Step 4- Strengthen your immune system-Reducing Inflammation-


This step has many routes towards healing, some better than others, some easier than others and some with a far better outcome than others.

It’s not a simple 1.2.3 point presentation answer when it comes to autoimmune health battles since every single body reacts differently to treatment and Lyme Disease brings along the dangerous co-infections which alter the immune balance in various ways. My battle has a neurological angle, yours could have a cardiovascular angle, so on. Since I’m not a doctor I can only share with you my personal experience, nothing more. 

Inflammation gone wild is the biggest cause of autoimmune diseases, I believe, and by reducing it or eliminating it, you’ll see a dramatic improvement.

How am I doing it?

Eliminating all dairy products from my diet was an immediate and inexpensive route. “Antioxidants in the blood steam play an important role in reducing the damage effects of inflammation.”*- Blueberries, dark chocolate, pecans, artichokes, strawberries, green tea are some of the foods rich in antioxidants, they have to be pesticide free otherwise you fill up on toxicity. Prostaglandins: One of a number of hormone-like substance that participate in a wide range of body functions such as the contraction and relaxation of smooth muscles (ex: stomach, intestines, urinary bladder, uterus or the walls of arteries and veins, respiratory, urinary and reproductive systems), the dilation(widening) and construction (tightening) of blood vessels, control of blood pressure, and modulation of inflammation. -definition found by MedicineNet with personal notes added- “Diet rich in vegetables and omega-3 fatty acids (fish, flax, chia seeds) promotes prostaglandins that diminish the inflammatory response.”*

“Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofin (Advil) and naproxen, artificially control inflammation by blocking key enzyme, called COX-2, and provide relief from swelling, redness and pain.”*

As for herbs that help reduce inflammation, turmeric which has curcumin (member of the ginger family) as a primary component has potent anti-inflammatory properties. Other herbs with similar properties are Boswellia serrate and devil’s claw.

Protein-digestive enzymes play a role in breaking down inflammatory debris and immune complexes. Like bromelain from pineapple and papain from papaya.

Rebuilding collagen– “The primary tissues affected by inflammation in chronic lyme disease (and I suspect Lupus or other autoimmune diseases) include joints, ligaments, muscles, brain, eyes, skin and heart. What those tissues have in common is collagen -the most abundant protein in the body. It’s what holds you together.”*

Personally, I know the filling of being eaten from within, how every joint hurts 24/7, how tired I get by this pain, how frustrating is to walk, exercise or just move in general and how eager I am for a cure. Because of this battle, I believe, I got adhesive capsulitis also known as frozen shoulder going on now and it hurts like heck.

Diet to help restore collagen. Kale and other deep green leafy vegetables (Yuck! Don’t like them personally), cucumber, salmon, sardines, eggs, celery, olives, bone broth, gelatin (like NeoCell Collagen- that’s what I take).

Restoring immune strength is a must in order to battle and succeed against Lyme Disease or other autoimmune diseases.

I will have to add Vitamin D (a hormone really), C, Magnesium and B’s are very important for proper immune function.

Seems like a lot, right? But don’t loose heart, there’s more to come:) Hope some of this info helps you in your own battles and chin up, we’re here and one day we pray we’ll be pain free.

God Bless:)

*Quotes from the book Unlocking Lyme by Williams Rawls, MD.

Step 3 -Lyme specialists

You got diagnosed, a bit too late and the three weeks Doxycycline antibiotic treatment not only didn’t work but it stirred up a nest of vipers and you’re left with the aftermath. Now you need to find a Lyme specialist outside the western medical realm, unfortunately, and at this point things get complicated, confusing, expensive and down right frustrating.

In the Seattle are where I live there are quite a few Lyme specialist, you only need to Google them. The first one I’ve tried was Dr. Susan Marra. She was expensive but no more expensive than the other specialists, had a certain doom and gloom advise for me about this disease (but in retrospect looking back she was very realistic about the whole process and I didn’t want to accept it) and a little odd but keep in mind she too is fighting Lyme Disease so it can’t be easy for her. Since I couldn’t handle the strong antibiotic treatment she had me on -which was more expensive even with insurance coverage than the natural realm I took later- I left and found another doctor. She saved my life but it took two years of weekly different IV treatments, supplement intake, rife like therapy, and a few other procedures. She works at Holistique Naturopathic Medical Center in Bellevue. It wasn’t cheep. So one way or another you end up paying. The best advise I can give you is to find doctors who specialize on improving and strengthening your immune system because once your own immune system is strong it will do the killing for you.

If you can’t afford a specialist, and most people can’t, there are other alternatives you can do at home.

First you must change your diet: by eliminating dairy products you lower the inflammation in your body, by eliminating sugar, for sure the refined and processed one, you give your immune system a chance to fight back, since sugar is a well known immune inhibitor. Warm water with lemon helps with detox, so does epsom salt. Vitamin D, C and B’s are very important and so is collagen (Lyme feeds on collagen), then potassium and magnesium. If you can, for a certain period of time, do a vegan diet with non-processed foods preferably by cooking your own meals (that can be very hard I get that), but do what you can. Garlic helps greatly, olive oil and oregano pills as well.

If you have more money to spend start tinctures and essential oils. Buhner or Cowden protocols are very helpful and Amazon sells most of their protocols products so its easy to get them.

For the neurological side I love and use daily Neurocalm by Designs for Health, also found on Amazon. This product helps my nervous system to calm down, gives me energy an it does not make me drowsy at all. I can handle being in public better. I’ll stop here although there are thousands more supplements that can help, including parasitical cleanse. (One I must mention is called Holistic Tincture 7 by biotraxx, comes from Germany and you need to do a six month program. One of their bottles only covers 3 weeks so prep in advance by ordering multiple bottles since it takes a week to get to USA, but it really helps me).

Reading books on the subject is essential.

Unlocking Lyme by William Rawls M.D who got infected and began fighting against it. I love this book because it has very condensed medical information, yet easy to read and the how to’s. Healing Lyme by Stephen Harrod Buhner, a book I still need to read but I tried his protocol and it helped and many others can be easily found on Amazon or your local library.

Join Lyme groups on Facebook for moral support but please don’t be mean, the other members are also fighting hard, feel cranky and crappy most days.

I hope the info I’ve shared with you today will guide you so you don’t feel overwhelmed in this tricky and complicated battle. You can do this! One day you’ll be on the healthy side of life:) Have a day void of pain if possible and God Bless:)

Step 2 -Herxheimer reaction-

So you got the Doxy antibiotic treatment, it worked for the first five-six days, you saw a heathy ray of hope shining down on you from the heavens above, you even had the energy, finally, to go out with friends and celebrate the good news, only to find yourself the seventh day down on the floor, with half of your face paralyzed, barely breathing, severe nausea, cold tingling lips and extremities, unable to focus your eyes on anything, in and out of consciousness, absolutely sure that you’re dying. But why? (At least this is what happened to me, your experience may have similar details with many additional symptoms, depending on how your own body was affected).

Well… I wished my doctor would’ve tolled me that Herxing is part of the healing process and why a Lyme disease patient goes through these. The young lady in the video explains it well in my humble opinion, the why and the how to ease the severity of herxing so you can avoid expensive and unproductive ER trips, like mine’s.

Some of the Herxing symptoms: Severe/intense fatigue, joint pain, flue like symptoms, cognitive symptoms, neurological based seizures, nausea, fast heart beating, metal/bitter taste, tingling and numbing of extremities and/or face/lips, dizziness, fog vision, sensitivity to light and noise, sharp bone pain, headaches, are the ones I remember experiencing but there are more out there.

Detoxing: Burbur-Pinella by NutraMedix tincture is my #1 detox product I use, you can easily find it for sale on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/NutraMedix-Burbur-Pinella-Detox-Cleansing-Milliliters/dp/B01B65QJ9S/ref=sr_1_4?crid=24216LOCX00H6&keywords=burbur+pinella&qid=1579729701&sprefix

Warm lemon water is fantastic and inexpensive.

Chlorophyll- liquid form- about 15 drops in your water bottle simply needs to become a life style. The water will look dark green to black, so that can be a cool topic for your friends- vampire water. If you don’t like the taste, or color, use it in pill format. I was too sensitive to charcoal pills, reacted too strongly, so that didn’t work for me, but epsom salt baths are very nice, sauna too.

So if you’re new to this process, let me tell you something I wished I knew. Herxing is scary, and it can feel like you’re dying, however there’s a better life on the other side and if you’re vigilant with your detoxing it’s manageable…still scary and unpleasant though. I imagines the stupid things dying and it put a smile on my suffering. So if you’re herxing that’s because you’re killing them. Yah!

Herxing is part of the healing process, wether you choose antibiotics or a natural approach. Hard to get past it. But keep on killing them!!!!! Now that you’re aware what Herxing is about, what next? If you haven’t caught it in the cute stage (the first 24h- a week) and the doxy helped some, only to make things so much worse, now what? Here is where the medical controversy starts.

Coming up next, but until then God Bless and keep up the hope:)

Step 1-Doxycycline and Lyme Disease-

So you got diagnosed with Lyme Disease (after years of confusing symptoms and most likely rude and dismissive doctor trips while suffering unbearable pain). Most likely Doxycycline, an antibiotic, is the most likely drug to be prescribed. That’s what I was prescribed. Here’s a video giving you great detail explanations regarding this drug.

For early detection doxy is a saver, but what happens when doxy does not work, when the disease ravaged your body longer than three weeks? What happens when something called Herxing happens?

Our next episode I’ll talk about that.

God Bless and keep hopeful:)

The monster inside of me- documentary teaser

It’s hard to watch this without feeling the pain of their battles. As I’ve relapsed in September and had seizures or tendencies to fall into one almost hourly, I know how nasty it is. I’m slowly coming out of it, but I’m still in lots of pain, and the cold, gray weather does not help.

I have to focus on one step at the time and keep moving forward. Is it sinister what’s happening to people suffering from this disease? Yes. Is this the only disease hurting others? No. This one, along with a few others are hard to diagnose, understand, and eliminate. So far. We hope the research will reveal a cure and the government will allow it.

Have a good day today and hope for a healthy tomorrow:)

God Bless:)

Lyme disease and non-epileptic seizures.

Danielle explains the seizures better than I can.

I got diagnosed with Neurological Lyme Disease plus co-infections back in 2014-2015 and that’s how I get attacked after a nasty flue/cold, or any elevated or prolonged stress in my life. I also have a hard time in public (especially after a relapse) around lots of people, places such as Costco, church, any restaurant, or grocery stores, festivals, or just crowds, like in airports. I used to love being in large crowds of people, their energy and happiness only increased mine, but now I hate being in crowds of people. When I relapse or have flare ups, talking to one person, looking them in the eye, fills me up with anxiety. It’s as if I can feel their pain or distress and I absorb it in my own body.

Thank God for Instacart app. They deliver the groceries you buy on line to your door for a small fee, or free if you buy a year membership. Amazon also delivers from Whole Foods if you live in Seattle, which we do, and these modern services are a complete blessing for people like me.

Nutramedix Burbur-Pinella tincture or warm lemon water helps me through these seizures, it calm the neurological system down, by cleaning all the toxins away and calming the whole wiring down. The Burbur helps fast while the lemon water is just a nice detox habit to have.

All Lyme warriors keep your spirits up today and God Bless:)

Justin Bieber Battling Lyme Disease

I’m not in Justin Bieber’s generation, more in Michael Jackson and Toby Mac, but finding out that he’s been battling Lyme Disease in 2019 (and maybe further back) its heart breaking. Any Lyme warriors will tell you its heart breaking to find out yet another victim fell in the paralyzing claws of this invisible yet severely vicious disease. Only those suffering know the truth that lies in the battle, and it’s a long battle, unfortunately. We pray and await the day when a cure will be found, so all the researchers out there, please hurry! Until then, I wish Justin, myself and every single fellow sufferer a great day void of pain and a complete recovery in the near future:) Love you all and God Bless:)

Happy B-day Chet:)

Always smiling, always strong, always steady:) The other compliments are for your ears only:) Happy Birthday dear friend:) We sure love you!

P.S. This is the awesome man that stands by my side always, the foundation on which I thrive, the support I lean against when times are tough and the joy I share with when times are good:) This is the man that holds my frail body when I fall, who coaches me through seizures, who tells me I must fight because his world would be so much darker without me. This is the man for whom I fight and make sure to feed well:) This is the father with so much patience and love for his children. This is the hero no one knows about it. The blessing God shared with me:) Chet

Seizure

 

 

I hope you get a chance to relax and enjoy this little video I shot and put together for you. Meditate on the things that matter to you, as I also do.

You see last week I had a nasty seizure which threw me back on my progress chart a few degrees, both physically and emotionally. It’s not easy to climb over thoughts such as “not again”, “will I ever”, “I just want to be” etc but giving up its not an option for me since I have too much to lose and would hurt too many people that I love. So I must go on. But getting back up, and moving forward while hurting, having half of my body not functioning as it should and wondering how long will it take until I fully recover is not as easy as you may think. I wish I could be poetic about all this but pain and struggle bring more misery than poetry (unless its some sort of emotional heartbreak and then you should see my muse dance and come up with all sorts of rimes and wisdom:) But for now I try not to fall on my face as I experience dizziness, I try not to walk into walls as my balance seems to be taking a vacation, and I try to smile through the pain all my limbs seemed to join in. I am weak and strong, frail and tough, happy and sad.

What caused such a relapse? Accumulation of stress (I like to collect:) Nasty flue which left a frail immune system exposed, taking up nursing duties as my family laid ill in their beds, work, and the happy visit of my cuz. But the body can’t recognize happy stress from bad stress, just files all that info in the “STRESS” file of my life while smiling knowing what’s to come. But I drove downtown! Took my cuz and my daughter to the Seattle Space Needle and other places and I’m sure inside my head there was a small voice protesting to all the exitement…which I clearly ignored. Did I learn my lesson? Depends on which side of the lesson you are. I would say, yes, then explain. I’ve learned that I have the strength to drive downtown (even if for a day every few months:) I’ve learned that my body is getting strong and able to handle more fun, I learned that relapses do happen and not to focus on them, I learned I’m fun again! Even if in a small increment at the time:) Did I learn my lesson? You be the judge, but I no matter what you decide I smile the whole way because I DROVE DOWNTOWN SEATTLE AND HAD FUN WITH MY CUZ AND DAUGHTER ON TOP OF THE SPACE NEEDLE, and that to me is priceless and worth every muscle twitch and pain;) I would do it all over again the same way, no regrets. Now go have a good time living life in whichever increments of strength you can muster, and when herxing (for my Lyme warriors or all with any autoimmune troubles:) smile because you got to the herxing reaction by living life and in the end you had a say, a choice, not the stupid illness that’s trying to kill us:)

God Bless:)

It’s been a while since we talked

D516A709-B2B0-4A0F-8052-D12A5AB364E9What a great summer this one was for us:) The apartment construction work is almost done. I had the most wonderful and unexpected visit for Easter from two of my brothers: Sergiu came from Germany and Flesh came from Romania. IMG_0666They took me completely by surprise:) We had a great time showing them Seattle, among other things and after they left and the weather warmed up, Chet and I spent many hours cycling on bike trails with my in-laws:) IMG_8327I also took lots of macro photos, a hobby of mine, and you can see one such photos at the very top (honey bee on a clover:)

I’m getting stronger every day. I have changed my Lyme tincture treatment to a new product and so far I think it helped me the most (or I’ve had lots of help from previous treatments and this one sort of sealed it). It’s a new product I found on Amazon called Holistic Tincture 7, made in Germany. It’s a 13 Herb tincture (Japanese Knotwood herbage, Teasel root, Cats Claw flower, Coriander herbage, Garlic, Hawthorn leave, Sarsaparilla root, Devil’s Claw root, Boneset leave, Astragalus root, Olive Leaves, Panax Ginseng root, Ginkgo leave) specifically design for those suffering from Lyme. Currently unavailable on Amazon as of today, but you can go directly on their website at http://www.biotraxx.eu to order. Heads up their info is in german (Amazon has an English version), and you need to take 20 drops three times a day for 6 months. One bottle lasts about 2.5 weeks. IMG_0265.jpeg

It really helped me so I hope it does the same for you:) (The cost is around $28 per bottle plus shipping $7).

This year we’ve celebrated our 26th Wedding anniversary:)B26CB92F-1A70-4DC3-9F93-62BD8A5CC31E

I’m grateful and I’m looking forward to the wonderful things to come in this life:) So keep on fighting for those ones not yet on the other side because there’s hope:)

Here are a few more pictures I like sharing with you:)

Have a blessed day and talk to you soon:)