Headaches and Hurdles

I started a new medicine a few days ago. The Doxy (Doxycycline) simply wasn't doing it. At. All.

So, along with the Alinia, I began Azithromycin, or "Azith" to those of us in the Lyme world. I was so happy to switch away from the Doxy, as it really gave me horrid nausea. I leapt from that frying pan a bit hastily...

Yep, FIRE!!! Right into it. The Azith kicked into gear in 24 hours, bringing me a world of hurt. Stabbing abdominal pains... Wasn't sure if I felt like throwing up or saving it for the dark side of the moon... you get my drift? Well, neither vomiting nor the other ailment came about. Just an awful stabbing/pressure-pain all over my abdomen for a few hours each evening. This pain has been completely debilitating. It's not the "Wow, this sucks, but I can manage" type of pain. It's the "Did you hear that? I'm coming to join you, Elizabeth!*" type of pain. I almost felt like I was having a gall bladder attack at some points, and then... oh wait. I don't have one of those anymore. Heh.

Accompanying this lovely sensation is someone I'm pretty well-acquainted with: Mr. Migraine. Things got so bad last night, I couldn't even stand up. I was slumped onto my massage chair (thank God we own one!) for about two hours. You see, my heart medication for POTS doesn't allow me to lay down, as it raises my blood pressure when I go horizontal, for 4 hours after taking it. I tried anyway, and let's just say raising blood pressure during a migraine is the stupidest thing you can do.

My massage chair, AKA the only place for peace in times of migraine herxing.

My most-amazing-hubby-in-the-world actually got in the car and drove to Bed Bath & Beyond to buy me a bathtub pillow so that I could take a detox bath and rest my head. This is how bad my migraine was. Oh how I love him so! (My hubby, not Mr. Migraine.)

So, not only does the new medicine obviously kick my backside from one end of the house and back, it also has given me loads to think about... when hubby and I go to a movie and my legs decide not to work anymore and I literally fall into the next seat over, trying to exit the theater... Yeah. I think, "Wow. I'm glad I didn't sit in the very end seat. I would have fallen into the aisle." And "Well, I wonder how ridiculous we look," as he literally is allowing me to drag myself on his arm on the way to the car. I mean, I look normal enough. When you have Lyme, you don't look sick. I think I must have looked something like Westley from "The Princess Bride" after he'd been "mostly dead" all day.

So, I'm walking a ton better today, two days later. And I'm taking the day off my Azith, and will start back tomorrow at half-dose and stay there for a few days. Then I will ramp up to the full dose. Here's to kicking some keet keester**!

*Please, oh PLEASE tell me you know what this quote is from! If not, look here.

**Keet = Spirochete (SPY-ro-keet); The shape of the Lyme bacteria, Borrelia Burgdorferi.
Keester = Butt.

THAT came out of ME?

FOOT DETOX BATH!!!

I have a friend and fellow Lymie that owns a foot detox bath system. You know, I always have a certain level of skepticism when it comes to these things. However, I was surprisingly astonished by what I saw and learned.

If you're not aware, we all have compromised bodies by simply living in an industrialized world. And then, when you add Lyme and other co-infections into the mix, well, let's just say that my body is a veritable cornucopia of less-than-desirable elements. We all are inundated with harsh chemicals – from our foods and even the air we breathe; heavy metals – from vaccinations and other things such as mercury amalgam fillings and more; sludgy lymphatic systems; overly worn-out organ systems; and SO much more.

For me, I also have a ton of bacteria and parasite die-off that not only create more sludge by their deadness hanging around, but these miscreants also release endo-toxins (all of the neuro-toxins they had stored up before they died) into my body at the time of death. It makes me feel extremely sick and altogether just not good. So we Lymies detox, detox, detox the night away.

Our bodies naturally are working overtime trying to clear out all this "stuff" and most times, it simply can't do it all. Enter the foot detoxification system. My friend found this website that sells amazing personal and commercial systems, made in the USA, and is located here in Wisconsin. Check them out, they're terrific. I spoke with the owner, Ryan Pattee, and ordered my own foot detox kit, and am über excited for its arrival and maiden voyage to sludgeville.

Here are shots of the water during and after my initial soak in my friend's machine. Remember that when I started out, the water was CLEAR and had only sea salt mixed in. The rest mostly* came from me.

In the tub. There are many colors that appear, which translate into different systems of your body that are detoxing.

Dark green: Gall Bladder system. I don't have a Gall Bladder anymore, but the system is still there, and is in serious distress.

The floaty, sludgy stuff on top is from my Lymphatic System. Loads of toxins there.

Black flecks? Heavy metals that came out of my pores. Yes. That is correct. There are several in this shot, with two larger ones at about the middle.

More metal flecks. I poured the water out through a paper towel-lined colander, to catch the colors and the heavy metals.

All that orange... That would be from my joints. Some yellow from the kidney/bladder system. I have Interstitial Cystitis, a bladder disorder. I also have Bartonella, which loves to hang out in the bladder.

It can also pull out yeast, which comes out as curdy white floaters, and even red flecks which indicates blood clots breaking up and being pulled out. No kidding. This is amazing.

Let me explain just a tiny bit about how this works. Detoxifying your body can offer benefits such as more energy, rejuvenation, sleep wellness, and healthier skin, according to their website. The following is also taken directly from www.MyDetoxFootBath.com, as they are the experts, not me:

"The soles of the feet and armpits are two of the body's discharge pathways for toxins (hence the odor). The use of antiperspirant blocks one of these pathways, and over time can result in an accumulation of chemicals in the body. The feet, being the largest pathway of the body, have been used for centuries to eliminate toxins. Traditionally, feet were placed in salty sand, to foot detox. This method, however, was effective but slow, and had limitations.

The foot bath uses a direct micro-current that is very similar to low voltage electro-stimulation or cold laser, both of which have been proven to increase cellular ATP (stored energy). Introducing this increase in energy stimulate the cells to purge toxins at a much higher rate. The warm salt water is used as a conduit for exchanging ions - in other words the foot bath is like a magnet that energizes the cells and draws out toxic material right before your eyes.

Water, metal, and salt will combine to produce a light water color change, as well as objects in the water even without feet being submerged. The ionic foot bath neutralizes toxins in the water the same way it neutralizes toxins in the body. Remember, the body itself has high water content, and this is where toxins become isolated.

*As a general rule, depending on geographical location, about 20-40% of what you see in the water after a foot bath comes from regional toxins in the water, and the remaining 60-80% comes from the client's body while using the detox foot spa."

Hey, if you live close by, I invite you to try this out. This service is also available from certain spas. It is well worth the effort. And I couldn't believe how much better I slept for many nights afterwards.


So that is the skinny on the foot detox. I give this method a super-duper-ultra-mega quadruple A+++++++. Out of 5 stars, this receives the coveted 6 stars. No joke. My doctor also highly recommends doing this regularly.


Who knew detoxing could be not only this effective, but also this gross? I mean, Halloween, here we come as the scum-monsters!

Officially official. How's that?

Well, I had my follow-up appt. with my LLMD today. All meds seem to be doing what they need to do. All systems seem to be going well. Well, most systems.

We looked over my Thyroid tests (3 of them) over the last 18 months, and she was happily surprised that mine is good. It actually is trending to lean toward the hyper- side, rather than the hypo- side. Most Lymies deal with the latter. Not me! Who knew?

So now we are going to spit in some tubes tomorrow... Of course, when I say "we," I mean "me." We are testing for adrenal issues now, via a saliva cortisol test. Four times tomorrow, I will fill a little tube with my spit. I know, you're just dying to be me tomorrow! Now that urge to chew tobacco can be somewhat squelched I guess by my impending experience. Wah-wah-waaaaaahhhhh.

Now, down to the "officially official" part... The day of all days. That would be today. For today, any voices in my head that whispered "Yeah, but it might not be Lyme..." can officially Shut. Up.

I got the results from my latest Lyme test. Yes, I tested again after 5 weeks of antibiotics. This usually always stirs up some more antibody action, and this time, it did.

My first "band" that came back positive was band 41. This can actually be a non-Lyme (Borrelia Burgdorferi) bacteria antibody. Basically, it can appear when we fight a whole array of things, especially any other pathogens with a flagella (tail).

Today's results speak to the scientific parts of my brain. Because today, band 23 came back "Equivocal." This is a word that means, "we see it there, it's just pretty light." Band 23 is only specific to Borrelia Burgdorferi, the "Lyme bacteria." 

The point here, is that if they see it, then it is there. It's not a mirage. It's there. So what if it's light? My first pregnancy test for my 3rd daughter came out barely visible, but that did not mean that I was possibly or partially pregnant. And certainly not not pregnant, as you can tell... I did mention her up there, didn't I? ;-)

So there we have it. It is officially official. Just in case those naysayers try to rain on my antibody band parade. The umbrella is sufficiently raised.

My name is Lauren and I am a Lymie.

A–little A-linia goes A–Long way...

Well, I am day 5 into my Alinia treatment and still at a half-dose. Thankfully the wobbly sensations are subsiding. I still do experience them, but not to the degree of my first night.

I make sure to take a detox bath about every 2 or 3 days, and that really does help. This bath has 2-3 cups of Epsom Salt, 2 cups of Hydrogen Peroxide, and 2-3 tablespoons of freshly grated Ginger root (thanks to my wonderful hubby who does the grating!).

Even with these baths, I still do experience issues. The most prominent seem to be pain (shocker) in my hands, knees, and upper arms, as well as legs, and lower arms, but they are not as terrible. I also have the worst neck pain. I am having a hard time with the Doxycycline in the mornings. I take this to make sure the Babesia doesn't become immune to the Alinia. The Doxy makes me extremely nauseated for about 45 minutes. So I know there's an end in sight, but man, those 45 minutes just have to be right when I'm trying to get my kiddos ready for school on a time limit. Ugh. (Just need to keep telling myself, "This too, shall pass!")

And the herx reaction that wins the "ridiculous" category is the jolts of jerking that happens when I'm trying to SLEEP! Two nights ago it was my arms. Last night it was my abdomen. I can feel an "energy" building, just like in a "restless leg" type of situation, and then – involuntarily, might I add – I jerk/jolt/twitch/whatever-you-want-to-call-it... I'm sure my husband calls it annoying. ;-) It keeps me awake, to be sure. So then I sleep longer in the morning, to catch up on the lost sleep from the early night hours.

So there's the skinny on the 'Linnie (AKA Alinia).

Kermit said it best: "It's not easy being green..."

Alinia...

Well, today I started a new treatment... For the Babesia... The co-infection that is, among other things, attacking my heart. I'm going to say that if the following phenomenon has anything to do with my new medicine, life will be quite interesting. And while I know that medicine usually doesn't show its effects for a day or so, is this possibly from the Alinia? Seeing as that is the only thing that has changed, I can't help but think it is so...

I began Alinia – well, the generic kind from Canada, because the real stuff costs over $1,300 PER MONTH and I'm not Mrs. Moneypants – and 10 hours into the first dose and I am noticing something. I am wobbly. Like every minute I get a little more wobbly.


My legs are trying to give out on me, my knees hurt, and every muscle in my body that normally holds various body parts up/in place has become very unsure of what its primary function is... Result: many jerky/sloshy movements. I probably look like a drunken sailor/Parkinson's patient rolled into one cute little hat-sporting, scarf-wearing Lymie. Hat and scarf are staples all day long as I am perpetually C-O-L-D (pronounced: freezing). The cold lifestyle is all part and parcel to the Autonomic Disorder. I just can't regulate my temperature correctly. Fun.

Anyway, that is the update. I'm wobbly. And I've had to hit the delete key twice as much as my normal Lyme-induced typing dyslexia typically demands. Yuck.