Note: for those who may be new to this blog due to the Elf in a Coop series – on Thursdays I give on update on my and 5 of my kids status as we all cope with Lyme disease. We live in New Hampshire where Lyme disease is rampant and yet, many in our medical community don’t recognize the disease or know how to properly treat it.
I’m just one voice of the many out there.
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I missed last week because of the holiday. Remember how a few weeks back I was wondering if the renewed pain that had hit me was my normal winter/cold weather orthopedic pain or if it was the Lyme? It put me into an immediate tailspin because I didn’t know. Was I destined to be in this kind of pain due to my injuries or was it those darn spirochetes acting up?
Such is the insanity of Lyme disease.
Well here it is a few weeks later and while I do have some achy winter pain, *that* specific high level of pain that was keeping me from climbing stairs without assistance is gone.
Yup, *completely* gone. And it’s been gone since week 10.
Even though we’ve got cold, damp weather here – which is what usually sends me to my heated blanket. This is not to say that I don’t have aches, of course I do, but those I can deal with. It’s the high level of extra pain that makes me go crazy. I’m giving the point on that pain to Lyme.
So that’s good.
But here’s the bad part. I stopped taking my antibiotics for the week when my kids were home from school for Thanksgiving. I just couldn’t deal with the possibility of throwing up and feeling queasy when there was so much to do.
And can I say right now, that that is EXACTLY the thing that I yell at my little Lymies about? I can’t even tell you how many fights we’ve had in this house about not taking your medication on a regular basis.
And then I go and do it.
What can I say? Humans are frail creatures.
I have close to half a bottle of the medication left and I’m going to be diligent about finishing up this prescription. If the symptoms don’t return then I won’t need to continue on the meds, if they do, however, then I’ll have to go back on them. (And I’ve got no one to blame but myself if I have to continue on the meds because I lost that week.)
So overall I’m feeling good. Still have some muscle twitches (especially one with my eyelid that is a little strange) but, I’m much, much better than I was this summer (and that’s without orthopedic surgeries or anti-inflammatories – only antibiotics.) I have virtually no tendonitis, where this summer there probably wasn’t a spot on my body that didn’t hurt.
The biggest improvement is in my lower legs. I remember sitting in Doc Holiday’s office thinking that if I could just have my legs amputated from above the knee then most of my pain would be gone and I would be able to function. - yeah, I know, but that’s how bad it was on a daily basis.
All of that lower leg pain is gone. Poof. I can even press hard on my Achilles tendons (where I had marble sized lumps) and there is no pain. It’s pretty amazing.
One of my severe little Lymies comes home at Christmas break. Because of various medical complications, he has never successfully completed a full treatment for Lyme. We are going start a course of treatment but we’ll be taking baby steps with him. Our plan is to begin him on antibiotics, clean up his diet, add some supplements and a pro-biotic, and give him a little help in the sleeping department.
Lymies are notorious for having insomnia and a lack of sleep impedes your body’s recovery and adds to the general pain level. We’ll see if we can correct his sleeping habits with some strong meds (he’s tried Tylenol PM, and Melatonin already, we need to pull out some bigger guns.)
Medical help (short term) with sleep is something that Horowitz talks about in his book book on Lyme treatment and although I would dearly LOVE to throw the kitchen sink (everything Horowitz suggests) at my son and treat him for *everything* under the sun, that’s just not practical, in this case, we’ll be stick with the baby steps. And then we’ll evaluate and maybe take a few more.
Lastly, one of my friends asked for where she could go to find a forum on Lyme disease, a place where she could get support and some answers to questions, here are two that have helped me:
Lyme Disease Health Board – http://www.healthboards.com/boards/lyme-disease/
Lymenet.org http://www.lymenet.org/
Even though I’m doing the elf thing this month, I’ll continue with my Thursday Lyme updates.
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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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