Mighty B,

Thanks for your response, I am sorry that you are going through so much. As I stated in my post, my symptoms are/were very, very similar to yours and the illness followed what seems like a very similar trajectory, so I'm hoping the following information might help you:

After seeing many doctors and having many tests (which all came back negative), my mom suggested I get tested for Lyme disease. I went to a Lyme Literate doctor and had a Western Blot Lyme test (the ones that most doctors do - the Elsa I believe - are highly inaccurate and result in many false negatives, if you've seen many doctors you might have already had this test and gotten a false negative). The Western Blot came back positive for Lyme disease and I was put on very aggressive antibiotic therapy and my symptoms have greatly improved over the course of the last 3 - 4 months. After feeling like my life was over for 3+ months, like I would never get back, learning that the MDMA was not the actual problem, that I hadn't done some irreparable damage to my brain, and that there was an actual bacterial infection to blame for my illness, I must say that I was greatly relieved. That relief continued when I began treatment and actually started to get better.

According to my doctor, I will likely be treated for another 3 - 4 months before I am completely free of Lyme.

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that you contract from ticks. I am very active and outdoors a lot, so that is likely how I contracted Lyme. I do remember being bitten by ticks in the past, but they are small, so some people who have Lyme never remember being bitten. The Lyme bacteria are a member of the spirochete family (like syphilis) and are spiral shaped, therefore they are very good at burrowing into soft human tissue such as joints, muscles, nerves, the eyes, and brain. When someone is infected with Lyme the bacteria burrows into such places and releases toxins, and these toxins create all sorts of problems - including all of the problems that you listed as having. Lyme has been known to mimic hundreds of diseases and has been associated with over 200 symptoms!

I told my doc about the MDMA and the antibiotics I was on before I got sick and he had a relatively straight forward reason for why I, seemingly all of a sudden, caught Lyme disease (in the dead of winter). Young people, who have strong immune systems, can catch Lyme and show no symptoms for a very long time. The immune system of the healthy person suppresses the Lyme, but it often times cannot eliminate it completely. Once the immune system is compromised (for me it was a combination of the stress and travel involved in a new job, lack of sleep, and a solid bender capped by a night of MDMA use) the Lyme is able to take hold and start wreaking havoc on the body. At this point the only way to get better is to treat the Lyme.

I am not saying you have Lyme, as I am not a doctor and I really don't know the ins and outs of your personal story. I am saying that it sounds like you and I went through the same thing, my problems were caused by Lyme disease, and yours might be too. If you haven't, I would recommend you at least look at some Lyme information and see if it sounds like you might be dealing with it. If you do end up suspecting Lyme, get in touch with a Lyme Literate Doctor (most doctors are NOT Lyme Literate and will dismiss the symptoms as being in your head) and get a Western Blot test done. Furthermore, don't believe what the CDC has to say about Lyme. The CDC board that governs what is classified as Lyme is in the pockets of the insurance companies (who do not want to pay for Lyme treatment) and they have done all they can to prevent the majority of Lyme diseases cases from being treated (I would have never believed this if I didn't have to deal with this myself, but it is a sad truth)

For reliable information about Lyme disease check out the "International Lyme and Other Associated Diseases Society" website

All the best!