Howdy all...

Want to introduce myself, Joy here. Found out a bit ago the reason for most of my health problems...

When I was pre-schooler, around the late '50s early 60s, I got sick. Mom took me to the the doctor and while there, a weird rash broke out. The doctor got excited and told Mom that the way the bullseye rash was manifesting I did not have Rocky Mountain Tick Fever but Colorado Spotted Tick Fever. Don't know if thats BS or not, just relaying what Mom told me. Long story short, had a fever high and long enough to deform the enamel on my adult teeth that were developing. Got over it and life was good.

Had Baby Son in 1983 and fatigue and muscle aches came and went. In the late '80s was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. In the early '90s the pain got so bad I went to a psychiatrist. Lucky for me he was into pain control through self hypnosis. It still works to this day.

In '04 we went camping and got chiggers. Hubby got over them in a couple weeks, I was sick for two months. A very miserable critter to take up residence on you. Went downhill from there. Couple years later after seeing many doctors, I found out I have Hashimoto's. Had a TPO over a thousand! Won't describe all the symptoms, but had a whispery, gravely voice and felt like I was being choked.

No happily ever after with a new pill for me! Life is never that easy. LOL For some reason, whatever thyroid pill I took, it just made me feel worse. That's when I hit the 'puter for research and found the best place for reliable info was on forums with people who have been there and lived through it.

Did some saliva tests via a computer website and found out my Adrenals were toast. The Endo de jour did a ACTH stim and pronounced my adrenals were working awesome! Even I knew something was amiss... The stim is done early in the morning when your cortisol is highest, should be around 24 - 27. Mine was the lowest number on the scale. Therein lies the quandry... it was pituitary, not antibody...

To make a really long story short, it took me five years of doing the medical merry-go-round to find someone who believed me. Have to fly up once a year to see my D.O., but he's so worth the money to have my life back again.

Oh no! It doesn't end there. Life is never that easy. In March of '14 we were on a motorcycle road trip and in a small town I got a ruptured appendix. Got some new scars and settled in at the hospital. Turns out the medicine doc gave me too much antibiotic and I got C-diff. A three day stay turned into a week because we were seven hours from home and they wanted to make sure I could get home without an 'incident.' Being in quarantine at a hospital is not fun!

The C-diff turned into S.I.B.O., DO helped with some meds and I started on a diabetic friendly (yup, diabetic type 2 here) food regime to help my gut heal. After two years I saw the light at the end of the tunnel! Gut was starting to do it's normal thing, when I ate something bad. Death knell...

Health started going downhill fast. Flew up to see my DO and he started peppering me with questions. Most I said no to, some I said yes. Then he asked me if I'd been bitten by a tick. I was floored and told him what my Mom told me about the tick bite.

I'm almost over with doses of Neomycin and Nystatin, both 500 mg three times daily. Also on S. Boulardii and Tumeric once a day. Madre Nature Cats Claw is 500 mg three pills twice a day. Gut is getting better, but found out gluten is still off the menu. Something about leaky gut way before C-diff, no eggs for me either!

Still have a long way to go on the Valtrex. Four days on, three days off. Kicks my butt! DO wants my gut healthy and the Epstein Barr virus in the rear view mirror before moving forward.

I understand about detoxing, but it has always been hard for me. Have been taking Milk Thistle for years, may up the dose. Starting to take hotter showers which give me nausea. Is this a good thing, or bad?

Sorry for the long post...

I want to thank all the people on this board for all the good you do in the world!

Hi Joy!-

Welcome to our community! I am so sorry for all the suffering that you went through, for so many years! My goodness!

Has your son or husband ever been tested for Lyme disease? Do they display and symptoms?

I am so sorry to hear about the C- diff, S. I.B. O, type 2 diabetic, and so much more that you suffered from.

It is so sad that you were misdiagnosed and saw so many doctors before you knew that it was Lyme.

I am glad that you are seeing a LLMD (Lyme literate medical doctor).

Yes, Hot shower= herx for a lot of people with Lyme . I feel physically weak and nauseous if my shower is too hot or too long.

There are a lot of different ways to detox in the "New to Lyme?.... Start Here!" thread at the top of this forum. A lot of great information listed.

I wish you the best of luck through this hard journey. Please continue to post and ask questions if you have any. There are a lot of great people here and understand.

Best Wishes!

Hi Joy! Welcome to our community!! I'm so glad you found us!

Your story is much like my own, and detoxing was my biggest hurdle for a long time. I had to start off with ridiculously small baby steps with detoxing because my body was so overloaded with toxins, and detoxing is vital for us to be able to make it through treatments and heal. For dry skin brushing I had to start off with a wet washcloth for a week or so, to get my skin to tolerate being rubbed. At that point in time, I was in complete misery if I had to wear clothes or cover with a sheet, as my skin as very overly sensitive. Next came tackling the Epsom Salt soaks - and I still can't use the full baths, as they release too many toxins at once for my body to handle effectively, so I'm still doing foot soaks instead.

It's amazing the shear number of 'work arounds' that members have come up with in order to be able to heal and detox!!

This is a wonderful list of detoxing that we use: www.tiredoflyme.com/detox-methods.html and we have suggestions in the "new to Lyme?" thread as well.

Hi Joy!-

If I were you, I would talk to your son about getting tested for Lyme disease. He should get tested through IGENEX , and Not through a "regular" doctor.

You might have passed Lyme to him in the womb, or he could have gotten it elsewhere.

I went 27 years of being misdiagnosed. Several years ago I dealt with a lot of blackouts. The doctor gave me a heart monitor to wear . Everytime I had a blackout, I would press the button on the monitor box, so it would record my heartbeats. One time it read 197 beats a minute (normal is around 60). I also would usually feel them coming on. I also would lean against the wall and"ride" my way to the floor.

I also deal with low blood pressure. So I have to get up slowly from the sitting or kneeling position.

Please look into this.

Best Wishes!

Hi Little Bear,

Wow! What you went through is exactly what Son went through. He ended up in the ER a couple times due to high blood pressure and pulse too.

Here' the problem. He's married with a toddler and a baby, thinks his health is under control, got his dream job about six months ago and.. he's still mad at me for taking him to a Chicken Pox party as a kid.

He's a wonderful person and we are very proud of him. I don't want him or anybody to go through what I have.

If he does get tested and it comes back positive for Lyme, would he be able to keep working while getting healed up?

Traveler,

I know about POTS because it can be a symptom of adrenal insufficiency. Didn't know other factors could cause it too.

Son passed out at our house once and I tested his blood glucose and blood pressure when he woke up. Blood glucose was good, blood pressure and pulse were sky high.

Good to know some people can hold down a job and heal at the same time. He's relatively healthy and in his early 30s so age is on his side. Next time we talk, I'll explain to him what the source of my poor health is and that he needs to be tested.

Knew for a long time I passed some health issue on to him... bad tick!

I'm so sorry that you've had many of the same experiences I have, Little bear. It really s*cks to grow up like that. There's no way to estimate how many doctors I've seen in the past 46 years or the number of blood draws (and sometimes they took a lot!) or how many MRI, CT scans ultrasounds or other imaging tests (although I've only had one SPECT scan!! LOL!).

Hi Traveler!-

Yeah, it did s*ck growing up with this disease! Like Joy said , you always try to find your"new normal". And I am sure you did this also. You try so hard to be "normal" until symptoms get so bad and you can't deny the fact that something is wrong. Then it was time to see a doctor because of desperation.

The sad thing was, doctors told my Mom that I was faking my headaches to stay home from school. To this day, my Mom remembers the teacher calling home to pick me up. The teachers could even see it on my face that I was having a bad headache.

When you are sick as a child, and don't display medical physical findings, not a lot of people believe you.

When you are an adult, and don't display medical findings,you get labeled as a hypochondriac.

Or the doctors will just throw out any type of diagnosis. And when you tell them that the treatment (medication) isn't working, they will make it seem like it is your fault. Most doctors want to"mask" the symptoms and never want to get to the Root Cause.

Sorry, I'm starting to rant now. :)

I don't mean to upset anyone by being so.. non-serious (I know there's a word for this, but bear with me).. but.. whenever anyone says howdy.. all I can think of is this scene from Toy Story..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C25l1SkYzb0

XD

Best wishes though, Joy, and I'm sorry for the troubles, for what it's worth. I hope I didn't offend..

Antonio, thanks for the funny! Did you know that laughter is the best medicine?

Totally no offence taken. When I was feeling real bad Mom would start making jokes about it. In the end, we would both be laughing so hard feeding each other punch lines.

Good memories...

~<3