My Lyme Disease Diagnosis

Hello again, I am finally back to blogging and I am here to stay. I apologise for my absence, but I plan on sticking around this time sharing all things health, wellness, nutrition, mind, body and soul. I also want to share the next chapter of my healing journey with you, which came as a surprise this year. The past 6 months have been interesting to say the least. New challenges have emerged, as they do. Emotional and physical healing has been profound. It has been a big year of acceptance and letting go. Something that has been recurrent the past 4 years. I have the tendency to try and force things in my life to happen, being overly ambitious, optimistic and positive (which is great!) but sometimes things have to happen in divine timing. Trust the process so to speak.

I started studying nutritional medicine earlier in the year. I knew I wasn’t physically ready, but I was so caught up in my passion for nutrition, my desire to help others and keeping up with the successes of those around me that I didn’t want to get left behind. So I dove right into study, for 2 weeks, but then my health went down hill quite dramatically. I couldn’t get out of bed let alone study. I couldn’t believe this was happening and really broke down, I was a mess actually. Soon after accepting it wasn’t the right time for me to study and truly letting go of these expectations I had for myself I felt such a huge sense of relief. I needed to be gentle with myself.

Very soon after this shift I had such a huge surge in creative inspiration as an artist. And ever since I have been overflowing with creativity it has been overwhelming. My hands can’t keep up! If you would like to follow my artistic creations visit my website, my blog and my facebook page. I will be sharing updates on my work here too. I have equal passion for art as I do natural health and nutrition, I ultimately want to pursue both. I like having the balance of using my creativity and intellect interchangeably. But for now focusing on my art is more nurturing and supportive to my health and well-being whilst I heal.

Continuing on with my healing journey it has been a very turbulent year with some improvements, but also some major setbacks. After 4 years of trying basically everything I could to heal and doing every functional test available to me ie: salivary hormones, heavy metals, thyroid T3/T4/Reverse T3/antibodies/TSH, methylation nutrients, autoimmunity, immune dysfunction, chronic viral and bacterial infections, GI profile testing I was stuck on what to do next. I knew I hadn’t found the primary cause of my illness.

I had heard in recent times that some people were being misdiagnosed with CFS when in fact the cause of their health issues was Chronic Lyme disease an infection caused by the spirochete bacteria species Borrelia, similar to syphilis that is transmitted by ticks to humans. Some doctors call Lyme Disease the great mimic as it can cause such a wide range of debilitating symptoms especially when left untreated for many years. Many sufferers are misdiagnosed with CFS, Fibromyalgia, MS, autoimmune disorders, thyroid disease, Psychiatric disorders, Rheumatoid Arthritis and so on when the primary cause is actually Lyme and co-infections such as Bartonella, Babesia and Mycoplasma.

I decided I needed to test for Lyme, what did I have to lose. I visited a Lyme literate doctor In Mullumbimby who order a CD57 test which measures a subset of lymphocytes that are quite reliably low in Chronic Lyme Disease. I received my results promptly showing my levels were low, likely due to my immune systems chronic fight against Lyme.  I then consulted with a chronic disease and Lyme specialist in Maleny who recommended a large array of tests as well as the Igenex western blot for Lyme disease.

After a long wait I received the news that my test was a definite, strong positive for Lyme on both IgM and IgG bands. Meaning a current but long term infection. I had already received a clinical diagnosis from my VERY confident doctor using symptom assessment and my high chance of Lyme exposure. Now we were certain of the diagnosis. I was very overwhelmed with finally discovering what has been the main contributor to my ill health for so many years.  There were strong feelings of relief, but also anger towards the many doctors I had seen who completely ignored my plea for help for so long.

So where to from here? My doctor wants me to take multiple antibiotics for 12 + months. I am joining the forces of an experience LLMD Doctor and naturopath to guide me through the very time consuming and involved treatment process. My healing regime is similar to what I have been doing plus ALOT of antimicrobials, biofilm enzymes and detoxification support. I am also using some additional, quite controversial treatments which I will take you through in another post!

You know what feels so good? To actually know what I am treating. I have found the primary cause. This is what functional medicine is all about. Finding and treating the cause. It is also important with Lyme to address heavy metal toxicity, immune dysfunction, candida, detoxification, methylation, pyroluria, co-infections, viral infections, nutrient deficiencies, parasites, gut dysbiosis, allergies, food intolerance, and hormonal imbalance.

I will address Lyme Disease further in future posts including why is certainly does exist in Australia, treatment options and symptoms.

I look forward to sharing with you the next chapter of my healing journey, but also some new and exciting recipes, health and nutrition related topics.