Dr. G in Thous Oaks...or Dr. JH in Malibu? For 17 yr old * 3 1/2 yrs undiagnosed

[Guest guest]

Hello to all of you!

I just joined, as I stongly suspect my son has Lyme and I need to decide between

the two doctors for the initial consult/visit.

I live in Carpinteria CA (Santa Barbara County) and have a son who turned 17

yesterday. For 3 1/2 years we have been unable to receive a diagnosis as to what

is going on. EXTREME debilitating fatigue is the main sympton, but he has had a

lot of others,and when this hit he was also diagnosed w/ Osgood -schlotters

(sp), the swelling of the knee joint very common in that age group I was told,

now has developed OCD, depression, hasn't basically attended school in 3 yrs,

and was relegated to the " depression camp " after no dr. here could come up with

anything. I had him tested for mono and anemia right off the bat,I went from

there to a pediatric endocrinoligist several yrs ago, he's had an MRI to look

for a brain tumor, he flunked a sleep study and was misdiagnosed w/ narcolepsy,

etc. Very very frustrating. I brought up Lyme way back then, and was told it

wasn't possible.

His nuerologist will not give him antibiotics " unless he tests pos. on the

Western Blot " ....done thru quest labs! He said " cannot " actually, and I did

leave a message for them saying they should have said " WILL NOT.. " ....as he CAN.

But won't, apparently.

Although we live in So Cal, my son has flown to CT often (starting at age 5) as

that is where we are from, to visit family.

I am just learning about all of this, so need to get him to an LLMD immediately,

although it is outside of his insurance network. I will be paying for all this

out of pocket (which I am also thinking might be a good idea, although we cannot

afford it....why would I want his asinine ins. co. to know about any of this? so

they can BLACKBALL him in the future?)

At any rate, our family has almost been destroyed over this, certainly his life

came to a grinding halt 3 1/2 years ago. He was an honor student who also

competitively skated with CASL all over So cal.......when this hit, he never

skated again. He also basically never went to school again. Last mo he finally

had to switch to an alternative school here....one hr a week of going in to hand

in assignements and pick up the next. There is NO teaching going on. I am beside

myself, but hope that one of these two dr's can help me. Those are the closest

two, does anyone have any advice? Is 17 too old for pediatric (JH) or would that

be BETTER, as this started when he was 13? Is there an advantage to seeing Dr.

G, who has pulmonary knowledge?

Which one....is the query.

Any info appreciated, and you've no idea how much.

I hope I didn't break any rules by using a first initial for JH, it is my

limited understanding there may be several " H's " and wanted to make sure of whom

I'm speaking about.

Thanks to all of you, I am so impressed by the breadth of knowledge here.

~R

>^..^<