Thanks WWJD20. What was really hard was 2009 when I missed 35 days of work. Fortunately I work for a really good company. I've actually had an FMLA for my vertigo issues, but they run out and doctors want a good reason to renew. Still, one wonders how long that'll continue if you're not able to do your job.
I'm also fortunate in that I'm far from cured, but I'm much better than I was in 2009. When I was too sick to work I spent a lot of time on a Menieres forum (since that was the first diagnosis) and doing research.
@borderline - I was originally diagnosed with Menieres's Syndrome (MM) and found great people on a support forum. Some there had found relief by eliminating wheat. That was the dumbest idea I had ever heard, but being desperate, I tried it. I was flabbergasted when it helped a lot. I was normal for the first time in a couple of years.
But it was short-lived and this led to me learning about
food intolerance. I had IBS for much of my life, and after an elimination and challenge diet, I found a whole lot of foods that were triggers. The triggers, btw, were causing migraine attacks, despite the fact that I almost never have headaches. Migraine is a neurological disorder and only about
half of migraine sufferers have headaches. My Meniere's, it turned out, was Migraine Associated Vertigo.
I found my friendly doctor, and he led me through dealing with food intolerance. I did the research on Leaky Gut and Candida overgrowth, and asked him for a prescript
ion for Nystatin. By taking Nystatin for a year, staying on a anti-Candida, alkalizing, avoidance diet, with tons (TONS) of probiotics and supplements, I was able to finally resolve my food intolerance and Leaky Gut issues. I now can pretty much eat anything I want, but still stick to a healthier diet. I'm not completely wheat-free now, but I eat it infrequently. I no longer have IBS issues either. Did I mention TONS of kefir? For a while I made my own kefir with coconut milk.
However, Nystatin is not a systemic drug. It only works on fungal infections in the gut. It was obvious that I had gut issues because of the improvement the Nystatin & Diet & Supplements provided. But despite improvements in the gut, the fatigue and brain fog came back and continued.
My friendly doc thought my issues were all in the gut, but I disagreed and asked for a prescript
ion for an systemic antifungal drug. That created the biggest improvement yet, so it was clear that I did have systemic fungal issues. But, again the symptoms returned.
I took a lab test for Microbial Organic Acids, which test urine for metabolites of various germs and fungi. It showed that I did have fungal issues, but also bacterial issues (which it said might be Clostridia). But the same test showed my markers for gut health to be good.
So, if it was there but not in the gut, it must be systemic. At least that's my logic.
It's possible that the bacterial issues aren't Lyme or any of the other germs mentioned here, and that it was solely due to the overuse of antifungal meds, but my research and "gut feeling" (pun intended) lead me to believe otherwise.
Additionally, friendly doc and I talked about
family history, and how my Mom in her later years had many of the same symptoms as me. So we talked about
the possibility that I had inherited the infection (fungal or bacterial) from my Mom at birth. There are things in my life that could be attributed to a life-long infection (I'm 56).
This was apparently a low level stealth infection for most of my life. However, one of two things may have trigger it beyond the stealth stage.
The less likely possibility is that my GP put me on statin drugs. Statin drugs actually started out as anti-fungal drugs. When I started taking them, I had severed cognitive issues. Stopping them returned me to "normal", but I wonder if that hadn't stirred something up.
Most likely is that we discovered this year that our HVAC system was chock full of mold. I think the combination of my stealth infection and the mold exposure caused things to go bad. Or maybe it was a combination of all of the above.
Anyway, I now find myself in a similar situation as many of you. I have to take antifungals and abx or I get worse, but when I do I herx.
So, whether I'm a Lymer or an Honorary Lymer, I'm hoping to learn from you guys and to share what I've learned along the way.
