Come Hell Or High Water

Where does the time go?

I haven't updated in several months because I've been busy.

Really busy.

I'm talking about working 5-10 hours a day on our "Get the house ready to sell" list.

I'm not exaggerating.

Of course I took breaks every hour and and a half or so. If I was tired and didn't have the energy to stand up, I would work on something where I could sit or kneel down.
Either way, the list was getting done. By April 30th. And the house was getting put on the market on May 12th. As my mama used to say: "Come hell or high water".
I was determined and we did it.

My spreadsheet that I used to keep us on track

The photographer came on Wednesday and the house was on the market the next day. We decided to hold showings until the Open House on Saturday, which was a big relief because there were a lot of little things that needed to get done so that the house could look as good as it could.
As we drove down the street right before the Open House started, I couldn't hold back the tears.
They weren't tears of sadness that we were leaving the house we'd been in for 16 years, they were tears because we did it. We finished the list and I felt relief.
The following day we had 3 more showings and offers started coming in Monday morning. We had 3 more showings on Monday and by that evening, 3 offers had come in.

Those 3 days weren't easy.
Getting 3 cats out of the house + my husband being on call  over the weekend really made showings difficult.
As for the multipe offers, we collaberated with our realtor and decided to go back to each of the potential buyers and ask them to make their highest and best offer by Tuesday at 2pm and then we'd start negotiating with the one we felt was the strongest.

Back to how I'm feeling. Dang. Selling a house is sooooooo stressful.
Stress with chronic lyme is no bueno. There were a few sleepless nights because of "what ifs" and because I was experiencing gaps in my memory concerning the house. I just couldn't let it go and the gaps in my memory REALLY bothers me. I also have some gaps concerning a few other things not pertaining to the house and last year, when I was really sick, is a big blur.
Back to stress, I took HPA balance and l-theanine in the morning on the days when the stress was really bad. I wish I had thought of this sooner, as it helps a lot.

When the stress was really bad during the last month before our house went on the market, I was having some worsening of symptoms such as my feet feeling a little more numb, my balance was off more, my eyes bothered  me a bit more, I had/have some trouble finding words and I've started losing more weight.
Overall, I'm surprised I didn't relapse and have worse symptoms, especially fatigue, because I was really pushing myself.

To add to all the stress and probably due to it, I was having trouble sleeping. Anxiety seemed to blow everything out of proportion, but I managed to hold it together with the help of my husband and our realtor. After the offers came in and the contract to purchase was signed, I was able sleep a lot better.

We still had some uncertainty when we were under contract as the house hadn't closed yet and not getting to closing is always a possiblility, but I wasn't stressed about that at all. I knew that if the buyer backed out that day or the next week, we'd put the house up again and we'd have another offer a couple of days after that because that's how things are going. That would have been ok with me because we hadn't found another house to buy at that time. This was causing me more stress, plus getting all of our stuff out of here in a few weeks.

We found a cute house in the neighborhood I was looking at and put down and made an offer the day we saw it. We knew there'd be other offers. It was a fixer for us and needed about $50,000 - $75,000 worth of work to get it to work for us. It was a small house, had a basement and needed a lot of landscaping.
The next day, I went to see another house...one story, not in the area I originally wanted, but it did I mention it was ONE story? No stairs, except for the couple going up to the porch in the front and several in the back because the lot is sloped and the house in the back is on a high crawl, which adds a lot of storage under the house.

I had gone with our realtor to see it and my husband called and said he could come by. He liked it too.
We decided right then to rescind the offer on the other house because we just weren't up to working the next couple of years - at least getting the house renovated.
This one story house had very little yard work - I estimate we'll spend about $200 less a month on average, plus it's only 3 years old and looks brand new. True, the kitchen is much smaller than the house we were in and the office and hall bath are much smaller, but every other room is about the same size or larger than the house we were living in. The crawl could be encapsulated and provide us with as much space as we need.

I'll continue with this story another time. The next couple of weeks were difficult to say the least.

Hope today is a good day for you

Pam

If you'd like to read the 2nd half of our moving adventure, it can be found HERE.

Symptoms:

Numbness, tingling in feet was getting worse, not getting better

dizziness/off balance- was mostly gone, but has been a little worse - I'm wobbly not just when I'm tired

blurry eyes - eyesight seems to be worse

urgency  (3) - still a problem

noise sensitivity (4)

startles easily (4)

muscle pain -not very often

muscle weakness - when I'm tired

tremors - happened when exposed to loud noises

high pitch ringing in the ears/low pitch ringing - same

Weight- down to 115 Waking up at night-  maybe twice  a night - if I have caffeine too late, the number of times goes up.

Feeling Great...month 13

Last month was pretty depressing for me.  I tried not to show it in my post, but I was disappointed in my progress before last month and there wasn't much to write about other than I tried (and didn't succeed) with some essential oils. It wasn't that they didn't work; it was that I couldn't handle the herx.

diy Design Fanatic is my other blog

After the essential oils, I tried Buhner's protocol for Bartonella since I had been having some irritating Bart symptoms and I was impatient and wanted to get rid of them.

I added Japanese Knotweed first and actually felt great the days I took them. Then I added most of the others - Arginine, Sida Acuta, EGCG, and a few others. I added everything but the bacteria killing Houttynia. You can find the list of herbs on Buhner's website or the revised protocol in the latest addition of his book Healing Lyme.

After about a week on all of those herbs and supplements, I started to herx and felt bad. I felt bad enough that I ended up spending most of the day resting in bed. All of my old neurological symptoms returned and then some. Then, a couple of days after that the ice pick headaches started, so I stopped all of the extra herbs and went back to only the Restore formulations. My goal had been to do the protocol for 30 days and I thought I could handle the herx for a month, but I couldn't.

 Those of you who have had ice pick headaches know that they are no joke. They actually feel like someone sticking an ice pick into the side of your head and mine were every 5 seconds.(I'm not exaggerating) The ice pick headaches slowed down in frequency and intensity, but continued for 5 or 6 days after stopping the extra herbs. Seems that I stirred some bugs up.

I started feeling better a couple of days after stopping the herbs for Bartonella. It's really difficult to feel awful after having a couple of months of not feeling bad and feeling good some days.

One of the main reasons why I stopped the herbs for bart is that we are getting our house ready to put up for sale in May and the "get the house ready to sell" list is really long and I need to be working on that list every day and I couldn't afford to be out of commission for even a month now that I'm feeling better.

I am feeling pretty great these days - most days I'm working on the house the equivalent of working a part time job. I still have to take breaks, but most days I work about 6 hours on the list and doing household chores.  One day I worked 10 hours with 2 breaks for meals and some smaller breaks in between. I worked pretty hard for 3 days straight, then took it easy for 2 days after that. Not bad.

I'm happy to report that the past 3 weeks I've felt really great almost every day. That's how progress seems to work... A year ago I felt bad/awful, then I started having a day or two where I didn't feel bad. Then those  days got closer together.  I started  having a day when I felt good, then those feeling good days start getting close together. Finally, the feeling great days showed up and now I'm to the point of feeling great (like I can conquer the world) most days. That's a far cry from being in pain and not having the energy or even the motivation to get out of bed (remember, I have a type A personality).

It feels good to get to this point. Yes, I still have some symptoms to resolve, but they are minor annoyances and sometimes, if I sit really still, I feel totally symptom free.

One thing I would love to share with you is that I found something that's helping me sleep better. One of the reasons why I wanted to do the bart protocol so desperately is that I was getting up to go to the bathroom every 90 minutes to 2 hours at night. Sometimes after I went back to bed it was difficult to get back to sleep. Restful sleep is so important for healing, so in my search for a remedy, I found Ashwagandha and ordered some.
I ordered this one:

I took 26 drops in a few ounces of water and drank it before bed. 
It. tastes. awful. 
But, I only woke up 2 times that night instead of 4 or 5. Progress.  I didn't wake up feeling groggy either. I also remembered dreaming right before I woke up and felt rested in the morning. Last Saturday evening I slept all the way through the night and didn't wake up once! So excited about that sleep!!! That doesn't happen every night, but most nights I'm only waking up once or twice, which is a big improvement.  Last night I slept for 4 hours, then woke up and 4 hours again. That's perfect! I think I remember reading that 4 hours straight is restorative sleep, which is what I need.
Ok, so where am I with my healing and what does my day look like.
I still take my morning slow, but I'm waking up at 8 or 9 am, when I was sleeping until 10 or 11 in January.  I have enough energy during the day to work on the house list throughout the day and do daily chores. I'm currently working on painting most of the trim and doors in our house. There is a lot of trim in our house because it's BIG, which is why will be downsizing!

I've been busy painting trim all over the house. My husband painted the walls, I painted the trim. The painted box is a small makeover project.

I'm able to drive to the store and shop without brain fog taking over. I still have to be careful though. I was able to go to church last week and take out one earplug during the sermon. No, I'm not a crazy lady, I've just been sensitive to noise and anything amplified on a microphone or speaker since having lyme.  I'm looking forward to eradicating that symptom!

In summary, I've made a good jump in feeling great this past month, especially the last 3 weeks. I've come a long way since January of 2015 and I'm looking forward to complete healing.

Hope you are having a good day and can't wait to hear that you are making good progress if you have lyme disease. 
Pam

ps: remember the Collagen Protein from Dr. Axe I started adding to my smoothies last time? I'm happy to report that it's made my face really soft. The skin on my cheeks had been really scaley and not it's just really smooth.  Here are the status of my symptoms:

Numbness, tingling in feet is finally getting better!

dizziness/off balance- is mostly gone - I still get a little wobbly when I'm really tired.

blurry eyes - not as bad

urgency  (3) - still a problem, but not as bad

noise sensitivity (3)

startles easily (2)

muscle pain -only on a bad day

muscle weakness (2)

tremors - only happened once during the month when something stressful happened

high pitch ringing in the ears/low pitch ringing - high pitch is not as loud and I can hear the low pitch now

98 +   temp

Weight- down to 123- 124 Waking up at night- only once, maybe twice - down from every 2 hours  or 90 minutes.

Month 12- Focusing on Bartonella

I'm a couple of weeks into month 12 on the Restore Program. The weeks since I wrote my month 11 update didn't seem to bring any progress. Dizziness was pretty common and brain fog was popping up many days. It was a little disheartening.

At this  point, I'm willing to try different herbs/oils, etc that may or may not help as long as they seem reasonable and can't hurt you. Why not?

With this in mind, a couple of weeks ago I mixed a couple of drops of each oil and added coconut oil, so the mixture was 50/50. The mixture was applied via a bottle with a roll on top and applied topically.

Two problems I really wanted to work on are bladder issues, which wake me up at night several times and partially numb feet. I did some reading and mixed up some oils and applied them topically to the areas. I took them for about 4 days, but was feeling so bad I stopped taking them. Oils will definitely make you herx. Even with extra detox (liposomal glutathione & sauna), the herx was pretty bad.
I REALLY didn't like going back to feeling bad after a couple of feeling good.
So, I stopped.

We are trying to get our house ready to sell (we're downsizing) and I really need to feel well enough to do some of the projects, since my husband works full time and can't do it all.
This was my dilemma...do I treat more and feel bad or keep on the same dose of Restore?

January is when I had planned to do Buhner's protocol  for Bartonella, but was hesitant because I didn't want to feel bad. I decided to go ahead and try since I ordered the herbs last month. I am continuing to take the full Restore herbs. I started taking Japanese Knotweed - 1 cap 2x a day, then bumped it up to 2  caps 2 x a day, then 2 caps - 3x a day, which is the full dose Buhner recommends.
I expected to herx, but actually started feeling pretty good, even really good - and I had energy!
The past week + has been great and I've been able to get a lot done. Evidently, Japanese Knotweed stops the cytokine cascade, which causes inflammation and makes you feel bad. (I don't understand how that a cytokine cascade is different from a herx.)
I haven't added everything in the full Bartonella protocol yet, so there's no telling how I'll feel once I have.


So far I'm taking the full dose of Japanese Knotweed, Sida Acuta, EGCG(green tea) &Hawthorn.
I also added the Arginine and Milk Thistle a few days ago and maybe starting the Houttuynia tomorrow. I'm a little afraid of taking the Houttuynia and herxing, but we'll see. I can always back off.

As for changes to diet...still aiming for 50% vegetables, gluten, dairy and sugar free. I do eat organic butter (cow) and Romano cheese (made from grass fed sheep's milk).
I've added a tablespoon of Collagen from Dr. Axe, which is made from grass fed cows. I've recently read that Buhner recommends collagen for muscle wasting. I definitely should have started adding that to my smoothies 
sooner because my muscles are pretty atrophied. I've also lost my previously latina behind and now it's flatter than flat. I've been taking the collagen every day since January 9th and already the skin on my face feels smoother. I had to exfoliate several times a week before because it felt scaly. 

The Website says the collagen helps this way

• Healthy gut repair and brain function*
• Greater mobility and flexibility. Strong, healthy muscles. Healthier, stronger bones and joints*
• Vibrant, firmer, glowing skin and fight back against the effects of normal aging*
• Easier weight management and/or weight loss, due to its satiating effect on hunger*
• Deeper and more restful sleep*

You can purchase the collagen directly from Dr. Axe's website HERE.

As for the symptoms/areas I need to resolve(in this order please):

bladder

eyes

balance issues/intermittant brain fog

sound sensitivity - loud rooms cause tremors

numbness in feet

tinnitus

 I keep treating and reading and looking for information that might help. I hope you will do the same. Treating lyme and co-infections is a marathon, no a sprint. It's easy to get discouraged when you aren't feeling good or don't have any energy. Keep trying.

Hope today is a good day for you.

Pam

Here are the status of my symptoms:

Numbness, tingling in feet remain the same

swollen pads on bottom of feet near toes-a little better

dizziness/off balance- comes and goes.

difficulty finding words  about a 2 when really tired

blurry eyes - a few days clear, then a few days blurry

urgency  (3) - still a problem

light sensitivity (negligible)

noise sensitivity (3)

startles easily (2)

muscle pain -2 some days more

muscle weakness (3)

tremors - only when exposed to constant loud noises, but it's minor

high pitch ringing in the ears/low pitch ringing - high pitch is more present,

not being able to follow directions (2-3) -comes and goes

98 +   temp

Weight- I think I've lost another pound. It fluctuates up or down 2 pounds.
Most symptoms are the same, some days are worse, because I've added the Bart protocol. Some days I have a lot of energy and get a lot done and some days I just want to sleep for half of the day- I just go with it!