So we have a diagnosis and Rachel is on antibiotics but only for a very limited time. All the lyme groups and the movie "Under Our Skin" showed people on antibiotics for years. People die from this. This is my daughter. I know others are sick in my family but if I get them tested the chances are that it will come back negative. I really don't like antibiotics. I teach a class called Healthy Living Support. (I teach on getting the gut back in order after you have had the pharmaceuticals..and eating raw) Is there anything out there that is natural? There were a hundred and one different things floating through my mind. I was stressed and feeling the pressure to somehow in a short time find the cure for lyme so that my family may live! By this time, as I study, I am convinced that many if not all in our family of 9 have lyme. So now I need to beat the clock. This was all the beginning of my lymeland experience. Hi, welcome to lymeland. It is the place where there seems to be no answers and everything is crazy and upside down and inside out!
Thankfully, the voice of reason came into the picture. My friend who also has the daughter who has lyme had found a Lyme Litterate Medical Doctor (LLMD) in Nashville area. I called. They take my insurance. We go. He treats aggressively. I really like him...and that says a lot! He does natural as well as antibiotics. He puts her on 4 antibiotics. Three she takes for three weeks. Zithromax, Amox., and Rifampin. Then she stops these for 3 weeks and starts Flagil for 3 weeks. Then back on the first 3...and on it goes. At least we had a plan.
I knew from reading that things could get worse before they got better but nothing, I mean nothing that I read or watched could have prepared me for what was happening to my daughter. It was not an over night thing. It was gradual. One moment her head would hurt really bad. The next her big toes. The pains would move around. Sleep started getting weird. She would often be up at 3 am. She was exhausted. She was tired before..but nothing like this. She was taking many naps all through out the day. We finished the 3 weeks. We survived the first chapter.
Then it was Flagil's turn to reek havoc in my child. It did not take long. She took her first dose at night. By the next morning she was throwing up. ~time for a side note here...when the lyme bacteria is dieing off it causes what is called a Herx reaction..the lyme patient will actually feel worse as the little buggars are dieing off!~ The throwing up went on for 3 days...but then something new started to happen. Rachel started forgetting everything! She could not remember that she had watched a movie. Reading became impossible and so was math. Cooking, something she loved, was just too complicated. Seeing her throw up and not feel well was hard..but seeing her loose her sharp mind that was terrible! I made a call to the Doctor. He took her off of all meds. Said at this time she is too sick for them. Keep her off for one week and give her body a break. Then start her back on just Amox. So we did, thinking that would really help her but it didn't. She just continued to throw up and her mind just kept slipping.
Finally on a Sat. morning after she had thrown up for an hour and a half continually, I call the Doc again. I was thinking we were headed to the ER. He figured now the bacteria were just growing and running like crazy in her body. But she was still too sick to take anything thought. The next week was hell. She cried. I cried. I could not fix my baby! On the following Sat. a friend sent me Teasel tincture. (Thank you Colleen! You were a life saver!!) She started w/ one drop. That was at 11am. By 3 I could see a difference in her...but I was afraid to say anything. We had just been through the roughest 3 weeks of our lives! By 5pm she was glowing. Smiling. Not hurting and not throwing up. She still was having brain issues but it was so good to see her smile!
Teasel is being touted as a great herb for lyme. But as with most things lyme what works for one will not work for another. It is however relatively inexpensive so it is a great place to start! My study shows that it really helps w/ pain and symptoms but it does not kill the bacteria. She still needs something to kill the bacterial.
On Monday, Oct. 17 she said she wanted to go back on the antibiotics. She needed to kill those guys in her body. So that evening we started her on a 1/2 dose of the flagil. We will work up to the real dose. By the next day her tummy hurt but not like before. She also started w/ random pains. Today her brain was not here. Hannah had moved to her own place last week. This was a HUGE event in our house. And very big to Rachel because she was getting her sisters room. Today she could not remember why Hannah was not there. She could not remember that yesterday she tore out the carpet in Hannah's room. Today, my Rachel was lost in lyme land.
I am very much trying to praise my Heavenly Father through this. Today especially. Knowing that her lack of memory is evidence that we are killing those bad lyme bacteria! Oh, Lord, get us through this hard time!
Praying for your family...
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