You see, I still have muscle twitching, yellow spots in my vision, brain fog and some muscle pain. Though these are symptoms commonly associated with Lyme Disease, they are also indicative of nerve damage and a rampant candida infection. The conclusion is that my body is no longer fighting Lyme Disease. I may have misconstrued nerve damage and candida for a Lyme infection that gave up not too long ago.
After seeing my naturopathic doctor, it has been determined through applied kinesiology and obvious symptoms that I am in remission. However, I am skeptical but I may also have no legitimate reason to be. You see, I still have muscle twitching, yellow spots in my vision, brain fog and some muscle pain. Though these are symptoms commonly associated with Lyme Disease, they are also indicative of nerve damage and a rampant candida infection. The conclusion is that my body is no longer fighting Lyme Disease. I may have misconstrued nerve damage and candida for a Lyme infection that gave up not too long ago.
Comments
Yesterday I rode my bike. As I've been feeling better, I find myself riding more often. The beautiful weather is nothing but enticing.
The bike ride itself served as a catalyst for a profound revelation and interesting discovery. While on route, I happened to pass plenty of vegetation. It just so happens though that I directed my attention towards it for a moment and was amazed to discover a familiar comrade. Teasel Root. For those not familiar with Teasel Root, it is a biennial herb that is commonly used in Lyme Disease protocols to entice the bacteria to enter the blood stream, also known as the battlefield. This is precisely the reason I've incorporated Teasel Root into my protocol. It's the first time I've ever seen the herb in its prime and this could explain my sheer excitement. The Teasel Root is just one half of this profound revelation. As I continued my bike ride, I encountered a grassy trail that lead into a forest. Leaving familiar territory for the unknown? Sure! It was all clear that in the words of Robert Frost, "I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." I had an incredibly vivid dream last night that has left me contemplating its reason well into the morning after. Most of my dreams are intense and colorful much like the one I had last night, but the impression this one has left allows it to just linger in my mind as the day goes on.
I can't remember every exact detail of the dream but I specifically remember knocking on a childhood friend's door who lived around the block from me years ago. Though my friend and his family no longer live in that house, I specifically remember thinking, while I waited for the door to be answered, how my friend has changed since I've last seen him. The inner door was open, thus allowing a view into the house through the screen door. I remember watching my friend approaching the door and wondering what has changed about him. As he came to the door, I specifically remember telling him that I needed to talk with him. I needed someone to hear me out because I was reeling from none other than the struggle with this plague. The astounding thing is that I'm never one to reach out to another in real life but here in my dream, I was reaching out to an old childhood friend for solace. I needed his compassion and understanding for what I have been enduring. What happened directly after that is a blur to me but following this event, another childhood friend appeared at the house as well as an ex-girlfriend. This new childhood friend was in a band, much like I used to be in real life but this child hood friend in real life has no musical experience. In fact he is a hunter. He was preparing the band for the singer, which was my ex-girlfriend and again, my ex-girlfriend is in no way a singer in real life. During most dreams, there is an emotional attachment to it. I specifically remember feeling like a failure at life after hearing my childhood friend mention he was in a band. These were just the critical parts of the dream that continue to linger in my head as the morning progresses on this rainy day. The fundamental emotions I gather from the dream are desperation and failure, but these weren't the factors that attracted me to the mystery of the dream. Oh no, it was actually the presence of people I had been extremely close with long ago. Forget the roles they were even playing in my dream, it was their presence alone that left me curious. In a essence, I became nostalgic for the relationship I once I had with these profound people. Well I am herxing a little bit this morning mainly with brain fog but I don't attribute it to Lyme. This herx I believe is due to candida die off which would have been directly related to the delicious and excessive amount of turmeric I added to my dinner last night. No more than an hour later I had extreme pains in my small intestine but after riding it out, the pain ceased within a couple hours.
The only other time I had pain that bad was after consuming raw coconut and oil of oregano, both of which are big anti-fungals just like Turmeric. I'll be sure to watch how much Turmeric I use in my eggs from now on. See, what has occurred here is a phenomenon that is nothing but overlooked. I unintentionally used food as medicine. See most people in the industrialized world are lead to believe that there exists just disease and a cure, known or unknown. It should be obvious that this perspective has been drilled into our heads by modern day corporations. Well I didn't think I'd be herxing this bad almost 10 months into treatment but I am. The healing process with Lyme Disease is very strange and unique. I find that bad days will remain as debilitating as they will ever be no matter how far you've progressed with treatment. In between the bad days are good days and they're a little different. They seem to be more enjoyable as treatment progresses which has been my only indication through out all of this fight that I am exponentially getting better. Today marks 2 months since I've been on Cumanda. I have to say that I'm ambivalent about its effectiveness but only because I never had an obvious indication it was working. The goal or instructions for Cumanda was to climb to 30 drops a day within 15 days and I did this without breaking a sweat. Never once did I herx badly but I did have some strange and unusual symptoms while I increased the Cumanda to 30 drops a day. The real herxing came when I added Samento on February 5, almost 2 months ago. My intentions are to reach 20 drops of Samento a day total and I just can't seem to get over 17 at the moment. It hasn't been an easy climb as I've had a lot of stagnant dosages. I find myself staying at a certain amount of drops per day for almost a week or more with Samento. Surely I will say that I completely understand why it is a huge factor in many holistic Lyme protocols. On a side note, there is a huge difference between Cat's Claw and Samento. Despite both coming from the exact same plant (una de gato), Samento is a thousand times more powerful due to its deficiency of TOA, which remains in Cat's Claw. Read more.. I am suppose to end my use of Cumanda today according to the Cowden protocol but I have different plans. Being that I am herxing, which let me remind you is a good thing, I'm going to continue using it. The reason is simply because I'm herxing. I'm following the old adage here, "If it isn't broke, don't fix it." If I happen to be on a protocol combination at the current moment that is effective, why would I discontinue it?
As of lately, I've been wondering how long I've actually had Lyme Disease and (a) possible coinfection(s) for. I'm 24 years old now. The prominence and true wrath of this plague took over when I was 21 years old. I had major digestive and anxiety issues spawn out of the blue in high school when I was 17 years old. I can even remember having strange neurological issues all the way back to middle school when I was 13 years old. Never was Lyme Disease ever considered to be the possible cause for these unanticipated and never before had symptoms until everything got black in 2009 at 21 years of age.
I mean it makes sense that if you've had an illness plaguing your body for an extensive period of time, surely it won't be an overnight fix. You also have to consider that some damage to the physical body will most likely have occurred. Let's say hypothetically that I did contract Lyme Disease when all of these unusual symptoms began. I would have been around 13 years old. I'm 24 now. That's a decade's worth of free reign over my body. I can not even fathom how deep this bacteria may have embedded itself into my physical body. I do have to give credit though to my immune system for doing what it could have and still does under such conditions. For I know dealing with Lyme Disease on a biological level is a shot in the dark for it, but I am beyond grateful for the genetically obligated effort it put forth. As we all know, battling Lyme Disease and its cronies is the ultimate test of patience. I know a lot of people end up quitting their treatment protocols because they can't handle the herx. Some people have more important issues and obligations in their lives to adhere to and simply can not dedicate their time to the commitment required to heal from Lyme Disease. I know its not easy putting your life on hold. I mean, in an essence, your life isn't really on hold as you're still aging while enduring Lyme Disease. I feel it's more on the lines of perspective. We feel that because we're unwillingly obligated to undertake Lyme Disease, we create the abstraction that our life is on hold. It's not on hold. It never was on hold and it never will be on hold. Time doesn't stand still for those who are ailing. It will portray zero mercy or compassion for those who feel these deserve it, simply because their life didn't go as planned. The clock will keep ticking and what becomes of that time will ultimately and entirely depend on the choices you make. Any choice you make is perfectly fine as long as you approve of the consequences. There is no right or wrong direction to head in but instead an internal satisfaction to please. It's all a mind game. If given the appropriate circumstances, your immune system and Lyme treatment protocol will take care of your physical body but what or who is going to mend or fix your mind? 3 days ago I hit the 9 month mark for my Lyme Disease protocol. As I should probably be feeling proud of myself for religiously adhering to it for so long, I feel otherwise. I'm growing impatient.
Believe me when I tell you that I have come to terms with Lyme Disease. I understand that I had to sacrifice all of the treasures of my life in order to preserve and salvage the one I hold most dear. My own life. It's just after being unwillingly obedient for such an extended duration, one naturally grows impatient. I've made it clear that if I knew the exact date or at least the month of when I would achieve remission, I could guarantee that this fight would be in the bag but there is a problem. I don't know the date I'll achieve remission nor could I ever before that day comes. It's still not and will never be a reason to lose hope or doubt as we continue to endure. From what I have gathered from the people whom I've talked with who reached the day we all yearn for, it takes roughly a year to a year and a half to reach remission form Lyme Disease. Obviously this is based off of a protocol that works and there are many. Some will require more time and some have done it in less but one must consider the many different factors that affect each of us differently such as coinfections, diet, environment, stress level, optimism, etc. Also if you're on a protocol for Lyme Disease and it's not working, get yourself on a new one! Just because your protocol hasn't been working doesn't mean you need to lose faith or believe remission is out of your reach. It does mean that you just haven't found the right protocol yet. What works for one surely doesn't work for all. The human body is a remarkable piece of engineering and if given the appropriate tools and circumstances, it can heal itself from just about anything. Why? Well because that is what it was designed to do. Whether you're consciously aware of it or not, your body is constantly performing functions in order to maintain life. So why not give it a helping hand? |
Welcome to My Blog!The LyBlog will focus on my personal battle with chronic Lyme disease, which includes updates, progress reports, and personal experiences. Categories
All
Archives
January 2024
|