Fibromyalgia and tick-bourne illnesses

Tweet

I have been doing a lot of research this morning on Lyme Disease, and I came across this bit on a website: "Like syphilis in the 19th century, Lyme disease has been called the great imitator and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of rheumatologic and neurologic conditions, as well as chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, somatization disorder and any difficult-to-diagnose multi-system illness." You would not believe how many symptoms of "late stage" Lyme Disease are the same as those suffered by people who have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia! http://ottermusic.com/lyme/articles/factors.html Now of course I'm not suggesting people with fibro all have Lyme Disease (or another tick-related illness). However, I'm curious if any of you can think back to your various tests that you had done.. were you tested for Lyme Disease? Do you recall when your major symptoms started, and if you had been exposed to the outdoors sometime (close) prior to that? Apparently not even 50% of people infected with Lyme Disease remember being bit or seeing a mark or rash. Which is interesting. Check out this map of where infected ticks are most prevalent: http://www.aldf.com/usmap.shtml Could you have been in or around these areas about the time you started noticing your health began to deteriorate? *For the record, my family used to go camping ALL the time, and several in my family are diagnosed with Fibro. Also, my problems seemed to start back in '97-'98, while I was going to school in a "moderate risk zone" for infection. (Not to mention I'd gone camping just before that). I do not recall any bite or rash, though.