The end is in sight.
Guess what I did last night?
I ordered my last refill of antibiotics. That’s right, I have one more month to go on the medication and then I come off to see what will happen.
If nothing happens with regard to my symptoms returning, then I go on my merry way – one of the very lucky ones.
If some or all of my symptoms come back then I either go back on the medication or we take a closer look to see if maybe I have a co-infection (not unlikely as 3 of my Lymie kids have had co-infections) and if it looks like I do, then another medication will be prescribed.
I’ll be crossing that bridge when I get to it.
As far as taking the medication, I must be getting used to it because I don’t get nauseous anymore. If I inadvertently take it with too little water, I can get a bit queasy, but a glass of water quickly squelches the feeling.
So that’s all good.
What’s not so good is that with the colder weather (we saw snowflakes this weekend) comes some aches and pains from previous orthopedic damage. It’s tough to figure out if the pains are because of the weather or because of the Lyme.
Lyme pain can potentially be eliminated, orthopedic damage cannot.
My honest sense is that the aches from colder weather are the result of permanent damage (along with age) and speaking of medication, that’s a somewhat bitter pill to swallow. The only thing I can do about that is use heat and keeping moving so that I don’t lose anything (while I patiently wait for the warm weather to return.)
Of course it doesn’t help that we live in the coldest house in New Hampshire. J
I still have that muscle twitching in my lower legs. It’s pretty much constant and you can actually see the muscles moving. I know, I know, that’s not a good sign, but then I remind myself that:
- Although it hasn’t gone away, it hasn’t gotten worse
- I have an awful lot of nerve damage resulting from multiple surgeries to my legs, what do I expect?
I’ve heard from many, many Lyme patients that they have muscle twitches, so I choose to believe that all this jumping around is the Lyme and that with time things will eventually calm down. (FYI – there is no pain with the muscles, just that weird twitching.)
When you have Lyme, people make all kinds of suggestions (and quite frankly, I listen to all.) They will tell you to increase certain supplements, take herbal mixtures, essential oils, and even flower extracts. They’ll tell you about a supplement that cured their friend, their Aunt – they’ll tell you about a magazine article they read.
It’s all valuable information. In fact because of such a conversation, I’ve been spending a lot of time during the past week looking into the role of the Thyroid in Lyme and auto-immune diseases. It’s starting to look (to me) like, if you have an auto-immune disease, you should be taking thyroid supplements (if not thyroid medication) during the treatment.
I still have work to do regarding that (personal) theory of mine, but in the meantime, I‘ve added a thyroid support supplement to my daily regimen. Who knows, right?
*If*, after I finish my medication, my symptoms come back, regardless of whether or not I go back on antibiotics, I plan on looking into some of the “out-there” suggestions passed on to me. Although you can be certain, I’m going to be keeping my eyes wide open for scams.
There are a lot of sick and desperate people who have Lyme disease and they are a population that, unfortunately, a lot of money can be made (taken) from. There are a lot of snake-oil salesmen out there who are ready to part you from your money.
And how easy it is for those of us with a chronic illness in the home, I would have sold our house, the car, my life to pay for a concoction for my son if you had told me it would have cured him.
So although I am willing to try different approaches, the thing is that I can’t introduce too many variables at once, because when you do, you can’t figure out what works and what doesn’t. And in the end, I want to be able to report back on exactly that – what seems to be working and what doesn’t for my situation (so that not only can I pass the information on to you, but that maybe we would be able to apply it to my son.)
For now, until I finish the medication, I’ll stick with the no gluten, sugar, alcohol, and dairy diet and the daily vitamins and supplements (including the thyroid support supplement) that I’ve been taking.
Oils and flower essences will have to wait for another day.
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Thank you all for your comments and discussion. I read every single reply and find much value in your experiences.
Disclaimer, this is an account of my Lyme symptoms and treatment, it is not intended to be used in the treatment of anyone else’s condition. Please consult and work with your physician if you think you may have Lyme.
Let me know if you have any questions about my Lyme symptoms and/or treatment, if I don’t have the answer, I’ll find someone who does.
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Wendy Thomas writes about the lessons learned while raising children and chickens in New Hampshire. Contact her at [email protected]
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