Positive Attitude - difficult

Hey Girlie,
While I have not been sick for nearly as long as most on this site, I to have issues staying positive. It is EXTREMLY difficult going from a VERY active lifestyle to a sedentary/sick one.
One good idea I read on another Lyme site was to always combat negative thoughts or words with positive. For instance, if you complain out loud that your back hurts or you're extra "foggy" today, counter the negative with a positive comment like "its a beautiful day today" or just telling someone how much you appreciate them.
Something like that. I think they explained it better on the site. I'll try to find the link.

Thanks gof that tidbit and reminder jeff. Look forwsrd to the link.

I hear you, I feel like I forget what normal is like. I have scary symptoms that won't quit and I can't take it. But..
I have gained weight back, my nausea is gone or minimal, I now sleep a solid 5-6 hours a night. I started going out yo eat, to stores and walking again. Do I feel good? No but I'm trying.

When thing got really bad I decided to leave no stone unturned. First doing the mold check. Now that it's been settled, I'm moving on to my teeth. I think it will take a long time to detox mold and metal before I can even touch lyme. I have to get rid of carpets and bedding, it's slow process. But I tried to do too much at once before.

It truly is a marathon. Even though improvement has been so minimal, people are starting to tell me I look better. That gives me some hope. You'll get there

I know what you mean, Louise - forgetting what normal is like.

I feel like life is moving on, and I'm watching it...even when I do stuff, I have "lyme" in the back of my mind...it never goes away.

I have been worried - wondering when I'm better...how I will jump back in to life...will it just happen...or will I be struggling....maybe I'm thinking about it too much.

I know it's starting to affect my husband now. He has a stressful job and then comes home to me...lucky him...(sarcasm).
Our floors always need vacuuming....the junk piles are growing...and he feels the pressure to do it all...but can't.
I've decided I'm going to try and do one thing each day - today my job is cleaning the messy corner on my kitchen counter - where I store my bottles of supplements/antibiotics. I'm going to put away the ones I'm not taking currently...and organize the ones I am. It's a mess. Tomorrow, I will organize all my papers/lab reports/ etc. - all the lyme information - that sits on another area in my kitchen...it just looks like someone is ill in this house...and I gotta change that.

I started the Ammox today...so hoping that will help after a few weeks.

I also have seen small improvements including more sleep, not necessarily restorative but getting more and that is an improvement im vey grateful for, I think that improvement will be long term beneficial.

It is encouraging to hear others progress no matter how small, helps me remember my small improvements. Been struggling last couple days, think ill back off the hormones.

Like you girlie my main goals today are yo catch up on bills and clean kitchen counter then see how I feel, if I can do more.

I'm reading Cure Unknown - YOU CAN ALL DO IT - HANG IN, every day. I know it's hard. I've had years of other medical issues and waking each day,... wishing I had not, but getting through it... and now my son has spent the summer trying to recover... has to start school. I've not left him except to care for the others, food shop, that's about it. Tried to help him, the only thing holding me together is this site and the book....400 pages... wow, and I'm a slow reader! But, it says, even the worst cases... time and meds... and they get better! Wish Charles Ray Jones was younger....

Keep plugging everyone!

Another good trick to remember is to treat it the same way we treat and body confidence issue, including things like anorexia nervosa.
Just keep saying the words. Over and over. Every day when you wake up and before you go to bed, look at yourself in the mirror no matter how sick you are, and say "my body is whole, my body is healthy". And you just fake it until you make it, my friend. Pin up notes with positive messages around your home, places where they're easily seen, things like "you are great the way you are", "you will always have value and things will get better", "your body is strong and complete" and so on. At first, it's kind of like you're lying. But that doesn't matter. Your body doesn't know that, and the more you keep saying these things and reminding yourself of these things, the more your body and brain will believe it. It sounds silly, but it's used in psychiatric treatment ALL the time. I had to do this for my eating disorder and it weirdly helped a lot.
Counselling is also a great tool. My acupuncturist is great because not only do I get that treatment but she's also really good at being positive through eveeerrryyything and it's very meditative. She has a friend who's one of those people that can stay completely 100% positive through anything, and she's conquered things like her arthritis which was getting pretty bad practically through sheer will power alone.
Try and remember how healthy it is for you all around to keep positive, too. Less stress and negativity means less flare ups, less flare ups means it's easier for your body to repair itself. The more positive you are, the stronger your immune system can fight! Remember that nothing lasts forever. If you had better days before, you will have them again!

Ellip - YES - you're right...gotta keep saying those things. Also, I close my eyes and picture myself healthy - running along the trails (where I probably got bit...hehe), playing tennis, being carefree - that's what I miss the most. Everything I do is calculated...should I? Can I manage it today? What if? Is it too much for me? yuck - I hate that.

I learned about the picturing myself healthy when I was reading about RSD - when I thought I had it on my left side - arm/hand, etc. I would picture it healthy, and playing tennis.

Remember, warriors! Our brains are amazing - use them wisely. We can heal - but we gotta believe it and the days we don't - we gotta still tell ourselves we are healing. We are healing!!!! It's just gonna take time - but we'll get there!!!!

I didn't get the kitchen corner cleaned/organized, but i did do the dishes and will make a nice dinner tonight....I am healthy, I am healing...repeat/repeat.

I hear you Girlie. Some days are seriously rough. But you get up and do what you can, and hope tomorrow will be better. Today was an exceptionally horrible/painful day for me... Days like this make me question everything.... Is it for sure Lyme? Do I need to change abx? Why isn't my doctor treating my Bart symptoms already? Yeast? Maybe I really need to find a new doctor. BUT, I look at my calendar and just a couple days ago I had very few symptoms and remember telling my mom, "I feel like my old self again." This disease is the most frustrating and unpredictable thing... I couldn't have imagined.
Hoping tomorrow is a better day. Hoping you can find your positivity... I know its not always easy. Don't feel guilty.

Girlie-- Totally! It's good to even just celebrate any small victory. Sick or not, positive reinforcement is awesome. You did the dishes today? Fantastic! Go you! You rock! It's important for ALL of us to remember that simple things like that, whether or not we do them is our choice, and when we take out that time and energy from our day to do things like clean up and organize, we're being pretty productive and cool and that's so great. It's a big help to me whenever Jeff makes sure to take notice the work that I manage to get done. For instance, I was sick quite badly for a couple of weeks and really got no housework done and left it all to him. He went out of town for two days and I was feeling all right, so I took advantage of the space and time I had to completely clean the kitchen and do a big clean in the bathroom. It was exhausting but I felt good about doing it, and even better knowing that my effort was appreciated!
Validation is so important. Not only do you need it from yourself, reminding yourself that you're healing and you're strong and you WILL get better and any bit of productivity you can do right now is AWESOME-- it's also important to hear that from others, too. And it's totally okay to say when you need validation, too. I do it all the time! I will flat out ask people like Jeff if they feel I did a good thing by doing x amount of activities and it really helps my attitude just to have that reinforcement!

Have a great day, Girlie :) Enjoy the sunshine!

I've found that applying the info from the book, The Healing Code, is making the difference in me from being stagnate, or healing slowly to my being able to be positive and actually begin healing. And, I've been really, really ill. Now, I'm doing great.

I'm amazed, as is everyone who sees me out and about. They can't believe it's me, but it is.