Toll of Lyme disease
Cindy Stoesser was diagnosed with Lyme disease 18 months ago using an IGeneX test after failing to get a correct diagnosis over the past 17 years. Her symptoms were so bad she had to hire a nanny to care for her children Sean, 10, Kyle 5, and Mackenzie 11.
Excerpted from PressDemocrat.com ( Posted: 06/19/2011 )
Her symptoms started with a high fever and flu-like symptoms. Then came creeping numbness, tingling and constant headaches.
For more than a decade, doctors told Cindy Stoesser, 50, of Santa Rosa that she had multiple sclerosis, but she thought they were wrong.
Then one morning Stoesser was in her yard while her children were inside the house and she felt the left side of her chin go numb. She soon lost feeling in her throat, and then the entire left side of her body.
“I was in tears, I’m scared to death about what’s happening, and I’m trying to find someone to help me,” Stoesser said.
A few months after that episode, and after more than 15 years of dealing with symptoms that left her intermittently bedridden and unable to care for her children, Stoesser was diagnosed with Lyme disease. It is an infectious disease carried by certain kinds of ticks that are common in the dense foliage of the North Coast.
And like many Lyme patients, Stoesser experienced a long, circuitous route to a diagnosis.
For the complete article: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20110619/ARTICLES/110619436/1350?Title=Toll-of-Lyme-disease
Lyme Handbook 