I think we all must admit that the treatments available for our disease are woefully inadequate and not particularly efficient. I think terminal cancer patients have a better chance of treatment success than we do (based on what I read on the Net). In my own case, I have seen some improvements but overall I'm not blown away by any progress that I've experienced.

This week she's on a trip to Montana with my dad - they're doing a photography class with hiking and stuff! She tends her own garden (which is really big) and moves her own rocks and trees (also really big).

Sure, she has her down days and sure, she's got some serious weird food and chemical sensitivities, but she's still living her life and doing pretty darn good at it.

i HAVE FOUND THAT TO BE TRUE EVEN WITH MYSELF.

i OFTEN FORGET HOW BAD IT was...EVEN A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO AT THAT.

THERE IS HOPE

O...darn caps lock.

Chin up.

Diabetics take medication every day, people with high blood pressure take meds every day, ect.

We learned that only by addressing it all, will we have lasting wellness. Many people are not interested in this and this is probably the major reason why so many are still here as they were years ago.

I do not call it remission. I call it a cure, because I have regained a functional immune system since unloading my body of all destructive neurotoxins. Even though I am now a few years older, I can do more than I could twenty years ago. Once you learn to think in broader terms and of your body as a whole, you will realize that it is not just as few Lyme bacteria that you are fighting.
You might want to read some of our doctor's ideas - how he addresses Lyme Disease:
www.neuraltherapy.com/articles/Lyme Disease: A look beyond Antibiotics.

I used to be in a ball unable to pick my head up most of the time ....

5 years later I am about 80% functional and just painted myhouse this spring....gone back to school, and have many many good feeling days than hard times.

Must say, that with researching this damn disease, doing my part of thinking and learning from this board I am getting better with every week.

Yes there are some that may be cured..I think with many others there is remission..

I have not noticed either in the southern part of the county.. I think our ticks are nastier buggers.

Luckily I've kept a journal and write down everything that has happened to me.

I reffer back.

I also have an original list of symptoms that I wrote on the back of a post card. I wrote it when my hands hurt so much I could barely write.

This was before I knew I had Lyme Disease. Any way I wrote, "feel like being slowly poisoned" or "like I have something eating away at my muscles".

There are alot of symptoms that have lessened or are gone most of the time. Now a days I just write each thing that is happening.

Over the years I have seen many names come and go.... Actaully I was just thinking that alot of the names on the board are new with a few from when I started coming on.

If you do a search for sucess stories and my name as the poster you will find some posts from those who are well and back to living their lives.

There is hope!

Everyone seems to be a little different in sx and responses to rx. However most seem responsive to rx given time and variety of abx etc.

I have severe osteoarthritis, but most of my neurological symptoms have completely disappeared.

yes, some people do get better. i am one of those people who have lurked off and on over the past two years and now i am back to offer any support that i might be able to.

Also, I've experienced the key factor in any trustworthy health recovery: my life is being turned upside down. Old friendships are ending, new ones are forming, I've outgrown nearly everything in my life that was built around a defensive, limited, or low functioning reality. That does not happen unless you know, on some level, that you won't be needing crutches anymore.

It's also very hard to come back to this board, and I do so partly from concern for familiar people, partly from guilt, and also because I'm going through a transition back to full-time living, and am still seeking my new niche. But what others said is true. When your health is back, you don't feel so drawn here, no matter how grateful you are for the help you received.

But I will stay on maintenance abx, and would rather face the side effects from that than even worry about a relapse. If you think about it in the same category as diabetes or MS or HIV, a chronic condition that must be treated with respect but that can also be controlled, you may not feel as frustrated, and also may feel more empowered to seek out the abx combination that will work for you.

If you 'start to vanish' from this board would you update me via email. I am also on Ketek and have been following 'your story' and interested in keeping in touch to see how you go.