Tuesday 15 April 2014

Antibiotics - Finding the Right One for Me

Finding the Right Antibiotic for Me

Azithromycin otherwise known as Zythromax definitely helped cure my Lyme co-infections. I had been on a lot of other antibiotics before taking this one, and nothing compared.  I think what's really important is to find an antibiotic that is right for your infection and your body. I tried many different antibiotics over the course of five years. I took this one on and off for a year along with a Sulpha antibiotic. During treatment on these I felt so much better, so I thought I would try to come off the antibiotics and see if the infection was really gone like I felt it was. But no, within two weeks or so, symptoms would come back. But rest be assured I felt very confident with these two antibiotics, especially Zythromax. I actually regained my energy back while on them, something I never felt while taking any of the other medications. So for me, this antibiotic combination was a break through.
In my opinion antibiotics are integral in treating Lyme co-infections. When you try to treat them naturally only, I believe you are prolonging the disease. My infection was so rampant in my body, I know if I did not take antibiotics I would either be dead or in a wheel chair all shrivelled up.

During the 4 years of being sick before my diagnosis, I spent wads do cash on nature paths and natural therapies.  I probably spent $50,000.00. Some of them helped, but none of them got rid of the Lyme, or even detected it. Nothing against naturopaths, I still go sometimes, but I was fighting a the unknow. No one could give me an explanation that I accepted. I felt like I had been poisoned and was searching for what I had been poisoned with.

Antibiotics were integral, but on their own, didn't cure me.
After 5 years of being on antibiotics and 9 in total of being sick, I was really tired of fighting. I was frustrated and scared. You would think 5 years of treatment with antibiotics, three different ones at a time would be powerful enough to kill any infection! But it would not die!
The bacteria digs deep inside, and builds walls around itself. It needed starvation, fumigation and explosives all at the same time. And my big fear then was I would be on antibiotics for the rest of my life if I wanted to function like a half normal human being.
I did NOT want to be on antibiotics anymore, but I did because they made me functional.
After being on Zythromax, I never felt better. It was just getting off Zythromax and not depending on it anymore that was the problem.

Monday 14 April 2014

Antibiotics #1 - My Regime

Antibiotics
One thing is for sure! I would not have recovered without the help of antibiotics. I took antibiotics for a total of five years.  During that time, every now and then when I felt better, I would try to come off. But usually within a few days I could feel the Lyme coming back. It just wouldn't die. So I remained on antibiotics, usually two or three different ones at a time, just to keep myself functioning like a half normal human being. Even though they  made me feel better, they left me constantly exhausted.
  Finally in my fifth year of taking antibiotics, I realized I needed to do more. I had already been loyally sticking to an anti inflammation diet. No caffeine, sugar, nothing refined. It was hard, but I felt better when I watched what I put in my body. I wasn't sure what I needed to do that would finally kill off this monster. That's when I started to do more research and listening to people who had also been very sick and find out what helped them.  I didn't care if it was cancer or they had a rash, I wanted to know how they killed, or suffocated it because that's what I needed to do the bacteria colonies taking residence in my body. If I didn't find a way, I would be dealing with Lyme for the rest of my life. And it is  debilitating. Mentally, physically, and absolutely every which way, it will take your life away! If I  had never started antibiotics, I believe it would have killed me.

Antibiotics were crucial in starting me back to health. But that's not all that I needed. It was obvious to me, I needed to use more than one method. Lyme has a way of surviving through antibiotics and forming walls around them selves called cysts covered in biofilm, kind of like mucous to shield those little cysts from their destruction. That's why I was always on two antibiotics, to burst their bubbles.

It could be that it is actually a man made bacteria that got into nature during the war. There was a lot and still is experimenting in biological warfare going on with very evil people behind them.
Whatever the case, it is what it is. It's here and it is not just a part of people's imaginations. There are too many cases emerging for it just to be a psychosomatic thing. It would be great if our healthcare workers would get up to speed on all of this, but like I've said before, it's political. So just focus on getting better.

Antibiotics were the most powerful tactic I could get my hands on against them. But they weren't powerful enough to get me Lyme free.

Getting Antibiotics





The easiest way for me to get antibiotics was to go to America, from Canada every six weeks to see a LLMD. LLMD's are hard to find in Canada as the College of physicians  doesn't recognize Lyme like they should and NEED to in Canada. So, if a doctor is treating Lyme in Canada with long term antibiotics, they must be discreet, and expect the College of Physicians scrutiny.
I decided not to deal with it and go to America. The antibiotics are fairly cheap, its the doctor appointments that add up. I didn't care, I just wanted to get better. So, ALL of my money went into my health. This sickness taught me, if you don't have your health, you have nothing. Not even a brain if you have Lyme, that seems to get lost too which is the scariest part.
During the time I was seeking help in US, I was able to fax my drug prescriptions made out in the States by my LLMD to canadadrug.com, and delivered right to my door.

Sunday 13 April 2014

Lyme Disease Symptoms - Lyme Testing in Canada

Symptoms

Lyme disease and it's co-infections present themselves with very specific symptoms. Doctors underdiagnose Lyme or wrongly diagnose it because it can present itself as other conditions such as fibromyalgia, MS, depression, chronic fatigue, celiac, irritable bowel syndrome and many other diseases. That is not the problem for under diagnosing it though. Through my journey I have learned it's just pure ignorance. If you have Lyme, you need to work the medical system to your advantage. If you have Lyme or suspect you do, you MUST seek help from an LLMD (Lyme Literate Medical Doctor) in the USA or possibly in Canada. After I found out I had Lyme,  I wanted to go back to tell all those doctors That seemed so confused, why I was so sick!! So, that's what I started to do. However, I soon realized that was like beating my head against a brick wall because they don't get it, nor do they offer any help. I was so frustrated with the system.  Four years of doctor appointment after appointment, my time wasted and my symptoms becoming unbearable, and no one had a clue what was going on. It angered and frustrated me, and my anxiety from the whole ordeal was through the roof! I realized instead of focusing on them,  I needed to focus on me, work the system for what I needed, ignore the ignorance that surrounds this issue and just get better!

Since I've been better and off of treatment, for three years now, I often receive phone calls or emails from people who are having trouble getting help for their Lyme. When they tell me their symptoms, I realize we all have something in common. LYME symptoms. They aren't hard to spot and are very specific.

For example,
  • seeing phantom images in the corner of your eye as if someone's in the room with you
  • exhaustion
  • head aches in front of head and in the eyes
  • creaky neck
  • spine going numb
     tick in nymph stage
  • low body temperature
  • slightly swollen glands
  • achy
  • heart palpitations
  • digestion problems
  • ear aches
  • blurred vision
  • Seeing spots especially in florescent lighting
  • chest pain
  • extreme motion sickness
  • forget-fullness
  • shortness of breath
  • pressure in the head
  • waking in the middle of the night and not being able to sleep
  • get an awful hangover from drinking little alcohol
  • facial pain
  • pain in teeth and jaw
  • symptoms change
  • hair loss
  • sudden allergy to perfumes and scents
  • muscle spasms & pain, like knives going through your body
  • "arthritis"
There are some 70 symptoms, so those were just a few. Something I noticed all of us that have Lyme say is, "I feel like I'm 100 years old", "I feel like I'm dying", "I can't drink alcohol". Doctors need to be trained to recognize these statements when they come together.

Symptoms vary slightly from person to person, but the symptoms remain very specific and instead of writing it off as MS or fibromyalgia or whatever else, as many doctors do, why don't they AT LEAST test for Lyme with an accurate form of testing, which at present only exists in the USA. Then more people could get better and move on with life! But for now, if you have Lyme or suspect you do, just focus on getting better, not on what many doctors say, do or think. It doesn't matter. What matters, is that you treat what you really have and get your health back.

I do not recall being bitten by a tick or having a bulls eye rash. I tested positive in Canada for Erlichiosis and Bartonella. However, the medical doctors I went back to try and show my test results to denied these tests and said they were false positives.
So trying to help the MD's see what I was dealing with was really hopeless. I needed to see a Lyme Literate Medical Doctor. Please see a LLMD if you think you may have Lyme.

Lyme Testing in Canada

Here are my blood tests I had done in Canada. If Lyme is not tested for during a certain window  of time, the levels won't show in blood. Sound like reliable testing to you? My tests showed that either I didn't have an infection, OR the infection was no longer detectable. It was after four years of being sick I had these done. So of course the results would say that. Despite that, the medical doctors, even an infectious disease doctor, told me they were negative. Do you think I should've listened to him?













I just wanted my life back!!!
Lyme and it's co infections are extremely hard to treat. And, being diagnosed seems to be the most difficult part of the sickness these bacteria cause. It can take years.  So, as someone who went through the ordeal, and spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was wrong with me, I understand that reading about symptoms, roadblocks to treatment, and out right denial that this disease even exists is probably something you've already done. Don't concentrate on that.

NEVER give up! 
After taking a trip to Russia I became increasingly sick for 4 years before being diagnosed with two Lyme disease co infections. I tried natural remedies, that cost a fortune! But, it wasn't until I started antibiotic therapy that I saw true progress. Antibiotics definitely got me on my feet again, helping me to get by day to day, and so did my regimented diet. But every time I would try to come off antibiotics, the infection would return. It just wouldn't die. This disease had taken over my life! That's when I decided I needed to somehow take my life into my own hands. The doctors I had been seeing were helping me tremendously by prescribing antibiotics. I was on an intense diet prescribed by a nature path that helped. But my memory was still awful, I was exhausted all the time, and the aches and pains stilled reared themselves, especially when I ate sugar. And even though a lot of my symptoms were much milder and bearable, I was also extremely fatigued from the medications. I couldn't live like this forever.  I decided to invent my own regime. I wanted to suffocate it, so that it was impossible for it to survive in my body and that's what I did.

I am not a medical doctor. I used medical doctors to my advantage and my common sense and now I DO have my life back. It was well worth effort. You can not give up!!!!