Lyme Update

I haven't blogged in a little while and there are a couple reasons as to why. I'll explain more in a little bit but this is just an update on how the medication seems to be helping and what has improved and what is still a problem that the disease is causing.

Improvements of symptoms

Lets start with my improvements that I have seen. So last month my Doctor took away all of my antibiotics that I have been taking and I started on 4 new antibiotics. It is a good thing that I have started these new ones because it means that my old antibiotics have run their course, and have killed off the bacteria that they can, but the bacteria has built up a shield known as bio film against the antibiotics so I'm on new ones to fight from a different angle.

My brain is slowly starting to come back. I read 2 books last week! I was so happy! I comprehended them and I understood everything in both books. I don't forget as much if I'm going a certain place, the only thing that I am struggling with now is forgetting certain words, and I still struggle with trying to figure out what I am trying to say when I am explaining something. Words at the moment are not coming all that easy for me at the moment (this is one reason why I haven't blogged a while), but I am slowly but surely gaining my mind back. There is defiantly much less brain fog. Now whether this means that I am actually getting better or if my Alzheimer medicine is just finally kicking in, I don't know. But either way I am thrilled with the results.

I am noticing that I am feeling more rested when I wake up in the morning, this is such a relief because this was one of my first biggest symptoms that I have been dealing with for over a year now. And even though I still struggle immensely with waking up in the morning (thank you daylight savings), I can tell that I have been sleeping better at night.

I don't herx as much as I used to. I'm not sure that is a good thing since herxing means you are getting better. But herxing is pretty miserable, so I'll count it as an improvement.

New Symptoms

I've started having some new and pretty weird symptoms pop up for the past month or so and I didn't even think anything of them until a week ago. The biggest one that has me worried is my arms and legs seem to fall asleep if I don't move them often. I wake up a couple times in the middle of the night with a multiple limbs tingling and every morning I get that pins and needles feeling with out fail. Then just today I was playing the piano for about 15 minutes and my left leg totally went numb, I stood up to walk away from the bench and almost fell over. It is a little concerning. I'm going to ask the Doctor what it means this week.


Another symptom that I have started to have is really greasy and oily hair. I have to wash my hair every day and even then by the end of the day my hair feels gross and greasy. This has bugged me because I used to go every other day and I rarely ever had oily hair. But now it is getting to be a pain. I have done some research and other people with oily hair and Lyme Disease were told that it just means that the Lyme spirochete is in their thyroid. Now I will of course ask my Doctor if it's true or not but from other Lyme Warriors that I have talked to and read on their blogs, they seem to have the same thing.

ME

Another symptom is I sweat so bad now. I laugh because I never really got tacos (the sweat patches on your shirt from your armpits), until I went on my mission to South Carolina in the middle of July with all that humidity I was pretty horrified at first with all the stain marks that were appearing on my shirts. But I just assumed they would go away now that I am back in dry Utah. But I am still sweating so bad. I also sweat on my feet and my hands. They are always so clammy and I really don't like it. It makes me feel gross. But this I know is another part of Lyme. It's just a yucky one.

Worsening Symptoms

The only symptom that has really gotten worse is the anxiety. I get little tiny anxiety and panic attacks over every thing now! I worry a lot, sometimes I think I get stomach aches from worrying so much. And I am not usually one to worry. But I am to the point where I won't go certain places or do certain things because I have too much anxiety. It is becoming very debilitating and frustrating to deal with at the moment. But I know that I can make it through.

Another symptom that has sort of improved but also worsened is my motivation/depression. I have talked in past posts about how part of depression is having low motivation to do certain everyday things that shouldn't be difficult. And low motivation is part of the reason I haven't blogged for a while as well. I don't have the motivation to sit down and type up how I'm feeling. I read those 2 books in one week. But I didn't want to stop reading because I was afraid that I would not have the motivation to pick the book back up. It took me 2 days to finish the last 15 pages of my last book, because I just couldn't find the motivation to pick it up. Now I have noticed that in the morning and afternoon at work my motivation is much higher, I am getting so much more done at work then I have since I have been home from my mission. The only problem is work is exhausting my motivation. I get home and I want to do absolutely nothing. I have to talk myself into driving home from work because I don't even want to do that I am so exhausted.


-The Lyme Warrior