Not knowing what’s wrong with you is a specific kind of overwhelm; learning a diagnosis or two while relieving in one sense creates a new kind of overwhelm: confronting the endless information on the web and perhaps even personally trying to make sense of acquaintances’ myriad of therapies. Thoughts can flood the mind like, which therapies have worked? which ones haven’t? which ones are right for me now? do I have the money for any of this? It’s so complicated; how will I ever understand the disease let alone the path forward? This disease is worse and weirder than I thought. Feelings of discouragement have washed over all of us with chronic illness at some time.
In the case of Lyme disease there is perhaps no straight path from A to B, and if there is it’s certainly not one that all naturalists or doctors agree upon, so finding your way can seem a lot like a maze with frustrating dead ends. BUT there is a way forward, and once you confront the initial shock of how much there is to learn everything gets better. Today I am here to encourage your heart and share some advice which can help focus your action into basic steps.
Find a naturalist or a MD you can trust, preferably both. I’ve found that using a dual approach gives me maximum knowledge and thus options for healing. You’ve probably already been to some sort of practitioner to have received a diagnosis but you may need to go beyond where you’ve been to find the best care available. Making regular appointments will keep you accountable to following through with protocols, hopeful because the experts will help you to craft a plan that is a good next step and you’ll feel empowered for having taken an actionable step toward health. Your chosen healers can help you to see the big picture. Knowing how far you’ve come is not always tangible when you live with yourself day after day, but doctors and naturalists can remind you of the progress you’ve made. So make an appointment or two! Do it!
Pick a small number of therapies to try, keep learning, but stick with what you’re doing. Keep doing it until it stops working or shows you it’s a dead end. However, knowing you have options will keep you from feeling disappointed if a protocol does not work and can give you a new direction to go in. You may doubt that the protocol you’re doing is the best one out there or maybe you want to try everything at once. Take comfort that most everything is a cumulative effort. You have to start somewhere. Keep it simple and expand on what you know. I’ve found that most protocols do work a little bit or enlighten the reality of how your body works. For example, cholestyramine was too heavy duty for my body. My liver could not handle the load of toxins that the cholestyramine was pulling from my body, however it did reveal that we were on the right path. My body was indeed full of toxins and the cholestyramine revealed what a heavy load I was carrying. This told us we were on the right path but needed a gentler approach.
Make the computer your best friend. Learn as much as you can about the disease, but take breaks when you become overwhelmed. Take screen shots of information you find poignant so that you can refer to it later. Even if you can’t remember the mounds of information you encounter keep reading and learning. You will see patterns and start to recognize the information. Even if spending hours googling isn’t your favorite thing, carve out some time each day or week to learn more online. The various blogs, websites and chat rooms have been a huge source of information and support to me. I have learned so much and believe that a massive part of my progress has been things that I have decided to try on my own or with a doctor’s support. But remember to do something relaxing or enjoyable to put dealing with the illness on hold to give yourself a break. Sometimes it just becomes too much and we have to remember that there is life still to live while all of this is going on.
Have a support system. Fighting chronic illness is a team sport. Being able to share your experience is crucial. If someone doesn’t validate your reality thoughtfully examine your relationship with this person. Surrounding yourself with supportive people is imperative to healing. I am grateful everyday for my family and friends who continue to acknowledge my reality and cheer my every step forward.
Celebrate every step forward, any improvement is a sign of healing. Healing from chronic illness is more akin to putting in small pieces in a jigsaw puzzle than winning a game with a home run. Each cumulative action compounds until a beautiful work of art is revealed, your robust and vibrantly healthy body. I want to encourage you that the information does start to shrink. You can learn and understand your illness and you can take tangible steps that will make you better. So be diligent about doing the work, one piece at a time and you and I, we WILL get well.
Gonna Get Well 