You May Have It and Not Know It -
Chris Beach's Story
Seven years ago Chris was having flu-like symptoms that
were recurring every four to six weeks. She went to see
her doctor and was told she had the flu. As the pattern
persisted, she visited three other doctors, and each of
them continued to tell her that it was just a bad case
of the flu. Over time, the flu symptoms kept coming back
and she also developed bronchitis, which turned into pneumonia
on two occasions. After many doctor visits, tests and
the same diagnosis, Chris discontinued seeing doctors
due to the frustration of not getting better.
Over the next five years Chris accepted the flu-like symptoms,
headaches, fatigue,lower back and neck aches until two
years ago, when the symptoms grew so severe that she was
not able to get out of bed. She returned to her doctor, and this time she was diagnosed with chronic
fatigue syndrome (CFS). While she was disappointed to
have CFS, she was happy to finally have a diagnosis. The
doctor prescribed drugs to help her with the CFS, but
over the next year, she did not get any better; in fact she became progressively worse. She found it
difficult to get out of bed, she had very little energy
and her body ached terribly.
In the summer of 2004, her son Conor went to a leadership
conference in Malaga, Spain. At that conference, Conor
spoke to one of the speakers, Kenneth
Grosso, CEO of Powered
by Professionals (the professional fundraising company
that works with Turn the Corner) regarding his mom’s
condition. When Ken heard of the symptoms, he was convinced
it was Lyme disease and recommended that Conor tell his
mom to get tested. Conor told Ken that in fact his mom had already been tested, but Ken knew that often it does not matter: blood work can, and does, have results that are a false negative. Ken explained that she needed
to visit a Lyme-literate doctor to make the right diagnosis.
Conor took Ken’s advice and convinced his mom to
immediately call Turn the Corner and find a Lyme-literate
doctor in her area. Once she saw the Lyme-literate doctor,
Chris’s clinical diagnosis and blood work indicated
that she did in fact have Lyme disease.
For the past three months she has been on a steady dose
of antibiotics and is starting to feel better, but realizes
that it will take at least six more months of treatment
before she finally gets back on her feet, as the disease
has gone undiagnosed for seven years. The longer Lyme disease is undiagnosed, the harder it is to treat. From her experience, she urges others
to make their doctors listen to them in terms of clinical
symptoms and to be tested for Lyme and other co-infections by a Lyme-Literate physician.
We wish Chris all the best as she continues her treatment,
and we want to thank her for sharing her story with us.
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