattress was a good culprit to blame my increasing back pain on]. 

Early July: Traveled to Croatia for a swim trek. A group of us swam 28K around the islands in the Adriatic Sea over a period of six days. Early on I noticed that I was having trouble pushing off the boat with my right leg when diving into the water. By the time day six of swimming was upon me, my shoulders and neck hurt so bad I could barely lift my arms out of the water while swimming. I chalked it up to the fact I had been a little lax in my preparation for the swim trek. Swimming once or zero times a week for the few months leading up to the trek was not a good training plan. Once again, my discomfort was easily accounted for.

Mid-July: Completed an Olympic distance triathlon in Richmond a couple of days after I returned from Croatia. All things considered I had a good race in some extremely hot weather conditions, a few days after the race I was still limping around with a sore leg.

Early-Mid August: My shoulders and neck were constantly bothering me even though I hadn’t swum since the triathlon in July and my back wasn’t getting any better, or worse. One morning while out for a run I felt this burning sensation in my feet, and as the days went on, it spread into my legs. My feet and my legs felt like they were on fire. The pain would come and go. Sometimes I could walk fine and other times I was barely able to place my foot flat on the floor. Once again, I blamed it on my back (it seemed reasonable). Went back to the doctor and worked on my sciatic nerve which was all inflamed.

Late August: I lost feeling in my feet and my hands. I was officially concerned.  Around this time I also started having trouble performing simple tasks like pulling my ATM card out of a pay-to-park machine. It wasn't that my card was stuck; it was that my fingers could not grip the card and pull on it to remove it from the machine. Friends and colleagues, who had jokingly been telling me that I had been flakier than normal, were starting to get seriously concerned with my inability to focus and remember things from earlier in the day. On a few occasions I also forgot I was the one talking and would just stare blankly at whomever I had been talking to waiting for them to finish the conversation. Around this time I also started getting annoyed and irritated about stuff that normally wouldn't make me think twice. I made an appointment to get a physical in mid-September.

September: I started seeing blurry halos around objects that were lit up; computer screen, cell phone, light fixtures, etc. This is when I knew I had Lyme disease again. This halo effect had been one of my symptoms the first time around.  As I waited for my doctor’s appointment to arrive, I participated in the Nations triathlon on September 11^th in Washington DC. I figured if I didn’t feel well, I could quit, walk home and take a nap. The second race I did was the Ragnar Relay, which took place after I was given a clean bill of health by the doctor. This race is also coincidentally the last time I was able to run. My body gave me the middle finger after I completed the race, and still hasn't retracted it. 

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I realize that this timeline makes me look like the “masochistic nut” that many of my friends have lovingly referred to me as over the years. I guess they were right!

After receiving my clean bill of health in the mail I left a voicemail for the doctor reiterating a few points I had made during my initial visit, the most important one being that I did not test positive for Lyme disease the first time I had it. I also mentioned my vision was being affected in the same way and I wanted to discuss the situation further. I received a call back from the receptionist the next day who gave me the phone number of an ophthalmologist who could help me with my vision issue. I didn’t even write the number down.