I'm moving.
Bellingham, you kicked my ass. I would have thought moving to NYC as a 19 year old would be one of the hardest times of my life but it doesn't even touch my time here in Bellingham. 10 years in the ham, 7 years with Lyme disease and mold toxicity. Nothing has made me find my strengths and stare my weaknesses in the eyes more than these last 7 years. I want to hate Bellingham; it made me sick. But I don't I'm proud of who I have become here and I am very excited for the future. Without Lyme I wouldn't want the things I want now. I'm so enthusiastic for my next adventure and I'm looking at this move as a step away from a transfixed location. It's time for me to let go of the many forms of pain that live here and find new
beginnings.
Mold Treatment update:
I didn't know why I felt so crappy and I wondered if I could possibly herx from Cholestyramine. I began to look more into the usage of it and what I read is that it is not so much of a herx reaction but more of a toxic load/ unloading/ reloading that goes on that makes users feel so bad. The bucket analogy is used to explain the process:
-You begin treatment with a full bucket of toxins
-CSM helps unload the bucket and toxins get pulled out of the body
-Only for your body to pull more toxins out of your cells, reloading the bucket making your body feel like hell again.
This process repeats itself over and over again and after about 2 months I got a good day! The problem is that I still have some exposure to mold when I'm around my belongings in storage or randomly go to a house and get sick. Lots of homes are making me ill in Bham. Now that I've been away from exposure I can tell a toxic home in a minute. I begin to have flu like symptoms, cognitive disorders and if I continue to stay in the home my neck begins to ache and I just get sick and have to leave! It's pretty insane how much toxic mold are in homes throughout Bham and people have no idea.
But right now I can safely say that mold was/is the issue with my neck/back muscle pain! Now that I am finally out of exposure and have begun to get rid of some toxicity I am for the most part muscle pain free (staying away from all chemicals are important too, I seem to feel the same way around chemicals as I do toxic mold)! So this is great, this symptom has been around for years giving me shit!
Now I know why.
Always be persistent in your search for answers, if I did not continue to ask myself questions I might think I have Fibromyalgia right now and be dead, from Lyme and mold.
So yeah, yet again I'm not crazy. My mind is boggled by those who except silly diagnosis, or do nothing, or who are in denial. Wake up. It's because of my knowledge that I have the power to regain my health. We ALL have the power to do that. What are people so afraid of?
The video below describes my January mold nightmare
Overall, Cholestyramine is a pretty amazing drug and I'm happy to be on it, my only concern is that it seems to be interfering with the absorption of my thyroid meds for hypothyroidism; so I have began to gain a little weight. You have to be sure to take CSM at least 4 hours apart from thyroid meds, and be careful with supplements and food; because it will interfere with absorption of everything, so right now I'm working on getting that schedule down perfectly.
I'm still taking rice bran and charcoal as binders too!
I have started LDA injections for my allergies. My allergens increased severely due to my constant mold exposure and this is a way to get them under control. The interesting thing is now that I am away from toxic mold, off abx, and Lyme free we'll say... my allergy symptoms seem to be the answer to some missing puzzle pieces I've been searching for, as far as some remaining symptoms. My eye swelling for instance.
LDA injections are different than your conventional "escalating dose" of immunotherapy done by most allergists in the country. LDA works so well because it changes the cell to cell communication and cell activity. Our skin has regional immunological memory and this is translated to the immune system throughout the body to lower inappropriate antibody formation against the internal and external environment. That's right food too!! Standard allergy shots increase blocking antibodies and have a high failure rate when treatment is stopped. The goal: To be way less allergic to the world. These shots are done every 2 months until symptoms are gone.
How have I been since being off antibiotics?!
A little achy. My joints sometimes feel like I'm 80 and my knees have been throbbing at night but that has been improving. I saw my Lyme/mold doctor last week and we think it's more inflammation related. It comes and goes.
A full life cycle of the Lyme bacteria has gone by and as far as I can tell the bacteria are not thriving. I am closely monitoring my symptoms though.
I have huge issues sleeping and right now we are also working on ways for me to get a better nights sleep. I am trying natural remedies and also have a few prescriptions if I need to go that route.
Natural sleep recommendations:
AOR Ortho sleep
Webber super sleep
Pascoeflair
Mirtazapine & Doxepin are the scripts I have yet to try.
Lymies, don't ever let yourself be defined by your illness. If I would have defined my entire existence around my illness, I could see this step of letting go being a very challenging one. Never forget who you were before your battle, if you were lucky enough to know that person. Not everybody is. Strive to be that person but the better version because you grew from your challenges. I am so sorry that you have to go through this. But you are never alone in your fight and I will always advocate for you.
Tick borne illness will be huge this spring and summer. Children are at the greatest risk. Please be careful. I can't stand to see the thousands like myself struggle with this illness and I could not deal with someone I love having to go through what I have.
A book trailer I recently was a part of:
http://www.hypable.com/burning-world-isaac-marion-book-trailer/
I'm official now. IMDB Credit. Hee
http://rss.9imdb.com/name/nm8800095/?ref_=tt_cl_i9
Thanks for being with me on my journey!
Becky
I'm still taking rice bran and charcoal as binders too!
I have started LDA injections for my allergies. My allergens increased severely due to my constant mold exposure and this is a way to get them under control. The interesting thing is now that I am away from toxic mold, off abx, and Lyme free we'll say... my allergy symptoms seem to be the answer to some missing puzzle pieces I've been searching for, as far as some remaining symptoms. My eye swelling for instance.
LDA injections are different than your conventional "escalating dose" of immunotherapy done by most allergists in the country. LDA works so well because it changes the cell to cell communication and cell activity. Our skin has regional immunological memory and this is translated to the immune system throughout the body to lower inappropriate antibody formation against the internal and external environment. That's right food too!! Standard allergy shots increase blocking antibodies and have a high failure rate when treatment is stopped. The goal: To be way less allergic to the world. These shots are done every 2 months until symptoms are gone.
Here you can see the progression. By the next morning my whole arm was swollen!
A little achy. My joints sometimes feel like I'm 80 and my knees have been throbbing at night but that has been improving. I saw my Lyme/mold doctor last week and we think it's more inflammation related. It comes and goes.
A full life cycle of the Lyme bacteria has gone by and as far as I can tell the bacteria are not thriving. I am closely monitoring my symptoms though.
I have huge issues sleeping and right now we are also working on ways for me to get a better nights sleep. I am trying natural remedies and also have a few prescriptions if I need to go that route.
Natural sleep recommendations:
AOR Ortho sleep
Webber super sleep
Pascoeflair
Mirtazapine & Doxepin are the scripts I have yet to try.
Lymies, don't ever let yourself be defined by your illness. If I would have defined my entire existence around my illness, I could see this step of letting go being a very challenging one. Never forget who you were before your battle, if you were lucky enough to know that person. Not everybody is. Strive to be that person but the better version because you grew from your challenges. I am so sorry that you have to go through this. But you are never alone in your fight and I will always advocate for you.
Tick borne illness will be huge this spring and summer. Children are at the greatest risk. Please be careful. I can't stand to see the thousands like myself struggle with this illness and I could not deal with someone I love having to go through what I have.
A book trailer I recently was a part of:
http://www.hypable.com/burning-world-isaac-marion-book-trailer/
I'm official now. IMDB Credit. Hee
http://rss.9imdb.com/name/nm8800095/?ref_=tt_cl_i9
Thanks for being with me on my journey!
Becky
