Most of you who have been following me know that I have been on the Buhner protocol since August 2012. Well this past April, I reached the recommended full dosage that Stephen Buhner recommends, and remained there for Stephen's recommended 4 months. In August, I decreased my dosage level, and just yesterday I completely stopped all Lyme Disease and coinfection treatment.
Am I in remission? I don't know. Well how do I feel? It's rather hard to convey. I'm not bursting with energy, feeling too vibrant, nor have I entirely reclaimed the normal I once knew before Lyme. However that doesn't mean that I haven't made substantial progress, because I have. Stephen Buhner's Lyme Disease protocol has made me about 80-85% better.
So why did I stop the protocol if I am not 100% better? The main reason is that I feel I need to give my body a break from it all. Herbs have been coursing through my blood stream non-stop for the past year and some change, my body has been over-taxed with the amount of toxins produced from Lyme and its coinfection, and to be frank, my own quality of life has diminished due to the nature and dedication such a treatment protocol requires.
What has also contributed to my recent decision to cease all Lyme and coinfection treatment is the hypothesis that I am healed, but the reason I continue to feel horrible and not 100% is because of the amount of toxins the bacteria has left behind in my body. My hypothesis is that these bacteria have left such a large amount of toxins in my body throughout the years of battle, that I manage to reherx through activities that would place these toxins back into the bloodstream. This reherxing I feel may be portraying an illusion that Lyme Disease is still present, even though it's not.
My current protocol consists of juicing in order to greatly assist the body in the removal of the large amount of toxins it has left behind. It won't be a fast, but I'll juice once in the morning and once in the afternoon alongside my Lyme diet.
My juice recipe
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When it comes to floating, it hasn't been up until recently that I have started to come alive again. For so long I thought this state of emotional disconnect from the constituents of my life would not resolve, but I stand here today and say that much of it has in just the past 2 months alone.
This Thursday I'll be seeing my N.D. to assess my current state of health (i.e., routine testing), and to also have my D.N.A. tested for a specific gene mutation known as Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase, or M.T.H.F.R. for short. For those who aren't familiar with biology, your D.N.A. is your genetic code. It is your constitution. From your blue eyes, to your small feet, and to the purpose of which I am being tested for, the body's ability to effectively detox and fight these infections. In a nutshell, if my M.T.H.F.R. test yields a gene mutation, it could very well be the reason why I am not at 100%.
So what's the conclusion?
Has the Buhner protocol worked for me? Most definitely! When I look back and think of where I stood a year ago and compare that to today, the difference is night and day. So many of my symptoms have vanished, or have dissipated greatly in their existences.
To be fair, I can't absolutely say that the Buhner protocol has or hasn't put my Lyme into remission. I still have symptoms remaining which could either be the cause of remaining toxins, coinfections, or even a stubborn Lyme infection. What I can say for certain is that it has given me back parts of my life that I have long since been without.
To be fair, I can't absolutely say that the Buhner protocol has or hasn't put my Lyme into remission. I still have symptoms remaining which could either be the cause of remaining toxins, coinfections, or even a stubborn Lyme infection. What I can say for certain is that it has given me back parts of my life that I have long since been without.
To put the progress of the Buhner protocol into perspective, let me give you some examples.
- Arbitrary fatigue is nearly gone. I no longer need to nap during the day
- Memory has increased greatly. No longer do I find myself forgetting people's name after meeting them for the first time.
- I've been working again for the past year, and have yet to call out sick.
- I've started writing music again after a long hiatus. For those that don't know, I am a musician.
- I'm lifting weights again! Actually I've even put on a couple pounds from doing so.
- Certain foods I can eat again without having adverse reactions such as turmeric.
- Hair loss has dropped drastically
- I can partially feel again, emotionally. It gets exponentially better each day. For those with floating, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
What symptoms remain?
- Brain fog, and a partial inability to find the correct word to express and convey my thoughts. It's arbitrary because some days I'm a genius and incredibly articulate, and the next I feel like a blubbering moron.
- A strange weakness that still lingers actually light cardio, but never after lifting weights.
- A little joint pain here and there. Usually from lifting too much too fast.
There is still a component(s) of this battle that must be addressed, but of what I am not certain of. These next few weeks will be a complete reassessment of where I stand in regards to my health. I'll make the efforts to find out why I continue to fall just short of 100% remission from Lyme Disease and its coinfections.
For all of us..
When it comes to Lyme Disease and the ordeal as a whole, there is so much I've learned through experience and research, there is so much I have yet to learn, and there will be truths that I will never learn because they have yet to be found.
It's important to remember when you reach that dark state of mind where you feel all is lost, when you feel there is no chance you'll ever find salvation from this disease, when you feel that you just can't carry on, keep moving forward. Make the conscious effort to overrule your dark, negative, and temporary instinctive desires, and tell yourself that it's not forever. That even in the face of doubt when all seems lost and impossible, that this exact feeling exists only in your mind and no where else; a grand and evident indication that it's not the world that's against you, but your own thoughts - all of which you are, and have always been, in complete control of. That what exists beyond the mind has, and always will be, for your taking when the moment is right; when the mind is no longer subjected to the dark filter of chronic Lyme Disease. A lens of which must be changed through the will of the individual at battle.
