Kaitlin Krometis

Kaitlin Krometis

Kaitlin Krometis, a 2008 graduate of Rappahannock County High School, did not catch hers right away.

In February, she began suffering from flu-like symptoms. She was constantly fatigued, sore and achy and had a fever and frequent headaches. After a week, Kaitlin went to Dr. McCue who diagnosed her with a flu-like virus. Three days later, she could not walk. She was in excruciating pain and every joint in her body ached - her knees and ankles were the worst.

Kaitlin went back to Dr. McCue and he immediately diagnosed her with latent second stage Lyme disease and prescribed doxycycline for 30 days. She was diagnosed on symptoms alone said her mother, Kathy.

Kaitlin said she never saw the tick. Dr. McCue ran blood work which confirmed her Lyme disease (the Elisa blood test came back positive and Western Blot, which was run five days later, showed two positive antibodies).

After two weeks on doxycycline, Kaitlin was not responding and her condition worsened, according to her mother. She said she drove her daughter to the University of Virginia Hospital to' meet with the Head of Infectious Diseases.

He suggested mononucleosis and/or ParvoB-19 both of which she had had as a. child and had developed immunity to, according to Kaitlin’s mother.

The doctor ran blood work and both tests came back negative, said Kathy. She said the doctor dismissed her daughter's symptoms and her own concerns and went on test results alone.

“I’d think I was better and then a couple days later I felt worse,” Kaitlin said. “I could barely move. Getting out of bed every day was a chore.”

Kaitlin was in and out of school for the next few weeks. After negative tests for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, Kathy spoke to a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore by phone who suggested Kaitlin had chronic fatigue syndrome and needed to get more exercise. He said her symptoms were all in her head, said Kathy.