Has lyme caused any positive changes in your life?

Congrat for quitting! That sure is a tough one...I for one have yet to kick the habit.

I have learned to have alot more patience and compassion for people.

Lyme has definitely made me understand what others go through in their lives.  It has made me want to be an advocate for the elderly who cannot or do not speak up for themselves when they are sick because no one will listen.

However, overall, lyme has defintely made me angier, sadder, slower and overall much more depressing.  But hopefully I'll get there!

Nicely put, achievinggrace. I, too, have experienced a deepening of devotion and love with my husband who, like yours, has always believed me and believed in me even when the doctors were saying nothing was wrong. That kind of loyalty is priceless. Like you, I've had Lyme undiagnosed for years, and though my health was deteriorating, I accomplished a lot. In a glass-half-empty mode I've wondered how much more I could have done had I not been continually battling health problems, but looking from the other side, I appreciate how strong my body is to have taken me this far when there were so many dastardly microorganisms accosting it. That goes for my mind, too. Lyme and the all-permeating pain it has bestowed on me certainly leaves me empathetic and compassionate. We never know someone else's experience. Understanding how someone can look so healthy, act so "normal," and yet be so hideously in pain has left me open to interpreting kindly and generously others' concerns and complaints about their health. In part, I learned that from how others responded to me when I was at my worst; the "get over it" people left me feeling misunderstood and further separated from others. Those who even for a moment imparted a kind word or a concerned glance affirmed me and my experience and made my world a better place. Forever more it is my mission to pass that on to others so that I, too, can help to make some else's experience a little more bearable.

When my late husband was dying, he wrote a book and in the beginning he made a comment that he was "fortunate to have a serious illness" because of what he'd learned and how it changed his perspective about people and experience. At the time, though I understood it intellectually, I didn't really get it. How could he, constantly in pain and pleagued with a plethora of horrible maladies, feel fortunate because of it? Now I'm starting to understand. Because of Lyme my priorities are realigned, I'm more focused, and I am far more thoughtful of others and far less judgmental. I'm not sure I am yet at a point where I would say it has been "worth it." Given the choice, I think I would still elect to have never been so sick, and to have lived my life unencumbered and in ignorance of the torture Lyme can bring. But, as long as I'm here, it is good to recognize that there are positives, and the positives are significant. Thanks, Cheezhead, for a great thread.

I look forward to a day when, like achievinggrace, I can cast an "after you're done" eye to the Lyme experience. That will be lovely.

Rose

You are very fortunate to have a husband that is as devoted as yours. Many people with Lyme, and other chronic illnesses, do not have significant others who can grasp how these conditions can affect their partners. Until I finally was diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease, I had spent over a year going from doctor to doctor, procedure to procedure, and bills, after bills. My wife was having a difficult time understanding how I could be sick, and the medical establishment could not figure it out. She started to think I was becoming a hypochondriac. As more of our finances were being spent on medical bills, the more stressed our relationship became. At least now with a diagnosis she has become more understanding.

Thank you for your response Rose, You have a talent with words. The thing that struck me the most in your response was the " get over it" subject that I myself have faced. The single biggest Lyme rage moment I had was when my wife uttered this phrase to me "get over it" I lost it.....after yelling, and crying for an hour I told her I wish I could just "get over it"

If I never got lyme, I would never have moved home after college and left my job at the time to stay home and get well. Then when I felt better I went to work part time for a Real Estate Firm where I went on to get my real estate license. When that job ended, I was unemployed with my own apartment and needed to find work. I went to work for a mortgage company where I made some of my closest friends to date and 4 months after I started, my future husband walked through the doors of my work and we have been together ever since (that was 7 years ago). We have one beautiful daughter, 21 months old, and another baby on the way (just newly pregnant).

So yes, lyme disease took away a lot of my 20's when I should have been out with friends, having fun, but in the long run, had it never have happened, I wouldn't know just how strong I am and just how blessed life can be sometimes. Everything happens for a reason and takes us on the journey we were supposed to go on. Who knows where I would have ended up had it never happened.

 

I thank God for guiding me towards alternative treatments for lyme disease.  Lyme has positively influenced my life in that has changed my perspective on the power of good nutrition, a  healthy lifestyle, the power of positive thinking, and opened my mind to the many natural and alternative treatments and resources available.  Knowledge is power.  In that I have renewed my passion for health education, medicine, and helping people.

Some of these posts brought tears to my eyes, happy tears for those who found love and support and some sad tears for those who have been hurt. Yes, I was hurt too because I wanted my family and friends to "understand" lyme disease and they never did. So as I stated above, I stopped trying to make people understand.

Perhaps I would have never met my boyfriend if I didn't get lyme as I probably would have still been married to my ex-husband but once I did meet him I gave him a really hard time! Lyme isolated me for so many years that I became used to being alone and fending for myself so if someone "threatened" my isolated world (even when I was totally better), I didn't welcome those people for fear. So when I met my boyfriend, I kept breaking off the relationship with him only to go back with him, etc. He never gave up on me and fought hard to get me back in his life which he succeeded at! All because I was afraid after living alone for so many years.

I forgot to mention that if I didn't get lyme, never in my life would I have wanted to learn about detoxing, eating healthy, learning about supplements, exercise (I was never into exercise before), mustard foot baths, and to top that all off, coffee enema's?? I will never forget the first time I heard about those enema's and I said to myself "no way!!). I had no clue what those enema's had to do with chronic lyme and I most certainly was NOT going to put a nozzle in my butt! But lo and behold, after reading so much I finally had the courage to do it and I was proud! LOL! So I learned so much during my journey not only about this disease but also about myself. And I believe I am a much better person for it all.

Denise

Denise,

What a great, heart touching post. That definitely made me "giggle" inside. Thanks for that.


Cheezhead: You are so right and I should have been a bit more positive. I had a very bad few months and with my daddy passing away...he was the only person that understood my sickness, it's been hard. I apologize for being so negative because there are many things to be thankful for.

I appreciate that. Thank you.

CG,

Glad I was about to make you giggle!! LOL! I just realized how my "lo and behold" statement sounded! Denise