I woke up with my fingers aching, but by the end of the day I was losing mobility in my hands because of the stiffness, pain in my hands were weak. I noticed my wrists were hot and red and I thought I had been bit by something. When Benadryl did nothing I went to the ER, because of the lack of mobility in my hands. I was told it was some type of arthritis, although I had never had arthritis before. The following day I went to a doctors appointment for some thing else, and my doctor looked at my hand and said you are a young 40 year old, healthy woman, I don’t see how you could be having an arthritic event of this magnitude if you’ve never had arthritis before; especially because it was so aggressive. He immediately put me on doxycycline. Within three doses of doxy and 2 of aleeve my hands had improved so much that I regained mobility and range of motion. My Lyme test showed negative but I was told they would repeat it after I completed my antibiotics because it may be too early to test my hands feel 1000 times better than they did a few days ago, but they are still a little warm and now I have aching in my armpits and my ankles… Not to the same degree as the hands. can the antibiotics already be working and that is why my hands have improved so much????? I thought Lyme wasn’t symmetrical - my left side of the body gets far worse than the right, but the right is symptomatic as well with slightly swollen hot joints. Could it really be Lyme? Or do I have RA after never having an episode of this kind??? I really want to hear from people that have had this before because these are the people that know.