I’ve spent most of my adult life with chronic illness and debilitating symptoms. I went from doctor to doctor, specialist after specialist with absolutely no answers. I was told I didn’t “look sick”, I was fine, and constantly prescribed medication for anxiety, which I never filled. You get to a point where living in pain and crazy symptoms just becomes the norm, almost like a secret you carry. You do your best to get through each day. In fact, many of my friends and family have no idea just how sick I was, or that I was even sick at all. After all, I was a fitness instructor, sang in a band, had two kids and coached cheerleading. Looking back, I don’t even know how I did it all.
After years of suffering and getting no answers, my illness was taking over. A few years back I had a constant fever, terrible back pain, hip pain, pain in my right kidney, dizziness, arm tingling and numbness, air hunger and shortness of breath, insane insomnia, I was swollen with fluid and felt like I was tipping at a 45 degree angle when I walked. In my experience, doctors had not only not found any answers but mostly treated me like I was a crazy hypochondriac. But I couldn’t take another day. I walked hunched over into the ER. When the attending doctor finally came into the room his first words were, “Why are you here, you don’t look sick?” Perhaps I should not have ran a brush through my hair, or put on the bronzer and hoop earrings. Whatever it was, clearly this guy did not believe me and had made up his mind that I was fine. After running some tests he told me I was fine and sent me home. He did however make sure to tell me to ease up on the salt. When I later got my lab results my blood work and urine clearly showed signs of an infection. And low sodium. Right.
Once again, no where to turn. I researched some doctors and read some great reviews about a nephrologist. Although there were many things going on with me, I was certain something was not right with one of my kidneys. I had to drive an hour to see him and wait two hours, but he was the most wonderful, caring doctor. Someone who actually showed concern and listened intently. He told me I did have a kidney infection and said if it got worse to call his cell phone (that’s right he gave me his digits) right away. A couple days later I could barely walk. I called him and he said come down right away and they would admit me. After a few days in the hospital the doctors were baffled. They could not figure out what was causing this infection. Most of the staff that came in my room still gave me that look of, why are you here? I mean really, did I look like Cindy Crawford in the hospital bed or something? Or maybe because I’ve never been one to complain so when they asked “How are you feeling”, I would say, “Fine, how are you? How many kids do you have? What time does your shift end?” Clearly I need to work on down playing my sparkling personality and healthy glow. I felt better after being on an IV drip (sodium!) and antibiotics. After a few days of being discharged my symptoms were back. I was so ill. Some family members or friends would tell me, “You need to get to a doctor! You need to get to the hospital!” I wanted to scream “NO ONE IS HELPING ME! WHERE IN THE WORLD DO I GO?”
While trying to figure out what was wrong with me, Lyme disease kept coming back to my mind because I had had more than my share of tick bites growing up on three acres of land and playing in the woods all the time. I recalled one tick in particular that was embedded in the back of my neck. I don’t know how long that sucker was there, but it took some digging to get it out. Not to mention after that happened was when I started getting weird symptoms. After researching Lyme disease, I realized just getting a diagnosis is nearly impossible and treatment…well there really is none. I finally convinced an infectious disease doctor to send my blood to Igenex labs. It was confirmed I had Lyme disease. I was prescribed Doxycycline for 30 days, which I did take and it really didn’t help at all. For late stage Lyme disease antibiotics just will not cure you.
Now I know many people will say that Lyme disease tends to be the fad right now and people are jumping on the Lyme disease bandwagon. All the celebrities have it, I want it too! In my opinion Lyme disease is not only bacterial, but comes along with viral and parasitic infections as well. And if someone is infected with all these things, don’t you believe that these can be passed from mother to baby? Person to person? Infected blood transfusions? And if family member grew up in the same tick infected area wouldn’t that explain why more than one family member has it? Certainly this could cause a massive outbreak. In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter what you call it, what name you give it, or if you even believe Lyme disease exists. The bottom line is, people are sick. People are dying. Some people wish they would die because they are not living. They are being shunned by doctors because their illness doesn’t fit into any of the medical community’s categories of diseases, causing these sick people to slip through the cracks and have nowhere to turn.
I have tried acupuncture, IV drips, functional doctors, every diet known to man, massive amounts of vitamins and supplements, chiropractic adjustments, herbs, oils powders and spent thousands of dollars trying to get better. I have learned so much through research, books, trial and error and I feel it is my duty to share this information to help others. So many symptoms of Lyme disease are similar to other disease and illnesses. I now believe this is the reason why. Many diseases and chronic illnesses are the same thing that’s behind Lyme disease – viral, bacterial, parasitic and fungal infections. Until you get rid of those infections, you will not get better. Certain things could be feeding or triggering it causing some days to be worse than others. You could have had these infections sitting dormant in your body for years. But a life stressor, toxins, heavy metals, chemicals, mold exposure or a weakened immune system has brought it to life. I will share in the next blog all of my symptoms. I am NO doctor, nor will I ever profess this to be medical advice. I simply want to share my story in the hope that it can help others. I still have some bad days but I almost always know what triggered it. I look at where I am now compared to where I was and it is a true miracle. There is hope!
Desperate for Health 