I think the most misunderstood component of Lyme+ is the way we appear to be doing fairly well one second and suddenly we are crawling into bed for a week long crash. "But you were doing so well! What happened?" "What did you do that made you get sick again?" "Is she faking it?" All…
Simon & Garfunkel's famous song has always touched my soul, but it wasn't until I was watching figure skaters Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres performing to a remake that I fell in love with the depth and sentiment of the lyrics. I am a talker. I love to talk, I think it's important in any…
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the return of the Apollo 13 astronauts to earth. So, in true Hollywood form, there have been documentaries and space movies on all day - and in true Shawn form, the stories have me comparing chronic sickness to the "successful failures" of space travel. In all these stories, there…
Brene Browns best seller, Daring Greatly, is one of about a dozen books I flip back and forth between. But today I realized several of these books I've chosen have a similar underlying theme - shame. Shame affects every one of us, and yet we choose to pretend it doesn't exist. It affects the way…
Max Goodwin, the Medical Director of New Amsterdam Hospital (yes, another tv reference) when faced with employees who are frustrated and complaining, asks one question: "How can I help?" In these chaotic and somewhat frustrating times, it's so easy to get sucked into debates about statistics and get frustrated with the way people are (or…
I started a new therapy to try to address Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. There's always a level of excitedment that comes with new treatment protocols. I want to be hopeful, and I felt the effects of the first dose almost immediately so that hope is definitely on the rise. BUT there is also a level…
I was standing at the kitchen sink, washing dishes and thinking about this blog post. My head was hurting so much but I was pushing through the pain to simply get the job done when the irony hit me - here I am mentally writing a post encouraging people to stop over-doing, while I'm over-doing…
You would think my hardest days are the ones when I am curled up in a ball in bed, crying in pain and throwing up. They're not. The hardest days are the ones when I'm stuck in bed with mild symptoms - headache, nausea, fatigue and weakness. On those days, it's the mental battle that…
Mast Cells are important components of the immune system. They are triggered by infections, toxins, and even stress - essentially telling the body to attack the foreign invader. Many Lyme patients develop Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), a condition that causes mast cells to become hyperactive, reacting to every stimuli, including foods, smells, even the…
Severe head and neck pain. Nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain. Numbness & tingling. Shortness of breath. All over weakness and flu-like feeling. The last few days I have been detoxing heavy metals. It's one of the many problems associated with Lyme & tick disease. We hold on to toxins, they build up and every now and…
PhilippiJoy 