So Discouraged

Yup sounds like my story and I've been at this for 3 years so I can empathize for sure.

Are you sure you've kicked babesia's butt entirely? It usually doesn't go down quietly and can take 6-24 months to truly eradicate. Your anxiety may not be Lyme and still Babesia. Anxiety is primarily a Bart symptom but it can also come out with Lyme and Babesia.

If you can draw a good correlation between treating Lyme with Bicilin and anxiety flaring up than its probably Lyme or Bartonella which are both treated using abx.

Have you looked into doing IV abx? There are many more options than just doing injections.

Rikky -- I have Bartonella, too. I haven't even begun to treat it. I treated Babesia for over 6 months, and haven't had any symptoms of that for the last 3. So, I'm pretty sure I'm dealing with Lyme and Bartonella at this point.

The anxiety is at it's worst when I herx from the Bicillin. So, it's either hitting Lyme or Bart or both. I am supposed to add Sida Acuta and other herbs for Bartonella once my Bicillin schedule is set. But, the herxing has delayed me from getting to the full dose (I'm currently at half).

I had a friend who had Lyme, and was on an IV and took over a year to heal. He's never relapsed after 10 years. But, if it took him an entire year to simply heal from Lyme, and I had two co-infections, maybe this is just a long haul. I don't have to tell you, if you've been battling for 3.

Girlie, most SSRI's carry the risk of "stomach upset" broadly defined. I think because my stomach has already been irritated by the oral antibiotics (and had been previously by overuse of NSAIDs when I didn't know I had Lyme), any SSRI will likely be a challenge.

I have Lorazepam on hand for "emergency attacks" (I've only used it twice in the past few months). But, it's addictive if used routinely over a long period of time, so it's not a standard option.

I know ultimately I just need to make inroads on the infections. It's just taking so long. Like I said, one year in, one down and two to go. Doesn't feel like progress. But, maybe I should just stop judging.

Hi KB69

I understand exactly how you are feeling. When I reached a year of treatment this past September I was very discouraged and saddened that I was still sick with Lyme and co infections.

It's Ok to cry and even be mad about this. Its hard when we don't have a conventional or understood illness with a specific fix it all cure. Treatment alone is hard to navigate, not to mention the symptoms. expense and the unknown.

That all being said...we do have something very special here on this forum.

It is haven for when we are beaten down or confused...or when we are desperate.

A place to run when we have questions...and the comfort of knowing there are others like us and others hat have come before us to battle these infections. Others that are so willing to help us and share their wisdom or offer a shoulder to lean on.

Please take comfort in knowing we are here for you and we stand with you facing these struggles everyday.

I hope you have better days ahead and I wish you the best of healing, Jo

KB69 - have you tried the many natural supplements for anxiety? Many to try, fortunately they dont cost much.

And have your thyroid levels been tested lately. Many of these infections can make you hypo thyroid. Hypothyroid can cause or add to anxiety big time.

For some reason many Drs assume only hypEr thyroid causes anxiety; completely wrong assumption.

T4 converts to T3. Some people are only low in T3 due to it not converting well from the T4 storage hormone. Our livers take a beating killing all these critters and from the "ammo" we use to do this. Thus liver detoxing is important for thyroid health too.

www.naturalendocrinesolutions.com/articles/do-you-have-a-t4-to-t3-conversion-problem/ :

"about 20% of the conversion of T4 to T3 takes place in the liver, and so if you don’t have a properly functioning liver then this can also cause problems with the conversion. And just because the liver enzymes look fine on a blood test doesn’t mean that you don’t have any liver problems. While these tests can be helpful to rule out any serious liver conditions, if someone’s liver has a reduced ability to detoxify due to other factors, such as all of the toxins we’re exposed to through the food we eat and the environment, then this can reduce the liver’s ability to convert T4 to T3. So if someone has a problem converting T4 to T3, then a liver detoxification program may be beneficial.

Adrenal Problems. Having high cortisol levels can affect the conversion of T4 to T3. A lot of people have this problem, and in most cases it is due to stress. So it is of course important to do a good job of managing one’s stress levels. And if one has high cortisol levels, then in addition to proper stress management, certain herbs may be necessary on a temporary basis to help lower the cortisol levels, such as a combination of Ashwaganda and Rehmannia."

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***My thoughts on anxiety: Its also quite often a combination of adrenal issues........... and brain chemical imbalances (neurotransmitters) or its blocked pathways.

Gaia has quite a few relaxation "mixes", this one looks pretty good. These are all general nervous system calming herbs....a good place to start, a natural and affordable "band aid" of sorts that work for many but dont get to the cause. BUT if it works, great. If not......look further:

Adrenals. Anxiety "surges" are quite often from over worked adrenals. A 24hr saliva adrenal test help take some guesswork out of it ($150 from ZRT labs). Tired adrenals can sometimes show up as low and high in different parts of the day and can overreact from the smallest stressor, leaving you with anziety for hours.

Gaia also has a few adrenal or stress mixes with the more "adaptogen" herbs, or try separately:

/draxe.com/7-adaptogen-herbs-to-lower-cortisol/ holy basil is the calmest one of most of these.

Ever had neurotransmitters tested? Genetics, hormones, and how "toxic" our bodies are have a direct effect on these. Fine tuning brain chemistry is best not rushed and best with one supplement at a time until you know the reaction. You can go direct with the nuerotransmitter influencing amino acids like 5-HTP, Gaba or L-theanine. The amino acid methionine, or its "short cut" SAM-e are more for depression, but have been known to help anxiety as well. The mineral salt Lithium Orotate in small 5mg doses kind of "opens up" most or all of the neurotransmitters pathways and is not to be confused with the more powerful phyc med lithium. Note: none of these amino acids should be combined with Rx meds similar to Zoloft.

Sometimes supplements from one of these above areas are are all thats needed, sometimes all three of these areas. The "mixtures" like what you purchased are a good quick try, vs individual supps.

I have tried many of these and eventually learned what individually worked best for me (cheaper too) as I had anxiety and adrenal issues for the long haul. I still take a few as needed.

My personal favs were holy basil and 5-htp when anxiety was at its worse point. The more I improved, the more sleepy these made me.

Then I changed to the calming, yet non-drowsy effects of amino L-theanine combined with relaxing passion flower for longer lasting effects.

Today, I can only use 5-htp or holy basil if I'm really revved up as I'll get sleepy from it, guess thats a good sign.

Post Edited (astroman) : 12/7/2017 11:49:49 PM (GMT-7)

Astro -- such good information there. Yes, what you reference by way of the T4 to T3 conversion is what I am addressing. I also had my adrenals tested via the "spit test" and was found to have low DHEA, so I am supplementing for that.

I will look into Holy Basil and 5-HTP. It seems like a lot of people swear by Holy Basil. Thanks for your ideas.

Kat -- thanks for your thoughts on the oils. One question on oregano oil, is it an anti-bacterial? I think I have heard of people using it outright to treat Lyme.

Would you share with me how you are treating Bart? I started this journey a year ago thinking I was just dealing with Lyme and Bart, but after beginning treatment for Lyme, and initially feeling better, I hit a wall when Babesia symptoms emerged.

I treated Babesia for 6 months, and have had no symptoms in the last 3 months, which is great. But, now I'm back to square one with Lyme and Bartonella. Because I can no longer take oral ABX, I'm planning to add herbs for Bart to my IM Bicillin injections for Lyme.

My LLND suggested Sida and Isatis. I know Houttuynia is also a major component of the Buhner protocol. Would love your thoughts on what might be working for you on the Bart side. I think I'm slowly making inroads on Lyme, but I've got to figure out how to tackle Bart without ABX.

Thanks so much.

FYI there's a treatment for lyme in my essential oil book, but I kind of scoffed that oils could treat lyme. I will say the rep made me a "pain bomb" out of about 5 oils and it does help my pain when I roll it on the area. Also, the book doesn't mention coinfections.

Everyone is so different and there's a lot of trial and error. I realized at some point I'm a bit of a guinea pig, and that's when I started adding in some things on my own.

I was doing more detoxing too: epsom baths with purify oil (doterra name for it), lemon water, alka seltzer gold. I've been off my routine and I'm feeling it, so this is a good reminder to focus on me again.

I realized in looking at my signature on here, I also took low dose naltroxene for a couple of months. it seemed to help at first but then it didn't, so don't know if it was that or something else.

Hope that helps!

Hawthorne! Recently added that one too.

Acupuncture works really well for me for detox. I think it helps with symptoms too but it doesn't stick unless I go at least every other week. I initially started going for knee issues (may have been lyme, looking back) and I was down to once a month. I was playing tennis, hiking with no issues. So I do think it can help if you can go frequently enough.

I'm also struggling right now with hormones as I think I'm finally getting close to menopause (I'm in my 50s). Dealing with flashes and sweats. I was reading that low estrogen can cause these and muscle pains, so I want to explore that more.

Other than samento (now switched to cats claw), houtt and red root, the rest I've only been on 3-6 weeks so not sure of the impact yet. I do notice symptoms have changed, so I always take that as a sign something is getting stirred up - which is good even if it feels bad. I had a whole week in mid-october where I felt really great. I'd been off the rifampin/doxy for a week and only on herbals. So the answer is I really don't know. I threw in the others when symptoms resurfaced.

I remembered one other thing based on my reading, I did a parasite cleanse, which involved ordering some capsules off of amazon and taking them for 10 days. When I read Buhner, he mentioned that there are parasitic qualities, and then I found someone's blog who did a cleanse and used Buhner and claims to have healed. I do think it helped.

Thought honestly, today isn't great. All I did last night was help carry in the tree and set it up, and I started hurting last night. It's a horrible disease.

KB69 said...

I have been ordering gifts from Amazon because I haven't felt able to go shopping. Dangerous with brain fog, I realized today, as I received a shipment and had ordered two of a the same pair of slippers and two of the same kid's game.

Gosh darn! Hate when that happens!



(That hasn't happened yet...but I definitely could see it happening)


Hopefully you can send the duplicates back?

Let's just hope Santa never gets Lyme!