I made it to stage 3 before figuring out I had it. Went to 5 different doctors over a few years trying to figure out what was wrong with me, none of them mentioned Lyme's disease, even though my symptoms were a perfect match, other than I never had a bull's eye rash.
Before I knew what I had I thought I was dying, sometimes I could barely walk when I woke up in the morning, it would last for hours. All my muscles and joints started to hurt, I noticed I was out of breath very easily all of a sudden. I'd forget words at random, it happened all the time. I started to get this unending pain in my lower legs that felt as if it was coming from my bones "the doctors said that was probably vitamin D deficiency, nope, tests came out just fine".
Out of nowhere I suddenly had what the doctor said was "multiple pinched nerves in my neck". I could barely move my right arm, the pain was so intense "for 3 months" I felt like stabbing a knife through the nerve in my arm. I couldn't sleep for longer than 2 hours at a time, then when I woke I would cuss for 2 hours straight because the pain was so intense. It began to feel as if I was losing my mind. This was the worst experience I've ever had. I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy. I thought about suicide constantly as a way out because the doctors couldn't find anything wrong. I refused to give up and read as much as I could until finally coming across "Lyme's disease".
2 weeks into the antibiotic treatment I began to feel like myself again. 3 weeks and I literally cried because I felt so good, I never though I would feel normal again, I could barely tell the brain fog was there any longer. My legs no longer hurt, nor my muscles or joints. 4 weeks I noticed I wasn't so easily "out of breath".
Thank whatever god you choose that you found it early, because if there is a hell then I was in it.
Edit: More than one doctor said I was merely depressed, prescribed me an antidepressant and sent me packing.
This comment was edited on Jul 1, 2016, 18:08.