I can’t believe we are less than 11 weeks to Christmas! How did this happen?

I finished the Master Cleanse – which wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I actually had less pain and more energy. I had some digestive trouble but for the most part, I feel like it was a good experience and I plan to do it again. I would have gone longer this time but I think was having a reaction to the lemons.

This last week however, has been super rough. I woke up Tuesday with huge neck and head pain, accompanied by nausea. At one point I threw up and immediately had the worst pain of my life in the frontal lobe and the back of the skull (and I’ve had some pretty horrific pain so I don’t use the word worst lightly). Thankfully it subsided within a few minutes but oh my heck – that was horrible.

My short term memory also seems to be a small problem – when you tell me what I am supposed to remember, I know it, I just forgot for a minute.

I’m on the rise, able to eat and was able to take a bath today. But I can’t be up long or my head explodes in pain.

This is not uncommon – it’s called a Jarisch-herxheimer reaction (herx for short). It’s the way the body reacts to die off. With Lyme specifically, when the spirochete bacteria die, they release a type of ammonia. It can be overwhelming to the body and results in all the symptoms I’ve been having.

The severity could be from the lymestop treatment, the master cleanse, both or just part of life. It doesn’t matter why – it just sucks.

Sometimes I wonder – would I rather have a few good days and then a series of really bad days? Or would I be ok to live the rest of my life just getting by on “sort of ok” days? The answer for me always lies in the opposing question.

Right now, I don’t want to go through pain like that ever again. But when I’ve been just “sort of ok” for a long period of time, I think going through the pain to get a few good days would be well worth it.

Sometimes, that’s really ok. Just to get by. It’s ok to not push the ticket, to not send yourself into a crash. Just exist and let your body rest a little.

Anyway – there’s a lot going on (as always). My great uncle (94) passed away a few days ago. He is sorely missed. My dad is in a calvet home and we are trying to get him moved closer to us – not as easy as it should be and won’t happen until January. I have a follow up in 2 weeks at lymestop. Doctors, birthdays, thanksgiving, Christmas and we are into 2025 and moving my dad.

So for the next few months, my goal is to just get by – be as stable as I can be so I can enjoy my family.