Would That It Was All Due To A Wood Tick

If only all my troubles could be ascribed to one of these beasts...

First off, I have to say that I don't find whiny blog posts particularly engaging, so I will try to keep this on the up and up...stiff upper lip and all.

For nigh on a year now I have had to deal with my vague, undiagnosed, chronic "poly arthralgia." After the involved me of SIX different physicians from various specialties, I still have no real answer as to where this is coming from.

I continue to have stiffness and pain in my hands and feet. The pain in my ankles, knees, hips, elbows and shoulders has backed off - more on that in a bit.

The pain is a very low grade burning, arthritic pain. However, early on the blood work did not indicate inflammation and the x-ray panel (head to toe) was unremarkable. I did, however, experience a minor Easter miracle (albeit short lived). On Easter Monday my neighbor Heidi and I took the dogs for a walk. We have been regularly (2-3 times a week) walking the dogs (and my sorry fat a$$) up to two miles at a time now that the weather is nice.

On this particular Monday, we lit the sauna and then went for our walk. We followed up with a fairly typical sauna - I have since learned that my thermometer is not reliable and previous claims of really hot saunas were probably not correct. After this particular sauna I felt funny (that's a medical term). I went over to some friends' house though and by bed time felt very good.

During the next two nights I experienced night sweats. My flannel sheets were cold and damp when I would awaken to use the facilities. Finally on Easter Wednesday morning I realized that the arthritis was GONE! Overnight it was gone - BAM - like that. I could lay my hands flat on the table and fully extend my fingers. No lingering achiness in my joints. It felt like a true miracle.

This is where the picture of our friend up there comes into play. I called up Maria and she reiterated her belief that all of this has been due to the bite of a tick. Apparently before the advent of antibiotics, spirochete infections were treated with heat. She saw a connection between my regular saunas and the sudden departure of the symptoms.

Alas after but a week and a half I began to feel the sudden flashes of pain in my knuckle joints. This was followed by a gradual return of stiffness in my finger joints. I am now also having some pains in my toes and feet. I am not back where I was a month ago even though, so for now I will still take this as an improvement.

The recurrent pain motivated me to have the Infectious Disease doc run some blood work in the hopes that I would find titers for a tick borne illness. Unfortunately, the three labs we had done, including Lymes, have all come back negative.

And so I carry on...stiff upper lip don't you know? Oh, and that is a nice picture of a wood tick. "Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close up..."