Interesting

I was reading an article about the herb Samento and it's effect on Lyme Disease. I came across an interesting statement: Lyme Disease is now thought to be the fastest growing infectious disease in the world. There are believed to be at least 200,000 new cases each year in the U.S. and some experts think that as many as one in every 15 Americans is currently infected (20 million persons).

Wow.

Often I wonder how many people have the disease and have no idea. It cost a lot of money to even get a diagnosis. What about people that can't afford it? I hope one day soon this disease will be more widely known. If I can get it- a person who lives in West Texas (where according to CDC there is minimal or no risk) and who isn't outdoorsy in the least, then anyone can get it.

So I went today and got two herbs that are used in treating Lyme Disease: Samento and Cumanda. My local dr. told me about these herbs 6 months ago (when I was first diagnosed). I finally decided to give them a try. I'll be taking them with my current antibiotics. I start tomorrow. I remember him telling me that it's been shown people who take these herbs along with their antibiotics have a better outcome. I spent $80 on both drugs (1 oz. a piece) so I really hope they make a difference. Getting sick sure isn't cheap!

I need to get this out!

I've been holding in a lot of anger lately. I'm just so mad about how things are going. I'm not feeling very good these days. I'm just sick of it. I mean really sick of it to the point I just want to scream!

I always think in life that every decision turns you into different paths. Even the most miniscule ones, though most don't change your life that much. I think I went down a wrong path when I went to the Louisiana doctor in August.

I was doing so good on doxycycline (what my local doctor prescribed). I told the doctor that, but he insisted that I should try Zithromax since doxy is known to cause light sensitivity and it was in August. If I would of just stuck with the doxy for longer, even upped my dosage maybe I would be better now. I was only on it 3 weeks and was already feeling dramatically better. Why did I chang?!?!!?!?!?!?! I guess I'm mad at him and myself.

Then when I went back to doxycycline in October, it didn't do ANYTHING for me. How disappointing. I'm thinking the bacteria became resilent to the doxy since I stopped it before. AGHHHH, that makes me so mad.

I'm on Biaxin and Omnicef right now. I've been having some scary symptoms with my heart. Biaxin is in the same family as Zithromax. And when on Zithromax I had occasionaly heart palps, chest pain, and uneasiness feeling in my chest. So maybe this is just not a good drug for me. I'm going to call my doctor about this because enough is enough. I'm sick of being scared. I can't do it anymore. I won't. I need to take my health into my own hands.

Scary Stuff!

Tuesday night I had a very scary thing happen. We were at the gym and I was doing so good. Orginally I was just going to workout on the eliptical for 30 minutes, but I kept increasing the time. I figured I could do it for one hour, which is way longer than I usually do. My heart kept skipping beats, but I just ignored it. The flutterings only lasted a few moments, so I really wasn't that worried.

I should of listened to my body and eased off, or stopped the eliptical all together. I was at 58 minutes- just 2 minutes away from my goal when my heart freaked out. I don't know how to explain it exactly. It started to beat erradically, almost like it wasn't fully beating, but vibrating in my chest. I was having trouble catching my breath and could feel my heart inside my throat. It was so scary.

I immediately went downstairs to sit in the dressing room. After 5 minutes my heart was still doing this. I finally went and found Matt and told him what was going on. I decided to sit out in the car to see if it would go away. It didn't.

This went on for nearly 4 hours. My chest was hurting so badly at one point I threw up. It's not often that I'm in bad enough pain to cause that to happen. I kept contimplating going to the ER. We were just about to get Holden up to go when the strangest thing happened- I got this really really bad pain in my chest and throat and my heart flip-flopped... then just like that it started beating normally. It as almost as if my heart shocked itself back into the right rhythm.

I know this incident happened for a few reason. #1 I pushed myself WAY too hard. #2 I was dehydrated. I don't know why but I find it hard to drink that much. #3 I didn't get very much sleep the night before. And #4 Tuesday morning I started a new antibiotic (Biaxin).

From now on I'm going to do just 30 min. increments at the gym. Like get on the eliptical for 30 minutes...then go do weights...then come back to the eliptical for 30 minutes. And I'm going to make sure my heart rate doesn't get up to high. Tuesday night it was at about 175 bpm, even going up as high as 180. That's really fast for a whole hour.

We're going to the gym again tonight. I'm kind of scared I'll have another episode, but I've decided if I do, we will go straight to the ER.

FRUSTRATED!

I'm trying to stay positive about everything. I really am, but it is getting hard. I still feel pretty much the same as I did when I was first diagnosed back in June. That is so disappointing. I take my meds regurarly and have even started exercising.

Lyme Disease is a very confusing disease. There is no set treatment plan because every person is different. There are so many different combinations of medicines you can take. I guess I just haven't found the one that will make me better yet. I just am so confused... you have no idea.

I'm also on the fence about my doctor. He is in Louisiana (10+ hours from where I live). My first visit with him back in August went so well. But since then things have gone down hill. First off I really don't like his office staff. They are cold and unsensitive. It's like talking to robots. When I call and leave a message no one ever calls me back.

I have a phone consultation tomorrow. I'm really hoping everything goes well.

I don't know what else to say. I had a lot on my mind, but I just feel so tired right now. I'm upset about so many things. I wish there was a magic wand that could make me better because I just don't know how to get better. What I am doing now is not working.

just an update

I'm just now getting over a cold I've had for about a week. It was kind of weird getting a cold because I haven't been sick like that in over a year. Yeah, no kidding. When you have Lyme Disease your immune system usually goes on overdrive so you usually don't get sick with other stuff. Maybe my immune system is becoming weaker. I don't know.

All in all I'm feeling okay. Haven't been having any heart palps (knock on wood). Just been feeling normal for the most part with the occasional lightheadedness. I have a phone consulation with my doctor next Monday.

Well that's about it, just thought I should update.

Oh and just for my own personal note last Thursday (29th) I started taking 400 mg. of doxy. Before I found that hard to tolerate, but so far so good.:-)