Health Update August 2015
It's been a while!
I met with Dr. K back in June. He looked over my new bloodwork and and pointed out that it had been a year since I started seeing him. We agreed that the supplements he'd put me on were extremely helpful, but that I only did well when I was on them. As soon as I tried to wean off, my symptoms would flare back up. He also pointed out that according to my white blood cell counts and a couple other things, it looked like I had some sort of underlying infection.
Now, to be fair, he'd brought up the possibility of infection early on. Unfortunately, the testing is extremely expensive. I'd popped in to see Dr. Angie and she used the Bio Meridian machine which pointed out several strains of bacteria including lyme. I took those results back to Dr. K who barely looked at them, stated that he wasn't familiar with Bio Meridian, and filed them in my chart.
I understand his hesitation. I really do. The Bio Meridian machine sounds hippy dippy and totally fruity. But I'd seen how it gave us accurate results on food allergies (totally mirroring the blood work we'd had done at a "real" dr's office). I'd seen accurate results from a few dental problems I was having. And I'm fully aware of the inefficiencies of many standard medical tests. False negatives, false positives, etc, etc. I know there's no perfect testing and I've come to learn that "real" testing can leave a lot to be desired.
So, I didn't push it. We continued on, trying to heal my thyroid and adrenals. I had to get really, really picky about food. I stopped eating anything that showed up at any level on my food allergies/sensitivities test. We looked at and addressed my MTHFR issues. I took up yoga and continued doing various detoxes.
I was thrilled that I was able to sleep at night and was regular. But was disheartened that my body was so dependent on the supplements to achieve those results. I was also bummed that I couldn't do anything but gain weight and that I lived in a constant battle with fatigue, brain fog, and occasional joint pain.
When Dr. K again brought up the very real possibility of infection, he rattled off a bunch of possibilities. One of which was lyme. My heart sank.
I left his office full of dread at telling Ben that we'd now have to spend thousands of dollars on even more testing. The medical assistant had told me that they'd mail me a form to fill out and they also wanted me to see my dentist to rule out any infection in my mouth/jaw from some traumatic dental issues I'd had in the past.
My dentist appt was scheduled for the end of July and we were busy so I decided to just wait it out. The survey never showed up anyway. I figured it didn't really even matter until I saw the dentist. Basically, I was just stalling; I was acting like an ostrich with it's head in the sand.
Sometimes procrastination pays off.
A couple months ago, I'd started taking the boys to a local chiropractor, Dr. J., for some minor issues. She and I would chat while she worked on the boys. One day she mentioned that she'd specialized in infants and children in school and that's what her practice mainly consisted of. Then she chuckled and said that she realized the two didn't really seem to go with each other, but that her other specialty happened to be lyme.
She went on to explain how she had had lyme herself, but didn't realize it. She'd long noticed that tests would show that her liver, adrenals, and thyroid showed up as stressed. Turns out it was due to underlying stress.
Of course, my ears perked up and I told her about how I'd been having the exact same issues and that Dr. K was sure that I had some underlying infection going on and that Dr. Angie had told me that I was positive for lyme. I was given an info sheet and as I read over it I just knew.
Of course, I scheduled an appt with Dr. J and she tested me and also found me positive for giardia and candida. She started me on a protocol to help build up my immune system and encourage it to attack lyme, giardia, and candida.
I'm still pretty early on, but I'm definitely feeling it. She warned me that I'd feel worse before I felt better and she wasn't kidding. I've had flu-like symptoms that remind me of how I felt when we first started the GAPS diet.
When I look over the past few years I'm filled with a mixture of frustration and gratitude. I know it could be much worse. And I do realize that a lot of the things I've done have healed my body some and is probably making it easier to deal with killing this stuff off. It's all been a series of stepping stones. I'm just ready to be done. And definitely ready to stop spending so much money on supplements!!
The next steps include being muscle tested to see if the supplements from Dr. K are still needed are can be discontinued. It would be great it we could eliminate at least some of them!
I'm continuing to try and de-stress. Lot's of deep breathing, walking, yoga, and essential oils to help calm my system down.
All I can do is keep going and hope that my body responds!
I met with Dr. K back in June. He looked over my new bloodwork and and pointed out that it had been a year since I started seeing him. We agreed that the supplements he'd put me on were extremely helpful, but that I only did well when I was on them. As soon as I tried to wean off, my symptoms would flare back up. He also pointed out that according to my white blood cell counts and a couple other things, it looked like I had some sort of underlying infection.
Now, to be fair, he'd brought up the possibility of infection early on. Unfortunately, the testing is extremely expensive. I'd popped in to see Dr. Angie and she used the Bio Meridian machine which pointed out several strains of bacteria including lyme. I took those results back to Dr. K who barely looked at them, stated that he wasn't familiar with Bio Meridian, and filed them in my chart.
I understand his hesitation. I really do. The Bio Meridian machine sounds hippy dippy and totally fruity. But I'd seen how it gave us accurate results on food allergies (totally mirroring the blood work we'd had done at a "real" dr's office). I'd seen accurate results from a few dental problems I was having. And I'm fully aware of the inefficiencies of many standard medical tests. False negatives, false positives, etc, etc. I know there's no perfect testing and I've come to learn that "real" testing can leave a lot to be desired.
So, I didn't push it. We continued on, trying to heal my thyroid and adrenals. I had to get really, really picky about food. I stopped eating anything that showed up at any level on my food allergies/sensitivities test. We looked at and addressed my MTHFR issues. I took up yoga and continued doing various detoxes.
I was thrilled that I was able to sleep at night and was regular. But was disheartened that my body was so dependent on the supplements to achieve those results. I was also bummed that I couldn't do anything but gain weight and that I lived in a constant battle with fatigue, brain fog, and occasional joint pain.
When Dr. K again brought up the very real possibility of infection, he rattled off a bunch of possibilities. One of which was lyme. My heart sank.
I left his office full of dread at telling Ben that we'd now have to spend thousands of dollars on even more testing. The medical assistant had told me that they'd mail me a form to fill out and they also wanted me to see my dentist to rule out any infection in my mouth/jaw from some traumatic dental issues I'd had in the past.
My dentist appt was scheduled for the end of July and we were busy so I decided to just wait it out. The survey never showed up anyway. I figured it didn't really even matter until I saw the dentist. Basically, I was just stalling; I was acting like an ostrich with it's head in the sand.
Sometimes procrastination pays off.
A couple months ago, I'd started taking the boys to a local chiropractor, Dr. J., for some minor issues. She and I would chat while she worked on the boys. One day she mentioned that she'd specialized in infants and children in school and that's what her practice mainly consisted of. Then she chuckled and said that she realized the two didn't really seem to go with each other, but that her other specialty happened to be lyme.
She went on to explain how she had had lyme herself, but didn't realize it. She'd long noticed that tests would show that her liver, adrenals, and thyroid showed up as stressed. Turns out it was due to underlying stress.
Of course, my ears perked up and I told her about how I'd been having the exact same issues and that Dr. K was sure that I had some underlying infection going on and that Dr. Angie had told me that I was positive for lyme. I was given an info sheet and as I read over it I just knew.
Of course, I scheduled an appt with Dr. J and she tested me and also found me positive for giardia and candida. She started me on a protocol to help build up my immune system and encourage it to attack lyme, giardia, and candida.
I'm still pretty early on, but I'm definitely feeling it. She warned me that I'd feel worse before I felt better and she wasn't kidding. I've had flu-like symptoms that remind me of how I felt when we first started the GAPS diet.
When I look over the past few years I'm filled with a mixture of frustration and gratitude. I know it could be much worse. And I do realize that a lot of the things I've done have healed my body some and is probably making it easier to deal with killing this stuff off. It's all been a series of stepping stones. I'm just ready to be done. And definitely ready to stop spending so much money on supplements!!
The next steps include being muscle tested to see if the supplements from Dr. K are still needed are can be discontinued. It would be great it we could eliminate at least some of them!
I'm continuing to try and de-stress. Lot's of deep breathing, walking, yoga, and essential oils to help calm my system down.
All I can do is keep going and hope that my body responds!
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