anyone have experience with Lyme or tick-borne infections?

[nashville_brook]

I'll keep this short to stay focused, but I came down with three serious conditions all at once in 2003: DVTs, autoimmune hepatitis, and infections in my lumbar discs and bones (discitis/osteomyelitis). Spent 4 months in the hospital, went septic a few times. It was a mess.

The symptoms are back and I've basically taken on a second job trying to figure it out before I get sick again. No one ever figured it out before -- just, "you got sick and we don't know why." It took a few years of not getting much better to be dx'd with fibro/cfids. Not the easiest dx, but at least it's something.

Here's the rub: a couple of months before i fell ill in 2003 i had a classic, giant target-shaped rash on my back (right over L1-L2 where the infection hit). Recently I did a course of Levoquin for a sinus infection, and like magic I had the energy and range of movement that I had before getting sick (was like being 25 again, energy-wise). This is a classic chronic Lyme response. Also, another classic antibiotic response is to respond horribly to antibiotics, which we ran into trying to heal the initial infection.

So, i'm just wondering, has anyone here dealt with Lyme and Lyme testing? I finally have a team of docs who I think are interested in solving this mystery. I want to help them help me, if I can.