Need opinions, please! Is it really time for me to stop?

Hi Trav, everyone has given you great advice so far.

I wish lots of luck!!

First of all, thank you so much for all that answered my plea!!! I'm so very fortunate to be here where I can bounce things off of all of you to help me decide my path, which can be quite the struggle sometimes as we know!! Thank you all for your words of support and your thoughts on what to do next!!

So that everyone understands, I have a little over a week to go before my next appt with my doc. Although I will ask her if she will be willing to check my liver enzymes, she is NOT Lyme literate (only Lyme 'friendly') and so, I don't know if she will or not.

I have had serious intestinal issues (cramping, severe constipation) all my life, only with healing the first set of Lyme and company infections have I ever had any relief from it, although the intestinal cramping continues, I can lower the amount of herbs I take for it.

I have reduced my probiotics down to just my kefir (I ran out, LOL! and haven't gotten to the store yet), and have stopped the Yogi detox tea(don't feel like I need it now), but will continue on with the "regular" detoxing things I do - skin brushing, oil pulling, foot soaks, and activated charcoal if the need is there.

I take licorice root (small amounts) daily anyway, Healing. Thank you! It's in a combination of herbs that helps to stop intestinal cramping - so there's no living without it! LOL - but very literal!!

I also am taking bile salts daily (around midday with fat soluable supplements) and digestive enzymes at night with dinner - as per my doc. I have low digestive enzymes even without Lyme and company messing around with things!

Georgia Hunter, I was put on the mix with licorice root by a Master Chinese Herbalist and have been on it for quite a while now, as it's the only thing that stops the continual intestinal cramps - believe me, no pharmaceuticals work for me on this. I do realize that herbs are drugs in their own way, but as with pharma drugs, sometimes a person has to use something full time instead of part time. As I said, I will be getting my liver values checked out, even if I have to go to my GP and complain about liver pain to get it done! LOL!

And yes, I intend to keep up on the immune support as well. Thank you!!!

So, it's about official as I get, no more treatment for Lyme and we see how I do!!! Here's hoping that I'm good to go!! I've still got a long road ahead of me in terms of healing, so the sooner I'm done with this part (Lyme treatment) the sooner I can move on to the next thing!! So this is huge for me!

Thank you again all of you who read this - and a huge thanks to all that responded!!! You are all gems! Thank you!!!

There is a specific gene, forgive me for not remembering which one, but when this gene is homozygous, it allows unwanted bacterial growth in the GI tract. Most people with IBS and Crohns suffer from the lack of enzymes produced by that gene. The unwanted bacterial growth that occurs causes the inflammation and cramping. When I get home, I think I can find which gene it is.

As always, I greatly appreciate your words, Violets!! And thank you so much for such a wonderful post!!

I have been very surprised by the full moons the last couple of months - no symptom increases at all which is not normal for me!! I usually know 3 days in advance of a full moon. Another thing that I have seen lately - in the last week - is that when the barometric pressure drops significantly, I used to always be in a lot of pain. As in, cancel the day because I'm not moving!!! kind of pain - but as of today, it's happened twice and I've been surprised to see it drop like that and I'm not in any increased pain. I've been cleaning the house - including the windows!!!! (that alone should scare the wits out of hubby!).

I'm thinking that it was the Lyme herbs I was using (had wormwood in it) that had my liver going at first, then the Yogi detox tea that I continued further as well. Now that I've stopped both of them, my liver and my innerds are much, much happier campers!! Nothing like a happy liver and happy innerds!!!

Am I completely done with Lyme treatments? I think as you said, only time will tell. I had wanted to stay on the herbs for another couple of months - but not at the expense of my liver or any thing else that I might be pushing too hard if I no longer have an infection. And since I have yet to show any symptoms of any other infection, it may be that Lyme was the only infection I picked up - but again, time will tell and I'm definitely not above restarting treatment if it appears that my symptoms are returning!!

Another thing that really complicates this is that I started off with Adrenal and thyroid issues before I had Lyme this time. Those things were a major reason why my body couldn't fight it off this time - in my opinion anyway. With continued treatment for my adrenals and thyroid, immune building herbs, Lyme treatment, detoxing and eating properly - well, I'm hoping to have this crossed off my list of things I need to heal from and move on to the next things - my adrenals and thyroid so that I can get bone grafts done to replace bone in my jaw to support dentures. Maybe, just maybe after that, I can be done with this whole thing.....at least for a while.

As for only being in treatment with these herbs for 5 months - I cleared a 40+ year Lyme infection with just 12 months of use of these same herbs, so I believe that it's quite possible that I *might* be done with treatment. I just lacked the confidence to stop them without at least checking with those that I believe can help me the most - my "family" here on this forum!! And you are definitely one I consider as part of this "family". Words of caution I will definitely take to heart. Thank you.

Hugs, not sure, but listening to the body is sort of a historical, medicine man thing. If it's retaliating, you need to hear it and respect it. Our LLMD tests every other visit to monitor liver - you really should see about that - don't screw up intestines either.... no candida for you!

I howled at the wazoo comment :) love it!

Wow, Traveler, this is great news! I briefly read most of the posts, and although I can't get into the specifics of all of those herbs, I can say this

I agree with Denise - listen to your body. Just remember what happened to me - When I got better, I couldn't handle the treatments anymore. When I was treating for lyme in the beginning, AL complex did nothing for me. At the end, my heart couldn't handle just 3 drops - it would race and palpitate all day. Also, when I was almost finished with my antibiotics, I was getting a lot of headaches, and I had none during most of my lyme treatment.

I don't know how you reacted when you initially beat lyme, but for me, I did have a few scares after I stopped treatment (a few herxes) - and it made me nervous because I thought maybe I wasn't done yet. Well I was wrong - because I haven't now herxed in I would say 2 months, and feel totally fine.

Good luck!! Hope my little story helped a little - I know you had so many others put their two cents in!! Did you ever take beyond balance? I guess if you were to just remain on some herbs, maybe these would be the gentlest ones??

Sounds like now that after all of these posts, you decided to stop treatment for now - I wish you all the best! Hope that it all goes well !!!

Awesome, Traveler, and you know most of us - including me, would not have been able to be making it through without you!!!

nope! couldn't have! you have no choice but to accept the compliment! =)

So glad you love your role traveler! - The very first thread I wrote on here back in Feb of 2014 was a question about herxing, and it was healing98, toddpaul, barngirl and you who responded first. I owe my healing to my Dr and all of my friends here on the forum - because there were quite a few times where I just felt like I was never going to make it - and hearing your stories, advice, and words of encouragement is what gave me the strength to fight my way through!! Ok, now I am really off the topic of this thread,....rambling on too much! LOL

Wow! You're done with Lyme!! Hopefully things go smoothly while off the herbs. It's a good thing that you caught it early this go around. I can't wait to hear how you are doing in the weeks to come. I know you have other issues that need attention........thyroid, adrenal......

I know that you will get those in order too. Soon you will be feeling so well that you'll need a whole herd of dairy goats to keep you busy!

Sending you positive thoughts!

Xoxoxo

Okay, Chapelle!! LOL! You win!! Thank you for the complement. I'm so very happy that I could be of help!! (((((hugs)))))

Georgia Hunter said...
Trav, if you deal with constant constipation, that can be caused by poor neuronal function of the nerves innervating the colon or sodium retention issues. How much sodium do you eat? Too much is bad, not enough is bad. Start altering your sodium intake to see if you can balance your fluid retention. You may need to eat more sodium. It could be an aldosterone issue which could go back to your adrenals. Read up on the function of the colon and how it conserves fluids/sodium. Alter what you eat to see if that helps. Poor neuronal function can be caused by a high viral load or excessive oxidative stress.

Thank you so much for all of that information, Georgia Hunter! It's greatly appreciated. I've altered my food intake, altered my sodium intake, changed the type of salt I use, am on Adrenal meds (and will be talking to doc about aldosterone issues in a week!! I wrote a note to myself about it two days ago!). Honestly thought, I believe that my constipation issues are due to nerve damage that has never healed, thanks to Lyme and company. I used to suffer from pseudo-blockages and more all the time. I've gotten "dialed in" pretty much on how to prevent issues, although I still have them occasionally as stress, illnesses and too much pain can still affect me greatly.

I will definitely let you know what my doc has to say about any possible Aldostreron issues.

Ha ha ha, Happyjo!! Thank you, but there are a lot of wise people on this forum!! And thank you so very much for the well wishes!!

Everything, even those things that are good for us or that we need can be overdone. So everything must be done in moderation. That's what I'm trying to find now for myself - that point in which I am still allowing my body to heal without burdening it with unnecessary things (even if it is 'good for me').

I hope that we both find that point quickly!!