The Summer of Lyme

Well, I haven't updated on how my symptoms have been in a while. So this will be just a short update on how I've been feeling...

My herxing has been very minimal, if at all prevalent. I hardly ever notice them, it worries me sometimes because if your not herxing you are not getting better. However there is this concept that actually sounds super strange, and nobody can fully explain it, but it is the Full Moon. Lyme symptoms worsen on a full moon. It is awful, I am more sick the week of a full moon then ever. It is like I'm herding for a whole week. I am extra tired, I feel like I have the flu, I ache, I have no energy! I am so miserable, I am sharing this because this coming week is the 4th of July and the full moon is July 2nd, this coming Thursday and I am just dreading it. I try not to think too much about it, but it is always just awful. There are several guesses as to why the full moon is so awful, but nobody knows exactly why...

tiredoflyme.com a blog that I referred to a lot in my early days of Lyme has all the info on the full moon and lyme disease theories. It talks about the gravitational pull from the moon and how the bacteria can feel it and makes them go crazy. It also refers to the theory that I find the most interesting an that is the electro magnetic theory. But the one I find the most plausible is that the bacteria just reproduce every 28-30 days along with the full/new moon (because some Lymies actually get worse symptoms on new moons instead of full moons) thus making it worse because your bacteria inside you are going through their own monthly cycle and reproducing faster than rabbits inside of you! I know it totally makes me sound like a werewolf, but instead of turning into a sick-awesome giant dog once a month that howls at the moon, I turn into a very sick girl that cries until the a few days after the full moon is gone.

So that is one thing that has been happening, I have noticed the full moon concept effecting me since about February. Another thing that is frustrating me has more to do with my medication then anything. I have finally been able to take Doxycycline. I took it for two weeks last August before they tested me for Lyme and it was the worst 2 weeks ever. I was constantly dizzy and sick, and it was mostly because Doxycycline is the best antibiotic you can take to kill lyme, it did such a good job that I was herding so bad every room I walked into was spinning and I couldn't even drive. So finally after about 10 months of slowly killing off the bacteria I can now take Doxycycline without being bed ridden. However Doxy, as well as most other antibiotics I take (I'm always on 3 or 4 and they are constantly changing), cause sensitivity to sunlight, and when I have ever been on just one it hasn't been a big deal, but 3 antibiotics causing sunlight sensitivity is making me get fried overtime I go outside.


Now, I'm not one it tan, I am white, I fry, I blister, I peel, and I am right back to white. But I work at a daycare center. We swim every Wednesday with all the kids. We play outside, we go on field trips to parks, and hike. I am outside a lot! I have peeled only on my nose, and a little tiny bit on my shoulders. That is after using child sunscreen SPF 70+. I don't peel on my arms or legs at all, I am a dark tan color. I have never been this dark! I don't know how to handle it. My sister has always been darker than me because she will lay out for a little bit or go boating with friends all the time. But I go outside to mow the lawn or play with the kids at work for a half hour and I am another shade darker!

People comment and say it must be nice to be so tan... I just think, yeah right! Because for me it's painful! Yeah I tan super quick but the sun burn is still there, it is pain full too! I tingle, and my feet have blistered over and over from being sunburned so much! Each of my toes has at least one big blister on it from repeatedly being sunburned. I would go back to being white and fair skinned in an instant than being this tan and sunburned all the time.

I also think I have a heat sensitivity that is worse than most. I love summer, it's my favorite season, July 4th is my favorite holiday, but I feel extra tired, and extra exhausted in the heat. Utah has hit up in the 100's this past week and I am just melting. I am not one to usually complain about the heat but I crash every day after work. I worry that I am more moody, and I find myself getting more depressed because I am so much more worn out. I researched this and I found some other people talking about how Lyme spirochete die in higher temperatures (which makes sense because in winter I was always going to the sauna to sweat, I don't do that now because I feel like I sweat all day and that I can't take anymore heat!), I read how they did tests that how that the ideal temperature is 98 degrees Fahrenheit, and as you get higher the lyme bacteria struggles and around 102-106 degrees the bacteria dies off in droves. So summer is good because I am naturally killing off more spirochete, but I am killing myself by doing it as well. My body is shutting down more quickly because the Lyme is fighting it, and then dying so I am actually herxing in the heat and it is so painful that I am exhausting myself to withstand and survive summer.

I honelsty don't think I have ever really complained about the heat of summer, I might say that it is too hot to go outside and play basketball, but I have never wished for winter to come back in a summer EVER, and now I find myself doing it all the time! I don't like it one bit!

Anyways, I feel like this post was just a little bit of me complaining more than anything, I tried not to make it sound that way, and make it sound more informational than anything else... I am doing much better, but these are just the biggest problems with Lyme that I am dealing with right now.



-The Lyme Warrior