NEWS: When doctors couldn’t, teen figured out on his own that he had Lyme disease
The Argus Leader, a South Dakota newspaper, reports about a Boy Scout who had to do his own research to discover his troubling symptoms were due to Lyme disease.
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By columnist Jill Callison (Oct. 12, 2011)
For more than a month, Graham Sudenga knew something wasn’t right.
He’d developed a lump on his neck, then a rash. His body ached, he was feverish and he would develop headaches of migraine-like intensity.
Then Graham’s face drooped on the right side, as if he had received injections of novocaine.
On the first day of his freshman year at O’Gorman High School, he tried to drink milk from a carton. Friends laughed as it dribbled out of his mouth and down his shirt.
Graham had seen three doctors and had been given prescriptions for an antibiotic and a steroid.
Neither one seemed to work.
On Aug. 23, almost five weeks after the lump first appeared, Graham sat down in front of his home computer.
“My facial paralysis wasn’t getting any better so I just looked up on Google ‘Why can’t I control half of my face?’ ” he says.
The first suggestion was Bell’s palsy, a nerve disorder affecting the face. An emergency room doctor had dismissed that possibility. Graham revised the search.
“I typed in after that ‘swollen neck’ just to make it more specific,” he says.
A different answer came up. Graham walked downstairs carrying his computer and faced his parents.
“I said, ‘hey, guys, I might have Lyme disease,’ ” he says.
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In Montana, thru the Internet, I, a RN, and my two minor daughters after tick bites w/ EM rashes in Breeches of the (CDC) Standard of Care, misdiagnosed, left untreated, got life-threatening progressive complicatons of neurological Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Lyme, Erhlichiosis Bartonella, and Babesia diagnosed by out of state (ILADS) Specialists. The INTERNET SAVED OUR LIVES!!!
I just wanted to add a quick reply. It breaks my heart knowing this boy suffered without knowing the cause. My friend and her entire family all contracted Lyme disease. They went through numerous antibiotics, including IVs of Rocephin. They all did go through Herxiemer reactions, felt some relief but then had all of their symptoms return. They then tried Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. They all did 2 courses of 40 treatments and now they all have no symptoms and it's been 4 years since they concluded their treatments. I understand that the treatments have to be in "hard chambers" that can go to higher pressure and not soft bag chambers as the soft chambers are not effective against the Lyme. The therapy can get expensive and they had to travel to Larkspur CA (www.ImproveHealing.com I think), but it is nothing compared to the cost of antibiotics and infusions that don't seem to work. Just putting this out there. Everyone with Lyme should know their options. Thanks