Monday, April 21, 2014
Starting Malarone
Good news. After being off Doxycycline for a month or so, that lack of motivation feeling I had been having every day for the past 6 months is gone. The Doxycycline was for sure causing it. So I am so grateful for that. Today I just took Malarone for the first time. With 2 Tablespoons of Omega Oil. Anyways - we shall see how I feel on that...
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Feeling Bored
Today is one of those days that I am feeling bored with treatment. I just want to be over with it. Done. It has been 7 years since I first got sick. It was May 2007 and it is almost May 2014 now. 7 years. I have done so many things. Metametrix testing. Super helpful. Alleviated many issues although the underlying cause, Lyme Disease and Co-Infections, was still unknown to me. CDSA, Heavy Metal Testing (I was fine), IgG (Allergy testing) (pretty much fine besides Yeast). I did the 'gold standard' genetic testing for Celiac Disease. Again. I was fine. I was not Celiac. Lyme was the root of it all. And probably the MTHFR mutation I had made it 10x worse. Made me unable to detox - or at least I have 10% of the detox capability of a 'normal' person. I took months and months of herbs while I lived overseas. They helped. Got rid of Bartonella. Which is huge. HUGE for me. The nervousness and anxiety and sore throats was SO intense and it scarred my life for years. I never felt myself. Ever. For 5 and 1/2 years. So I am so grateful to be free of that.
I am grateful to be treating Lyme. And I am just about to start to treat Babesia with the Malarone. But today I am just feeling like I want to be done with it all. I am ready for it to be over. I have done my time. I have put forth my best effort and I should be better, totally better, right now. But, I am not...totally better. I am better. But not totally. Still gaining weight, still have the Babesia issue to deal with.
I liken what I am feeling right now to having completed 2/3 to 3/4 of a marathon. I am at that point where my starting drive has wore off, and I am worn out and tired of just running, step after step, mile after mile. I just want to see the "Finish" sign. I want to live the life after the finish line.
But alas. I still have a few more years to go. And day after day, I need to take the medicines in order to cross that finish line. But the problem is, there are hills on this marathon I didn't expect. Like when I was ready to start the Malarone last week but got the worst stomach flu of my life and couldn't. Delay. And now I feel like I need a few days to just feel 'normal' before I start the Malarone and start herxing from that. I mean, I am not really up for having the stomach flu and then the day I feel better, taking a medicine that makes me feel like junk right away. So there is delay.
I think I am also feeling this way because my body IS feeling better and so inside I know that I am closer to the finish line. Like being a senior and you know graduation is 3 months away and you just want to give up and relax because it is coming and you can feel the freedom. Senioritis. That is what I have. I have Lyme Treatment Senioritis with a touch of Babesia Listlessness. Self-Diagnosed.
I am grateful to be treating Lyme. And I am just about to start to treat Babesia with the Malarone. But today I am just feeling like I want to be done with it all. I am ready for it to be over. I have done my time. I have put forth my best effort and I should be better, totally better, right now. But, I am not...totally better. I am better. But not totally. Still gaining weight, still have the Babesia issue to deal with.
I liken what I am feeling right now to having completed 2/3 to 3/4 of a marathon. I am at that point where my starting drive has wore off, and I am worn out and tired of just running, step after step, mile after mile. I just want to see the "Finish" sign. I want to live the life after the finish line.
But alas. I still have a few more years to go. And day after day, I need to take the medicines in order to cross that finish line. But the problem is, there are hills on this marathon I didn't expect. Like when I was ready to start the Malarone last week but got the worst stomach flu of my life and couldn't. Delay. And now I feel like I need a few days to just feel 'normal' before I start the Malarone and start herxing from that. I mean, I am not really up for having the stomach flu and then the day I feel better, taking a medicine that makes me feel like junk right away. So there is delay.
I think I am also feeling this way because my body IS feeling better and so inside I know that I am closer to the finish line. Like being a senior and you know graduation is 3 months away and you just want to give up and relax because it is coming and you can feel the freedom. Senioritis. That is what I have. I have Lyme Treatment Senioritis with a touch of Babesia Listlessness. Self-Diagnosed.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Spring Break - Sick with Stomach Bug
Okay. It has been one heck of a Spring Break. It was like the Stomach Bug came for a visit the minute the kids got out of school last Friday. Good thing I didn't have any amazing vacation planned for this Spring Break! I had just planned to get a few things done - enjoying the fact that the new antibiotic I am on - Biaxin - helps me stay energized during the day.
Well, not so fast. Saturday my son is telling me his stomach isn't well and he can't move. He throws up during the evening and night several times. I just thought it was a little stomach bug. No. He just handled it with grace and without whining. Then I got the bug. OMG. I woke up at 2:30am feeling nauseous and went and threw up. Then fell asleep. Then I puked at 3:30, then 4:30, then 5:30, then 6:30, then 7:30 and then 10:30am. Midway through there diarrhea was coming into play as well. The 10:30 throw up was the worse - I had yellow bile coming out both ends. I have NEVER had this in my life. It was the most disgusting, horrifying thing. Especially because it came when I couldn't get to a toilet fast enough. I will spare the details but it just looked yellow in our master bedroom. So there IS a first time for everything.
Then my other child got the sickness, then my husband, and then another child. And so it has been quite a Spring Break. My husband said he didn't think he has ever thrown up that much in his whole life. Like 60 times in one night. Each time we threw up - it was like 10 times per one trip to the bathroom.
Anyways. It has nothing to do with Lyme. But so glad we had a week off of school so we could all get sick.
Well, not so fast. Saturday my son is telling me his stomach isn't well and he can't move. He throws up during the evening and night several times. I just thought it was a little stomach bug. No. He just handled it with grace and without whining. Then I got the bug. OMG. I woke up at 2:30am feeling nauseous and went and threw up. Then fell asleep. Then I puked at 3:30, then 4:30, then 5:30, then 6:30, then 7:30 and then 10:30am. Midway through there diarrhea was coming into play as well. The 10:30 throw up was the worse - I had yellow bile coming out both ends. I have NEVER had this in my life. It was the most disgusting, horrifying thing. Especially because it came when I couldn't get to a toilet fast enough. I will spare the details but it just looked yellow in our master bedroom. So there IS a first time for everything.
Then my other child got the sickness, then my husband, and then another child. And so it has been quite a Spring Break. My husband said he didn't think he has ever thrown up that much in his whole life. Like 60 times in one night. Each time we threw up - it was like 10 times per one trip to the bathroom.
Anyways. It has nothing to do with Lyme. But so glad we had a week off of school so we could all get sick.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Feeling Better on Biaxin and Nystatin
Okay. So I started Biaxin as well as Nystatin 1 week ago.
I feel ALOT better than how I was feeling right after the return of our ski trip. ALOT better.
The whole week after our ski trip (which I didn't ski but the rest of the family did) I spennt laying on the couch sleeping ALL day after I got the kids ready for school. My husband was home that week and he picked them up from school because I was STILL sleeping by the time they were ready to be picked up! I would have woken up and got them, even with the intense fatigue, but it was nice to lean on him and have him home that week. It was REALLY scary to get that tired. I mean I felt like I had regressed to the beginning of treatment and even then I felt BETTER!! So it was really bad. And then I get the thought, what if I am going to be permanently like this?
During that week I also had an intense yeast infection that began after the first few days of fatigue Like out of control So I took fluconozole and nystatin. I also used by probiotic capsules as vaginal suppositories to combat the yeast as well. After the yeast infection died way down, I started the Biaxin.
The first day was HEAVEN. I accomplished a yard project. I had started in the morning around 10 or 11am and usually by 1:30 or so I tucker out. Actually, usually I have NO MOTIVATION to do anything so I just sit around the house. Literally. So come 1:30 I am still going strong with the yard project and don't feel the urge to lay down and rest. The feeling I always get when it gets overwhelming and I just know I am done. I took the biaxin capsule around 12:30 or so.
I then went and did a little research on Biaxin. Why? Because I was curious if it had any affect on keeping one alert during the day because I felt it had done that for me. Guess what? It has been used to treat hypersomnia (excessive daytime sleepiness) so that says something. I'd like to think it is my body that now has it's own energy to be awake longer (maybe from the massive fatigue herx the week before and bugs diying off from that) but I think it is most likely the Biaxin. So that is a wanted side effect for me. I actually felt like me for the first time in a long time using it! I mean, before Lyme, I was constantly doing projects, exercising, volunteering, running around all over the place, socializing, gardening etc. So it felt good to be that person!! SO GOOD!
I would have never taken Biaxin had my LLND not suggested it. I had never really given it much thought and if you know anything from reading my blog, you know that I give everything ALOT of thought!! I research everything and am driven to know the root cause of everything that is happening in my life and body.
Anyways, so what is next on the agenda? Next, is adding in Malarone. I have this yucky cold with headache that everyone in our family has right now and I am just getting over it. I don't really want to start the Malarone while I am feeling that way. I ordered some omega oil to put into protein shakes to take with the Malarone because you have to take 23 grams of fat with it. Yikes! So, I am trying to do it the most healthy and convenient way possible. But that is ALOT of fat. That has to happen twice a day.
After adding in the Malarone, I will add in the Cholestyramine. I will take this around lunch time 1 time a day. I need to take it with fat as well. Well, 1/2 hour after taking the Cholestyramine, I am supposed to have something fatty. So that makes 3 times a day where I need to ingest large amounts of fat. Yay.....
I have this muscles soreness, tenderness in my inner thighs, my outer tricep area that I am hoping goes away either with the Malarone treatment or the Cholestyramine. I think it is a Babesia or a stored toxin issue so those medicine address both of those causes. I am hoping, hoping, hoping!!!
I feel ALOT better than how I was feeling right after the return of our ski trip. ALOT better.
The whole week after our ski trip (which I didn't ski but the rest of the family did) I spennt laying on the couch sleeping ALL day after I got the kids ready for school. My husband was home that week and he picked them up from school because I was STILL sleeping by the time they were ready to be picked up! I would have woken up and got them, even with the intense fatigue, but it was nice to lean on him and have him home that week. It was REALLY scary to get that tired. I mean I felt like I had regressed to the beginning of treatment and even then I felt BETTER!! So it was really bad. And then I get the thought, what if I am going to be permanently like this?
During that week I also had an intense yeast infection that began after the first few days of fatigue Like out of control So I took fluconozole and nystatin. I also used by probiotic capsules as vaginal suppositories to combat the yeast as well. After the yeast infection died way down, I started the Biaxin.
The first day was HEAVEN. I accomplished a yard project. I had started in the morning around 10 or 11am and usually by 1:30 or so I tucker out. Actually, usually I have NO MOTIVATION to do anything so I just sit around the house. Literally. So come 1:30 I am still going strong with the yard project and don't feel the urge to lay down and rest. The feeling I always get when it gets overwhelming and I just know I am done. I took the biaxin capsule around 12:30 or so.
I then went and did a little research on Biaxin. Why? Because I was curious if it had any affect on keeping one alert during the day because I felt it had done that for me. Guess what? It has been used to treat hypersomnia (excessive daytime sleepiness) so that says something. I'd like to think it is my body that now has it's own energy to be awake longer (maybe from the massive fatigue herx the week before and bugs diying off from that) but I think it is most likely the Biaxin. So that is a wanted side effect for me. I actually felt like me for the first time in a long time using it! I mean, before Lyme, I was constantly doing projects, exercising, volunteering, running around all over the place, socializing, gardening etc. So it felt good to be that person!! SO GOOD!
I would have never taken Biaxin had my LLND not suggested it. I had never really given it much thought and if you know anything from reading my blog, you know that I give everything ALOT of thought!! I research everything and am driven to know the root cause of everything that is happening in my life and body.
Anyways, so what is next on the agenda? Next, is adding in Malarone. I have this yucky cold with headache that everyone in our family has right now and I am just getting over it. I don't really want to start the Malarone while I am feeling that way. I ordered some omega oil to put into protein shakes to take with the Malarone because you have to take 23 grams of fat with it. Yikes! So, I am trying to do it the most healthy and convenient way possible. But that is ALOT of fat. That has to happen twice a day.
After adding in the Malarone, I will add in the Cholestyramine. I will take this around lunch time 1 time a day. I need to take it with fat as well. Well, 1/2 hour after taking the Cholestyramine, I am supposed to have something fatty. So that makes 3 times a day where I need to ingest large amounts of fat. Yay.....
I have this muscles soreness, tenderness in my inner thighs, my outer tricep area that I am hoping goes away either with the Malarone treatment or the Cholestyramine. I think it is a Babesia or a stored toxin issue so those medicine address both of those causes. I am hoping, hoping, hoping!!!
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