Grateful for the Tick

During the past five months, I have been working with an integrative health doctor due to my neurological issues I have had since 2007. He came highly recommended by several people and other doctors I know. He suspected Lyme Disease. This surprised me, since I had been tested for it by the standard ELISA test about three or four times during the past three and a half years and all results came back negative.

He explained to me that these tests the antibodies in my system that fight against the bacteria, and if my immune system is down, there will be no antibodies to measure. He told me we had to build up my immune system again before he retested me. The tests given to most patients who initially show symptoms of Lyme are only 50% reliable, giving false negatives and also false positives. The tests routinely given by most docs is the ELISA test, which is standard CDC procedure (which needs some tweaking too, in my opinion). The thing they don't realize (or maybe want to admit) is that it measures the ANTIBODIES in the blood of the patient. So, if a patient is having a flare at the time and the immune system is down, the antibodies will not be fighting, so they will not show up on the test. I had recently had a Western Blot test, which had shown some bands for Lyme, but the way the test is done doesn't indicate what bands are found and where in the blood and at what time.

Right away, he had me do a detox diet and started me doing an herbal antibiotic and homeopathic remedies. I did not want to do a harsh standard antibiotic treatment - although it was an option - which would hurt my digestive tract and liver. The reason detoxing is done concurrently with the antibiotic is because the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria releases a neurotoxin as it is killed off, which is called the Herxheimer Reaction. Really, all the symptoms come back in full force. So I am currently on the least amount homeopathically, and when I go up to the next level, I can barely walk. It's quite astonishing.  

After a few months of an herbal antibiotic and detoxing, my doctor gave the green light to test again. I was finally diagnosed with a test that was sent out to Cali. It is more detailed and tells the doctor exactly what is floating around in the blood and how long I've had this. Basically, he tells me it's done nerve damage at this point because it's been misdiagnosed and untreated for 3 1/2 years. But as a healer, I believe I am healing now, and so are all the nerve cells in my body. Hell, I no longer need a wheelchair, so watch me!

There are soooo many people with chronic Lyme with a similar story. Some have been misdiagnosed with MS, Lupus, and of course a few have been told it was "in their heads," which at one point I was told as well. I shake my head at it all. Of course, as a woman, I wonder if more woman with Lyme (or any other undiagnosed illness) are accused of the "it's in your head" theory because they are a woman, and doctors feel a need to label.

But I know there is a reason for everything, and though I would not want to restep the path of what has happened to me, I would not want it to happen any other way. I am somehow utterly grateful for the tick that bit me.