Just a Rant-No More Spoons

Like the subject line says-this is just a little rant to let off some steam. I am so over this year. This year has tried me in ways I didn't even think it could. After years and years of meds I finally went into remission in December of 2012, and got married that following fall. After a few years of building my body back into a healthy state we start trying to have a baby. Go to several doctors (one who supposedly was also a LLMD) who basically say-there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to, your body just isn't. The LLMD said his wife was the same and they had to do a few rounds of IVF. Then my sister-in-law literally tries for a few weeks and BAM I now have a cute nephew. On top of this is my boss is considering retiring and closing the place-so job hunting. And the cherry on top of the freaking ice cream sunday from Hades is we have bought a house that was my husband's grandmother's house. His parents helped the little they were able (mother-in-law has had several surgeries to her back and knees) but the rest of the family left cleaning out the house to us-we put everything in storage because they didn't want to donate or throw anything away. After almost a year we got the house clean and have started renovations-which basically is bringing everything up to code and fixing what has been damaged over the years. While our contractor works on that we have been fixing the roof, painting, and having a crazy time trying to order supplies. All of this I might could have handled....but I relapsed back in August. I could tell some of the symptoms were slowly coming back over the summer but it finally came to a head just as we were finishing the cleaning aspect of this saga. Adding to the Lyme is Lipedema....so that's fun. Went back to my LLMD who correctly diagnosed me all those years ago-who already had a plan in place just in case we needed it. Abx and herbs-detoxing-herxing, oh my! Everything just seems to be snowballing. Now I can't tell if the pain is 1. Lyme, 2. working on the house, or 3. the weather. I'm guessing all of the above, because that's my lot in life. Trying to stay optimistic but its getting hard. Hair is falling out, but I have found a new hairdresser who is magical! She is really great and has helped make my hair look so full and healthy. So she is the tiny bit of sparkle in the rest of this darkness. The last time I dealt with Lyme I was in school and if I had a bad day I could just stay at home-now I have to be all adult and drag myself to work.

I'm over it. Anyone else want to turn in their adult stuff and join me being a cat? Mermaids are so last year. I'm all for being a cat--all I need is a nice soft spot in the sun and someone to bring me snacks.

Thanks Girlie! I'm hoping that since I started treatment so soon it will be easier to return to remission.

I'll be praying for your poor kitty! Have you tried putting her into a baby shirt? I heard those were a good alternative for cones.

Sorry I meant to say onesie not shirt. You can use a footed onesie and just cut out the but for the cat's head to go out. So the onesie is on backwards and wear the head would normally go is open for the tail. Or you can try baby booties, but my cats tend to get those off pretty easy, but its always worth a shot. The recommendation is that for small cats (less than 6 pounds) try a premie size, for cats 6-10 pounds try a 3-6 month size, for cats over 10 pounds try 6-9 months and for cats more than 15 pounds try a 12+ months. https://thecatsite.com/threads/alternatives-to-the-cone.328751/ has pictures.

BookWyrm,

My alarm bells are ringing. You were in remission. You bought an old house, cleaned it out and started renovations. You relapsed in August. Your hair is falling out.

- old house renovations
- hair falling out
- relapse

Any signs of past or present leaks, water damage, or visible mold in that house?

CIRS from exposure to water damaged buildings is more real than most on this forum want to consider possible.

definitely mold

the blue sheetrock is mold resistant. you want this type of sheet rock.
buy lots of box fans and duct tape MERV filters on them, put them around the house
buy a $35 HEPA/UVC filter and put one in the bedroom and one in the common area. change the filter every month
$250 dehumdifier keep it at 30-50% relative humidity. Put it near the hepa filter.
spirulina supplement is anti-mold. I use the tablets, 10-12 a day.
RO water filter if your water is not bleached by the city

Oregonhay- Thanks for the posts. I've been looking into dehumidifiers. So far my symptoms (that seem to match with CIRS and Lyme) are fatique, headaches, vertigo, muscle aches, joint pain, air hunger, and to a lesser extent / occurrence is light sensitivity and memory issues. The only two that don't seem to match up is the tingly/numbness and heart racing. We do filter our water and I can't believe I never thought of strapping filters onto box fans. That is a great idea!!

Well I just wanted to update on the CIRS - finally got a response back from my LLMD. He wants me to do some research into some of the different testing. One test he recommended was VCSTest . com. Has anyone else done that? According to the test my left eye has a biotoxin score of 15/18 and my right has 13/18 for a total of 35/45 or 78% positive. So feeling pretty strongly about CIRS being a part of what is wrong. Is there any test y'all would recommend is worth the money? For now I'm on alinia, azithromycin, nystatin, probiotics, milk thistle and some really great vitamins. Just switched to the 1st two and already I have noticed what I hope is a herx and not just a side effect (stomache ache/nausea). So we shall see.

P.S. Girlie-hope your cat is doing better.

It said positive at a total of 78% so I'm going to look into it some more. I'm so sorry to hear about Miss Kitty! I'll be praying. My own fur-babies mean so much to me and I know they help a lot of us cope with being sick. I was feeling really sick last night with my stomach and when both of my cats curled up with me it helped. They are the best heating-pads.

@sandyfeet - thanks for the bump! I've looked into the ermi test and the Great Plains urine test....but with us (hopefully) finishing renovations this week and moving it has taken a back burner. My LLMD says he recommends taking cholestyramine to bind the mycotoxin, saunas to sweat it out and a million gallons of glutathione. I've been doing a little researching into glutathione and it looks like I'm already doing some of it-milk thistle, eating sulfur foods (greens, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower), and foods with selenium and methylation nutrients. So fingers crossed this will help tide me over until I can get my house sorted and my focus back on getting healthy. Just getting rid of that huge stressor will be a blessing.