I came back from a vacation to TN. I developed flu like symptoms and felt really tired and sick for about a week. I could not get my energy back, and went to see a Dr. He told me that I probably just had contracted a virus, and he gave me some medicine for nausea and sent me home. I finally started feeling better, but I just could not get my energy back. Small things just wore me out. This went on for several months, and I once again went back and told him that I was just exhausted all the time. He told me to rest more, and gave me some sleeping pills. Along with the lack of energy, I started getting joint pain all over my body. Somedays it would be my knee, the next my back, etc. I went back to the Dr. and he ordered some MRI's, they came back normal. He said I might have arthritis, and put me on Noproxn.This did nothing but upset my stomach. I started to think that maybe it was all in my head, and I got really depressed. I could hardly get out of bed in the morning, and I didn't feel like doing anything with my family or friends. I went back to the Dr. and he put me on Anti-Depressants. Once again, I was still exhausted and in pain all over. I had to quit working, because I just did not have any energy at all. This went on for about 2 yrs. During this time, I also started getting very dry skin, and lost about 20lbs.I am 5'6", and I went down to about 105lbs. My family and I moved to a new home in a different county, and I needed to find a General Practitioner for us. I looked in the phone book and found a Dr. near our home. On my first visit with him, he actually sat down and talked to me, he went over my old charts, and asked me questions no other Dr. had ever done. We started talking about when I started feeling bad, and he asked if I had ever had a tick bite. I told him that while on vacation I had a tick on my left breast. I told him that I got the tick out, but it left a "bullseye" sore on my breast that stayed for about 2 months. He ordered a test for Lyme Disease and it came back positive. He put me on several rounds of anti-biotics and I started feeling better. It was so nice to know what was wrong with me, and that I wasn't crazy. I had never heard of Lyme, and I had never put the two together. If only my first Dr. had asked more questions I might not have suffered for so long. The Lyme did some permanent damage to my spine, but I have most of my energy back, and the pain is almost gone. I am very grateful for my Dr. and he is still my familys physician. He is young, and he really cares about his pts. I wish all Drs. were like that, but sadly some only care about making money, and treat the pts. with contempt. I tell everyone I know about him, and I really owe my life to him.