First off, Happy New Year!!
I've been getting a lot of messages wondering how I am doing, what I'm eating, what treatments have and have not worked because I haven't updated Tired of Lyme in so long (over 2 years).
With that said, I present to you the latest update on my health (try to control your excitement). I'll do my best to cover every aspect as much as I can, but if you have any questions, just post them below and I will do my best to answer each and every one thoroughly.
So, how am I doing? Pretty good, actually. Thanks for asking!
If I had to put a number to how I am feeling, I would say I am at about 90%. 100% being completely symptom free.
But numbers are only one factor to gauge progress in healing from chronic Lyme. There's also qualitative factors, such as working full time (40+ hours a week), getting back to the gym to pump some iron, and picking up new hobbies on the side.
What's My Current Treatment?
As of right now, I'm only taking modified citrus pectin, molybdenum, quercetin, and Thorne's SF722. That's it!
These 4 daily supplements are enough to keep my health stabilized.
Now, on top of this, I've also been working Andy Cutler's Chelation protocol, which consists of taking DMSA and Alpha Lipoic Acid 3 days a week (1 round) to treat potentially elevated levels of lead and mercury.
I've actually just completed 8 rounds of DMSA and will begin the ALA this weekend to really dig out the mercury that I suspect may be keeping me from getting to 100%.
What's My Plan to Get to 100% Health?
Researching my own condition, seeing many, many doctors, and treating myself with many, many drugs and supplements since 2009, has made it very clear as to the path my body took to become so declined.
Moving forward, I plan to treat the heavy metals, which should in turn allow me to treat excessive yeast, which should in turn reduce and eliminate any MCAS I've been experiencing.
What are My Current Symptoms?
Don't get me wrong, I do still have bad days, but I can't say that without also saying they really are far and few.
The way I've come to describe healing from this condition is "less frequent and less severe". As you continue to move in the right direction with the treatment that works for you, you will notice that your symptoms will occur less frequently, but when they do surface, they are less severe than they've ever been.
With that said, I do still have some brain fog, some aches on occasion, but my biggest and most difficult symptom to eradicate is the derealization.
In short, derealization is, as WebMD puts it, "a mental state where you feel detached from your surroundings".
I learned that the derealization was my body's way of protecting me from a very traumatic experience (i.e., having chronic Lyme).
From a completely normal and healthy 21 year old, to immediately having to drop out of college, quit my job, lose many of my good friends, distance myself from family, all of this can only be traumatic to a person, especially in their 20s, the "discovering who you are decade" of your life.
So long as the chronic Lyme has been around, so has the derealization to protect me. I suspect that as I continue to put these final nails in the coffin, the derealization will lift. We will see.
I do also want to mention that though evil and bad things happen in life, good also exists at the same time. It really isn't about ignoring the bad you're confronted with, because some times you just can't, but, you can also, at the same time, look a bit more for the good that can become because of the condition.
What is My current Diet?
If I had to label my diet, I'm in between Keto and 300 carbs a day.
As I've gotten better, I've noticed that I can tolerate more foods. I still do not eat gluten, dairy, nor sugar. I do tend to hover primarily around grass-fed beef, as it's the tried and true go-to for helping me feel better if my symptoms tend to wander.
I did do carnivore for a period of time -- I have blog posts on it. It was a great diet for the time, but as you get better and your lifestyle becomes more normal, your body changes and its needs change too. If you're on carnivore and its working for you, stick to it, as I would say for any diet.
However, I seemed to function better with both meat and plant matter, but still very meat-centric. As my energy needs grew from working full time and lifting weights, I have started to include more carbohydrates.
I have an insanely fast metabolism for a 35 year old man. Like, for every hour I don't eat, I lose 3 pounds. I don't know what in my body burns so much fuel.
Some day I'll stop growing.
What are My Plans for Tired of Lyme?
Other than just letting it serve as a place where people going through chronic Lyme can find resources and consolation, nothing at the moment.
I launched this site in 2011, when not much information was available on the internet about chronic Lyme.
Today, in 2024, there are so many better websites that are more updated on the latest information on chronic Lyme, so I yield to them in their (hopefully) honest pursuit to better the lives of those with chronic Lyme.
If ever I do get to 100% health and put this condition in complete remission, I've toyed with the idea of writing a book or launching a website completely dedicated to how I got over it.
We'll see what happens!
Final Thoughts
There is a lot -- and I mean a lot -- of information out there now regarding chronic Lyme. Some of it is good. Some of it is bad. Some of it is in between.
Where do you go as someone in 2024 discovering you have this condition?
I've always been a big fan of Dr. Marty Ross' advice and guidance on the condition. He's always updating his recommended treatments based on new information that comes out and how his patients are responding to their treatments. Check out his website: treatlyme.net.
I've also always been a big fan of Stephen Buhner's research and recommended treatments for chronic Lyme. You can find his books on Amazon, but the best one to start with is Healing Lyme (2015).
On a quick side note, I do want to say that even though Stephen Buhner is no longer with us, his knowledge, genius, and wit remain for everyone who needs it. I got the incredible chance to interview him a couple of times for Tired of Lyme and he never let me down in his responses.
Thank you, Stephen, for all of your years of hard work and research on chronic Lyme from a scientific/herbalist perspective. It's exactly what I needed during the worst years of my life and was a massive stepping stone to getting me to where I am today. You are missed greatly.
Lastly, I'd recommend Dr. Neil Nathan MD's book, "Toxic: Heal Your Body from Mold Toxicity, Lyme Disease, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, and Chronic Environmental Illness". Excellent modern resource for treating chronic Lyme and its associated conditions.
This last message is for you. Whether you've followed me on Tired of Lyme from the start, or you're just discovering this site for the first time, my hope is that you first realize that you're not alone with condition.
So many other people deal with it day in and day out, trying to find an explanation for how to get rid of it and why it's so hard to.
It really is a difficult condition to get rid of, but you can absolutely get better from it. I'm not 100%, but I am light years away from the bed-ridden 21 year old I used to be. I'm 35 now, if you were wondering, because I was.
Just like the advice I've always given on this site throughout the years, keep researching and learning as much as you can about the condition. What works for one person may not work for the next. You really have to be your own advocate because you know your body best.
Don't be afraid to try new treatment methods (as per your doctor's recommendation) because eventually you ARE bound to stumble upon something that works.
Good days and bad days are normal. There will be times where you'll honestly which you just weren't alive and question what the point of it all is. Again, not unusual for anyone going through this.
But, I like a good challenge, and that means sometimes taking a day or 2 -- or even a week -- on the chin. Because in between the doom and gloom, there are reminders that you can feel good and normal. They'll be short-lived early on, but as you progress on the right treatment, the good days will eventually hang around much longer than the bad. THIS I promise will happen. I can attest to it.
