New to the site and struggling

Hi Jason - welcome!

I'm sorry you have lyme...but very glad you found us here.

An increase in severity, and/or new symptoms appearing can be attributed to a herxheimer reaction.
This happens when the toxins (created by the die-off of bacteria) flood your system, and your body can't keep up with detoxing them out. The resulting inflammation produces the increase/new symptoms.


You are still treating, right?

The best thing now is to detox. Flush out those toxins:
- Make sure you take probiotics DAILY
- Take a liver support supplement

Some more ideas:
- Take a binder (with lots of water) - eg. Activated Charcoal. Must be taken a couple hours away from food, antibiotics, other supplements - as it will flush them out of your digestive tract.

- Make sure you're drinking lots of water daily.
- Add some fresh squeezed lemon juice into some glasses
- Take warm epsom salt baths
- Dry brush your skin prior to bathing


You will want to start with the probiotics and liver support right away. Then every couple of days, add in another detox idea.

Here's a website with more suggestions:

www.tiredoflyme.com/detox-methods.html

Hi Jason -
Welcome - so sorry you are here and dealing with all this but I'm glad you found us.

Girlie shared great info. I would start VERY slowly with the detoxing and work up to optimal levels as soon as you can. It will take awhile for your body to process all the gunk you're killing and detox it out of your body. Go slow and steady.

Symptoms:
These sx you described are neuropathy:
joint pains, pins and needles feeling, muscle twitching, headaches

These sx you described are neuro-psychological sx:
chronic headaches, brain fog, slower mentally, anxious, down (depression)

Anti-inflammation:
My Lyme-knowledgable neurologists suggests that most neuropathy is from inflammation - so it might be good to incorporate anti-inflammatories like turmeric and japanese knotweed. When starting anything new, please start slowly.

Detox:
The GI binder Girlie mentioned is very important - helps move toxins and debris out of your GI. There are blood vessels that connect your gut and your brain, which is often how dysbiosis in the GI can give you sx in the head (like the neuro-psych sx above). Nutrition and supporting regular bowel movements are also critical.

I would NOT work out at this time - your body is trying to support your immune system by diverting its resources to that and detoxing - working out isn't the best way to sweat. Try a sauna. You can work out once you have more treatment under your belt and your herxing is reduced. Or, you can do a more relaxing detox soak and add things like epsom salts, sea salt, hydrogen peroxide, heat, duration, partial or full body soaks.

Something else that helps is nerve support by Nutramedix - Pinella and Burbur tinctures.

Hope this is helpful - if not, just keep asking questions!

-p

Hi Jason,
Welcome, we are nearby in No. Va. You have great advice. I will say that DS was super sick off and on, mostly on, for the first 6-9 months of treatment and while we did lots of detox, he was just sick no matter what. However he kept at it and now 2 years into treatment with JClinic in DC, he is pretty much experiencing little to no symptoms. I know it's hard to hear but it does mean that the treatment is probably working. Also, I'm not sure if you are pulsing abx or taking continuously but DS was completely incapacitated until he started pulsing (rather than continuous daily abx) with JClinic. You may ask to try that if possible.

Thanks for the warm welcome and advice everyone. Yesterday was a pretty good day. I hit a rough spot in afternoon, just like I am today. This morning I actually had some moments where I felt great. Like my normal self. I knew better than to get my hopes up. I enjoyed the brief break from the storm. Now it’s back as I type, laying in bed again, resting for an hour. When I get like this I tell myself “This’ll pass. It always does. Don’t fight it or get frustrated or down. Just passively accept how you feel. Relax. God’s got you.” In the past I responded the opposite and I got angry, worried, fearful, frustrated, and down. But it made me worse. No wonder God constantly says “Fear not” and “Don’t worry” ... Ugh! I feel like someone drugged me!!! Where’d my energy go? Lyme is hard stuff ... messes with me physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I don’t want my wife and kids or others to think I’m lazy. I can’t keep pace like a normal man. So humbling.