Recent Events Have Me Quickly Losing It After Years of This

running wild - you are not posting too much.

I'm so sorry for what you're experiencing.

If it coincided with the Rawls herbs - then I would stop them now...and see if you can get back to how you were prior to this.

Does your LLMD accept phone calls between appointments? Could you call him?


Whatever you do - don't stop detoxing.

Do you take a binder? You'd need to be careful if you're having constipation - drink lots of water...
Do you take magnesium? I know Traveler posted that she takes it to help move things along in her digestive track.

Girlie - We all have challenges, as you too well know. My LLMD does not take calls between appointments. Has a email system I can use, but probably won't hear back over the long 4th weekend.

I do take activated charcoal on a smaller basis. Wondering also if L glutamine is playing a part, especially the constipation, as I started it yesterday. Have read a good bit about success and problems with it.

Guess I will stop the herbs to see if it could be something like Japanese Knotweed creating problems. Maybe as I ramped up it caused problems. This is the first time in years, however, I've just felt lost on it all. First time around, the bicillin did wonders. Not on the relapse, though.

Others have gone much longer, and I tip my hat to them. I'm feeling the 15 years of this now. And one you feel better, having it come back seems tougher to deal with.

Thank you for all your replies.

Hi running wild,
Its ok to post and share your feelings with us. Many here understand where you are at right now emotionally.

They have struggled and fought and most likely felt the same way at one time or another too.

This is a place where we can feel free to ask for help, guidance and even just a place to vent our frustrations.

So please always reach out when it becomes overwhelming or you just need a shoulder to lean on.

Our battles with Lyme and co are not simple and we know for most of us there are many ups and downs.

This is especially difficult as you had said, when you have have good days and had success before.

Please know that we care about you and I hope things take a turn for the better for you soon.

Take care, Jo

Hi Running Wild,

Hang in there! Sometimes it gets to be too much, but that will pass.

I like Girlie's recommendation. take a break from everything if you have to for a few days, (except detox and any essentials that you may be taking to support your immune system).

how fast did you ramp up on your herbs?

Caramba

"Others have gone much longer, and I tip my hat to them. I'm feeling the 15 years of this now. And one you feel better, having it come back seems tougher to deal with. "

Boy, can I relate to that. I told myself that it would be easier because I knew what I was doing, had been through it before so it would be easier to descipher what was going on with my body and other 'good' points - yep, that does make it less scary, but not any easier. Hang in there, Running wild.

Try stopping everything for a few days or a week to allow your body to just settle down, but detoxing well. Then restarting things more slowly may make a difference. As you said, maybe something (like JK started something and the bicillin kind of pushed the situation too far?

No matter what you try or do, please do stay in touch on here and let us know how you are doing. When someone is really struggling in some manner, we expect them to post more often. We need more support and more ideas during those times!

Are you using any binders? Binders are particularly helpful during episodes of leaky gut, as it will bind to the 'things' that leak through the intestinal walls and end up back in the bloodstream. Just trying to come up with ideas of what may be of help to you - you may or may not wish to try them.

Yes, unfortunately, I think most people that find themselves 'back in the fight' feel this way. It's tough to face knowing what we have come to understand about our body and these infections and what it takes to get us through. I actually use a negative thought (all too often) to keep myself in treatment and going - I know what it's like to not treat, and I have no desire to live that way any longer. Life while in treatment, at least I have some functional days.

I think I have restarted my treatment 4 times now. I had to start the herbs that would best support me first, and finding those was not easy as I'm on my own here, but with some trial and error, I finally did figure it out and have been able to get into treatments that are helping.

Although I do have to say that I will be changing protocols in a month or two. I'm going back to what worked well for me the first time I healed and will be keeping my fingers crossed that it will be what brings me back again.

Hang in there - we are all pulling for you!

Proper diet, gut support, and detoxing are crucial, I've found. These things are obvious, or they should be, but I feel like a lot of people, myself included, put more stock into killing the infections off than they do supportive measures.

In the long-term, eradication of the infectious agents is the goal, but not only are they taking a toll on your bodily systems, but so are many of the treatments employed to kill them.

A broken record, but definitely consider detoxing more. It's tough, I know. I don't do anywhere near enough myself, but I really couldn't say lemon water and ACV alone would do much. They're safe, clean methods, but I question how effective they are by themselves. Neurotoxins are the enemy. I don't know about the process by which the body removes them, but I know it's not an easily done thing for Lymies. You need more help. Consider the binders (contraindicated with constipation and leaky gut, so, again, comes the importance of gut health) and the various tinctures.

I've been experimenting with high dose Pinella-Burbur. Nothing crazy, but more than 30 drops twice daily. I'll do it 4 or 5 times. I once saw it recommended to use 30 drops every 10 minutes in the case of severe herxing 'til it subsides. I definitely plan to do more things, though. Again, detoxing isn't just drinking a few glasses of lemon water a day. I used to do that. I still do that kind of stuff, get lazy. Doesn't work.

There's been a couple posts about it lately, the significance of toxins on how these infectious affect you. It's huge. I think I've been living in a toxic state for months, years now. A little effort put towards detoxing, and I can feel the difference.

Sorry, if this post is a mess. Gotta be off!

I use magnesium oxide (pulls water into the lower colon) for constipation issues mainly, but will also use Vitamin C, fiber, and any thing else I may need as well (stool softeners or even a gentle laxative) in order to be able to keep using charcoal during times I need it as I too deal with mainly constipation. (Note: I use magnesium oxide and Vitamin C flushes when things get really bad).

I'm going back to the Chronic Tonic and Houttuynia for Lyme and Bart treatments because I tried using Buhner's protocol, but it's not going so well. I'm 6 months into using it, and I've not been able to get on the full protocol and even on the herbs that I have been able to get started, I'm not up on very high doses yet (less than one full dose spread throughout the day).

By the time I had been on the CT and Houttuynia for 6 months, I was feeling significantly better, so I'm thinking of going back to what worked the first time is all.

"Just wondering what will work or not causes stress." So true! I wish there was a better way, but without better testing (not just for diagnosis, but for tracking progress), I'm not sure there is a way to avoid that.

Yes! I herxed quite a bit on the CT and Houttuynia, but I was able to control the herx and get up to full doses in no more than 2 months still - unlike Buhner's protocol for me. It just goes back to not every protocol that works, works for everyone. If going back to the CT and Houttuynia not only allows me to get up on full treatments, but heal again, it's only further backing up that we each need to find what works for us is all.

I do agree that if you can figure out which herb(s) are causing issues for you, that you will then be able to move forward with your healing.

Thank you, Running wild. My hope is that you find ways to ease your symptoms and find what works for you soon as well.

What spices are in the bone broth? It's likely that it's fine. And it's wonderful that your daughter was thinking of ways to be of help to you!!! That's a lot more than we can say of a lot of people around us all too often. Give her an extra long hug!!!

I can't use the bone broth because of the natural MSG that is in bones and gets released when bone broth is made (MSG allergies are not fun) - but I do hear good things about it and that it helps a lot of people with leaky gut. So I do hope that it helps you as well.

Please do keep asking questions and posting your concerns!!!

MSG is not listed on many products, so for those with MSG allergies/sensitivities, this can create a lot of issues. It took me a while to figure out why bone broth, which should have been helping me was only making me worse.

Same this with soy for me. I'm amazed at how many products have some type of soy in them - and now I'm so sensitive to it, I can no longer even tolerate products with small amounts of soy oil or soy lecithin - and that's not always put on the labels either.

What about stopping your herbs (except support herbs) and doing an elimination diet? You could have some food allergies/sensitivities that is making the leaky gut even more of an issue. Just a thought, as that's what helped me separate out my food allergies from my leaky gut issues.

running wild I had no problem with antibiotics for a long time, then *poof* I can't handle them.

My daughter did fine on antibiotics and then she got something when she was 5 and all of a sudden she was very allergic to antibiotics, penicillin specifically.

Two years later she got pink eye (conjunctivitis) and was given neosporin eye drops. Yep, boom! allergic to that one too.

All of my grand children have eczema. I wondered where they got it. I always knew as a child to stay off the grass.... Well I was tested and I am allergic to ALL grasses. And guess what? All of my grand children are too and that is why they all have eczema. They can't play on grass, especially barefoot.

Allergies can come about at anytime for anything.