Hey everyone,
I know this is probably a topic that has been discussed a lot on this forum, but since I'm new to Lyme and to this forum, I was hoping I can start a conversation going. I am newly diagnosed to Lyme, roughly 1-2 months ago. I have been suffering for at least 2-3 years, if not a lot longer (if I look back to a decade ago when I was in college, I did not have the joint pain or neuralgia, but anxiety, depression, insomnia, motor tics were all there as well as a screwed up stomach). Just to give everyone a quick background of my story; I have been an athlete my entire life, palying soccer, hockey, running swimming, weight lifting- I needed to compete, in something, it was my drug. When I graduated college and stopped playing competitive sports, I got into weight lifting. Unfortunately I had dislocated my shoulder three times, non-weight lifting related, but it never really hurt in the coming years. Fast forward 6-7 years later, and I started having really bad left shoulder pain. Went to an orthopedic surgeon after 8 months of PT which did not help, and he operated on my bicep/shoulder. I completed 8 more months of PT and when I got discharged (I had strained my shoulder several times while in the PT process) I returned to the gym. Just about the time I got discharged I developed plantar fascitis in both feet and my right knee started hurting (my right hip is higher than my left because of all the motor tics I did for years). My left shoulder was still so weak that even really light weights in the gym would hurt my shoulder and would take weeks, sometimes a month to heal. I went back to to several different PT facilities, myofascial release therapy, different practitioners, no one could help me with my shoulder. I also started losing a lot of weight. Developed burning in both of my feet, knee pain persisted, and then my right shoulder starting hurting a lot and got weaker and weaker. I found out I had a parasite, which was causing weight lose. Went to a functional medicine doctor, got rid of the parasite, and started healing my gut, which the weight has slowly started coming back.
In the time I've had surgery- over two years ago, I have not been able to weight lift, run, play soccer or hockey, and I live in a very health-conscious city in New Jersey, where everyone is active. I'm sure you can all relate to this situation, as lyme is debilitating and takes away your energy and ability to workout. I became extremely depressed, hated the way I looked (and still do), as I lost most of the muscle I worked so, so hard to build for years and years (and with that physique came confidence!). I am now in the process of healing my stomach and eradicating Candida, going to a cognitive behavioral therapist to help really control my Tourette's Syndrome, seeing an LLMD for my Lyme and a Traditional Chinese Herbalist for herbal remedies to help in conjugation with the antibiotics.
I'd love to hear from those who have healed from Lyme (and any co-infections), as to what you feel was the biggest part of healing for you. Was it the antibiotics, positive attitude, herbal remedies, family members, a combination of different elements, etc? How do you feel now after you've healed? Do you feel 100% better, do you feel like you still have symptoms but they're under control, do you feel like you are much stronger and better person for going through all of this struggle? I guess the purpose I'm writing this is because I need to hear from those who are going through the same struggles I am, that everything will be ok; that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. That life does go on after Lyme and you were able to return to the activities you were doing before you got sick.
I look forward to everyone's response!