I haven't been around much lately because I've been busy feeling good! So I thought I owed it to all of you to let you know how much I learned from everyone here and how helpful this group was in putting me on the path to recovery.
Since I know I wasn't the most active participant here (mostly a lurker) I'll give a recap of my story-maybe it will be of some use to others. Its kind of long so feel free to skip to the end if you like.
In mid-June 2004 I spent 5 days visiting my family at my childhood home in Dutchess County, NY (one of the epicenters of Lyme from what I understand).
I walked in the tall weeds behind our house wearing jeans, long sleeves, shoes and socks. I checked myself for ticks afterwards and found a large one (not a deer tick) crawling in my hair but unattached. I flushed it down the toilet, showered and left for LaGuardia and flew back to my current home in Colorado.
Ten days later I was as sick as can be, bedridden with a high fever, aches and malaise. I also had a sharp and excruciating pain in my upper thigh.
The next day I was still pretty sick and the pain in my thigh had lessened but a small red rash developed in the same spot. So I went to the local clinic, where I asked if I had Lyme. I was diagnosed with shingles and told to wait it out.
During the next 5 weeks the rash grew to cover about half of my thigh and up over my hip and around the back of my leg. It was irregular in shape and also quite painful and would sometimes have a strange outline and color to it. I felt a little better at first but after a few weeks I started feeling lousy again and was developing neck aches. I couldn't do the things I would normally do.
I finally went to a dermatologist who took one look at the rash, heard my story and said..."you have Lyme disease." He started me on 200 mg of Adoxa (doxy) per day. I started to feel better immediately and the rash disappeared in about five days. Then I found Lymenet and emailed him Dr. B's paper and asked him to raise my dosage. He agreed.
The increased dosage took me from feeling better into major herxland. Chills, fatigue, brain fog, aches and pains and more. This lasted another five weeks and then I woke up feeling better again one morning. I finished an 8-week course of 400 mg. of doxy. I continued to work 30-35 hours per week, at my primarily desk job, but couldn't do much of anything else.
I decided to see an LLMD because I it was prudent to get the opinion of an expert. At the end of Sept., I went to see Dr. C. He put me on a program utilizing a sequence of other abx (Cefuroxime 1000 mg, Zithromax 500 mg and Metronidazol 750 mg-each separately, not in combination) which I stayed with, with some breaks because of terrible yeast and stomach troubles.
During the abx treatment I took Nystatin (regularly) and Fluconazole 100 mg (intermittently) for yeast along with Solaray Yeast-Cleanse, acidopholus and another course of supplements. I also took a one-month course of Fluconazole 200 mg per day.
I think that I had clear but diminishing lyme symptoms into mid-November but starting in October, I had many symptoms that could have been yeast related.
I think that I had a very acute yeast problem that became a crisis in October. I dealt with it via strict diet at first, eating mostly vegetables, chicken, turkey and fish and by taking natural supplements-this helped a great deal but did not make the problem go away, which is when I began the prescription anti-fungals along with the strict diet and natural remedies.
As long as I was still on the antibiotics I wasn't sure which symptoms might have been yeast and which may have been Lyme.
By mid-March I went alpine skiing for the first time during the winter and was able to ski from 9 am until 3 pm with a lunch break. (I am an advanced skier and ski hard and do not stand around a lot.) I was sore for a few days afterwards but no more so then I would have been after my first day of skiing on a normal year.
In mid-April I participated in a very strenuous 3 hour yoga session and in the end of May I attended a 2 day yoga workshop which involved 5 hours per day of very demanding yoga.
Currently, I do 30-60 minutes of moderately strenuous yoga 5 days a week, walk about 2 miles 5 days a week, and take belly dancing class 1-2 days per week, along with my regular work and home responsibilities. In the last month or so I have been able to do certain yoga postures that I had never been able to do, even before I got sick, including handstands, forearm balances and other postures which emphasize strength and balance over flexibility. I have lost between 20 and 30 lbs since last fall.
Overall I feel pretty darn good, the only health issues that I have are ones that I was dealing with long before the onset of acute Lyme last year. I think that it's possible that I still have an underlying yeast problem and I'm continuing to try to address it naturally.
Dr. C has told me that I can fire him and get back to life. I'm thrilled. I've learned to appreciate every healthy day I have-I had never been sick like that before and now I know what a gift good health is and to never, never take it for granted.
I'm left with one question, which is that about 15 years ago, in Amman, Jordan I developed a number of strange bullseye rashes all over my body. I wasn't sick from it and my husband and I continued on our trip around the world in which we trekked 180 miles in Nepal over a 17,770 ft Himalayan pass, snorkeled and swam and I had no troubles. In fact I never had any major issues until this Lyme thing happened last year. So I wonder if I had carried it for many years and something triggered it last year.
My opinion is that everyone's experience with Lyme is different and that what worked for one of us may not work for others but it is incredibly valuable to hear about each other's experiences and this group is a great asset to people dealing with Lyme.
Anyhow, I bow in deep gratitude to the many wise people here who helped me on my journey and if there is ever anything I can do to help anyone, please email me.
-Shanna
------------------
Wishing you fast healing and good health!
Thanks and may you stay well!!!
BTW,,, I have had a feeling for some time now that a tick bite triggers a dorment infection that has been present in the body for a long time... (Probably wrong,, but curious)
Tj
Nutbobutt-I'm sending you my good wishes for a speedy recovery. Stick with it-its worth it.
Orion, :-)
TJ-Thanks for the advice...we only use olive oil anyway... I'll check out Dr. Enig's site.
------------------
Wishing you fast healing and good health!
------------------
C O L O R A D O * S U P P O R T * S Y S T E M
[email protected]
"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart
and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words".
Unknown
Yes, you can be infected with lyme, experience a rash and it can go "dormant" only to reappear later, even years later.
In my case, it seems that I had latent lyme in my body and a steroid shot to my knee "activated" it.
The best guess is that the lyme had been latent in me for 10 years...a bite that I thought was a spider bite, and a rash that I thought was due to erythromycin were probably my lyme bite and rash.
Tina
quote:
Originally posted by needleseye:
Hi Everyone,I haven't been around much lately because I've been busy feeling good! So I thought I owed it to all of you to let you know how much I learned from everyone here and how helpful this group was in putting me on the path to recovery.
I am soooo happy for you would you please tell e which Dr. helped you the most? Was it Dr. C? Please email me @ [email protected], thank you, Jan
Since I know I wasn't the most active participant here (mostly a lurker) I'll give a recap of my story-maybe it will be of some use to others. Its kind of long so feel free to skip to the end if you like.In mid-June 2004 I spent 5 days visiting my family at my childhood home in Dutchess County, NY (one of the epicenters of Lyme from what I understand).
I walked in the tall weeds behind our house wearing jeans, long sleeves, shoes and socks. I checked myself for ticks afterwards and found a large one (not a deer tick) crawling in my hair but unattached. I flushed it down the toilet, showered and left for LaGuardia and flew back to my current home in Colorado.
Ten days later I was as sick as can be, bedridden with a high fever, aches and malaise. I also had a sharp and excruciating pain in my upper thigh.
The next day I was still pretty sick and the pain in my thigh had lessened but a small red rash developed in the same spot. So I went to the local clinic, where I asked if I had Lyme. I was diagnosed with shingles and told to wait it out.
During the next 5 weeks the rash grew to cover about half of my thigh and up over my hip and around the back of my leg. It was irregular in shape and also quite painful and would sometimes have a strange outline and color to it. I felt a little better at first but after a few weeks I started feeling lousy again and was developing neck aches. I couldn't do the things I would normally do.
I finally went to a dermatologist who took one look at the rash, heard my story and said..."you have Lyme disease." He started me on 200 mg of Adoxa (doxy) per day. I started to feel better immediately and the rash disappeared in about five days. Then I found Lymenet and emailed him Dr. B's paper and asked him to raise my dosage. He agreed.
The increased dosage took me from feeling better into major herxland. Chills, fatigue, brain fog, aches and pains and more. This lasted another five weeks and then I woke up feeling better again one morning. I finished an 8-week course of 400 mg. of doxy. I continued to work 30-35 hours per week, at my primarily desk job, but couldn't do much of anything else.
I decided to see an LLMD because I it was prudent to get the opinion of an expert. At the end of Sept., I went to see Dr. C. He put me on a program utilizing a sequence of other abx (Cefuroxime 1000 mg, Zithromax 500 mg and Metronidazol 750 mg-each separately, not in combination) which I stayed with, with some breaks because of terrible yeast and stomach troubles.
During the abx treatment I took Nystatin (regularly) and Fluconazole 100 mg (intermittently) for yeast along with Solaray Yeast-Cleanse, acidopholus and another course of supplements. I also took a one-month course of Fluconazole 200 mg per day.
I think that I had clear but diminishing lyme symptoms into mid-November but starting in October, I had many symptoms that could have been yeast related.
I think that I had a very acute yeast problem that became a crisis in October. I dealt with it via strict diet at first, eating mostly vegetables, chicken, turkey and fish and by taking natural supplements-this helped a great deal but did not make the problem go away, which is when I began the prescription anti-fungals along with the strict diet and natural remedies.
As long as I was still on the antibiotics I wasn't sure which symptoms might have been yeast and which may have been Lyme.
By mid-March I went alpine skiing for the first time during the winter and was able to ski from 9 am until 3 pm with a lunch break. (I am an advanced skier and ski hard and do not stand around a lot.) I was sore for a few days afterwards but no more so then I would have been after my first day of skiing on a normal year.
In mid-April I participated in a very strenuous 3 hour yoga session and in the end of May I attended a 2 day yoga workshop which involved 5 hours per day of very demanding yoga.
Currently, I do 30-60 minutes of moderately strenuous yoga 5 days a week, walk about 2 miles 5 days a week, and take belly dancing class 1-2 days per week, along with my regular work and home responsibilities. In the last month or so I have been able to do certain yoga postures that I had never been able to do, even before I got sick, including handstands, forearm balances and other postures which emphasize strength and balance over flexibility. I have lost between 20 and 30 lbs since last fall.
Overall I feel pretty darn good, the only health issues that I have are ones that I was dealing with long before the onset of acute Lyme last year. I think that it's possible that I still have an underlying yeast problem and I'm continuing to try to address it naturally.
Dr. C has told me that I can fire him and get back to life. I'm thrilled. I've learned to appreciate every healthy day I have-I had never been sick like that before and now I know what a gift good health is and to never, never take it for granted.
I'm left with one question, which is that about 15 years ago, in Amman, Jordan I developed a number of strange bullseye rashes all over my body. I wasn't sick from it and my husband and I continued on our trip around the world in which we trekked 180 miles in Nepal over a 17,770 ft Himalayan pass, snorkeled and swam and I had no troubles. In fact I never had any major issues until this Lyme thing happened last year. So I wonder if I had carried it for many years and something triggered it last year.
My opinion is that everyone's experience with Lyme is different and that what worked for one of us may not work for others but it is incredibly valuable to hear about each other's experiences and this group is a great asset to people dealing with Lyme.
Anyhow, I bow in deep gratitude to the many wise people here who helped me on my journey and if there is ever anything I can do to help anyone, please email me.
-Shanna
From what I've read, it'll be your immune system that calls the shots now that you're feeling well.
Good luck in the future.
Barb
Shanna wrote:
I'm left with one question, which is that about 15 years ago, in Amman, Jordan I developed a number of strange bullseye rashes all over my body. I wasn't sick from it and my husband and I continued on our trip around the world in which we trekked 180 miles in Nepal over a 17,770 ft Himalayan pass, snorkeled and swam and I had no troubles. In fact I never had any major issues until this Lyme thing happened last year. So I wonder if I had carried it for many years and something triggered it last year.
-Shanna
Glad to hear you've been feeling so well and symptoms have been non existent.
Yes, I think things can be triggered by another bite. My 8 year old who I believe was born with lyme only had stomach problems her whole life. Last August she went to Houston and came back with a bite mark on the back of her leg.
Within a few weeks she developed headaches, joint pain, and low grade fever.
My LLMD believes she was bitten again.