anxiety as first symptom

wow, it's amazing how no two stories are alike. i've gotten into the same mindset as my doctors, which is i need to fit into a perfect little box in order to be diagnosable. i can't find a home with any disease/disorder, so i just feel like a weirdo. with all my symptoms, i actually went through several months convinced i made myself crazy and this was all in my head. tests after tests kept coming back normal and i actually became more anxious believing that i had some kind of psychotic disease that made me believe all these things were wrong with me.
fortunately, i have since learned, and there is no one in the world who can't convince me something is very wrong. a 25 year old, highly educated, previous collegiate athlete doesn't just suddenly have all these strange problems from "stress," which wasn't even present in my life at the time.

i'm going to see a lyme specialist. sounds like it is worth it!!!

how long did it take you guys to get a dignosis?

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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.  - Margaret Meade

hi beths, you were diagnosed with POTS at first too? Do you have POTS, along with lyme? Or did they rule out POTS?

i have all the symptoms of POTS, except for tachycardia upon standing. Hence, no POTS. It seems most doctors don't believe in lyme disease, other than the ones who specialize in it. I spent a year seeking a diagnosis, and was so relieved to finally have the POTS diagnosis. But the more I learned about it, the more I felt like I didn't have it.
So now I'm left with some kind of autonomic dysfunction, but no diagnosis. Back to square one.

Thanks for your offer for your LLMD. I'm actually in California now. Which is going to make it much more difficult to find a LLMD, I think, but I will. Especially upon hearing others have had panic/anxiety as their first symptoms. My doctor said lyme's disease always progresses from "flu-ish" feelings to joint pain.

Thanks for the bartonella suggestions, guys. I'm going to look into that more.

Yes. My very first symptoms were anxiety and panic attacks. I was 23 and in great health (so I thought) when I started having rapid heart racing, panic attacks, and anxiety out of no where. Literally started from nothing. I spent over a year trying to figure out why I was having these panic attacks. 2 years later I was diagnosed with lyme disease and believe to have had it for at least 5 years. Anxiety has always been my most major issue with lyme disease throughout my treatment and something I still have to deal with now, but nothing like how it used to be.

Doctor's don't always know everything. I was told I had emotional problems and to seek help for that. I wanted to kill them because by then I knew something else was going on, I just didn't know what. I also tested negative for lyme over a 2 year period so they ruled that out right away on me and wanted to put me on antidepressants. I had to be my own advocate. I didn't take the meds because I knew that I wouldn't be feeling that way if nothing else was going on. A week prior to my first panic attack, I spent 10 days in Europe traveling and having the time of the my life..no anxiety, no fears, nothing to bother me at all. Then boom, a week later, panic attacks started and I got worse over those 2 years.

I was on meds for 2 1/2 years before I got well. I was bed ridden by the time I got diagnosed and in very bad shape so it took a long time for me to get better, but I eventually did and once I was well and off abx, I did go to therapy for 6 months to deal with the left over anxiety. For being sick for those years, I stopped driving, going out of the house, pretty much doing anything "normal" so I had to learn to do that all over again. But after some therapy for the anxiety and just doing more and more, the anxiety eventually went away and I got back to a normal life.

I am now 33 and have home some recurring symptoms. I just a baby 9 months ago and my body went through a lot with the pregnancy so I am dealing with some lyme again and anxiety does return for me from time to time, but I think it is just something I deal with now. I don't have panic attacks and haven't in many many years. I get general anxiety about getting sick again sometimes, but for the most part, it does go away. I also never took meds for it and I know they help a lot of people with lyme and anxiety. For me, I just don't like to take meds unless I absolutely have to.

Don't accept that anxiety and panic aren't first signs of lyme. They surely are and were for me.

thanks for sharing jeminij-
your story sounds similar to mine. prior to my sudden onset of panic attacks, then tachycardia, then tons more symptoms, i was traveling in west africa feeling the healthiest ever, spontaneous, no fears. i was 23. boy did my life change really quickly. it's been almost two years since becoming sick, and i've just lost so much in my life. i never imagined i'd be in these shoes right now.
i was tested twice for lyme's, both negative. but it is definitely time to pursue a specialist, as i am learning how common the negative tests are.
hopefully i will get some answers soon!

Jeminij,

Your story sounds EXACTLY like mine. I literally could have wrote that word for word. I'm glad you're feeling better!