Neuro lyme

I don't do Paleo but I eat very healthy. Our basic dinner is some kind of fish and a vegetable. If we are super hungry we add a yam. Rarely rice, pasta, bread or sweets. Neither of us can handle sugar very well so it is a treat and we have to have it early in the day or we stay up all night.

How I functioned with lyme brain...... I had to write everything down so I would remember what I did. I could not even remember if I took my herbs when it was only an hour later. Hubby gave me 3 shiny pennies and I moved them for Breakfast, lunch and dinner herb taking, so I would remember. Detox was easy because a lot of them were already built into my lifestyle before lyme.

And, then when I could not figure something out, I came here and vented.

Patience is not one of my virtues prior to lyme, but lyme is teaching me this. And I am learning how to be more gentle with myself. I don't have to do, and be miss perfect all the time.

When I am tired, I lay down. I think one of the difficult things was trying to keep lists in my head. I started writing them down. I made a Google calendar and really rely on that.

And those chores that pile up.... well, I just wrote them down too and when I did something I crossed it off. If I got 1 thing done YIPPEEEE. It was cause for celebration. Lots of dust in my house for weeks, but it didn't matter because I was getting better all the time.

Notes!! More specifically for me, it was notebooks. I had one for each subject! One for chores, one for pills, one for detox and one for errands that I needed to run and when. I used the calendar as well. I learned to check each of them daily too.

If you need specific help in getting something started or worked in, just ask. I'm sure someone on here will have a great idea to share!

I didn't follow Paleo either and don't specifically follow it now, but I do eat low carb with tons of veggies.

Like PeteZa, patience never came easy for me and this proved to be no different, but I learned (mostly the hard way!) that pushing myself through this was only going to result in backsliding, and that got old quick! So remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint.

Many of the detox items can be done at any time, but there are a few that require specific timing. Binders are the hardest things to use because of this. You have to plan a 4 hour block of time (2 hours before and 2 hours after) where you won't be taking any supplements, eating food, taking any meds or herbs either, as the binders will bind to them instead of the toxins if you take them too close together. You should drink plenty of water during that time though.

Things like foot soaks are easy and can be done any time of the day, as can oil pulling, dry skin brushing, Apple cider vinegar, Lymph massages, benadryl and some others. Just let us know what detoxing routines you will be using and we can let you know which ones you should be careful with on the timing of them. And don't forget to use many detoxing routines as you want to get as many of the detoxing pathways working as you can.

And just keep asking questions!!

The notes on my phone and in a notebook are most of my memory. If I can remember I write down everything I'm taking, the dosage and start date. Another thing with supplements I do is write the dose, start date, and bottle number (first bottle, third bottle, etc.) on the label.

I don't follow any of the specific diets. My diet probably matches a crops between the Westin Price diet and the paleo. I lean towards fruits, nuts, vegetables, beans, liver, and any other grass fed/not pasteurized animal products.

I don't know if you have tested or found yourself sensitive to anything, but taking out dairy and gluten has proven great and reducing symptoms for many people(myself included).

Hope this helps!

I usually have my phone with me, so I use it a lot to keep me up to date. I use the calendar for reminders and use the notes for things I just remembered I was supposed to do and know I will forget again. I use the pictures for just about everything! I take pictures of my meds/supplements, especially when I'm running low on something so I'll remember to order it when the time comes (I usually put a reminder in my phone for that, too). I take pictures of things I see on TV or on the internet that I want to look into, photos of things at the grocery store or at home that I want to pick up on my next trip. I also have a really hard time getting up in the morning and finding something to wear, so if I wore at outfit that was cute or comfortable, I will take a picture of it so that on one of the days that I just can't think about anything at all or make sense of things, I can look back and see the components of the outfit and just pull it out and put it on. Mornings are the worst for me, so anything I can do to make that part of my life easier I do. Sometimes I will put out most of my morning breakfast items out so that I don't have to go back and forth between the counter and fridge six times because in my fumbling dumbling I can't remember what I was supposed to get out next.

I also use tons and tons of sticky notes at work - and I do mean TONS. Anytime anyone comes in with a request, I write it down and then I've got it!

In the times of the day that I'm "on" I try to do the things I can for the times when I know I'll be "off" so it's not so complicated. Pre-planning and repetition work well for me. I do the same set of motions in the same order every day to build up muscle memory. Sometimes I'll find myself walking to my supplements at the right time without even thinking about it because I just made my coffee and my body knows the routine. I even surprise myself sometimes when I get there, like, "Oh, yeah, it's time for these supplements now! Ok!".

I hope that something in these posts will help. I agree that the pain is easier to live with than the brain fog, or in my case I call it the black closet.....sometimes I turn inward to find a word or remember something and NOTHING IS THERE! LOL. Yikes, that's frustrating!

Good luck. I'm sure you'll find the tricks that work for you!

Jenny

Every day I pulled the pills from my bottles and filled an Altoids tin (yes, filled!). I would just check the tin periodically throughout the day. My tin has become my little companion.

On a promising note, I can assure you the brain fog does go away with treatment. At least it did for me and many others. When it was really bad, I couldn't drive a car. Now I'm sharper than most people I work with.

I had to stop working for a year due to neuro lyme, but have been back at my old mentally demanding job for 2 years now. Recently started treating new Bartonella symptoms (did not have them before) so getting some intermittent brain fog from than, but only when very fatigued.

So yes, you can recover from this.

I remember not knowing how to type the word "what." I just sat staring at the computer. I am 64 so Alzheimer's was a true concern. Not that I am OLD. In my mind I am about 35. There is no Alzheimer's in my family, it was just lyme. I think the scariest part was starting a sentence and not remembering a word. Asking my husband to get me the attachment for the .......... I could not get vacuum out my mouth. I was so very hard on myself. Lyme taught me how to make mistakes and feel okay about them. Lyme showed me that being perfect doesn't matter to everyone else, it is all in MY head. Lyme taught me how to slow down and cherish minutes of no symptoms. Those minutes turned into hours, then days and then weeks. I do not take one day for granted any more. I remember all too well being so very sick and wondering who I was. Lyme showed me a lot about myself and what matters.

Also, I do not follow pale. I love my oatmeal. I do follow a strict-ish diet. Lots of organic vegetables and meat. Whole grains. No gluten, no dairy, no caffeine, no refined sugar (occasional honey, stevia, or homemade watered down date syrup - I'm only human).