Hi Guys!
I've been lurking on this forum for a number of months, and have been consistently amazed with the quality of knowledge and care shown by you guys. I'm so happy I found this forum!
Anyways, I'm making my first post because I feel like I'm 'stuck' in treatment, and can think of no better group of people to ask for advice than you guys.
This past summer (July) I was diagnosed with Lyme, Candida, and Tick Born Relapsing Fever. I believe I contracted these infections 2 years ago, when I first began to experience weird health problems. Things really seemed to take a dive this past year, and I became very acutely ill with a flu-like illness in June, which led to my diagnosis. I tested negative for other co-infections (although I know these tests can be in-accurate), and so far have not displayed any classic Babesia/Bart Symptoms.
I took 6 weeks of Doxycycline at the beginning of treatment, which seemed to dampen my symptoms initially by about
15%, but didn't seem to help much in the long run.
Since mid-September I have stopped Doxy, and have been slowly starting an herbal/Lyme protocol with a LLMD in my area, and have thankfully made some progress.
So far I have been taking some of the Buhner Herbs (Cats Claw/Eleuthero/J. Knotweed), Nystatin/Probiotics for Candida, some adrenal support supplements, and a bunch of detox rituals (lemon water, epsom salt baths, milk thistle, coffee enemas, etc...). I have made progress on this protocol in many of my symptoms (fatigue, joint pain, brain fog, etc...). However, what I can't seem to shake are these relapsing fever episodes!
Every 10 days I come down with flu like symptoms - I feel very fatigued, dizzy, achy, and suffer from joint pain/redness in my knees/feet/hands. These symptoms last for 3 days, peaking in intensity at night, and then I return to 'baseline' for 7 days. By my understanding, these symptoms are classic of Tick Born Relapsing Fever, in which Borrelia 'flood' the blood stream for a number of days, and then 'hide' until the next cycle. This process has repeated continuously since I became acutely ill in July.
My symptoms have certainly improved in between these episodes, so I would say my Lyme/Candida treatment is going well (albiet slow, as I seem to herx at low herbal dosages). For example, I cannot seem to get past 3/4s of a teaspoon of Cats Claw/Knotweed after 2 months, as the die-off symptoms get too uncomfortable to handle.
However, I can't seem to budge the relapsing fever episodes themselves! I cannot tolerate any more than tiny amounts of 'killing herbs' during these episodes, as any more than 1/3 teaspoon of Knotweed/Cats Claw will make me herx like crazy! I am no stranger to die-off symptoms, as it has happened regularly during the past 4 months, but the die-off reactions I get during these relapsing fever waves are downright scary! During each episode it feels like my body is suddenly filled with bacteria, and is too inflamed/weak to tolerate killing.
I don't suspect my body will truly start healing until these episodes start dialing down in intensity, but I can't seem to make much headway, no matter how much I detox!
Have any of you experienced Tick Born Relapsing Fever? Statistics indicate that thousands and thousands of people in the United States have been infected with some strain of TBRF, but as the IgeneX tests (and others) have only recently begun testing for it, I assume many lymies don't know they have it, and information online as per treating TBRF is pretty scarce.
If any of you guys know anything about
TBRF, or have heard about
anyone who has gotten it into remission, I would love to know! Furthermore, if have any of you have ideas on how I might make some progress/handle medication better during my episodes, I would greatly appreciate it!
Have a great day!
