I am closing out the fourth year of my ordeal of nasty tick-borne disease. This year was remarkable on two fronts: I found a way to connect with other people going through similar ordeals and I had an unfortunate set-back.
Facebook Groups. They are awesome. I joined a few Lyme groups to help those who are struggling to understand what they are dealing with – especially those with heart block symptoms, which can be fatal if left untreated – and in the process, I learned about other symptoms that Lyme and coinfections can cause, like blurry vision. I didn’t know about that. I also connected with a few people who also dealt successfully with Lyme carditis.
As for the set-back, I removed another tick. This one had set up shop on my leg, but probably only for a few hours before I plucked it off. That was Memorial Day. Within a day I had fallen ill with a bad headache. Soon after, pains in my heart, shoulder and foot set in. Dr Lyme#3 increased intensity of my protocol to address Lyme. A few weeks after that, the night sweats started up again; Babesiosis had returned, so Dr Lyme#3 shifted the scope of my protocol accordingly. He also confirmed that the neurological symptoms of Lyme and coinfections may include intermittently blurry vision.
The latest protocol has helped a lot. My vision and most of the pains have improved, though the pain in my foot continued on and got much worse, so I called in my podiatrist to help. He sent samples to a lab for analysis, but he couldn't test for Lyme and coinfections despite my concern about the pain starting the day after the recent tick bite. Results showed a cyst with gout, so there you have it. Getting back to the protocol, as an unexpected bonus, my white blood cell and bilirubin counts moved into the normal range after a few cycles and they’ve stayed there since. That's a surprise, because basically they have been off for as long as I've had blood counts, and that's at least the past 20yrs, minus a few blips since I started treating for tick borne disease four years ago. WBC was low and the other very high. Anyway, I believe I am back on track now. I am looking at just a couple more cycles of this more intense protocol, then it looks like I will return to a maintenance protocol thereafter. And that’s basically where I had been before that tick bite.
btw... This recent bug found me some time between getting on my swimsuit at my home and taking if off a few hours later. In between, I went to my neighborhood pool.
As you can see, this guy was somewhat small. The one that got me back four years ago was much smaller.
btw... This recent bug found me some time between getting on my swimsuit at my home and taking if off a few hours later. In between, I went to my neighborhood pool.
As you can see, this guy was somewhat small. The one that got me back four years ago was much smaller.
