Health Update Oct/Nov 2018

Hello friends! Thanks for coming by SGL for today’s update on my health. Just a quick intro for anyone new here – I have been diagnosed with Lyme Disease along with some lovely friends – like Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, TMJ, Chronic Migraines and a handful of other stuff. The co-infections of Lyme are brutal. Brutal, I tell ya. I think I can accurately say that I’m on the road to health – it’s just a switchback, up and down type of road. If you want to read a bit more – go check out my About Me page. But for now, I’ll dive into the update – hoping that this time next year I’ll be able to see even more improvements in my health.

Overall Health:  Fatigue to the max lately. Fibropain as well. I’m sure that not having an IV for almost two months (!!) has a lot to do with how badly I was flaring in October. Since then, my fatigue and fibro have continued to be intense but it is a bit less – and I’m hoping that getting them regular again will keep chipping away at it.

Oct 15- exhausted, brain fog, nap in afternoon helped but by evening whole body ached and hard to get to sleep. Severe pain. 
Oct 22- awful fibro flare in evening, in all limbs. Took 2 fibronol, 1 St John’s, 2 magnesium, 1 berberine, used tens unit on elbows and rubbed magnesium lotion on elbows and hands. Migraine kicked up but clonidine calmed it. Scale for fibro – 8 
Oct 29 stomach slowly feeling better. Taking minimum vitamins and supplements. Took 2-3 hr nap because fatigue was so intense. Day 17 
Oct 31- seems that when I limit my iberogast as well, that my stomach is some better. Today was the best day in weeks for it, although water still tastes awful and I’ve still got some iron breath. Fatigue has been very present past few days, did get to the grocery store this am before it hit. Fibropain still present in joints but not as severe.
Nov 6- IV finally! Some fatigue in am but feeling decent. Exhausted by mid afternoon/evening. Fibropain present in joints all day
Nov 7- some migraine in am.  Fibropain all day in joints, especially knees. Fatigue hit hard@ 7 pm. Went to bed at 10pm
Nov 8- woke up at 4am till 730, slept again till 93pam. Weary but feel pretty good. minimal attention span.

Migraine:  Some days I’m thinking about how much better this area is and then others I’m struggling to keep the pain down to a survivable level.

Sleep:  This hasn’t changed much at all – still needing an ice pack most every night, and typically change it out at least once. It would be nice if sleep actually helped my fatigue.

Memory/Brain fog:  I am doing something scary – I’m going to see if taking Turmeric pills has the same result as taking the Neuroflam. I’m hoping it does because as much as I love the Neuroflam, it is at least $60 a bottle. (Turmeric/curcumin is a main ingredient in the Neuroflam) My attention span has been spotty often lately. Augh.

Vision: First – I haven’t had any visual auras! I’m very relieved by this. Thing do get blurrier than they should at times.

TMJ: This has increased in popping and pain. I’m attributing it to the fact that I haven’t been to my bodywork doctor in about three months. It pops painfully most every day and aches so that my teeth hurt daily.

Fatigue:  Such a big struggle still – but since my IV I have been able to struggle through getting things done a little more during the day. Unexpected naps have been happening regularly though. Blink once and it’s an hour later.

my only pic from my last IV! we did a push on everything which makes it SO much faster!

Fibromyalgia: Such a main point of pain. It’s a constant burning, tingling, throbbing in my limbs, as well as occasional cramping in my feet, calves and hands.  The overall aching has been keeping me up late at night, unable to get to sleep. I’m still on ice at least once each day, but it’s typically a pretty fair bit of swapping out ice packs. I’ve continued using the Tens Unit on my legs as well as using Mg lotion.

Weight Loss: YES! Little by little it’s happening

Mood: This has stayed pretty good lately – although I do feel like some of that might be that I’m just not thinking about anything serious.

Digestion: I almost forgot to add this and it was SUCH a problem for over a month. My digestion was so bad that even water tasted awful. I finally figured out that my stomach was needing a rest from all of the supplements/vitamins that I’ve been taking for so long. I cut it down to five or six a day – instead of the… forty (probably more) a day I was taking. It took only a few days for it to start helping and now I’m slowly adding things back in. It’s nice to not be taking so many pills but I can tell that I definitely need more than what I’m currently on.

To read where I was at last year in this journey- click here – it’s also when my doctor first uttered the most beautiful three words she’s ever said to me.

~Laura

Tags: chronic fatigue, chronic migraines, chronic pain, ebv, late stage lyme, lyme disease, natural treatment for lyme, symptoms of lyme disease, tmj