Sick kid became my new label my Freshman year. I had sat on the couch all summer. I finished countless series on Netflix because I had fallen into serious pain. I had started to become tired all the time, numb (fells like when the dentist pulls a tooth and uses Lidocaine), and pain throughout my body.
At the end of the summer, I couldn’t climb stairs or catch a ball. My parents decided one morning when I couldn’t get out of bed that we were going to Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. I spent a few days there on the Neurology floor where I was sent home without a diagnosis. My follow up appointment ended with a diagnosis of Depression and Anxiety. Many Lyme patients are diagnosed with this when doctors can’t figure out what is wrong and won’t admit it.
I barely got through the first few weeks, of school. After school I would immediately lay down on the couch and wouldn’t get off of it all night. I had countless symptoms,
- Fatigue
- Numbness thourghout my whole body. Toes to cheeks.
- Nerve and muscle pain thourghout my body.
- Headaches
- Insomnia
These symptoms just got worse as time progressed. I had countless MRI’s, CT scans, a spinal tap, and blood tests. I do not think that I made it through a whole week of school past October of that fall semester.
Things really got bad when I started to have these fits or seizures. I would be very tired and get a wave of heat over my body. I would feel disoriented and start to have a fit. My first one had my whole body shaking and I couldn’t see or speak. The rest just impacted the right side of my body. I looked like I had Parkinson’s. I would shake for 15-30 minutes and would go back to class.
This carried into February. No answers. Doctors knew nothing.
Until… a mom saw me having a seizure in the school office and knew exactly what was wrong with me.
You are your best advocate.
-Miranda
Livin' Life with Lyme 