OT: welcoming Newbies, fighting causes

[Guest guest]

Hi Jim and all Newbies,I used to jump right in to welcome, reassure, and share with newbies. I'm doing that less these days, but the reason I'm not quite so prolific should be encouraging to all newbies. Here's what's happened:After 45 years of Lyme, I've come back to life! Not to perfect health, but to a functioning life which is gobbling up my time and energy as if I were actually 'normal'. I used languish in my chair and scan group posts, highlight anyone I felt I should answer or help with pink, and then, at the end of a day or two, check and see if that person had been answered. If not, I'd post something. I'm truly sorry that I've neglected that routine, that I haven't written the epistles of the past that used to comfort newbies and people who were getting discouraged. I'm sitting in that chair so much less! I still highlight my 'pinks', but Life is demanding much right now and I'm involved in another desperate fight that's taking my new-found energy. NY state is in the Marcellus shale area, presently threatened by the natural gas hydrofracking industry (don't believe their commercials; it is a toxic, horrible scourge on the areas it has already blighted) Somehow, I'm finding the strength to lobby in Albany, attend meetings, canvas the community and am proud to say that our little town is the first to stand up and make amendments that would ban heavy industry here, despite many leases the nat-gas industry has already inveigled out of poorly informed locals. (And I thought fighting Lyme was hard!) On top of this, I'm trying to catch up on all the stuff I'd neglected for years, while life went on without me. Also, an author I've edited for years has been dxed with severe neural Lyme and, disappointed by mainstream med., has asked me to coach his recovery. A couple years ago, I could have done none of this: I was a Lymie invalid: nothing more, with little belief that I'd ever live again. What I'm trying to say is that no matter how discouraged, bewildered or overwhelmed you feel with your Lyme, you can, you will, find a course of treatment that will work for your unique expression of this maddening disease. It's a long haul with few short-cuts,(patience is one of the gifts Lyme will give you; like it or not) and rushing it will only set you back, but inch by inch, you will see a light at the end of the tunnel and that light is not another train, but life, waiting to claim you and engage you again.As for my case, after 40+ years of undiagnosed Lyme, the wheels had really come off the wagon. When I began treatment after diagnosis, (as predicted by knowledgeable friends) I had to get much sicker before beginning to actually get better. Killing dominant pathogens allowed other, underling pathogens to emerge as insurgents (think of Iraq) and I became a veritable war zone. Herxing was intense: eclipsing all the pains I'd known for years without knowing its cause. Knowing the dynamics of the Jarisch-Herxheimer response made herx-pain bearable (like understanding contractions makes labor pains less frightening.)Fear is a biggie. Knowledge is a great antidote for that. Spend you energies learning all you can from people in groups. Weigh their experiences. Look for consensus. Try things one at a time and ramp up slowly. And remember that the remedy that doesn't work now might be just right a year from now. Try one thing at a time, starting conservatively, following the advice of those more experienced. This way, if there is a reaction, you haven't got to sort a bunch of variables. If you're mentally able, keep a journal of sorts, or at least keep your posts to groups, so you can review your progress. Give each thing at least a few weeks' trial unless you have a really adverse reaction. If you herx, back off a bit to give your body a chance to detox the dead. Detox should be a full third of whatever else you're doing to fight Lyme. I believe that I would have arrived at my present 90% wellness (after 5 years) much sooner if I'd understood this at the onset of treatment. Killing isn't enough. To quote Monty Python's Flying Circus, "Bring out your dead!" The dead critters are toxic and will make you feel awful in addition to congesting, even damaging your organs. There are many ways to detox, but the sovereign method is the coffee enema. The idea of coffee enemas was totally repugnant to me until I had a long-overdue liver/GB attack and had to face the situation. They helped but I hated them and couldn't comply on a regular basis, until I learned about the comfortable, easy low-volume CE. (might not be as effective, but with daily compliance, they really detox) Now, I do one almost every day and it has made herxes shorter and milder, allowing me to kill more Lyme and enjoy so much more energy. Oh, my friends, I could go on and on, but my to-do list is waiting.Please remember this: no matter how negative you feel, it's not you and you're not crazy; it's the chemistry of Lyme. That's hard to remember when it hi-jacks your thoughts and you haven't the energy or mental faculties to rise above, but keep reminding yourself: 'this isn't me, it's my disease, and this disease CAN be beaten back. Others have done it; I can to!'Also remember, you're not alone. You've come to a place where others know exactly how you feel, fear and need to fight. Welcome to the club of courageous Lymie lab-rats!Be well,Léna