Long Hiatus

I Forgot
Ok so I am guilty of what many bloggers all do at some point in life. I forgot to sit down and write on my blog.
Ive been writing this blog for years, Im a bit shocked it was so easy for me to just disappear like that. E texted me this evening and asked me if it was a good thing that it has been 5 months since my last post. I had NO idea it had been that long! Not in the slightest. A whole lot of things have changed since February. Mostly for the better!

Okay so first things first. I finished another semester of school successfully. College Algebra included. That alone is a gift from God LOL.
I decided to do two summer classes this summer, Theories of Psych and Social Problems. Both have been rather fun and light classes to do during an online summer semester. I like the 1 class per month setup, im not so rushed to get things done. I just have my dedicated amount of time to spend on each class 6 days awake, but short amounts of time so I can actually ENJOY the class a little! I remember when reading was rocket science a few years ago.
Sitting down to read a book is still difficult, but for school I can do it.

Second! I went to see my Kansas Doc in March. WOW. Life has changed a lot since then. He started me on some new things for sleep which have made a significant difference in the quality of my sleep. We did the standard work up, I have it all written down and I will post specific details on it all soon.
My quality of life sky rocketed after this last visit to my doctor, like record breaking. Before I went to the clinic I was really starting to wear down again, feeling very flatline and tired. Not necessarily depressed or anxious, just run down. But I was going to the gym every so often and pushing myself, trying to get into the rhythm of exercising and exerting physical energy. My body had all forgotten what intentional exercise was after all these years, 13 years old was when all my formal exercise of any sort ended. Now I am 21 and I can do it again. Some days I can some days I can't, but what has made life different is the days that I can are out numbering the ones where I can't. I do still have limits, I am really pushing getting to bed earlier. I HAVE to recover and not over do it in my daily life if I want to be able to feel well and be able to exercise.
The first  two months after my March visit with my doctor I felt GREAT. Sure I still had bad and sucky days, but I was going to the gym 3-4 times a week for the most part and I finished the last half of the school semester. School, gym, and work. Never thought I would see the day.

Quality of life is doing much much better than in the past. Depression creeps in every so often, when it does usually I can take a look at something I had done in the last 24 hours and pick out the cause. Chinese food and MSG, WAY over doing it with working too hard and not resting, under eating-depression guarantees for me. Every time without a fail.

Anxiety. Heres a word that I, at one point in my life, had no understanding of. No comprehension of the effects that this little disorder could have on somebody's life. I had no idea anxiety held the mold to completely reshape a persons life and personality into a form previously unknown. This anxiety thing isn't for sissies! I had no idea how anxious and on edge I was all the time until it disappeared...
Thats right. I dont think I have had anxiety in months now. After the last visit to my doctor the anxiety and unhinged stress slowly started melting away and releasing. Like a wound up rubber band slowly popping itself free until no tension was left.
Who remembers when thats all I had to talk about?
If anxiety does NOT return with the onset of the new school semester, I think we will have truly witnessed a miracle. Even if it does return, I don't think severity will ever reach what it once was. Looking back about two summers ago when it was in its peak, I think I should have seen a psychiatrist and gotten some strong medication or something. I dont think I even almost recognized how severe it was. OR how strong I was to resist it during that time. I am so thankful that God kept me strong and I never fell victim to feeling sorry for myself or giving up.

Work! I am still at the same office working the same job. During the summer I work full time, which my dear bank account is so grateful for. Come this very full semester of college next month, my bank will shed a few small tears when my hours cut back.
Some things even at work have changed, Ive become much more social and have had much more bonding time with my co workers. I love them to pieces.
Earlier this year the problematic coworkers that all of us were bothered by (11 employees, 2 problematic, not kidding when I say EVERYONE) are now GONE. They are still employed by they are working from a distance, out of our space and out of our way! They're happy not being in the office being social (one of the two has a social disorder and regularly ticked people off) and we are happy having the space back.
I had forgotten how much I enjoyed my job. Some evenings I dont even want to go home, I actually think I rather be at work with my work family than with some of my friends from school. I must be growing into an adult LOL.

I go back to my Kansas doc in just a few weeks, two I think. I have already gotten my blood drawn for the lab work. Just waiting to fly out. I am still taking a crap ton of supplements and I pray that soon I will be able to reduce things, I am not on as many pills as I have been in the past but I am still choking down a fist full morning and night. I dont even ask that I have to discontinue them all. Just some. Pretty please
I have begun to slide down again on energy compared to what it was after my visit in March. I changed one of my adrenal supplements and it made a big difference and progress started coming back. I am looking forward to my upcoming visit, my baseline now is a mile higher than ever before. I have never gone into a week in Kansas, not anxious and in pain, never ever exercising, never working hard. Its almost always a downward spiral my doc has to pull me from.
The only symptom I would say is truly "returning" is my brain fog, which I have fought with and fought with for almost a decade. Again, if I could sleep am 8 hour night every night, my brain health would probably be out of this world. Sleep quality has gotten great, amount of hours is still rather lacking and not ideal. Ive noticed lately Ive been garbling my speech a lot more and I lose thoughts and sentences, so I know its coming time for a tune up again. I am glad this coming visit will be more of  strong jump start or maybe even a slingshot into feeling normal again, rather than my doctor pulling me up by the Grace of God from the pits of disrepair. He's going to be so shocked when he sees me next time.

I am still trying to push my fitness even though my energy has been waning a bit. I have gone to the gym twice this week. I am really trying to eat more, I haven't eaten a satisfactory quantity on a regular basis in years (probably the whole time I've been sick). Its time I quit starving myself and I make food a higher priority. I still don't enjoy food a whole lot or enjoy eating. I notice I can trick myself into eating a lot more at work when Im busy compared to when Im home doing other projects (read, I forget to eat at home). I have found a protein shake called Vega that I can tolerate, so I have been mixing it with some frozen fruit and ACV, creating what is now my breakfast and dinner. I learned protein shakes before bed drastically help my sleep quality. With these results, doing the shakes has become second nature. I mix them with fruits I like plus some kale or veggies, then heavily dilute with coconut milk to thin it out. If I make the smoothie very thick it will hurt my stomach, I still have to watch it with food. Hard to digest solid food makes my stomach feel full and painful for a while. MUCH better than it was in the past but it is still an issue. If I dilute my smoothies down and take digestive enzymes, the problem is better. Maybe my hunger (lack of) issue will be what begins to improve next time I go to my doctor.
My goal is to begin gaining weight, 6'4" and 136 or so LBS. Its time I look less anorexic and have more reserves. People who have a healthier body weight have a stronger immune system and are less likely to get sick. Thats mah goal here!
Since starting with the gym I have gained zero pounds since February. I took a look at my diet and realized how little I was eating (realized...again) and how lacking in protein it was. This week I started the Vega instead of the other vegan protein I was doing, the Vega is a bit higher in proteins. I still need to bring up the calories and nutrients as a whole. But this eating thing isn't easy. I have noticed a difference since I started doing protein shakes 1-2 times a day a month or two ago, my energy has become more consistent and holds out for longer.

In my more fun side of life, I bought a 74' Alfa Romeo Spider, it has become my baby. Its a cross between a project car and my own daily driving car. It was a solid driver. At first. I decided to drive the car to work one day, the thermostat stuck and overheating the engine...blowing the head gasket. This wasn't a bit deal, it was easy to fix this. While I had the engine torn apart I replaced a lot of other things while I was in there, thinking I was making my car more and more reliable (in theory I did). Well once the head gasket was replaced I took the car on some test drives around the neighborhood, honing in the carburetors and getting them adjusted (look, I know im supposed to be  millennial but I want to learn how this stuff works LOL). Aaaaaand a little 10mm nut came off a carb bracket, and went right into the engine. Thats bad. Whats worse, I did not realize that had happened. I eventually figured out the reason I couldn't adjust the carbs was because one cylinder had sucked in the nut and had become severely damaged in the head. I discovered this had happened when I took the spark plug out and saw the tip had been crushed, I knew this had to be bad. LONG story short. The head of the engine has been back and forth the the shop many times, with failed attempts to fix it. Now another head is being built for my car (I know most of my readers arent car people and this is just rocket science...BUT)and will hopefully be ready soon. Its taken about two months to get this far on this issue. The "new" head being built has taken almost a month to be refurbished from what it was, the shop hasn't been in what you call a hurry to get the job done. But if they do a good job, I can be patient. Im thankful it only hurt the head of the engine and didnt ruin the WHOLE engine. For this we are thankful.

I think this about brings everyone to where my life is now. Major symptoms-fatigue(could be worse), brain fog, insomnia, digestion.
Life problems-my car is broken.
But hey, all these issues are fixable and will be fixed in due time. Step by step progress gets made!

I missed blogging, truthfully I just havent sat down or really NEEDED to vent like I have in the past, but no that does not mean I will stop writing!

Before Treatment update

Hello you all, I know it's been a little bit since I've said anything. No news is good news, this time.

I go back to Kansas for treatment soon, which I am looking forward to. This visit has the potential to be the last needed. I would love for it to be, but my guy feeling is that it won't be. 

This week I am trying to get back into juicing like I need to be. I have been doing smoothies, which is good. But I really do need to step it up a bit. Every time I juice consistently I feel significantly better, without fail. 

One thing that makes me think, is it the detoxing from juicing that makes me more alive or is it the nutrition.

I know I don't eat much, my stomach doesn't allow it. Too much food makes me nauseas and bloated(still). 

In a last post I had mentioned my kidney pain had taken off again. I drank an herbal tea for a week, which had almost gotten rid of it. The pain stopped, then came back worse. So I made up another herbal remedy, and stuck to that a little longer which seemed to have finished off whatever that was. It may have been some kind of UTI, I didn't have any burning, just major side pains. If I thumped my back it felt almost like a bruise.

This will be making my list of question to ask the doctor when I get to Kansas.

Another recent thing to have popped up is yeast rashes. I had 1-2, around my hips that weren't bad. I noticed them but didn't think much, figuring maybe it's heat related. I have had a yeast rash around my stomach that comes and goes. I put coconut oil on it and it goes away, until I sway to far from my diet for to long-then it comes back to remind me junk food isn't doing me any favors.

But these rashes are more resistant to the coconut oil. Several rashes had appeared and grew before I started doing anything for them. Which was probably my first mistake. 

Yesterday I started to crack down on them, rubbing in coconut oil with a couple essential oils to soothe the itching that has started. Today I did even more. Maybe tomorrow they will begin to sway...

In the past my stomach rash would disapear after diligently rubbing coconut oil on it. Though each time the rash has come back it's been more resistant to the coconut oil, which can't be a good sign.

Other than this I have been doing well. Fatigue isn't at its worst, neither is insomnia. The night before last I went to sleep at a resonable hour, which felt fantastic by the way.

I am hoping this is the beginning of many more restful nights asleep. I still feel like I have a significant ways to go...but I do enjoy the improvement.

I would say since my last visit to my doctor I have had some of the most extreme ups and downs...

Post of Frustration...UGHH

When is it over?

I am looking forward to the day I can walk without aching knees and lay down and go to sleep. That's what I'm starting today's post off with, because it's a positive outlook.

Now for the rest. I am depressed. Just to simply put it, I feel like no matter what I do, I will always have bad days. That in the end, I have only had band aids to my body and when therapies are stopped I'll regress. If I don't stop I feel like I'm throwing my time and energy out the window because I may not get better.

Its a lose lose situation!

I do the therapies, meet with the doctors, educate myself, find the next best thing, but am I just making things better now. I want to be better all the time-24/7. I believe in my doctor. I believe he gets patients 100% well, I believe I will be one of those patients. I'm just afraid it will be years and years upon more years, before I get to be one of those patients to get well...
I know I have written many posts this year talking about my improvement. I have improved greatly, even now I am better than I have been. The process to get well is just so slow and I feel alone when I'm not well.

I need to elaborate when I say depressed. I'm not standard depressed, I just get depressed at night. During the day I usually have no problem. At night, I feel like it's the end of the world. Like everything I do is worthless, that all of my actions of the day were wrong, I could have done/said/planned whatever it is better and what I did was a mistake, I just start to feel like I have nothing.

I don't know what to do about it. I haven't told the doctors because I know it will resolve with treatment and on some nights it's not bad. I don't know if that's a good choice of not, but I don't want anymore tests that get me put on anymore pills that aren't a permanent fix. Ugh...I feel like I have an amazing doctor, but many days I still feel like I have to fend for myself.

I know I have stated a hundred times before I don't sleep at night. I don't sleep much at all and its late when I finally get to sleep. It just is what it is these days, I sleep better during therapy at the clinic in Kansas. That's good. But that's it. At home I go back to my normal sleep patterns.

This week I am doing brain wave optimization therapy to try to get my brainwaves back in gear. I hope it works. But I'll be honest, my first thought when I started this therapy wasn't This is it, after this I'm going to sleep normal again. My thoughts were, this is boring...what's the chance it's even going to work.
It's not that I don't have faith in the therapy, buy I've just done so many different therapies and remedies in the past....I still don't sleep. Is this really going to be it?? I mean, I'm tired of doing so many different treatments.

It's depressing not being able to do what other people do. I want to get up and go to work, I want to exercise for fun, I want to throw out all my medicines, I don't want to know my doctors home phone number!
Can I tell you what it's like to become chronically ill and your own doctor at 13? It's hard. It's complicated. I wouldn't even know where to start, so I'll just say this,

It would be nice if I could go online and find a study saying XYZ treatment fixed X-Lyme disease problem 100%. I can go online and find all sorts of official, authenticated, backed studies with a bunch of diseases showing what will be beneficial and what's not. Treating Lyme disease is like gambling, who knows what's going to happen.
That goes for traditional, alternative, conventional, whatever you chose treatment. None, NONE have anything to back them with enough information to give people a cure for the disease. Kill bacteria sure, you can find studies about killing bacteria,

But it's not about killing the bacteria, it's about making the patient LIVE!

36 Hours

Earlier this week I made a post ahout staying up all night.
I stayed up 34 hours before going back to sleep,

I have no idea why I didn't sleep. Insomnia is a weird symptom...it goes from bad to worse to not as bad.

After leaving the clinic my sleep was great compared to before. Still had some improving to go but I was more than pleased with my results.

Well guess what. I not only stayed up one entire night this week, I stayed up two. I had one night of sleep in between them.

I stayed up Monday night never falling asleep. Slept Tuesday night, awake Wednesday night.
I stayed up from 11:30am Wednesday morning until about midnight Thursday night. I was awake over 36 hours....
The second time was even easier than the first to stay awake. When I finally gave up at 8:00am it was almost like I hadn't even given it a shot at sleeping.

The weirdest part of it all was I was almost 100% awake the entire time. The moment I fell asleep both nights-wide awake.

In order to attempt to remedy my situation I have stopped everything. I stopped the ChelX and the sauna. If my body is having problems removing a toxin I'm not going to make it worse. If I stay up all night one more time I'll email the doctor. If I wasn't going back in just a few weeks I would have already emailed him, but I don't feel like he can do much without a seeing me.

It's after midnight now, kinda tired. Hoping I will fall asleep tonight!

*i would like to apologize for anything in my post that doesn't read right. Staying awake fries my brain

Sleeping...What's that?

My longest running symptoms is insomnia. I just don't sleep.

The end of my second week at the Hansa Center my sleep took a dramatic turn for the better. I was waking up on my own and falling asleep at an earlier hour. 

It stuck for a while but once I was home not doing the therapies, it wasn't the same.

Now that it's been a while since being treated at the center, my insomnia is taking a turn for the worst. 

The last two weeks or so have been hard to get to sleep, more than usual. The last few days have been progressively later. One night was after 4:00am, another was almost 6:00, then last night I never went to sleep. I just never fell asleep and finally gave up about 8:00am. My body just wasn't having it.

Lately I've just felt wired. Like I'm just not tired but I'm not awake enough to do anything important. 

What's the deal here?! Why now, what caused my sleep to all off the deep end....

The doctor in his email said he was thinking its a detox problem. It feels like a toxicity problem for sure. This morning my eyes also hurt and my head is achy, fits the bill. 

Now what to do about it, that's what I need to know!

Looking Forward

During the last week a good bit has been going on in my life, good and bad.

Last weekend I had the flu, I'm still trying to regain my energy. 

A few days ago I spoke to Dr.Jowdy for my one month update. He is very pleased with my progress.

At the moment I am trying to keep up with using the sauna. When I was on my trip I could not use it, several days in the last week I've had something come up and not had the time to get in...

So I am trying to get back on track with that, originally Dr.J recommend 3X a week. I would say overall I do closer to 5 days a week.

Today was the first time to use it since the weekend. I set it to 150F, got in at 130F, stayed in almost 40 minutes and when I got out it was 140F. So I did longer than usual and hotter than usual, it made a difference. I was not expecting anything much but I truly and honestly felt less fatigued after getting out. 

Of course half an hour at over 100 degrees I was kinda gross, I went straight to the showers after that!!

After my shower I decided I would continue my roll and make some juice and a smoothie. I needed rehydrating for sure. I made a larger juice and a larger smoothie than normal, along with 5 caps of Betaine HCL. 

I started the HCL last week, still tweaking the dose. I did a stomach acid test and found my stomach is not producing acid well, this leads to me not absorbing food as well. 

All in all and the added acid leaves me with less stomach discomfort after eating. When I eat it always feels like a rock is stuck in my stomach for hours. Even water does this. 

I haven't tried more than 6 capsules yet because I'm a little fearful...I've heard it's very painful if you take to much acid. I know I still need to reach a higher dose. I drank that smoothie an hour ago and I still feel it loud and clear. 

I mentioned already I spoke to my doctor. Between visits he told me to shoot him an email update with any questions and what's going on. 

The summary of how I'm doing is this-fatigue, insomnia, and concentration are still resistant. They are holding on strong. I am not sleeping as well as I did when I was staying at the clinic. That sleep only lasted a few days after leaving. Fatigue has been much better than before on average.

His response was its probably heavy metals I'm still detoxing. He recommended a product called Chelex to help detoxify those.

(Note this is a fraction of what I said and how he responded)

I am excited to go back to the HC, I am doing much better than before. I am not hasitling over trying to find a new herb or treatment to try on myself. I am truly healthier than I was pre-Hansa treatment.

But I still have work to do. My sleep is not consistent, my fatigue is holding on, and my concentration is all over the place. Plus I still can't exercise(which I forgot to mention to Dr.J...)

I don't know how many visits it will take. I hope it only takes this one more in a month but who knows. I am trying to stay focused on my life and my progress more so how much longer I will have to be visiting doctors and taking pills and remedies.

Busy Weekend!

Sorry I didn't really post over the weekend :/ I was super busy.

     Over the weekend I was out of town with some friends. Now that it is over, I am extremely tired...
During this trip I had about zero sleep. I was only gone two nights, so glad it wasn't more just for this reason!
The first night I stayed up the entire night, I probably dozed some but overall, I got up in the morning feeling the same as when I went to bed.
The second night I know I dozed some, no idea how much, I just know I did. Got up(notice I didn't say woke up) the second morning the same as the first. I stood up ad was just as awake as when I attempted to go to sleep.
This time, I know exactly why I am more tired than usual! I don't need to assume its associated with any of my particular infections. Not sure if that's good or not...but hey, its an answer, right?

    Overall the weekend was great, I didn't feel any worse than usual, even though I was awake for two days straight and had something to do the as soon as I got up right until I went to bed. That's a plus isn't it?
I had plenty of energy, I even helped push a dead car. Usually something like this would be very tiring for me, especially pushing something heavy like a car. Chronic illness absolutely kills muscle and endurance, making anything strenuous a thing of the past.
This wasn't even the most strenuous thing I did over the weekend, so I was rather impressed that I never felt worse!

     Because I was not at home, I couldn't take all of my supplements with me. The cinchona stayed home, so that was skipped for two days. I didn't feel worse, so it must not have been that detrimental.
I was already on break with the Artemisia, that I restarted today.
The only pills I took with me were Dopalift, black walnut, and FiveHTPThrive.
I wonder if the Dopalift helped me stay awake during the day? Its hard to say what is helping when I am taking so many things! That's one thing I don't care for about treating lyme, there is never just 1-2 things to take, it takes many supplements to kill off these bacteria!

Now that I am back home, away from other people, I can finally sleep! I was so tired this afternoon I fell asleep for about 30-45 minutes. I never do that. I crash in the afternoon if I am busy or stressed, but I never sleep. After this nap, I don't feel refreshed, I just feel the need for more! Ugh, the struggle.
Because I am so tired, I know this post has mistakes I missed, I apologize for that...

Until tomorrow, goodnight
Cinchona tea is calling me...

What is Chronic Fatigue?

This past week I have been totally out of it. I stay tired all of the time, but this has not been one of the better weeks.
One of the things I have sought an answer for is, why is fatigue so common?
Whenever someone gets sick, fatigue is one of the first symptoms. Why?

I don't have an answer for this one. My assumption is we feel fatigued from the body working overtime to fight infection. It seems to me fatigue should not be that hard to reverse. If we consume to the needed nutrients to support the organs, vitamin C for the adrenals, L-Glutamine for the stomach, probiotics for the intestines, and omega 3's for the heart and brain, the body should rebuild itself. Right? Obviously not, something is missing.

I have read through many threads on many forums, there are some people who practically supplement every nutrient the body could possibly need. Yet they still feel fatigued. Supporting the methylation process, the GAPS diet to rebuild the gut, and detoxification can all help...but its not all that common to for someone to say "I found that magic bullet that cured me". Don't get me wrong, all of these methods can be invaluable. The body needs all of these nutrients, sick or not.

     In my opinion, it looks almost like the body just doesn't use the food, supplements, medications, etc. that we provide well. Like the building blocks are there, the body just doesn't (or cant?) use them. I wonder why that is?

     Healing the stomach and intestines can certainly improve digestion and absorption. This can make a big difference for someone who has had
high doses of long-term antibiotics. Antibiotics kill the beneficial bacteria in the gut. These bacteria allow us to break down food sufficiently to be digested. Food that is not broken down enough cannot be absorbed and utilized. This would cause anorexia like symptoms even though the person is eating plenty.

     The fatigue, however, does not start after lyme treatment. The treatment can make it worse, but its not the cause. Fatigue is usually one of the first symptoms to appear, it was for me (along with insomnia.) but why?

What is there to curb this fatigue? I am still searching...

Chronic, Incessant insomnia...Permanent or Temporary?

     I have never understood insomnia. I have been researching Lyme disease and most of its symptoms for years, but insomnia puzzles me to no end. The purpose of sleep is to restore the body right? So why wouldn't I need more sleep? I sleep about four hours each night-give or take...Not very restorative to be honest.
     According to Dr.Horowitz about 70% of Lyme patients suffer from this chronic insomnia. It remains untouched by common sleep aids such as Ambien, Benadryl, or Restoril, but why? During my research I found Lyme disease isn't the only chronic insomnia causing illness. People with bipolar disorder can also have the same sudden onset of insomnia. Some patients stay so wired they cannot
sleep for days. I have met people who can attest to that.
     Lyme and bipolar disorder are both considered chronic illnesses. The definition of chronic is "Marked by long duration or frequent recurrence" according to Merriam-Webster.By this definition,
people with bipolar disorder or Lyme disease are sick for a long period of time(or until death). During this time, the patient is not only accumulating damage from the chronic disease,but also the
chronic symptom...catch 22, isn't it?

     Personally I have had some form of insomnia my entire life. As a baby I slept fine, I just took a long time to fall asleep.  I would sleep 10 hours,so no one thought anything of it (that's what I was told at least). On the other hand, when I was 6-7 years old I stopped sleeping (no Lyme DX yet), I could be awake until 2:00 am before falling asleep. When I was a young teenager I used this to my advantage. Wide awake at 1:00am was a great time to catch up homework.
Not much has changed since then actually. (lol)An average night is 3:00 am before falling asleep. A bad night,on the other hand,may have absolutely 0 minutes of sleep whatsoever. None. Wide awake straight through the night.

     I have tried everything. No dice.
Valerian root tincture, Ambien, Restoril, melatonin, homeopathic sleep remedies, herbal blends of sleep remedies, avoiding electronics and light for hours before bed...the list goes on..

I had my saliva hormone levels tested, high melatonin in the morning, normal in the afternoon, low in the evening, and then low at midnight. Melatonin supplementation seemed like a good idea. It was one of the only supplements to make a minor difference. It just included one side affect, a hangover the next morning. I would sleep late, struggle to wake up, and then feel groggy the whole day. I tried playing around with the dose, again, no help. I quite after that. If my body wanted sleep it could have it, but for some reason that's not what it wants. There is a reason, I just don't know it.

     Dr. H recommends supplements to lower high cytokines. Cytokines are a group of inflammatory proteins. The anti-inflammatory diet, which I have followed since my ND recommended it to me years ago, should lower these. In theory...
Dr. Jernigan and Dr. Hulda Clark teach that excess ammonia in the blood stops the brain from sleeping. Both claim a high success rate for curing their insomnia patients. I  tried Dr.Clarks method, taking L.Ornithine before bed. The protocol starts with a low dose then builds up over several days to a rather high dose.
It helped me feel more alert during the day. No change at night though :/
I wonder why that is.

     I don't really like the idea of being attached to a prescription drug, just to fall asleep a few hours earlier. Especially for an unspecified period of time. After all, I learned to deal with insomnia a long time ago. Anymore, its not big deal to me...just irritating.

     What do you guys use to treat your chronic insomnia? Is it worth trying?

Until next time...

My Story, The Beginning

   The story of my future started when I was 12 years old. I was at camp having a good time just like any other kid. During the night in the middle of the week I was bitten by a tick. I woke up about 6:00 AM to the feeling of it hanging onto my leg. I stood up and checked it out under the light, noted the size, pulled it off, and flushed it down the toilet. It wasn't the typical lone star tick I normally could find in Georgia, it was black and rather large, but not engorged.
I had gone to bed that night about midnight, after a shower. No tick whatsoever So at most this tick was attached for six hours. Ticks, according to the IDSA have to be attached a minimum of 24-36 hours to transmit an infection. That's also what the other Boy Scouts told me...

     No rash, no blood, no symptoms...couldn't be a big deal right? Wrong...oh so wrong.
A few months later I had a traumatic injury and required surgery. I felt the worst I had ever felt in my life after a minor, 15 minute surgery. The surgery wasn't expected to last long, they sedated me just enough for half an hour. Surgery started around 7:00 AM, I counted back from 100, made it to 89, then I was out. I was totally out cold until 4:30 PM. I slept about 9.5 hours after about half a nights sleep.  I have been a chronic insomniac since I was in my mid single digits. So to be totally out of it, for so long, was very out of the ordinary for me.

     Fast forward a few months after surgery, injury is fully recovered. I still had this unshakable, intolerable fatigue. I had been told all of these stories about how anesthesia can make you feel terrible...but still progressing not diminishing after six months? *New problem, not anesthesia* I had constant fatigue and insomnia, joint/muscle pain, and dizziness...turns out, this was only the beginning of a long list of symptoms.
I decided it was time to do something. So I visited my local naturopath. Long story short, they found candida overgrowth and excess inflammation. These were both caused by the injury, and seemed to fit the profile.
I followed the anti-inflammatory and anti-candida diet for several months. During this time they also had me taking a regimen of anti-inflammatory and yeast killing herbs. My symptoms did improve and pain became tolerable. Several months and a plateau later, I moved on to the next doctor.

     During my time with the naturopath I learned to start doing my own research. My list of symptoms matched Lyme. Migrating joint pain, just one of my symptoms, is extremely specific to Lyme. This symptom should have made any doctor suspicious of Lyme disease. When it came to visiting doctor #2, I was let down when no Lyme or Lyme test was mentioned. He did however test my blood for Mono/E. Barr, thyroid hormone levels and diabetes. All tests returned normal. I didn't bother going back.

     A few months later a kind friend referred me to doctor #3, whom I first visited August 2013. I loved this doctor! Doctor #3, whom ill call Dr.L, was extremely thorough. This doctor asked me every question imaginable and listened to what I had to say! A huge change to the previous doctors who had diagnosed me, probably, before I ever set foot in their office.
Ten vials of blood later-Bingo! Positive titers for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Or as I called it, the answer I had waited so long for. It sure took long enough!!
The Lyme test was negative, not all that shocking considering their poor track record.
Dr. L had me on a regimen of liquid doxy and IV rocephin, IV C, and IV mag/b vitamins. I would take the antibiotics for a month on, month break, retest and restart ABX. So basically I took ABX every other month. I would only do the IV drugs whenever I went into the office.

     I followed that protocol for about a year until it just stopped working. In the beginning (first two months or so) I did feel better. I never felt normal, just improved.
Starting around the 4th round, doxy just made me worse, with no improvement afterwards.
The last round of abx I took was 28 days of ceftin(ceftriaxone). After that, which did nothing, I just quite with antibiotics. Have not taken any since.
The IV drugs/vitamins did make a noticeable difference.
The IV's consisted of Rocephin, Vitamin C 10,000mg, sodium bicarb, magnesium/b vitamin combo, and sometimes fluconazole if yeast was flaring. I liked the rocephin and Vitamin C. They made the most noticeable (and lasting!) difference. After a year and a half I quit going to Dr.L, I had gone through all of their resources. Still sick...

      I started going back to the ND in Sept. 2014. I figured now that I had a DX, I could try out their treatment options. I prefer natural methods to synthetic chemicals anyway.
The ND, who uses biofeedback as a primary testing resource, found a reaction to  RMSF, lyme, babesia, EBV, and parasites. Dr.L had had me do parasite cleanses in the past using both ABX and herbs, so this wasn't a new subject to me. I had found humaworm online and chosen that as my parasite killer of choice. The ND, on top of parasite cleansing, had me use their protocol for the lyme and virus. Their protocol consisted of colloidal silver, Biocidin and TOA free cats claw, along with  adrenal support.
It helped, certainly stopped progression if anything.

This brings us to the present.


Since starting with the ND I have been treating myself a good bit. I have used andrographis, eleuthero, and cryptolepis per the Healing Lyme protocol.  I have also used grapefruit seed extract, houttyunia powder, l ornithine, lithium, b complex, chlorella, DMSA, and several other things. (highlighted again here)

My current symptoms- roughly worst to least-
Insomnia (ambien and restoril did nothing, its anywhere 2-6 am before falling asleep)
fatigue
Brain fog
muscle twitching
muscle pain
tremors
sweats
heat sensitivity
dizziness
muscle/limb jerks
skin burning
tinnitus (CoQ10 has helped somewhat)
dizziness upon standing
chest tightening briefly making it hard to breath


Currently, 10/21/15, I am taking a B complex, Ledum Pal. 30C, Calc. Phos. 30C, ALA, Arnica Montana 30C, lipo vitamin C, milk thistle, magnesium, and iodine.

This, has only been the beginning of my fight against lyme disease and co-infections....

Until next time, God Bless and goodnight