Beginning Month 4

Today I'm opening the 4th set of the Restore Program from Vital Plan and thought you might like an update. For clarification, this is the 3rd set of the new formulation of the Restore herbs with 4 bottles with a stronger, more potent herbal supplements. It's suggested that you start out slow and build up to the full dose, so the first month actually takes longer than 4 weeks. To further complicate the matter, I started taking A-biotic alone the 3rd week in January  for a couple of weeks, before I began building up to the full dose of the whole Restore Program.
Now that your eyes are completely glazed over by all those wonderful details, just suffice it to say that I'm beginning the 4th month of the protocol.

So how's it going?

In one simple word...Better.

This month started out really well, especially after recovering from our long road trip to Chicago. I began to have more energy around week 2 of the 3rd round of herbals and more of my neuro symptoms began to fade. The dizziness/wobbliness went away and only showed up when I was really, really tired. This allowed me to get more things done.

Spring always brings outdoor chores- one of which is spreading 340 bags of hardwood mulch in the yard and garden. I knew I wouldn't be much help this year, so we hired a couple of teenage boys to help. Even with the boys helping, it would take us several days to spread all the mulch.

Knowing there could be ticks in the yard, I gave the boys a talk about ticks and lyme disease and made sure they wore long pants, a hat, gloves and sprayed their pants from the knees down with deet. I also had them rub some Tick Tock (made with essential oils) on their bare arms. I always advise to avoid toxic chemicals, but if it comes down to getting bitten by a tick and possibly getting lyme disease or spraying your pant legs with deet, I will chose the latter any day. 

As for Tim and I, we  pre-treated our pants and shirts with Permethrin several days before. Tim applied the deet to his pant legs, I applied Tick Tock to my arms, but somehow forgot to apply the deet to my pant legs.

Since we had just spread seed on the lawn, we had the boys help move the bags from the pallets in the driveway to around the yard before the grass started coming up. The bags were loaded on to the garden wagon and then driven to where the boys unloaded them around the yard.
I was able to work out in the yard for 2 of the 4 hours they all worked. I worked 1 hour, then went inside and went back out when I had regained some energy. 
It took 4 hours to move all the bags and do some miscellaneous trimming and hauling stuff out to the pile in the woods.

When we were all done and the boys were paid, we sent them home with instructions to do a tick check and to shower.
 After that, I went inside and guess what I found on my leg? 

Yep, a small tick that had just attached itself to my right thigh.

I. Freaked. Out.

Instead of grabbing some tweezers, gently pulling out the tick and saving it to send in for testing, I panicked and frantically pulled it out using a fingernail and flushing it down the sink.
I knew it was attached because there was some resistance when I pulled it out, but there wasn't any blood. Seems that ticks inject a protein that acts as a blood thinner.  In 2000, I remember lots of blood when I flicked the tick from my earlobe. This time there wasn't any blood, so I must have removed it as it was just attaching itself to my leg. Tim was still outside and I ran out to get him to come and check the rest of my body for ticks.

On Sunday, I emailed Braden from Vital Plan and told her what happened and asked if Dr. Rawls would call in a 3 week course of doxycycline for me (I had gone out to see him, so I was already a patient). He returned my email (on a Sunday) about 2 hours later and asked what my pharmacy was. I hadn't even expected a response until Monday! I picked up my prescription Monday morning. 

Thankfully, I didn't have any rash, redness or swelling or symptoms of a new infection that whole week.

The following weekend we participated in the community  yard sale and a little girl who came by with her mom had an awful cough and cold. I thought she had stayed far enough away from me, (she was at least 10 feet away) but I was wrong. 
More on that in a bit.

After the yard sale, the boys came back to help us spread mulch. After pulling a tick off me the previous week, I gave them the tick talk again and only had them spread mulch in the front yard and around the house. They weren't allowed to go into the woods. Before sending them home, I told them to do a tick check when they got home and to shower. 

Regarding catching the little girl's cold....it was a bad one.
Our daughter caught it as well at the same time. I spent Wednesday to Sunday in bed.  After Sunday, I was fine, with no coughing or residual stuffed up after that. I'm pretty sure the herbals helped shorten the duration of the cold because our daughter still had coughing and sneezing for several more days after I felt better.

The doxyclycline was making  me feel sick over the weekend even though I covered up my skin and stayed out of the sun and since I hadn't had any signs of a new infection, I stopped taking it on Monday.

The cold seemed to set me back several weeks and I felt like I did when I returned home from Chicago. Some of my neuro symptoms and wobbliness returned and my fatigue is a little worse. 

This past week I started feeling a little better, so my daughter took me to a place she found that has a far-infrared sauna and Jade, far-infrared massage beds. I started out in the sauna for 22 minutes at 135 degrees. I didn't have any problems and will be going back for at least 9 more sessions. We will make this a weekly mother-daughter trip and if I can manage it,  I will go a second day to try out the massage beds.
I don't know how this place can stay in business because they only charge $5 for 30 minutes for the massage bed after giving you a month free. The sauna is $25 for 40 minutes, but they sell packages for less. I purchased 10 for $150. For those of you near Charlotte, the website is Migun Charlotte.
You might see if there is a spa near you that offers the Migun massage. 


A new beginning:
I belong to several lyme groups on Facebook, but a person from Belgium suggested those of us on the Restore Program should start our own group. I thought it was a great idea, so I formed one last week. Dr. Rawls and his daughter Braden, who heads up the team at Vital Plan, is part of the group too. If you'd like to join and know more about the Restore Program (it's not just for those with lyme), it's called Vital Plan Restore - Lyme/Fibro Herbals. 

It's been an eventful month! After a couple of more days out in the yard, Tim and I were able to finish up the mulch in the backyard. He killed 2 more ticks that had crawled on his clothing (1 each day he went out).
I think I have my anti-tick garden gear down to a science now.

I apply Rose-Geranium oil (50/50 with coconut oil) to my arms, neck, waist and ankles, wear Permethrin treated pants and long sleeved over-shirt, tuck white socks into my pants and wear rubber knee high rain/work boots and a hat. I skip the deet because the boots cover my lower legs.
I still do a tick check after coming indoors.

I don't care what I look like. 
So far, no more ticks. 
Lets hope it stays that way. 

I hope today is a good day for you

Pam

Here are my symptoms as of today:

extreme fatigue (5-6)- can work up to 2 hours, but am really tired after that

Numbness, tingling in feet- this was really bad when I was on doxy and had the awful cold

swollen pads on bottom of feet near toes- this is as bad or worse than it's ever been.

dizziness- only when tired

forgetfulness (1)

difficulty finding words (1-2)

dyslexia/trouble with spelling when typing-was gone, after cold it's come back a little bit

blurry eyes ( comes and goes)

urgency  (1)

light sensitivity (2-3)

noise sensitivity (2)

startles easily (4)

muscle pain (3)

aching forearms- comes and goes since taking the doxy and having the cold

muscle weakness (6)
high pitch ringing in the ears/low pitch ringing
96.8  today's temp (it's usually around 97.5))

Overall, I have made progress and feel better