Here is my story. I'm a 32 year old female from IL. I vividly remember playing with my neighbor kids when I was about 5 or 6, who had just returned from a trip to Arkansas. He had a jar of insects that he was showing me, and at that age, I thought nothing of it and was actually curious to investigate these creatures with him.

I wasn't aware that I had a HUGE black tick embedded into my left upper arm shortly after we played for a couple hours, except for the itching. My father noticed when I got back into the house and the entire family tackled me to investigate. It appeared to be a raised, black, oval-shaped "mole" that had a bumpy texture.
My dad used the corner of a photo to pick the tick loose and it wobbled down the sink drain.

This never crossed my mind again until recently. I was diagnosed at a research clinic in FL with Fibromyalgia, CFS and severe TMJ.

In my earlier years, I found it hard to focus in school and had mass amounts of nervous energy (the only kid in school with hand tremors), ADD, ADHD, and other learning disabilities. I just couldn't "get" anything further than basic math and struggled with organization, focus, and short term memory.

I've learned to control the ADHD, or rather, I've become sluggish later in life (often called "lazy") Its an effort to bend and clean my house and I'm frequently exhausted. I never wake up feeling "refreshed no matter how much sleep I get. I also battle insomnia.

My muscles always feel stiff and I HATE when people suggest stretching excercises as it only seems to aggravate and inflame my tendons/ligaments more-so.

These symptoms slowly progressed from age 7 on and I felt the brunt of it in my early 20's. My knees, ankles, back and neck are shot and at age 32, I need a posturepedic type bed in order to feel somewhat comfortable. I feel more like I'm 80 alot of times.

To top it all off, I feel like I'm not at a normal mental/learning level like everyone else my age (throughout most of my life) I'm in a fog most of the time.

I was quite limber as a child before the tick experience. Now I can barely kick my leg straight out in front of me. Bending over causes shooting pains up the back of my knees and hamstrings. I hate not having a full range of motion, especially since I spent years in dance.

I don't usually feel sorry for myself and ignore my limitations (sometimes pushing my own limits out of sheer anger), but I am beside myself now.
However, I am glad I know the source of my illness and that it isn't something I inherited from either parent.

Much love to you all.

Lynn
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God, rid me of this parasite.