| JWissmille 2004-10-24, 2:08 am |
| http://www.newstribune.info/article.../news/news1.txt
Local woman adapting to often misdiagnosed disease
By MICHELE NEWBANKS , Tribune News Editor
When Carol Cline first began to get sick, she wasn't sure what was causing
it. After trips to the emergency room and 14 various doctors and
"-ologists", Cline finally found the cause - Lyme Disease.
She said her symptoms started in May 2002.
"My eyes got red and irritated. There were different symptoms and I tried
different doctors," she explained. "I began getting dull headaches every
single day for two months. I'm a person that never gets headaches."
She said her eyes became sensitive to light and the pain was unbearable.
In September of that year, her problems worsened.
"My calves and feet felt like they were full of bugs trying to get out. It
was horrible," she said. "I didn't know what to do."
That night, her feet and the arches of her feet started uncontrollable
spasming.
"It was horrifying," Cline said.
She called a friend, who happens to be a chiropractor, and underwent an MRI.
The MRI found lesions on her brain and they first thought she had multiple
sclerosis.
"That started the doctors. One after another," she said, noting most of the
doctors dismissed it as anxiety. She was prescribed antidepressants and
anti-anxiety medications.
The twitching had started in her legs, but had spread through her entire
body. There was also a buzzing sensation.
"You could actually see it through heavy corduroy slacks," Cline said. "I
thought I was possessed."
She works the front desk at the Mineral County Board of education Office and
said trying to work every day was very difficult.
"I had a lot of tingling and numbness that moved around. There were numb
patches. The symptoms kept piling up," she explained. "I had vertigo that
came and went. There were random sharp pains throughout my body."
In March 2003, she began having difficulty swallowing and breathing. It felt
like her breathing muscles had turned to stone, she said.
Heart palpitations and breathing problems sent Cline to the emergency room
three times. She also had night tremors and night sweats, as well as
subcutaneous tissue loss around her clavicle.
"I don't know if it was the site of the bite," she said.
In December 2003, when the medications didn't help any of her symptoms, she
went to the Internet for information. She found the site www.braintalk.org,
which posts a neuromuscular forum.
"People post who are undiagnosed and don't know what's wrong," she said.
She was reading the posts and someone mentioned the Lyme Disease Web site.
She clicked on the link and started reading symptoms of Lyme Disease. She
knew then what was causing her problems, although she didn't remember didn't
bit by a bug.
The Web site www.ilads.org lists basic facts for Lyme Disease, including the
fac that less than 50 percent of people who get Lyme Disease don't recall
where they got the bite.
"I'm chained to a desk all day long. I'm not an outdoors person," Cline
said.
She eventually found a Lyme Disease specialist who formally diagnosed her
and she started rounds of antibiotics. The lesions on her brain which were
detected by the MRI were Lyme lesions, indicating her advanced case of Lyme
Disease.
"In many cases it can be chronic because it's gotten into the central
nervous system and gotten into places where antibiotics can't reach," Cline
said. "It nests in the brain behind the eyes. It uses the spinal fluid to
reseed the body."
She said Lyme Disease is frequently misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia, MS,
chronic fatigue, Parkinson's Disease and Lou Gehrig's Disease.
"It is estimated 1 in 10 cases are actually reported, but you have to
consider all the cases that fall through the cracks," she said.
Cline noted a Web site that lists approximately 50 symptoms of Lyme Disease,
many of which she had, including the fever, fatigue, swollen glands, pulse
skips, twitching of the face or other muscles, headache and loss of muscle
tone. The symptoms can be found at www.xpressnet.com/bhealthy/symptoms.html.
Cline said she told her story because she wants people to realize that
negative Lyme Disease test results do not mean that people are Lyme Disease
free.
To contact Cline for more information, call (301) 777-8323 in the evenings
or e-mail www.mineandours@hotmail.com.
© The News Tribune
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