I was just talking to my fiance and he asked me how come you didn't have much symptoms when you were here (here as in the middle east). So, I am thinking about it. I honestly thought it was the weather because I believe I felt better summer time. But recently it been sunny outside and my symptoms are the worst they'd ever been. I feel awful and I am bedridden.
The past two summers I went to palestine. I got symptoms, but I was 85% better, and I wasn't on any diets! I was eating whatever everyone else was eating.
I had my moments where I got really sick, but it wasn't as bad. even my menstural cycle was almost regular, and that was the first time it was close to being regular.
Even my lyme disease doctor told me the other day, she said you looked best when you came back from palestine.
I honestly don't know if it was a just random, or less pollution, less mold? I don't know what it is!! I should be feeling better here in america. it's more clean. I live right by the beach.
I don't understand what it is? maybe the humid weather...
what do you think?!
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
What about the difference in foods? Are you eating fast foods or processed foods?
What foods are you no longer eating that you ate in the Middle East?
Posted by lax mom (Member # 38743) on :
Our country is toxic: the food, the air, the water.
Posted by luvema (Member # 26650) on :
i ate gluten in the middle east ( it was all home made) now I don't. I ate sweets over there... now I don't.
I am eating a lot healtheir here! So, It's weird.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Maybe it's the water and the air then. Lots of pollution where you are.
Posted by tdtid (Member # 10276) on :
This could be so many factors and sadly, I don't know that we will ever get the answer.
I use to travel the world quite extensively BEFORE lyme and started trying to break back into keeping up with "seeing the world" as I would get breathers in my treatment plan.
I agree that for whatever unknown reason, some of these travels can actually have us not feeling in nearly the mess we are back home. I chalked it up to how a change of scenery was so healthy, but I too thought there had to be something else to it.
I know that a friend with Celiac Disease had said that she can't eat gluten / wheat/ nothing like that in OUR country, but yet she was in Europe and the bread didn't bother her. Why was that?
He doctor told her that in the U.S., we process the heck out of anything we have where as in parts of Europe they really do things in a healthier way that yes, she probably COULD eat some of that without consequences.
Whether any of that is even true, isn't the point. I had to eventually chalk it up to being a mystery to me. But I do know 100 percent what you are discussing and I don't have an answer. Sorry.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by tdtid:
I know that a friend with Celiac Disease had said that she can't eat gluten / wheat/ nothing like that in OUR country, but yet she was in Europe and the bread didn't bother her. Why was that?
He doctor told her that in the U.S., we process the heck out of anything we have where as in parts of Europe they really do things in a healthier way that yes, she probably COULD eat some of that without consequences.
- We have genetically modified wheat here .. and GMO vegetables too. It's killing us all.
Posted by sillia (Member # 23994) on :
If you have allergies to certain kinds of plant pollen, it's very possible being away from these plants made you feel better. It might be something you're not even aware of, that's not growing over there.
I had an allergist tell me once that a good way to find out if your symptoms are allergy-related is to go away to another climate for at least a week and see if your symptoms improve.
Of course, allergies are only a part of lyme problems, but it could be a significant part.
Posted by Brussels (Member # 13480) on :
EMRs could be another hint. Industrialized countries have much too much electromagnetic pollution.
No way someone that is chronically ill can get better with heavy bombing of EMRS 24h/ 7 days/week, 365 days in a year, non stop.
Nothing works well under EMRs, digestion, sleep patterns, etc. Being in front of a computer for more than 1 hour make me feel ill, even though I have no longer lyme for the last 4 years.
Posted by jarjar (Member # 8847) on :
Is American making you sick....
Msnbc had to remove this link mentioned but the UK govt made a statment claming it was last year.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- The $10.6 million Margaret Batts Tobin Laboratory Building will provide a 22,000-square-foot facility to study such diseases as anthrax, tularemia, cholera, lyme disease, desert valley fever and other parasitic and fungal diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified these diseases as potential bioterrorism agents.".
So, for the first time, a US government body admits that Lyme disease is a biological warfare agent. This is the reason that hundreds of thousands of men, women and children around the world have been left to rot with wrong diagnoses, or have had their Lyme disease acknowledged but been told that it is an "easily-treated" disease, given 3 weeks' antibiotics, then told to shove off when their symptoms carried on after that.
British Government Admits Lyme Disease is a Bioweapon
Elena Cook | 13.05.2012 21:14 | Anti-militarism | Bio-technology | Health | South Coast | World Sufferers from Lyme Disease have been denied treatment for decades, even though it is a serious disabling disease. For years some activists in the patients' movement have highlighted evidence that the denial was due to a biowarfare cover-up. Now, finally, the British government has revealed that all Lyme blood testing is to be conducted from Porton Down, our top biological warfare facility.
Lyme Disease s a tick-borne illness which can be acquired in woodlands, marshy areas and even the local park. It is often a very serious condition with crushing fatigue, disabling brain symptoms and excruciating pain.
But Lyme Disease patients have been denied treatment for decades, often told that their illness is something else (usually incurable), that is psychosomatic, hypochondria or that they are imagining their symptoms. Sometimes it is labelled M.E./Chronic fatigue syndrome - and still bracketed with psychological illness. Patients are told they cannot walk because they have the wrong thought patterns - it's "all in their head".
For years some in the patients' movement have highlighted evidence that the reason for the denial was due to a biowarfare cover-up - Lyme is a sensitive military issue. Now, finally, the British government has revealed that all Lyme blood testing is to be conducted from Porton Down, our top biological warfare facility.The article below represents the first official admission by a government that Lyme Disease is a biowarfare issue, the most relevant passage being this:
"Through RIPL, RIPD provides reference diagnostic services for dangerous pathogens including viral haemorrhagic fevers, the arbovirus group, hantaviruses, rickettsia and coxiella, anthrax, tularemia and other biothreat agents. The Lyme disease specialist unit is scheduled to be a part of RIPD from 1 April 2012. " Here is the full article. Elena Cook 13 May 2012
Stress maybe???
Posted by beaches (Member # 38251) on :
Great info jarjar.
I personally don't think these problems are an "American" thing per se.
Most countries have pollution, EMFs, chemicals in food, etc.
I think that people are at a disadvantage unless they are in some countryside growing their own produce, raising their own livestock and baking their own GMO-free bread.
Honestly, Ema, who knows if you would have gotten sick had you remained where you were. It's a guessing game and no one will ever have the answer.
Easier said than done, but try to just focus on getting yourself well instead of wondering how you got so sick. Best of luck!
Posted by Judie (Member # 38323) on :
The air quality is terrible in some parts of southern California.
My friend and her family had to move when she was a child out of Orange County because her asthma got so bad from the poor air quality. This was 40 years ago.
I ran across some old letters from my grandparents about them deciding where to live when they moved to California. There was a job offer in Long Beach and they decided not to move there because of the pollution. This was in the 1940s!
Toxins have been brewing in Southern California for years.
It definitely aggravates stuff. In those old letters from my grandparents, my grandma complains of rashes when she first moved here (she was from another country).
They settled on the coast in an area with low pollution.
Posted by beaches (Member # 38251) on :
Wow, very interesting Judie! And here we are thinking that OC is such an awesome place to live! It sure is expensive!
Your grandparents were very progressive thinkers weren't they? Good for them. I don't think a lot of people back then were cognizant of air quality in their environments.
Please tell me San Diego has good air quality? It's one of my favorite cities, though I haven't been there in many years.
Posted by luvema (Member # 26650) on :
It's not about me wondering how I got sick. Whatever happened happened.. wether it's over seas or here in America.
My issue is... I am not getting better. I am thinking of possibly going there for a while and treat over there, and see if I will recover. Being exposed to whatever it is.. possibly something in my house (I am sure there is mold in the house somewhere).. I will not get better if there is something in the environment that is effecting me.
Houses here in America are made out of wood. Mold likes wood. Plus the house we live in is a bit old, so I think something is effecting me here.
Speaking of Long Beach, that's where I feel the sickest and my campus is there.
It doesn't make sense to me that I felt better over seas. Here I felt there is air, over there it was humid the time I went.
Great info guys thanks <3
Posted by luvema (Member # 26650) on :
Oh god,
And yes orange county is very expensive! The air seems great here though. I live like five minutes away from the beach.
I am not sure what it is that's effecting me.
That's kind of cool that you found letters from your grandparents.
Posted by lax mom (Member # 38743) on :
What about stress. Do you feel more at ease when you're over there? Was it you who mentioned their fiance being in the Middle East?
Posted by Judie (Member # 38323) on :
"My issue is... I am not getting better. I am thinking of possibly going there for a while and treat over there, and see if I will recover."
That sounds like a good plan, go to where you feel better. Since you already know it works, I'd say go for it. You've been struggling so much where you live right now.
I have a friend who has MCS. She tried staying a few days in Malibu, right on the beach and she couldn't tolerate it. The "drift" from the pollution was making it all the way up there.
Being on the beach, doesn't necessarily mean fresh air. San Pedro is horribly polluted and known to cause health problems.
When you live in pollution, you don't notice it as much (that is the severity in which it's effecting you). You sort of get use to pushing yourself places while feeling sick and have no recovery time. It's sort of like a bad smell that you get use to and don't smell anymore, but offender is still there.
"Your grandparents were very progressive thinkers weren't they? Good for them. I don't think a lot of people back then were cognizant of air quality in their environments."
My grandma was very progressive. She was composting and recycling starting back in the 1970s. She even grew her own fruits and vegetables!
"Please tell me San Diego has good air quality? It's one of my favorite cities, though I haven't been there in many years."
I don't know what San Diego is like. I do know that back in the 1980s I use to visit a friend in San Clemente. We would look up towards LA from the pier and see this brown smog. I was told that sometimes the smog made it all the way down there. Hopefully the drift hasn't made it that far south.
Posted by coffee71 (Member # 17467) on :
Same here. I have been able to go home (Bosnia) once a year for a month, except the first year I got sick with Lyme. And I experience the same issues as you describe.
It could be stress, food or air who knows.
Long time ago I read an article - and I am interpreting or misinterpreting the conclusion of the article - that people "feel the best, get healed/recover from illness faster" in areas where they were born or something like that.
This is good topic to research, but I am too tired to google it now, will do it in the morning.
When I crushed under Lyme in 2008 I did considered going back home. I explored and compared treatment options here in US and Bosnia (contacted two doctors who are also professors at Universities) and I early on learned that my best chance to find treatment was here, in America.
Trips back home have been like "battery recharging" for me.
Posted by beaches (Member # 38251) on :
To me, being at the beach has always meant being in a wonderful environment...
breathing the salt air, especially. My grandparents and parents were huge proponents of breathing in the salt air and taking dips in the cold ocean waters.
Maybe that's an East Coast thing?
Judie, did your grandparents live long enough for you to know them? They were beyond their times for sure.
I sure hope that brown smog hasn't made its way to SD.
I'm an east coast gal but I relish the experiences I had in SF and SD.
CA is a beautiful state.
Posted by koo (Member # 30462) on :
I notice I feel better when I "get away". I was just in La Jolla recently and had a fabulous long weekend. I loved it so much I checked out the real estate market. That ended that! Back to Texas. You are not kidding when you say southern CA is expensive.
While I have good intentions, I become very lax on vacation about taking my supplements, usually because I am off doing something else and I don't carry them on me. This last trip made me wonder about taking all these supplements.
I have a quick trip to Vegas coming up and I think I am going to forego packing most of my supplements. That should ease up a lot of space in my carry on!
But I just think, in general, that getting away makes us feel better. Our day is no longer centered around taking meds and supplements, We focus on our new locale and the friends and family who are with us and leave the structured life behind us.
Posted by Rivendell (Member # 19922) on :
I almost always feel better when I am away. I live in a polluted valley and my house has mold.
But, I don't know the landscape of Palestine very well, but if it is desert (looks like it on TV), maybe that is part of it. Maybe a dry climate helps.
Posted by luvema (Member # 26650) on :
It's close to a desert. So, in summer time it gets very hot. In winter, it gets very cold and snowy.
Posted by hadlyme (Member # 6364) on :
I asked my dr. a few months ago about feeling better in different climates and all.
His response was that it's not basically the vit. D level that they are looking at now as a factor of why we feel better in summer compared to other seasons.
He said they are finding that 'sweating' is what makes us feel better or not at times.
That we don't realize how much we're sweating out of our pores... thus detoxing actually.
Not sure if this is scientific sound, but just on his findings with patients.
Heating up the body will make us feel better. The little buggers want us cold so they can survive.
If you were in humidity, you were sweating out your pores more than dry heat.
Just a thought to add to the many...
Posted by Judie (Member # 38323) on :
"Maybe that's an East Coast thing?"
The beaches on the west coast can be horrible.
I remember visiting Catalina Island awhile back. While waiting for the ferry (in Long Beach) to take use there, you could feel an oily film on your body that was NOT sweat.
We saw a ton of refineries as the taxi drove us through San Pedro.
Here's a report from the American Lung Association:
"...Wilmington, parts of Long Beach, Carson, San Pedro and other county areas are situated in a hub of pollution from oil refineries and the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, where hundreds of diesel trucks come and go each day..."
Not only that, the beach water is polluted with bacteria:
"Judie, did your grandparents live long enough for you to know them?"
Yes, I knew them. My grandpa died in the 1970s from pancreatic cancer. I was a child, I don't know if that prompted the healthy lifestyle.
I know my mom blamed the cancer on him eating too much lunch meat. We ate mostly fresh foods from that point on.
Posted by Judie (Member # 38323) on :
"I'm an east coast gal but I relish the experiences I had in SF and SD."
The beaches south of SF are pretty good.
At a lot of the busy beaches, it's okay to burn bonfires and there are BBQ pits so it can get pretty smokey.
I was one time waiting in line for the bathroom and someone dropped a bushel of incense torches in one of the fires.
It was so bad, I had to leave to beach and use a bathroom elsewhere because I couldn't tolerate the smoke cloud while waiting in line.
Posted by OtterJ (Member # 30701) on :
I agree with hadlyme-- it's a sunshine thing. Several acquaintances have gone to sunnier climates and have felt better. As long as you have good medical care in Palestine and could get supplements.
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- Avoid all fluorescent light bulbs. These new energy saving bulbs may be good for the planet but they are not good for many people.
There are so many other factors but you might start with the light bulbs. Get the old kind, harder to find now and you can't get them in all watts but stock up because the supply is dwindling. -
Posted by linky123 (Member # 19974) on :
Could you have a mold problem? It can make many of us feel awful.