In the Lyme world, there are no definitive lab tests to tell you if you have it or not.  The blood tests are about 50% accurate if you have it within a couple weeks of the bug bite (tic/spider/mosquito/and others says ILADS.com) and much less if you have it later on.  I had a tic bite within the past 4 years Steve removed it that day.  Never saw a rash or noted any acute symptoms.  Then when:  I didn’t get well after exposure to blue green algae in a local reservoir October 11, 2011, I was given a diagnosis of Lyme.  The criteria:  1) clinical presentation matched those with chronic Lyme, 2) a diminished CD-57, 3) noxious (aka herxheimer) symptoms once treatment began, and 4) results of Biomeridian testing. 

The CD-57 was the only objective lab marker and telling it was:  normal is somewhere between 180 and 360; mine was 40!  Persons with borrelia bufidi, the primary bacterial spirochete of Lyme (5 strains, 20 or more types) tend to have reduced natural killer cells (NK) due to this specific infection.  Additional diagnostic testing with a digital oscilliscope (aka Biomeridian testing) found co-infections typical of Lyme, such as babesiosis, bartonella, mycoplasma, and anaplasmosis.  These are all nasty by themselves; bartonella is the king of nastiness, adapting and hiding in the presence of antibiotics, targeted supplements, and other strategies.  Great.

I began my treatment in March of this year with a specific protocol of oral antibiotics and supplements designed to kill the bacteria in it’s various forms:  spirochete, biofilm, cyst, and L-form.  The latter 3 of these are forms in which the bacteria hides, virtually impervious to treatment.  They are erradicated by longstanding, rotating, symptom-driven treatment coached by a Lyme Literate Medical Doctor (LLMD).  I am very grateful to have a LLMD in this relatively small town.  God is good!  I had to stop the abx treatment to be able to get out of bed; this is common.  Three weeks later, Steve and I had decided on another technologies:  a Rife machine called a Beam Ray.

I am now almost 4 months into treating Chronic Lyme Disease with limited oral antibiotics, specific supplements, dietary restrictions (e.g. gluten free and no sugar), and the Beam Ray.  My symptoms are noxious, ranging from low grade flu symptoms and headache to continuous hours of seizure-like tics or “neuromuscular events.”  I am able to do limited activities, for which I am grateful.  However, I never know when a dive is coming.  This past weekend consisted of nearly 40 hours of the tics and a blasted headache.  There was a 3-hour break, gratefully, in which I could go with Steve and Christina to Ohio to meet Patrick and Kate for dinner.  Praise the Lord!  On the way home I lain in the back seat of the car, nauseous, headachy, and shaking quite a bit.  Geez.  Overall, at least with the Beam Ray, I can grade the treatments to a more tolerable level.  You take the good with the bad, eh?

Earlier this month, my CD-57 was remeasured for the second time and it is 23.  Crap.  That’s a long way from 180+!  The LLMD says the low number is a sign that my body is fighting the infection, a good thing.  I’m a bit freaked out and paranoid about getting other infections.  Steve has a cold and we’re being very careful.  Hey, I’ve got a Beam Ray so I ran a “Colds2”  program this morning.  My pre-cold symptoms diminished.  Very cool.  And it wasn’t a bad thing that I wasn’t able to go to Rivergames this past weekend along the St. Mary River downtown.  That green water isn’t good for anyone, no?

So this is going to be a long haul, which typically goes from 1 1/2 years to 3 1/2 years when approached via antibiotics alone.  We are hoping for a better course than that, given that I can function some days, some moments.  It’s a different kind of life for sure.  It’s not more than I or me and my Stevers can handle with the Lord Jesus Christ at the helm.  

Did I tell you about the dahlias that are starting to bloom in the back yard?  Starting to see goldfinches in addition to the bluebirds too.  Some things are sweet no matter what is going on in my head or my body . . .

For more information on Lyme Disease, you can watch a fascinating movie online for free at:  http://www.hulu.com/watch/268761