I have Lyme Disease. For sure. (I got my lab results that confirmed this a couple weeks ago, but I’ve been so beat, it’s taken me this long to get this post finished.)

I feel like I can almost hear the thoughts of many who have followed along with my health issues this year: Now she has Lyme Disease?!

Well, I’ve had Lyme Disease. Now I know.

I have had a million thoughts about this ever since I learned there was a pretty good probability I have Lyme. It’s a controversial disease. It’s difficult and expensive to treat when you’ve had it a long time (also known as Late-Stage Lyme Disease). Nothing about this is going to be easy. It’s not something I’d choose, but it chose me. Now, with a proper diagnosis, I get the chance to fight it. If I hadn’t happened upon the right doctor, my health would have continued downhill. Thank GOD I found the right doctor.

Nothing else I’ve been diagnosed with has been taken off the table. Will it be? It’s definitely possible. Lyme can cause autoimmune problems, and my blood work definitely shows very HIGH levels of autoimmune activity going on. Until I get the Lyme Disease under control, my blood work picture may be unclear. (Sometimes Lyme can mimic other diseases.) There’s only one medication I am still on for the autoimmune diagnosis that’s in question, and that medication is also used to treat Lyme. We’ll get me figured out eventually, but it may take some time.

I have been treating Lyme for almost 3 months now. I started an herbal treatment at the beginning of September (this was started as a test, based on symptoms) and added antibiotics at the beginning of October after some initial blood work pointed to Lyme. I changed to a new antibiotic at the beginning of this month. I also take several supplements to detox and support my immune system. I’m not going to lie… treatment has been very rough so far. I’ve had to cut back on the herbal treatment (when the goal is to build it up) due to my body having too strong of a reaction. Unfortunately, feeling worse during treatment is not abnormal for Lyme that’s advanced, and treatment is probably going to take a long time. (See #8 in the Friends & Family link below.)

I’m going to share some information about Lyme Disease for those who are interested, but first a couple of other health updates:

• My Hashimoto’s Disease had been under control previously, but I visited my endocrinologist a few weeks ago and my latest thyroid blood work came back terrible. This compounds many of my Lyme Disease symptoms. I’ll have to see if this complicates my treatment at all. My endocrinologist has increased the dose of the thyroid medication I take, and I’ll retest in a few weeks.
• On Friday I went to see another cardiologist that my endocrinologist referred me to in order to try to get to the bottom of my terrible dizziness. I now have to wear a small heart monitor (called an event monitor) at all times (except in the shower) for 30 days. It’s not so bad and hasn’t affected my sleep much, but the stickers for the leads have been irritating my skin. Hopefully that won’t get too much worse. Also, I have to do some more lab work and am going to do a tilt table test next week and another echo-cardiogram when I go back in January. The great news was that this doctor is going to use the results of a cardiac stress test I did earlier, so I shouldn’t have to do that again. (That was a horrible experience dizziness-wise.) I don’t think there’s any imminent danger heart-wise, but anyone who’s struggled with persistent dizziness can tell you it gets old.
• I go back to my doctor that’s treating my Lyme Disease this week on Wednesday.

In case you want to know a little more about Lyme Disease, here are a few links for starters.

International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society: Some Basic Information About Lyme Disease

This explains the stages of Lyme Disease: The Stages of Lyme Disease and Symptoms

Here is a lot of great info explaining symptoms, treatment, and the controversy of Lyme Disease: Lyme Info For Newly Diagnosed Patients

This is great for Friends and Family:  So you have a Friend or Family Member with Chronic Lyme Disease: A Guide to Understanding their Struggle (Great list! I especially like #4 because I really wish people wouldn’t take this personally.)

If you want to watch an eye-opening documentary, consider watching Under Our Skin. I watched it on Amazon Instant Video. (And then I found it for free on YouTube. ;))

That’s enough about Lyme for starters. I’ll have lots more to say about Lyme as my journey continues.