to feel like you are dying at age 18 is very concerning. you should definitely consult your family physician and possibly see a specialist. persistent symptoms after lyme disease has been treated appropriately with antibiotics is a very controversial area. we do know that long-term antibiotics do not help and are associated with serious complications. we also know from recent studies that lyme disease does not relapse but you can get reinfected. the most common symptom of lyme disease is a classical rash erythema migrans and patients who get this rash again have another infection not a relapse. a small percentage of patients who are treated for lyme disease (10-20%) develop persistent symptoms which may last for 6 months or more. this syndrome is called post-treatment lyme disease syndrome (ptlds). according to the most recent advice from the centers for disease control (cdc) there are many fraudulent products claiming to treat "chronic lyme disease". so be cautious and make sure you are not being treated by quacks. treatment by a physician associated with a university teaching hospital would be a good choice. in addition to seeing your physician and making sure there is no other condition responsible for your symptoms the cdc recommends that you eat a healthy diet and get plenty of rest talk to a counselor and keep a diary of your activities and symptoms. personally i found the answer to this above very misleading. although she mentioned the controversy but she did not tell you about the overwhelming evidence against the cdc's view point on chronic lyme disease. you are not alone your are not the only one receiving answers such as this one as to why you are still sick. you will see for yourself through the help of a lyme literate doctor that antibiotics can and will help improve your symptoms. you will also begin to find that no doctor with a closed mind will be able to help you through this. there is a group on facebook called lyme disease awareness go there and get the right information from 13k people just like yourself who have been denied long term treatment from doctors. i was one of those people. i had other doctors who said i was fine call these lyme literate doctors quacks. that quack gave me my life back! go to the columbia university tick borne diseases research center website at the top there is a second opinion option in one of the menus click it and go see doctor brian fallon and get your answers there or at lymedisease. org based upon my personal experience along with my husband daughter and now hundreds of people that i have come to know through a variety of venues (i am a professional counselor with 30 years of experience)- your symptoms can absolutely be attributed to persistent borrelia (lyme) infection- and perhaps coinfections. i strongly recommend you review the international lyme and associated diseases (ilads) website for up-to-date and accurate information. because of what comes down to what is now willful ignorance many doctors are poiltical hacks rather than physicians- like the "expert" who gave you horrible advice on this forum. if you have had lyme disease and did not take antibiotics until you were symptom free it will return - i know it happened to me because i could not get treatment i needed because of lack of knowledge from infectious disease doctors - long term lyme disease required iv antibiotics to penetrate the underlying tissues - you need to see a lyme literate doctor who has success in treating lyme disease - www. ilads. org i would look at the sentence under the answer. " this answer should not be considered (good) medical advice and should not take the place of a (llmd) doctors visit". i added the words in brackets.
could i still have lyme disease? . i was diagnosed 4 yrs ago. i never found a tick bite so i'm not sure how long i had it before i started antibiotics. i've never felt the same. i'm still just as tired and constantly achy in my neck and back. i get terrible headaches that last days. i get sharp pains in my arms all the time. i randomly get dizzy and i've fainted a several times. a year ago someone said it's allergies so i tried allergy medicines and just got sicker. in sept. i had mono. i'm 18 and i still feel like i'm dying!