The Healing Code, have you read it?

     Today I want to talk about a book to nearly everyone I know. Dr. L recommended this to me a few years, and I am so glad I listened! This book really helped me get through the emotional trauma caused by being sick. People with chronic illnesses often have had some kind of emotional trauma at some point in their life.

     Mine stemmed from a few points. When I broke my arm I was in a cast for about 9 weeks. My thumb and pointer finger were unable to flex because the nerve was stretched. All of my fingers on that hand were messed up in some way or another. I had 0 feeling in my pointer and thumb, my middle finger had pins and needles and diminished flexibility, my ring finger was like my middle but less severe, then my pinky was unaffected somehow. Even today I still have diminished feeling in that hand after nearly 5 years, PE, and laser therapy.
Another thing that gets to me, especially on the bad days, is losing friends and being unable to stay involved with things I did previously.
At one point I was active in Boy Scouts, gymnastics, tennis, and anything else fun that came up. The boy scouts especially ticked me off. I was one of the highest ranking kids in the county, active in the Troop, first one in my patrol to reach the rank of eagle at 14 years old, and I had known most of the other guys most of my life.
I went to the meetings and taught the younger kids every week, never missed. I knew all of the younger kids, I enjoyed teaching them. It was great.
A year after becoming an Eagle Scout I just had no more energy for extra activities. I couldn't go and teach every week. No one said anything to me. I took a three month or so break before I went back. One of the first things a patrol member of mine said to me was "Why are you here"
Warming isn't it? I could talk about the Boy Scouts a lot...but lets be honest. Its way overrated.
 I am a double silver Eagle Scout with a full sash of merit badges(I could start the second). I know this from experience. I wasn't one of the kids who let their dad take over either, I made it at 14 because I wanted  to. It was a goal I wanted to accomplish. I just had a strive to thrive.
Now Lyme disease is my priority. I have to strive to survive. Ill thrive later, God willing.

     That's the gist of my sob story. Ill probably post about it again at a later date. Ill get off my rabbit trail and go back to the book.
Emotional trauma stops healing. The mind is the control center for your whole body. If it is overwhelmed with emotions it has to deal with, its priorities are going to change from healing the body, to healing the mind. Stress kills, a stressed brain cannot function.
When we live with emotional trauma, the added physical trauma will be our downfall. Its not possible to be physically well when we are taken down from both sides.
Our heart, according to Dr. Jernigan at the Hansa Center, holds onto these emotional memories. This book, The Healing Code, goes into great detail about how our emotions and thoughts control our health. One of the doctors in the book discussed how his chronically ill patients
 wouldn't get better. The root of it wasn't the wrong pill combination, but emotions.


     Reading this book gave me more sense of self awareness. I am not controlled by the anger or unhappiness I had from becoming ill. I don't blame myself. I used to try to blame others or myself. "Maybe if I would have started complaining about my symptoms sooner I would have found a treatment sooner". Or why didn't someone else see that I felt so bad and say something.
Its important to remember, everything happens for a reason. We may not be able to see the reason, but there will be a positive outcome.

     Being sick taught me to become independent and to avoid following blindly. Whenever a doctor tells me to take something I need to know A.Why? B. What is it going to do to me. C. What are the important side affects.
Too many people take a doctors advice way too seriously. A doctor practices what he/she is taught, most of them do follow a similar script for everyone.
They have a fairly specific protocol for everyone already, for depression they have an A drug they tryout first, same goes for infections, ADD/ADHD, and other disorders.
When drug A or even herb/supplement A doesn't work, they have a backup or plan B.

     I learned to think creatively. I try to think outside the box when it goes to my own treatment. Most doctors(who treat lyme) give 1-3 abx. This will cause a herx reaction from the bacteria dying.
When a herx is coming on, we are told to detox. Detox what? There is always more than lyme bacteria to detoxify. The goal may be to remove the toxins from dead bacteria, but detoxing is so general. It will help remove anything that needs to be removed.
So what specifically is being detoxed, heavy metals, other bacteria toxins(if so which ones?), environmental toxins, pesticides, parasites?
When detoxing usually some symptoms will increase, for me brain fog usually. Which toxins coming out cause which symptoms?
Anyway, this is how I think. "Why" and "how" is what I am always asking. I no longer think, "what if I had" or "but if this-". This poisons our body.

The Healing Code taught me to check my thoughts and emotions. Letting them run wild will lead to downfall, not a better circumstance that "could have been". It was not a standard self help book, it wasn't telling me to change my life to be happy. It explained the science of cellular memories and how they affect our body.
I recommend this book to anyone who struggles with a resistant, chronic disease. It was easy to read and extremely informative.
Emotional healing should be considered in everyone with a chronic disease. Something is blocking the body from healing.

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”‘ – Romans 8:28

Almost...

Well I wish I had better news.
Yesterday I thought I was finally out of the week long fatigue streak I had been trapped in. I thought I was out of it. Nope. Today proved that theory wrong.
I woke up at 8:00am to take Dopalift, still slept in later than I wanted and had no energy. The first two days on the DL I did have some more energy than usual, but the increased insomnia has counterweighted even the thought of that happening.

I have been nauseous and dizzy all day. I get dizzy sitting down or when I stand up. Its SO nice finally being able to sit down at the end of the day!

I also couldn't eat well. I only felt like eating an apple and drinking a  protein shake...Nothing looked appetizing and I felt sick after the apple, so I didn't eat much else.

On top of that, I was up until 5:00am for the third time. This has made my brain fog stronger than ever :/
I am skipping DL tomorrow. Ill try again EARLY sunday.

As I type I have a headache between my eyes, which is unusual for me. I don't typically get headaches...this has just been a strange day altogether..
Tomorrow is new day, even though it is 1:30 am...I guess tomorrow its tomorrow already

I did finally order off amazon. I ordered Cinchona powder, Artemisia complex, and black walnut. I have never tried cinchona, its supposed to be a strong ant-malaria. Same with the Artemisia, but it hasn't been that strong in my experience.

I feel like this post was kinda choppy...must be the brainfog I guess

The beginning of a Good Streak?

Today was another good day! I was able to get through the day AND still have enough energy to write on this blog. I can't complain about that!

Last night was another long night. It was about 5:00am when I finally fell asleep. I took the DopaLift as soon as I woke up yesterday, I didn't think it would still be in my system after so long.
Tomorrow I think I will set an alarm to get up and take the pill. This way it helps me wake up earlier and maybe...just maybe, it could lead to me going to bed earlier.

I have been looking for homeopathies for fatigue and insomnia, has anyone used any that they would recommend?

Another short blog post, sigh. maybe I will have something to say over the weekend...

Today was a Good Day

I finally didn't wake up with the extra fatigue I had been experiencing :)
Maybe it was one of the new supplements, or maybe I just stepped out of the babesia flair. My vote is on the second.

I was able to get some important things accomplished as well. This was a great feeling after being down for a week. I was never able to order the cryptolepis or red root, amazon didn't have what I needed. So I think I will order some Artemisia instead. Hopefully this will prevent the next babesia flair from occurring.

 Romans 12:12- Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Words to live by.

DopaLift Side Affects

I learned last night that supplements can have strong side affects, just like the standard drugs...
I knew they could have side affects, just its rare for me to experience any.

Yesterday was a long day, I didn't make it home until almost 7:00. I decided I would go ahead and take my new supplements from my ND visit.
According the instructions given by my ND, I should take 1 Dopalift Capsule early in the day.
7PM isn't that late right?

haha..funny story.. Dopalift contains green tea extract, a good source of caffeine.

I did not think about this when I took my 1 capsule. That was 7:00pm...at 4:30 am, wide awake and fully cognizant...I was feeling kinda stupid.
I knew better than to consume ANYTHING with caffeine that late in the day. I am a full blown, well practiced insomniac. I know not to consume caffeine. I wont even drink tea anymore unless its very early in the day.
I did finally fall asleep about 5-5:30 this morning.

Haha, well, lesson learned. Dopalift, 1 pill, as soon as I wake up. NO LATER

The Visit with the ND today 10/27/15

     Today was my monthly visit to the naturopath. I sat in the chair, strapped in, and talked with them about an hour. They asked me how I have been doing lately, I told them I haven't been so well the last few weeks. They looked over my info from last month, which was actually one of my better months. Nothing was really changed between this month and last month.

     He tested for all of my usual pathogens I ask for, nothing showed up. That is normal on the days I don't feel well.I suspect its because the machine cannot detect them when my immune system isn't fighting them. The machine reads the body's reaction, if the body isn't reacting, it wont be detecting. Last month everything showed up, which is unusual. Usually some things will show up one visit and others will show up on the next visit. Since I felt better than usual last month, and everything showed up, my immune system was most likely fighting more then .

     Today brucella showed up, I have never had that appear before I don't think. Brucella can certainly explain the fatigue.

     He also tested all of my supplements. Lipo C, ALA, Glutathione, Kajarin Progesterone, cal phos, ledum palustre, milk thistle,arnica Montana, and iodine. ALA, cal phos, and progesterone were the only ones that tested well. So I was advised to avoid the other supplements, especially milk thistle which I was allergic to today.

   He did have me start on a few things for my fatigue, a product called DopaLift, Five HTP thrive, and POA Phytolens (toa free cats claw). The Five HTP is for sleep, Dopalift for fatigue/brain fog, and the cats claw to replace the ledum because it tested poorly.

Well, ill report back on the results of the new supplements later!

How I was Diagnosed

     Lyme disease is a tricky organism to find. Easy to contract...but a pain in the rear to locate. The tests are insensitive, and the symptoms can be hard to narrow down. I mean really, do you know how many ailments fatigue and joint pain is associated with? Its not a small number!! Fatigue can be caused by anything, insomnia, the flu, mono, hypothyroidism, a cold, cytomegalovirus, exercise, etc.
Joint pain is not as common as fatigue. Joint is usually only associated with osteo and rheumatoid arthritis, which is lyme is misdiagnosed as often.

     PCR, Western Blot, and ELISA are the most common tests utilized for diagnosing lyme disease.
Usually a doctor will order an ELISA (enyme linked immunosorbent assay) first, according to ILADS it misses 35% of culture proven lyme disease. That's a big number to just ignore. 35 out of every 100 people are told they tested negative for lyme disease, even though they are infected.

     The western blot for lyme disease is the most favorable test in the lyme community. This test detects proteins in the blood which are measured as bands. Some of these bands are extremely specific to the lyme bacteria, here is a breakdown of each individual band meanings.
Some of these single bands can prove the presence of borrelia (band 18), while most are indirect i.e. band 41.
The western blot is so popular because it can show the level of infection. Igenix specifically shows how positive each band reacted, some are low + and some are higher +++. The more + the higher the immune response towards the band. One thing Igenix does that is unique is that they show equivocal results. Equivocal is the fine line between positive and negative, something showed up on the test but not enough to call it a for sure positive.

     The PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test is also popular. PCR is very accurate but not sensitive. The infection has to be high for it to be detected, but a positive result of this test has an almost 0% occurrence of false positives. The ELISA can have false positives (though rare) and the western blot bands can be reactive to other pathogens. The PCR is not as popular as the ELISA and WB because it is more expensive and can miss new infections.

     Personally, the only thing I ever tested positive for was rocky mountain spotted fever through Quest. I was also tested through Quest for lyme (ELISA) and ehrlichia, but they always came back negative.
When I started to do my own treatment I ordered a kit through Igenix. Those tests all returned negative for babesia, bartonella, and anaplasma. A lyme EIA was equivocal and the western blot had band 41+ (ill post the results if I can find them). The EIA could be considered positive by some LLMD's, I don't think much of it.

     One of the best methods, however, is clinical diagnosis. This is when a doctor matches your symptoms to the illness, ignoring negative test results. This is also how I diagnosed myself long before any doctor told me what I did or did not have. Most people in the Lyme community will tell you to find a doctor who is capable of a clinical diagnosis. I agree with that, no blood test is 100% accurate. Doesn't matter what its looking for, mistakes can be made.

     After the Igenix results is when I returned to the ND. The ND I go to utilizes a SCIO biofeedback device. I like this device because it detects the body's reaction to so many things at once. It will also show stresses towards pathogens. My body was stressed towards RMSF, Lyme, malaria, ebv, cmv, and some parasites. Ill be darned...something actually showed up! The malaria could be a cross react with babesia, which is a cousin to malaria. That's what I am calling it anyway.
Before this, I had received 3 consecutive negative tests for RMSF, yet it showed up as a high stress right of the bat on the machine. Imagine that, my body knew it was there, my immune system just wasn't reacting anymore.

     ND's cannot officially diagnose me with anything, only MD's and DO's are legally allowed to do that. They can advise for and against supplements, but they cannot tell me I have to do something.
So they advised me to take several supplements to bring my body back into balance. This went well, but none of my symptoms ever actually ceased.
I still go to the ND. The machine can also test reactivity to supplements (like muscle testing) and if they are causing my body stress. Since I have to treat using supplements entirely, this can be an invaluable resource. I also like to see how my stresses change from month to month. I went today in fact, that will be my next post.

I hope this post offered you some clarity towards how lyme can be tested for!

The Hansa Center

    In a few months I am going to The Hansa Center for treatment of my Lyme disease.
I will have to stay at the clinic for two weeks for treatment.   I have been treating myself for a long time now, but I am ready to find a professional who has expierence. Dr.Jernigan himself, the head doctor,  had lyme disease, and was able to get himself into remission(or cured, idk his opinion). He wrote a book on it, called Beating Lyme Disease
I will post more information later on after I have been. I will try to log more about my current, pre-visit symptoms. That way I can get a better picture of the improvements.

    The Hansa Center uses all natural methods to attempt reversal of chronic disease. They have a great track record. Detoxification, balancing the organs, and rebuilding the body are their primary methods they use to get the body to heal itself.

Here are two of the videos that sold me-

Assasins of Lyme Bacteria and Helping the Body Beat Lyme Disease

Here is where I originally found the information on the Hansa Center.

Why Diet is Important

     A few posts ago I wrote about my views on Lyme treatment, and some things that can be done to boost the immune system. In that post I spoke a lot on what should be eliminated from our diets. Today I want to talk about what we should add to our diet!
     What we eat is just as important as what we avoid eating. We can avoid all of the chemicals we want, but if empty calories are what replaces the chemicals its really not much of a difference.
Bread, pasta, cereal, jam, jelly, grits, cornbread, and potatoes are examples of foods most of us eat on a frequent basis.

    All of these foods can be prepared with minimal chemicals. The catch is, they have very little nutrient value. Then on top of these nutrient empty staples, we have the calorie counting/no fat bandwagon. Our bodies do not count calories, or even use them. The calorie is a unit of measure. The small calorie is the amount of energy it takes to heat one gram of water, one degree Celsius. The large calorie is the amount of energy needed to heat one kilogram of water by one degree, Celsius.
 
    Our brains are about 60% fat. Brain tissue is created from essential fatty acids. How is brain tissue supposed to be created without its building blocks? I don't know. Hard to make something without the correct ingredients in my opinion...

   Our bodies are built from minerals, protein, and vitamins. Calories have their time and place, they aren't useless. If building your immune system is a goal, look at the nutritional information instead.
Our bones are built from calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium, plus trace minerals. In fact our bones are the stores for minerals. They can be weakened as a result of a mineral deficient diet.
Calcium and phosphorus are found in dairy products like milk, yogurt, and kefir. People drink milk all the time, great right? Not if its pasteurized. The pasteurization process destroys nutrients according to Dr.Weston Price, A dentist from the 1920's. Dr. Price discovered something in the native groups of Alaska, Switzerland, and Australia. The people would never get cavities. Their bodies are capable of rebuilding their teeth, because they consume the building blocks to do so!
Dr. Price went looking for support of a vegan, plant based diet. He couldn't find it. He found that the diet of these people was primarily meat products.
The people of these native tribes typically never connected with the outside, modern world. They were completely self sustaining. These people were not influenced by the no fat, low calorie, plant based diet fad.
     
     Whenever I search for the internet for advice to improve my diet, vegan and vegetarianism are some of the first hits. A diet must be better without meat by what the research shows, right? Dr. Price found the opposite. The natives, who ate primarily meat, had a very low instance of disease, birth defects were few and far between,  cavities were rare (especially in the Australians), and had non-existent crime. I've never heard anyone say any of this about potatoes or cabbage. You?

    What was different about their meat and dairy from ours is this. They didn't pasteurize anything, the animals were farm raised on their natural diet, and to preserve food they fermented it. If milk needed to be preserved it was turned into cheese or yogurt. Both of these food products in their natural state (no dyes, preservatives, etc.. ) are high in the nutrients we need to survive. Vitamin K2, for example, is something that is diminishing from our diet. Cultured dairy products contain K2 in beneficial amounts, no longer found in their processed cousins...

    The natives also ate organ meats, and knew which organs were beneficial for certain ailments.  Organ meats are loaded with nutrients. The adrenals are high in vit.C, and the liver in vit.A, for examples. The vitamin A from meat is also a different form than from fruits/vegetables, retinol instead of beta carotene. Beta carotene has to be converted into retinol to be used by the body. The animal has already done that! Here's an example-
Imagine the a cow. The cow eats grass, its body breaks the nutrients down, then uses them to build  their tissues. We are capable of the same process, but we can also eat the animal, who has already broken apart the nutrients. There is always more than one method to accomplish a goal.

    The above is just the beginning of creating a well balanced diet. I didn't even talk about the benefits of bone broth, soups/stews, kefir, or eggs.
As a society we definitely need to consume more plants than we do, but I think we discount the health benefits of meat. Plant foods are invaluable to our health, I will make a post about them in the future. One example of fruit/vegetable benefits I like is this found here.

There is just so much to be said about diet! I could have gone on forever but decided this was enough for today :)

    

Babesia Symptoms

Earlier this week I posted about how I have stayed more tired than usual. I am generally tired but I can stay functional...well most of the time.

This past week was different. It was like, I would trade anything for sleep. It was like nothing was worth getting out of bed and using my valuable energy.
Yesterday something occurred to me. I noticed my abdomen was beginning to feel sore, around ribcage. Turns out this is the spleen area. The spleen processes blood cells, which babesia infects. So I think I may be going through a babesia flair...

In the past I have taken Cumanda and Quina from Nutramedix, and the herb cryptolepis.
The Cumanda and Quina seemed to work a little, but they just weren't what I needed. The effects just didn't last for me. That's when I tried the Cryptolepis tincture. It was like a magic bullet for my fatigue! The results were almost miraculous. Within a few hours of the first dose (15 drops) I felt better. I walked the dog for fun and did some other stuff I enjoy doing on good days.

I started at 15 drops 3x daily and quickly moved up to 1/2 tsp 3x, I did this for 5 months.
I stopped taking it in August because I was no longer feeling the affects. I wasn't having the same fatigue I was having before either. I haven't taken any anti-malarials since then...Maybe its time to give it a shot again.

I've never tried red root, I think I will order some of that also and report back!

On another note, I follow this blog- http://victoriawilguess.blogspot.com/ by Victoria Wilguess. She has suffered from Lyme Disease also. Like me she went several years without an answer or any treatments. Another thing that hit close to home was that she was also a teenager when she got sick. This is harder than most people can understand, unless you have been in the situation personally.
True friends to support you and family members to understand you can be scarce. That alone can bring someone down, on top of that she was a teenager. That is a stressful time for everyone at some point. She somehow stayed positive. I believe its because of her faith in God. I know that's what she will tell you.
Victoria has been going through some new treatments lately. Included a stem cell transplant, that she will have to go to Germany for.
Having a chronic illness is hard. There is uncertainty, pain, and a distancing from the reality previously known.
Victoria (and myself) had to grow up, just to learn to cope. This is not easy for kids who were used to running around and playing games. You cant explain to another 12 year old your sitting out of tag because your tired or in pain.
Victoria has been on my mind and in my prayers the past few weeks. It would be great if you could keep her in your prayers, she is going through a lot :)

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...

Heavy Metal Toxicity and Mineral Levels

     When I started researching detoxification and which toxicities cause what symptoms, heavy metals stood out to me.
In this day in age people are more toxic with heavy metals than ever before. Fracking has contaminated our water systems, mercury is found in amalgam fillings and energy efficient light bulbs, lead is still found in paint (lead paint is legal for outdoor use) and many other sources, and aluminum is used extensively in the kitchen. Nearly everyone has had mercury fillings at some point, everyone uses metal cookware, and we have all inhaled contaminated air (think cigarette smoke), metal is not easy to avoid.
    The symptoms of mercury poisoning are extremely similar to the symptoms of tick borne diseases. Common mercury poisoning symptoms are-neuropathy, fatigue, memory loss, brain fog, depression, tremors, and food sensitivities, just to name a few. Sound familiar? All of these are hallmark lyme disease symptoms.
     Heavy metal detoxification is a part of several lyme treatment protocols, including but not limited to those used by Dr.Burrascano and Dr.Horowitz. So, I went online and ordered myself a hair minerals and toxic metals test.

These are my results.

High-Mercury, lead, silver, nickel, copper, and barium.

The high lead was a shock to me. Mercury and copper are found in dental amalgams ( I had 4 when I took this test) so this was expected. What about the lead? Where did the it come from? Lead isn't found in amalgams, shouldn't be in cookware, the kitchen somewhere maybe?

The water pipes...the lead soldering that attaches the copper water pipes. Bingo, that must be it. My water must be contaminated with lead. My ND advised me to start on EDTA as soon as possible to chelate lead. I used a product called Total Chelate, a mixture of minerals and Ca-EDTA. I started at 1 pill 2x a day to 2 pills 3x daily.

Within a few days of starting this protocol, brain fog and fatigue improved. Finally a breathrough!

 Ca-EDTA mainly, if not only, chelates lead. So the copper, mercury, etc were still untouched left to ravage my system with their toxic affects.

To chelate mercury I wanted to follow the Cutler protocol. To do this correctly I had to have those darn mercury fillings removed.

 I only had 4 so it wasn't too bad. I found a mercury free dentist who followed the correct safety procedures for removing and disposing of the metal. In two visits plus a consult, they were out.

 

A few days after the last two were removed, I started DMSA chelation. Following the Cutler protocol, I started on 12.5mg. I would take DMSA every 4 hours, 3 days a week. This also helped my symptoms to reduce further. I started this protocol in June of this year.

Three months after starting the DMSA and being amalgam free, it is safe to add another chelator called alpha lipoic acid. Alpha lipoic acid (ALA for short) is naturally produced in the body as a precursor to glutathione. ALA and glutathione are used by the body (especially the liver) to remove toxins from the cells. A three month wait is needed so the DMSA can clear mercury and other metals from the tissues. According to the protocol, DMSA should be used to chelate the body and ALA should be used to chelate the brain.

I began ALA  in September, at a 100mg dose. In the beginning I had a strong herx reaction that knocked me down for several days. I would cut the 300mg pill into 4 pieces and take 2 each day slowly working up to 100mg 3x a day.

 

Later on in September, I repeated the test. Here are the results.

 

The results improved

in only a few months! Test #1 was taken in March, #2 in September, only 6 months.

The lead is way down. Nickel and copper also decreased. Mercury increased, possibly from detoxification- the mercury leaving can go out through the hair. No worry there.

Tin jumping up I thought was interesting. I don't have an explanation for that. It could also be detoxification.

 

Then looking at the changes in minerals, you can see that magnesium and iodine are high. I have been taking magnesium for years. I first started on calm magnesium the first visit with Dr,L., this spike was a surprise to me. I don't even take it religiously anymore, just a spoonful every few days. On the first test I had nearly no lithium whatsoever. So my ND advised me to start supplementing that, now it is nearly in range. Another little victory :) I read this book called "Feel Good Nutrigenomics" By Dr.Amy Yasko. She stated lithium was often found low in Lyme patients. No reason given, just that its typical. I wonder if a certain toxin from the bacteria displaces it.

The biggest surprise to me was the iodine. I didn't start taking iodine until after taking test #2, but before I received the results. I don't even eat an iodine rich diet. Its a mystery to me. Personally I do not believe my iodine is actually that high. I believe one of the toxins, whether it be a halogen or metal, is displacing it, into my hair. Chlorine, bromine, and fluoride, the halogens, are known to displace iodine. Halogens have the ability to displace each other in our bodies. Bromine, for example, is know to block iodine from the thyroid. I believe my iodine is being displaced. There is no way it could jump over 70 points without supplementation. It will be interesting to see what its at on test #3 next year.

 

Calcium and phosphorus levels also improved, possibly as a side effect of removing mercury. Another little victory :)

 

This has been the journey of detoxifying heavy metals from my body. Unlike my lyme protocol, this one changes very little. I only take ALA now, the DMSA just stopped giving me results.

 

This was a fun post to write, I think so many of our common diseases today are caused primarily by toxins. I feel like these tests back up this opinion at least to some degree.

 

Until tomorrow, God bless.

 

 

 

 

 

My Views on Lyme Treatment

     I have to be honest, I am not a fan of conventional lyme treatment. I do not believe finding a doctor to prescribe antibiotics will lead to everyone being cured or reach remission from lyme disease. The literal meaning of antibiotic is "anti-life". It doesn't make sense to me, kill bacteria and be healed...Too good to be true??

     I believe the best way to treat any disease is holistically. Holistic healing is when all systems of the body are addressed. Usually diet modification is one of the first steps. Avoiding all processed sugars, synthetic chemicals, GMO foods, and hydrogenated fat is paramount. Our bodies have to work extra hard to process these "foods" because they were not designed to break down and remove such loads of toxins.

    How can our bodies fight an infection if it is too busy trying to process a massive sugar overload? The answer is-not well. I know, I know, we all know that person who can eat whatever they want and do whatever they want without ever getting fat, sick, or bogged down. Don't assume you are one of those people. If you have lyme disease like me, you aren't one of those people (you wouldn't be sick).

     According to Medicine.net each American consumes 29 pounds of ADDED sugar each year. This is not counting the natural sugar from fruits and vegetables, only the processed, refined sugar. That is huge! Refined sugar lowers our immune system. Therefore eliminating it, in theory, would boost the immune system right?  Shouldn't this be step one of the first-line treatments for illness? It is fairly simple in my book. LLMD's are not easy to come by, and remember it is the treatment they provide that assist in healing the body. The act of visiting a doctor and sitting in his/her presence will not cure a disease or put it in remission.

     My philosophy is to boost the body's' natural ability to heal itself. Our bodies are built from vitamins, proteins and minerals, not antibiotics, pain relievers, or synthetic chemicals. To boost the immune system our bodies need to have the natural building blocks to create immune cells and repair damaged cells.
Without proper nutrition from a healthy diet, the body cannot rebuild itself. Building blocks cannot be pulled out of thin air, they must be consumed in some way.
No synthetic chemical-MSG, aspartame, antibiotics, synthetic vitamins, sodium benzoate, etc will build your immune system or rebuild the body.

     So why do so many of us go straight to a chemical for a fix? If you get a headache what do you reach for? Man made chemical most likely. There is a cause for the headache, and it isn't your body crying out for a synthetic pain reliever. Headaches, from a conventional viewpoint, have several known causes but few known cures. On the other hand, a holistic doctor is going to look for a cause. If the irritant is found and removed, the headaches will be gone. When the cause is taken away, the symptom cannot not happen. It really is that simple.

     When I started researching self-treatment of Lyme Disease, a few things jumped out at me. One was that many people decide to go gluten free, and another was the wide use of herbs. Both of these have an impressive track record for improving symptoms. It turns out gluten is pro-inflammatory, just like borrelia burgdorferi bacteria. Inflammation is what causes our joints to hurt (just to name one symptom). By consuming gluten we are adding insult to injury. Literally!

     When the pro-inflammatory gluten is removed from our diet, inflammation will decrease. Less inflammation will equal less pain. Imagine that. Removing one simple food item can change the expression of symptoms. Imagine how our bodies would react to removing all synthetic chemicals, processed/nutrient lacking food, and heavy metals that poison our bodies. The immune system would be able to work correctly.
Remember that next time you take a pill.

    Then there are the herbs. Several of the most popular herbs for treating tick borne infection are anti-inflammatory. Resveratrol is an example of a strong anti-inflammatory. These herbs remove some of the inflammation our stressed bodies produce, how many antibiotics do that? On top of being anti-inflammatory herbs can also be immune modulating. Immune modulating herbs change which immune cells are created. Our immune systems create immune cells for acute infections and chronic infections. The immune system will quickly become overloaded  if it tries to kill a chronic infection with acute immune cells. The immune modulating herbs help our bodies adjust to the correct expression.

     Single herbs have more than single benefits. The herb resveratrol, for example, is used as an anti-inflammatory, immune booster, and strong anti-oxidant. I don't know of any single antibiotic that can do all of that. Anti-biotics are made to kill bacteria. They cannot help the body rebuild damaged tissue or re-balance the sleep/wake cycle. By default, however, symptoms will improve when the bacteria are killed (the cause is depleted). In Lyme disease patients, myself included, go through months of antibiotic treatment and experience an increase in symptoms. When the bacteria are killed they release neuro-toxins that, if allowed to build up in the system, increase the symptoms. This is referred to as a herxenheimer reaction.

     There is no prescription drug for a herx reaction. Natural therapies actually provide dozens of remedies. N-Acetyl-cysteine, alpha lipoic acid, and glutathione reduce toxic build up in the liver, for an example.
The liver has to process everything that goes through our bodies, food, drugs, herbs, everything. If the liver cannot keep up, the organs before and after it become stressed. This would be the stomach, kidneys, gallbladder, and skin(primarily). Taking a look at chronically ill people it is common to find patients who no longer have a gallbladder. Instead of preventing the organ from becoming over stressed and toxic in the first place, it was just surgically removed after it was too late.

     Holistic methods treat all of the body systems. When used correctly, the detox organs are supported to aid in removing wastes, the immune system is aided by adding herbs that assist in killing bacteria, and diet is changed to provide maximum nutrition. Once the body is able to "catch up" the immune system will be able to adequately kill bacteria once again. I personally do not know of any conventional treatment method that can provide this type of restorative therapy.

Anyway, this is my rant about why we shouldn't rely on one method to achieve relief from Lyme disease. In the future I will post more on my diet and the reasons I eat the foods I eat.

Today I Feel...

     Today was not one of my better days, very tired, hot, dizzy, and brain foggy. Glad I didn't have anything important to do.
During the summer I had been doing great, now that the weather is cooling off and the days are shorter...not as great anymore.

      One thing I have had to learn to deal with is how I can feel great one minute, then ready to pass out the next. Mentally I am doing OK. Physically I feel depressed. Like a circus act of juggling symptoms.

     After learning to treat myself for Lyme disease and my other co-infections(more on this later).I have become a rather pro-active person. If the protocol is no longer working, time for a change.
My current protocol is - 100mg alpha lipoic acid, calc. phos 30C, ledum pal. 30C, sublingual glutathione, and arnica mon.30C in the morning. I repeat the homeopathies again in the afternoon and evening. At night, between 1:00 am and 3:00am, I take the liver boosting supplements-2,000mg of milk thistle, 1,500 mg of Liposomal vitamin C, another dose of ALA, and 100mg of sublingual glutathione.
I take all of these between 1-3am because those are the hours the liver is most active (according to Chinese medicine).
I have been taking the ledum for a few months now, in the beginning it made a HUGE difference. I felt better within a few hours of taking it. My brain fog was even clearing; something that was untouched by anything previously.
A few weeks ago I started feeling bogged down. So I thought maybe I wasn't detoxing all of the toxins being released by the bacteria. So I added the milk thistle, vitamin C, and glutathione.
Since starting these I have felt a little better, but its like I am still missing a piece of the puzzle.
My acne is clearing up as side affect, that's a plus right?
Should I add back in herbs for lyme and babesia? Adjust the homeopathies? So many questions, so many answers...

I am due for an appt. with my ND, maybe he can find the current hang up....

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