November 2009- July 2011

I'll write the story of the on-set, specialist I've seen, their findings, and their "guesses." Over the years, I have been in numerous accidents...Not to mention, I have horrible posture. If blogger had a timeline, it would help greatly to explain in short terms.The doctors/specialists I've seen are highlighted.


November to Early December - Around this time my family and I were planning a winter vacation. We decided to visit Deep Creek, Maryland in Dec,  2010. I was 19 at the time.

After the vacation, I had really bad constipation and stomach pains. A gastroenterologist doctor prescribed me Nexium for acid reflux. Note : being a bad patient, I didn't take it and it started to get better. At that time I also experienced facial tingling short after. I personally don't think they have anything to do with each other. Called my doctor and told her about the tingling, she told me to make an appointment with her and a Neurologist.

December 15, 2009 - I was just sitting in my room. I kept feeling a dull pain in my neck, but ignored it. A couple minutes later I felt a sharp pain on the left side of my neck that radiated to the top of my head. Mind you, this was thee worst pain I had ever felt in my entire life. It felt like someone was pulling down on my head. My boyfriend called 911, as a screamed in agony on the floor. It lasted under a minute, I passed out for a few seconds but remained able to comprehend the medics.

911 had arrived and took me to the local hospital. The ER preformed a CT of my neck and brain and gave me some painkillers. The scans were negative. The doctor asked if I wanted to get a spinal tap done, to make sure that it was not Meningitis. I opted out of that because, I did not have a fever.

The last weeks of December - I was having tingling in my face, hands and neck. I had a burning sensation in my neck and shoulders. I finally saw my primary care doctor and a Neurologist. He ordered a MRI/MRA of the neck ( only neck ) and told me that he suspected a pinched nerve. ( wish that was the case! )  The MRI/MRA was completed and my neurologist did not see anything on the scans. All he said was that my muscles looked tense.

January, 2010 - Over the following three weeks I developed what I learned later was "ataxia." Before I was unaware and said that I had felt unbalanced. I had multiple trips to the ER, and of course there was nothing found there. My body felt weak at times and the tingling had worsened.

Decided to see my primary care doctor again and a second neurologist. The both agreed that I should get blood work done, and an MRI/MRA of the brain with contrast.

The tests came back negative and my cbc was okay.

I was then dismissed for awhile and over the course of January into February I had episodes of the horrid pain at the top of my head. Many times I had to take a trip to the ER. My parents finally insisted that the hospital admit me. The ER doctors agreed because my symptoms were debilitating. My Neurologist ordered EXTENSIVE blood work and more MRIs. I will post the MRIs later on. Results below.

MRI of brain - normal
MRI of cervical - normal
MRI of thoracic - normal
MRI of lumbar - normal

Spinal Tap results - normal

Blood work came back with abnormal antibodies within the Lyme disease test. b12 deficiency and severely low vitamin D deficiency. I did not have pernicious anemia. Levels were


I went then to an Infectious disease doctor, he did extra test and told me that I did not have Lyme. He said that he saw in my blood at SOME point I had Ehrlichiosis is a tickborne^[1] bacterial infection. He said that they could not tell when I was exposed and said that it doesn't cause long-term effects. He gave me doxycicline, just to try it.


March 2010 - I was getting really depressed and anxious. I just wanted to know if I'd ever feel better. I did start getting b12 shots and took vitamin D supplements as prescribed. I felt I little better after taking the doxy but the symptoms came back.



I had on-going pain and numerous episodes that resulted in ER visits, only for them to send me home with painkillers and the number to a few psychiatrists.