Email to My LLMD and Update on me!

Hey guys, I have so many things to talk about, so instead of writing a brand new thread on each topic, I figured, what the heck, let me just copy and paste all of the questions I sent to my Doctor. I will be sure to post her response once I receive a message back from her. Some of this will be informative to you, and some you may have helpful opinions on - would appreciate the feedback, thanks!!!

this is a note to all of you first - especially for those who don't know my story. I discovered I had lyme 4 months in, treated for 7.5 month and went off all abx and herbs in Sept 2014. (I went off herbs too bc i had gotten pregnant but then miscarried, and after retesting my levels, we decided to stay off herbs altogether). At this point I have lingering issues - all of which my Dr and I believe are due to the damage done by lyme, not to active infection. This topic tends to be debatable, but I know for sure I am no longer sick, and have more energy now than I have had in a long time!

Dr Dr M,

Hope the snow is finally melting by you! My apologies in advance for the length of this email, but I just need to explain it all in detail......I really appreciate your time. I wanted to write to you regarding a few things. Maybe you can respond after each paragraph like you did that one time.

So After The last two times I saw Dr /Garcia I didn't really feel any differently. I am going to stop seeing him for now. Just wanted to let you know. However, when I last saw him in February he told me he detected a fungal infection in my abdominal area but not necessarily candida. Told me to stop dairy altogether once again and once again I just can't do it!! I can limit my intake but can't be 100percent. Its just impossible! In the meantime my hands have become so dry and flakey and he said that is a sign of yeast overgrowth. My tongue is also just as white as it was when I was treating lyme. I am going to have to try a lot harder with the diet. I have not been very good about sweets either. My girls came home with a box of worlds finest chocolates so forget it, I gave in to too many bars!!! Lol I have no choice at this point, I have to have stronger willpower. Just wanted to know - is it worth taking nystatin again just to help fight the yeast or no?

Secondly I met with a fitness trainer and shaklee rep of whom my husband met at a networking meeting a few months back. One amazing piece of news - my husband and I went to a fundraiser event she ran for an independent film she is coproducing called "invisible". This movie is about chronic illnesses and how they affect people's lives socially and how they overcame their diseases and struggles. I am going to be interviewed and have a shot at sharing my lyme disease story if it is compelling enough!!!

So anyway, getting back, She is very knowledgeable in that she suffered from fibromyalgia for ten yrs and overcame it with diet and exercise. I've been exercising for four weeks and have not lost a single pound. I was really confused. She alerted me that I am overdoing it. I am not giving my body a chance to recover and so my body isn't handling things the way it should which is why I am not losing weight. I didn't get fat or anything lol. But my normal wt over the yrs has been 120 and I am 130 and am not happy about it!!! I guess I ate too much when I initially got pregnant!! So anyway she must be rt because when I went skiing - yay I went skiing - I had a blast but my body started aching while I was still out skiing. She said that was an example of overdoing it and that my muscles should not get sore for at least 24hrs after the activity. So I am scaling back my exercise routine for a while. I guess I was too eager and overconfident. Also she said that when I take certain products such as the fish oil and don't react well to it its bc my body does not know what to do with it. She said that although my immune system is doing its job it may not be doing it all properly. Because I forgot to take the new chapter vitamins for a few days and when I took it the other day I had a herx like reaction like I had with the fish oil - mild pinchiness, mild joint aches, increase in twitches and cold spots. She recommended I start taking vivix by shaklee. She said it can help with inflammation, muscle recovery and nerve healing. Would you say this is ok to try? I stopped the new chapter and will wait about a week before I introduce vivx into to my system. Also do you know what exactly is happening when I have these toxicity reactions? I am just trying to understand them. If there isn't a die off then what is happening to my joints?

I also started drinking the Shaklee shake to help with the weight loss - but it has Soy in it, and that has me worried. I don't plan to drink this for too long a time, but there are so many articles out there stating the cons of Soy, and I have never been a fan of it - could you give me your quick opinion on it?

Lastly since I started exericising - weight lifting, aerobics, and running, my rt shoulder - the one with the pinched nerve - has been really hurting me. What can you recommend I do? If we are sure its a pinched nerve then there is no need to get any tests rt? Would PT help? Thanks so much in advance for your help!

Hope to hear from you soon!

While I'm thrilled that you are having these improvements, I would greatly caution you about the vivix drink by Shaklee. I looked it up and it has ingredients that will raise your immune system, which could be good, but could cause a herx. So be careful.

The other thing is that you could certainly buy those products for much less money if you buy them separately. That's quite the expensive drink/tonic! It's just got reversitol, Muscadine grape, Elderberry and purple carrot in it.

yes LP..lol.

He keeps telling me with each medication change that I will have yeast issues...but I don't yet. I'm going to prove you wrong LP

He has done a lot of research..and is very knowledgeable about the antibiotics.

Well, I certainly don't want to say that you aren't healed - you've said that you feel great - but it should give you pause and reason to reflect for a few moments to make sure that your sure. I find myself questioning my healing frequently as well right now because I surely don't want to be 'caught flat footed' - if you know what I mean. I want to be as proactive as I reasonably can.

I think I would sit down and write a list on each and every supplement that made me have herx-type reactions and investigate each one. What do they do in the body? What actions do they have - then find the common denominators. It will at least give you direction, I would think.

Let's say that the one thing they all do is support the immune system- then it's possible that your immune system needs more help in keeping Lyme at a tolerable level - so if you purposely set out to build up your immune system, then it won't have to work so hard to keep Lyme in check.

I hope that makes sense to someone other than me!

Chapelle... Lol okay what am I going to say?

Exercise!!! LoL! Actually I was recently reading another persons Internet blog and site, it seems like excercise is a key to recovery for some who made it to 100%. She said this is a key in many people's recovery who got there. I know Perry Fields did that too for her 100% recovery. I think it's something I really need to get back to consistently! I was doing it for awhike there really quite well but stopped. I have not been exercising much lately, with the exception of what I do at work. Apparently exercise really helps the immune system!!! However... There is a temporary immune suppression.... That could last about 24 hours, but after that it is said that the immune system rebounds and is stronger! The key is taking the right length of rest, not overdoing what you cannot handle and knowing your limits.

Oh and Chapelle, there are people who have gotten rid of every last spirochete. I still prefer to hold my perspective similar to theres. But it is true that not everyone does. Some people who have got to 100% have done some treatments that require quite the amount of effort... For example check out:

Lyme-symptoms.com , then check out lymesymptoms.com (Another one just without the dash, it is a different site)

These people got to 100% wellness! Also Perry Fields got to 100% wellness too I haven't read her book though.

Girlie, that is great that you have no yeast issues! How much probiotics do you take each day? I had yeast issues... Well I could tell in my stool! They had white stringy things on them which I thought was yeast. Anyways I got that under control by taking extra nystatin and increasing my probiotics. Now my poops are perfect again! Lol.

Well lol sorry but I'm pretty sure we all go poo! We all have so much in common lol. I have only noticed yeast overgrowth in two ways for me, on my tongue and in my stool. Sorry I guess TMI and I should use the term stool and not poo!

How did this thread lead to the poop topic? LOL. You two are hysterical.

Anyway, Lymepickle - I predicted you would say that you can indeed get rid of every last spirochete, but I also expected you to say that because of my shoulder and mini-herxes that I still have active lyme, which as I mentioned before I still don't believe I do!

Its just frustrating. I've never worked out this much and remain the same weight - maybe its because I've reached 40? LOL. This is also why I haven't been on the forum much because I have been too busy exercising, ontop of taking care of my 3 kids, running my ebay business, taking care of all the housework - cooking, cleaning, laundry, AND spending quality time with my husband and kids!! Whew!

Now after "overdoing it" this past week and a half, what do I have to do to recover?? Just not exercise for a few days? I ran on the treadmill yesterday and woke up feeling like I hit a brick wall. But now I feel fine. I am thinking maybe I should rest today and sat and do weights sunday.....or wait until Monday? I have a very hard time knowing my limits because I am always pushing myself with everything....!!

Omg wow. I think I just figured all of this out. Sugar cravings plus a white tongue is a sure sign of a yeast issue. And I googled it and there are tons of articles that say that candida_yeast can cause fluid retention unexplained wt loss and inability to lose weight. Heck. I'm in trouble! Starting a new thread about it and I'm giving up all sweets starting now!! Lyme causes you to lose wt bc it puts ur immune system in overdrive and you burn many calories just fighting the illness alone which is why I went all the way down to 110. If I got any thinner I would have looked sickly so that's my lowest target wt. 115 would be fine too. I'm at 130 so I have fifteen pounds to get off by summer so I can comfortably wear my bikinis!!!! Lol and its weird I've looked heavier at 125!!

But what the heck do you eat??? Lol. When I was on the lyme diet I avoided gluten and sugar but could not get rid of the dairy. It seems impossible - yeast feeds on everything! I will need some diet tips for sure!!

There are also some excellent ideas for diet on lyme-symptoms.com (traveler, how do you post a URL properly again? Lol I forgot)

Have you checked out the sites I posted Chapelle? I think they are pretty good resources.

Chapelle - Re: the shoulder symptoms. If it's nerve related...I honestly think that it's very likely the lyme is totally gone....but nerves take a long time to heal. So, it could be another six months even before those symptoms are gone.
If my nerve pain area was better...I'd feel soooo much better. That's why I'm having trouble figuring out how much I've healed. I ended of with frozen shoulder on top of everything else. And that alone can take over a year to heal. So, I try to look at my other symptoms to determine how far I've come. And, really, what gives me the most grief is the nerve pain/frozen shoulder issues.

Your "hitting the wall" after exercise - couldn't it just be that your body has been weak, sick for quite awhile and now it needs to recover, slowly....or maybe it's the candida...if you have a white tongue. But, I still think that you could be fully healed from lyme and co's.

Chap, somebody on here said the yeast ease from the Hansa center cleared up his wife's yeast problem right now, might be something to look into and its natural. Wish I could remember the details about it but I cant. I was going to get some just to have on hand but I don't seem to have the problem. I consume Kombucha tea that I brew and water kefir along with probiotics at night and it seems to be keeping it under wraps. I used to always battle it when I was younger but my hormones are all gone I believe.

Sure Revive, thanks!!!

Lymepickle - holy cow no way!! After all I have been thru, I am not going to put my body in jeapordy again. My immune system is still out of wack, and I am trying to get it properly up and running again - all I need is another round of abx to knock it down. Plus if I take abx, I will have even more yeast issues!!

I totally understand your point, but honestly, these are the reasons I do believe I have beat lyme:

I am not having any weight loss issues (when I was sick I lost 15 lbs and couldn't gain a pound back)
My bloodwork shows very little inflammation in my body
My body temp is right around 98.6 (when I was sick it was always 99.2 or higher)
My energy level is thru the roof - I get up at 6am, go to bed at 11pm everyday and do a TON of stuff during the day
After the miscarriage (tremendous traumatic event) I did not have any increase in symptoms
I was sick in October (lymies supposedly don't get sick), and got over the headcold on my own

......Amongst other reasons.

Basically, if I do get sick in the future, because I am sure at some point I will need abx again, and I take them and nothing happens, that will be proof right there. But right now, I have enough behind me to be convinced that I am a Lyme Survivor! =)