You can read the my story page to hear how it all started, or so we think/thought. There may be a missing part in there. That missing part was about 10 years ago, or about 5 years before I suspected it all started.
Back in college, I remember going to the doctor for a bullseye like rash, can't remember if I had any symptoms. I remember the doctor mentioning lyme, and I remember taking medicine. But then I got better, or so I thought, and carried on with life until fully getting sick and declining many years later.
This past Friday I saw an LLMD- a doctor specialized in lyme. The problem is these doctors are few and far between. The bigger problem is they don't take insurance. The politics and such behind treating lyme properly is ridiculous. So anyways, made a little trip to Indiana to go see this new doctor. He spent 2 hours with me- discussing my history, my current symptoms, examined me and then going over a treatment plan.
He has no doubt in his mind I have Lyme Disease, but there is more to it. He believes my lyme from college never was treated properly. So my past lyme kind of just hung out in my body for many years, until I got sick in 2010 and then I felt more symptoms of it, and now with this new case of lyme it hit me much harder. In addition to lyme, he strongly believes I have bartonella. That is another tick-born illness that often comes along with lyme.
So his plan is this: He is upping the dosage of the antibiotic I am currently on to the proper dosage. This treats the current lyme and half tackles the bartonella. He is also adding a second medication that will tackle the rest of the bartonella. In a few weeks, if I am handling these meds ok, he will be adding a third medication. The third medication will basically reopen the old case of lyme so that the first medication can try to rid it from my body. Lastly, the fourth medication is the other one I'm already on but he is increasing the dosage on that as well. He expects me to be on all of these through December.
In addition to the pharmaceutical side, there is a more alternative side, the side I of course prefer. Fortunately, I don't have to make many changes there because I'm doing just about everything he suggested in regards to what I eat, small amounts of exercise as I am able to, and supplements to ease this process and help my body recover.
I can't even remember what it's like to feel healthy. I have to now take 20 pills a day (7 prescription + 12 supplements + 1 OTC). 20! But my newest doctor thinks he can get me close to feeling healthy again, and for once I somewhat believe him. I will still have Myasthenia Gravis, that is a for sure separate diagnosis. I will still have many of the other diagnoses as well. But this doctor's thinking is that IF lyme was the absolute root cause/beginning and we successfully treat the lyme, everything else will most likely improve. That would be an absolute dream come true.
And so, prayers please- for successful treatment, my body, especially my liver, to tolerate all of these meds, no further complications or worsening of symptoms/not flaring my MG or POTS, and better health in the not so distant future.
In the mean time, I now get to promote awareness on yet another illness, make that two: lyme and bartonella. I officially dislike ticks.
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