Posted 5/9/2014 2:57 PM (GMT 0)
Hi MJ!!!
Welcome to our community!!
First of all, don't be too scared - we can't help but be scared but with good information and good healing practices, we can make it through!!
If you haven't had the chance to read through the "New to Lyme? Start here!" thread, please do that. It's packed with important information that you will need along the way.
Remember that most doctors don't know what the numbers mean on the WB. Please be sure to research this yourself or post your results here and we can help you understand what bands are Lyme specific.
What you can expect at any time during your treatment is hard to pin down as it depends on what else may be going on inside your body. Each person requires something different in order to heal. You could have other tick-borne infections (many do), adrenal or thyroid issues, mold exposure, or other things that will make your healing path unique to you. Some people can breeze right through their treatments while others struggle.
With the experience that I had personally, and what I've watched others go through, here is what I believe needs to happen for many of us to heal:
a)Detoxing - gene mutations can prevent us from detoxing well, but we must be able to get those toxins out of our bodies. I have not had any of the gene mutation testing done, although I do seem to have the same kind of issues as those that do - so I figured it was best for me to assume that I did and work to get my body to detox much better. It took a lot of diet changes as things with my body changed, I had to use a foot soak about 4 or 5 times a week - anything else seemed to be too much too fast for my body - dry skin brushing, making sure I was having a BM at least once a day (sorry if it's TMI!) pushing myself to drink at least 64 ounces of lemon water each and every day, liver/gall bladder flushes (all natural) and keeping the amount of stress in my life at a bare minimum. You can find some really good detoxing suggestions in the "New to Lyme?" thread that sits at the top of the forum:
https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=1606610
b)Supporting the body functions/systems. We have to have the body working at it's peak performance to heal from something as devastating as these infections. Supporting any gland, organ, body system that is struggling will allow the body to switch it's 'concentration' from just trying to function over to healing.
c) Raise the immune function. Many legitimate Lyme researchers now believe that it's the lowered immune function that determines who gets chronic Lyme and who heals right away. We already know that Lyme lowers the immune function and when a person has Bartonella and/or Babesia, the immune function is further compromised, so to heal we must raise our immune function.
d) Lastly, oddly enough, are anti-infective treatments. Many of us have experienced treatment failures, so we can see that the treatments aren't the only thing we need to have - there has to be more to the equation, but anti-infective treatments are very important!! Lyme bacteria are one of the most complicated bacteria, although herbs and antibiotics are both effective against this bacteria when used in the proper amounts and for the proper time - which is unique to each of us.