Lyme Disease Support Group
Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere. It is now one of the fastest growing infectious diseases in the U.S. Lyme disease is caused by infection with the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria, and is primarily transmitted to humans as well as dogs, horses and other domesticated animals by the bite of infected ticks.
Hey Everyone! I am writing with a few questions I have concerning Lyme.
To give you a better understanding of where I am at, and where I am aiming to be, I will fill you in on some of my background.
I am a 25 year old, who should be living a healthy active lifestyle. As many of you know - lyme takes its toll and often prevents that from happening. I have had typical Lyme symptoms for the past 15 years of my life: fevers, rashes, joint and muscle pain, fatigue, brain fog, migraines etc. I have seen countless neurologists, doctors and other specialists in search of answers.
Within the past five years, my symptoms have become more severe - paralysis, loss of speech, tremors, eye- focussing issues - things of that nature. Last December I asked my husband to take me to the ER (which I have never felt necessary before, but couldnt take it anymore) My heart was slowing down so much, (I could count to 7 slowly between beats) and I could hardly move anywhere. This particular time in December, I actually was lying in bed when this happened, and i couldnt even lean over to tell my husband to take me to the ER. My whole body felt as if it were made of heavy medal. I closed my eyes, prayed for the Lord to wake me up. I did wake up the next morning, at which point I asked my husband to take me in. Long story short, this is how i finally discovered I had Lyme Disease. I tested positive for lyme, and scheduled a visit to see an LLMD. (I was not able to get in until April) Since my official diagnosis in April of 2016, my goal was to simply survive. I follow a strict paleo diet, (Literally have not had gluten, dairy, sugar, grain or caffeine for the past 8 months) do countless natural things to help build my immune system, and follow the little helpful strategies i know of in order to make it through.
All this being said - I have not had much mental ability or physical strength to look up the disease or get much more information on it. I am trying to pursue a natural route at this point as I just finished 6 months of antibiotics, and my Lyme speicialist told me there has been NO improvement, and is not sure what else to do. Here are the main two questions I have.
A) Can a uncompromised, strong immune system irradicate Lyme? In other words, If I focus on building my immune system, is it possible for it to naturally kill the spirochete over time?
B) What is a good resource for learning more about this disease? What book can you recommend that makes lyme "digestible" for someone who is not mentally able to take in a ton of information?
Would love love love to hear some of your thoughts. Feeling a little....deserted by the medical community. I would love to be able to get to the point where my husband and I can start to think about having a family, but I still have so many unanswered questions...THanks!
I'm so sorry you have lyme. You asked about book Stephen Buhner has a couple very good books on lyme and natural abx. Well worth having.
It is good to see that you are going natural. With having lyme it is hard for the body to detox and adding chemicals is just defeating ourselves. Some supplements have fillers which are not good either. I have had to go to teas and homemade herbal remedies.
Of course we are not all the same and our journeys with lyme are personal but you must find your path. Research and see what works for you. Just remember it takes some herbs longer to work and less is more. Patience is what you need most it is a marathon not a sprint....
I wish you the best...hope you find what works best for you.
I too am sorry that you have Lyme. To say something about your first question. It is my
understanding that by simply building up the immune system, that one can not get rid of Lyme.
There is Lyme and there are coinfections such as Babesia, Bartonella, and Erlichia. I'm
pretty sure that babesia is a bacterial infection. They need specific treatments to target the
various spirochetes and kill them. One method some people use, is the Rife machine. Have
you heard of that? There are a few books by Bryan Rosner, that talk about that. 'Healing Lyme with Rife" and they're on Amazon.com. There are support groups on the net for people using these machines. There's also a book by Connie Strasheim, 13 Alternative Doctors talk about Lyme. Even if you don't go to one mentioned in the book, it does give you a very broad
idea of what all can be involved in treating this illness. I learned a great deal from reading it.
I don't know what part of the country you're in. There may even be a support group where
you are. I just encourage you, to educate yourself, read and ask questions. Have you seen
the film "Under Our Skin"? It's available on NetFlicks and you can buy it online It also
shows a number of stories of people dealing with this. They mainly use antibiotics and
I'm like you, I don't do well with them, but it does show the depth of what goes on in the
medical community. Hope some of this may be helpful and excuse any typos I don't have
my books in front of me. Good wishes with this and please keep us informed if you would