The process of healing chronic Lyme isn’t easy. Over the 8 years from the time I contracted Lyme to the time I was diagnosed, my body developed a whole mess of conditions that all need to be treated – at the right time, in the right order.

Can you imagine being a doctor and having a patient walk in with this list of symptoms?

• Headaches
• Eye pain
• Joint pain
• Jaw pain
• Tingling and numbness
• Nausea and vomiting
• Rashes
• Blurry vision
• Cognitive issues (word finding, short term memory loss, confusion)
• Difficulty breathing
• Elevated heart rate
• Dizziness/lightheaded

To the untrained doctor who runs test after test and finds nothing abnormal, I sounded crazy.

To a Lyme Literate Medical Doctor (LLMD), I sounded like a typical patient.

As I’ve stated many times, it’s not just Lyme. In fact Lyme has probably been the least of the beasts. But working through the diagnosis’ takes time and patience and a ton of knowledge. We start treating one thing and something else pops up. So we start treating that. We keep peeling back the layers and finding more and more infections and conditions. And we don’t stop. To date, here are the things we have worked on over the last 6 years:

• Lyme (borellia bergdorferi)
• Bartonella
• Babesia
• Mycoplasma
• Mycotoxins / mold
• Heavy metal toxicity (especially lead)
• POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome)
• Mast Cell Activation Syndrome
• Viruses
• Digestive disorders
• Allergies (food, chemical, drug, environmental)
• Nutritional & enzyme deficiencies (my body is unable to transport certain things like magnesium)
• Sleep disorders
• Degenerative Disk Disease

We call the process of weeding through the disease Whack-a-Mole. Every doctor visit, we try to figure out which mole is popping up and then we hit it on the head as hard as we can.

I am learning to identify some of it myself, but I can’t do it alone – the knowledge to manage cases like mine takes many years to learn. After all, Lyme specialists do not just treat Lyme – they have to treat everything that comes with it. And in some cases, like mine, it takes a village

My medical team currently includes:

• LLMD
• Biologic Medicine Doctor
• Pain Management Doctor
• NUCCA (Upper Cervical Chiropractor)
• Dermatologist

I had a nurse for 4 years and I’m looking for a physical therapist to help with providing support for the damage to my neck.

I’ve seen psychologists, neurologists, gastroenterologists, rheumatologists, cardiologists – you name the “ist”, I’ve been there.

So why am I telling you all this?

If you have been diagnosed with Lyme, I want to encourage you to keep fighting. Find the doctors who help and don’t give up.

If you haven’t been diagnosed with Lyme, but some of these symptoms feel familiar, I beg you to consider it as a diagnosis (even if you’ve been diagnosed with MS, ALS, Alzheimer’s, or any other condition – so many times it’s Lyme related). There IS help!

If you are a caretaker – I know you’re overwhelmed with all you have to help manage every day, give yourself a break, this is too much for anyone.

If you aren’t sick at all but you know someone who is struggling and you don’t understand why they aren’t getting better – I hope this helps you see the challenge in fighting such a complex sickness.

This is hard. It sometimes feels unbearable. Keeping hope alive in the midst of this storm is a daunting task. But we can do it.

God is still God.
God is still good.
To Him be the glory.