Salt Baths & Anti Inflammatory Tonic

Good Day,
I think.

Thought it might be helpful to post this.
Wasn't planning to post for a while,
But the nature of the most recent flare up
With my joints and hip and all that
Seems to warrant it.

Just made my second tonic for the morning,
Because it seems to be putting the current problem at bay,
If just for a bit,
Until health professionals can help otherwise.
I had the tonic yesterday
And the day before.

It's simple,
And I used what I had on hand -
Based on what I've been having more on hand
Since all of this Lyme nonsense began:

In a glass or a mug or a cup:

Water, or the remains of a cup of tea
Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar
Juice of half a lemon
Turmeric powder
Fresh ginger root - can mince
Stevia
(I have small powder packets,
Because I saw them on sale.
I know the connection with Lyme says to use liquid Stevia -
Probably because that's what was used in the study that drew the significant results.)

I don't really measure anything.
Doesn't matter the size of the lemon.
It's definitely more than a teaspoon of turmeric,
And more than a Tablespoon of the Bragg's. 
I've taken to just chomping on a slice of the raw ginger root.
Pretty spicy.
Then wash away the spice burn with the drink.

All I know is that my leg and hip are slightly better just now....
After a couple days of this -
Along with ... (four or five now?/in the past two and a half days):
Hot baths with Epsom salts.
The one this morning was with more salts.
Maybe a total of 1 1/2 cups today -
In a deep tub -
Covers my body.
Also have been taking some OTC ibuprofen.
But sometimes that doesn't even seem to help.

This has been to remedy inflammation of my....:
Nerve endings?
Neuritis? (my cousin has some form of this),
Sciatica?
Piriformus (sp?) syndrome?
What started has acute pain radiating down my leg
Two months ago -
Turned to more dull pain -
And now is still a less acute pain in the piriformus;
And, much more oddly:
Wandering VIBRATIONS -
Like my cell phone is on vibrate?! -
In the muscle tissue
And under the skin -
In the hip,
Under the knee,
On the shin (where a patch of some form of inflammation can sometimes be seen),
In the calf - one side of it or the other -
Down to the toes of either foot,
And to the balls, ankles and heels sometimes, too.
My knee also alternates between seizing up and giving out.

Looked this up:
It's some of what is associated with Multiple Sclerosis.
So, my current question is:
Does Lyme Disease cause MS?
Both involve de-myelination of the protective sheaths on our neurons:
Which is how the body communicates about EVERYTHING.
My MRIs have revealed de-myelination.
People with Lyme have been misdiagnosed with MS.
What's it all about, Alfie?
***********************************************************
Also have been off my feet a lot
Friday evening through this morning -
Though did shop vac the down stairs yesterday. 
Do need exercise. 
Know that helps. 
And will get plenty of walking
Repeatedly across two schools for my work week, starting tomorrow.

Also been alternating icing
(With frozen vegetable bags - cause not as cold as ice)
And heating with a pad....
Not sure if this helps or not. 
The icing can help numb some of the pain;
And the heating can help warm it enough to stretch it out. 
Sometimes it seems that this moves the vibration location slightly.

NEXT?
Homeopath and Acupuncture visits this week
(Haven't done either in a while),
A referral to an Orthopedic specialist...
Another Lyme Specialist (Infectious Disease Dr.),
Results from the VEP (Vision Evoked Potential),
And Cervical MRI
(was already told it showed that my neck is inflamed.... interesting... doesn't really feel that way),...,

AND:
This week, the Candida Cleanse....
Hopefully get rid of any Candida overgrowth -
Which may be adversely affecting my overall health -
All of this -
All of the inflammation -
All of the migratory patterns of this dis-ease....
And Candida over growth is often the result of being on antibiotics. 
Doxy, for Lyme, is a pretty strong antibiotic. 
I've been on it three times since the Lyme Dx. 
Maybe four. 
All of the bacteria is affected by antibiotics. 
When the good bacteria is killed off, too,
The Candida can flourish. 
This can also contribute to Leaky Gut Syndrome. 
Do you crave sugar? carbs?
Could be Candida overgrowth.

************************************

If I lose 15 pounds and look really great -
It's not like I have a choice.  And I'd rather not talk about it. 
But if you do see me out and about, you could ask about my kids,
or my job(s),
or the gardens,
or what music I'm enjoying,
or what's going for the day or the week or the weekend.

Just please don't ask me about the Lyme. 
It's already taken over my life.
That's why I do this blog. 
Leave it all in the blog.
Maybe it helps someone else.

Ah, well...
This is at almost three years since the Lyme Diagnosis.

Quite a rocky terrain to navigate.

Wishing you all well.

Peace out,
Lisa

At 6 Months/Part III: Nutrition Consult, & Fast Forward to Chicago 4-18

At Six Months Part III 'Post'? Lyme, January 2016:

NUTRITION CONSULT NOTES
with Cathy Sloan Gallagher 1/21/16 at Good Life in West Bridgewater, MA

Started Probiotic Supplement -
Only took one - Will wait a bit -
Head was more queasy dizzy after.

(With Armour Thyroid,
Baby aspirin,
Single pain pills each day-aceteminophen, ibuprophen,
And Astra 8 for asthma)

Gut and Brain connected -
And compromised/still healing from the 25 days of Doxicyclene In July -
Food not enough now
(Me with yogurt and sauerkraut)

Cathy recommends cutting out Carbs and Dairy for five days and seeing how feel

Have Good Fat -
NOT low fat -
Body uses good fat better -
Coconut oil is easier to digest

Bacteria feeds on sugar

Honey ok (is natural antibiotic) if light (is still sugar)

ANY carbs yields glucose (even whole grains)

And increased glucose engages the adrenals

And links between gluten and asthma

For Lyme health, have to address adrenal health
(or the body is over stressed, and affects the immune system etc.)

Adrenals love Sea Salt - celtic gray or pink himalayan

Google SOLE recipe - have in a.m. with 8 oz. of water.

Decrease stress - including excess exercise - need to rest - still healing

Whole Food Vitamin C (not processed, NOT ascorbic acid),
e.g. New Chapter or Garden of Life

also. Camu Camu or Aserolo (sp?) 500 mg/Day

“Cape Cod Nutrition”: (Route 138 to Right at Light by CVS shopping center )

Acid reflux and heartburn: gall bladder congestion

Gall bladder and liver are connected
(Janet has treated my spleen and liver for years with acupuncture)

Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar -
Teaspoon ten minutes before a meal

Beet Kvass 4 oz/day -
On Cathy's website (beets, salt, water, can add lemon and ginger) - and ferment

If still a problem with brain fog and thinking after 2 months of pro-biotics, then meet with her:

Food Journal, 300 questions on line
(gives a chart of up and down health issues and diet needs),
(She palpates various body organs for sensitivities)

Hair mineral analysis ($185)

RE: ablation and heavy bleeding (needs liver support, liver diet)

***********************************************************

FAST FORWARD TO

4-15-18
Well, well, well... it just keeps snowing...

~Took an experimental trip...
To Chicago...
See how I'd do...
With the intermittent confusion and all...
Getting a rental car...
Got a hotel close to the airport...
Visited my alma mater - hadn't been since graduated 33 years ago in June...
Visiting a close family friend...

As Long as I stay in the moment -
Keep aware of the present,
And get enough rest and eat right...
So far so good.
Though I did wander a bit around the airport car rental lot trying to find my way out.
And very stressed the first night here when the hotel shuttle didn't pick me up
They kept saying it would be five minutes...and that it was on its way....
Two hours after my flight arrived
I finally took a taxi.
The hotel is two miles from the airport.
They reimbursed my taxi, and discounted the first night's stay.
But still.  The damage was done.
I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone.

~Wasn't sure about the flight from the East coast....
Have a strange sensation in my right shin -
Moves around a bit to the side and back and up and down throughout the day(s)....
Started as part of 'Sciatica' -
And the chiropractor didn't help at all -
Actually caused more problems -
Cracking my neck
didn't go there for my neck)
And then I couldn't roll down the window of my mother's old 'back up' car...

Sooooo....
A year ago March,
I was bedridden,
Long story short...
(Lung and GI flareup).
This year is better -
But the Flare up this time appears to be my joints.
Did  a number on my hip -
Wearing the wrong footwear for the walking I do at work
Across two schools throughout each day -
And then over did it at the gym on the treadmill...:
Half hour on a very steep incline...
And haven't been the same since -
Been at least 6 weeks now.
Hoping to have a PT help.
It did years ago with a lower back issue.
Have been stretching throughout each day...
Would wake me up at night -
The sharp pain at my hip mostly -
Also some under the knee.
The chiro said lumbar radiculopathy (among other things) - AKA 'Sciatica'.  
Took more OTC generic pain meds
In the past four weeks than have in .... don't know how long.

UPDATE:
Been waiting for a return call from my Dr. in Mass...
Should I go to the ER?
Is it a blood clot in my lower right leg?
Wouldn't know what it is or what it looks like.
Checked online.
Called to friends.  One is a nurse.
Going to bed not sure if I'm going to wake up.
Pray to my ancestors...
Vocally tone.
Walking lots on the last two days in the cold and wet certainly hasn't helped.
But maybe it's the post-inflammatory stuff
That is part and parcel to what has been my experience with Post Lyme Syndrome...
Nerve damage....
Related to the radiating nerve stuff of sciatica from overdoing it at the gym.
Lisa, a nurse friend,
Said the deep muscle of the butt is also something that can get inflamed -
And then misinterpreted for sciatica.
She also helped with a nighttime affirmation:
"My body functions perfectly".... and texted this morning:
 "Are you still alive?"
Glad she was checking in - across the many miles.
And it gave me a chuckle.

So it's off to the Chicago ER I go.
To rule out a blood clot -
Which can be very serious.
I know of at least two people who have died from them.

***************************************

Until next time - planning to sign off for a while after that.

Wishing you peace and wellness.

--Lisa 

Side Bars: Visual Agnosia, Doing Taxes, Neuro Dr., Wallander

Oy and Double Oy...

Doing taxes...
Been doing them for 40 years....
Started mid March -
And that was after I'd already sorted countless receipts
And tried to figure out what new forms, if any, I had to do this year,
Due to my mother's death.
It was challenging to do new forms for my daughter's college stuff the past two years...
Turns out there are 10 Federal forms and six state forms...
I think that's it for this year.  I
've already redone the 'final' 1040 twice -
Which also meant fixing other ones connected to the 1040.
Thought I was in the home stretch.

And now I have to do it again -
Which means I have to redo most of both the state and the federal forms.
I keep missing things.
I add and re add.
And pencil in and pen it in...
And tried a little bit of white out,
But that's not clean enough.
And this is not good for my eyeballs and brain.
So I try not to stress about it.
It is what it is.

I know people will say go to an accountant.
An accounting friend gave me some advice.
I visited H&R Block and got some advice there.
To hand over everything now for someone else to do doesn't make sense.
Years ago - twice, I went to accountants to have taxes done.
Each said that the IRS would love me because I keep such good records...
So I do my own.
At some point I will go to someone else to do them -
Once I don't have to try and explain everything I've done and why...
When I have fewer forms -
And then not for three years after that -
Cause they can always ask for three years' returns.
If there's been mistakes over the years - they've been corrected and adjusted for by the government.

Side bar:
I was just looking for a can of coconut milk
To make the ginger carrot soup today
That's part of my supervised health cleansing diet this week
(Did a year ago under guidance of Cathy Sloan Gallagher -
And twice since then on my own-
Not quite as successful those times)...
COULD NOT FIND the can -
I knew it was in the lazy susan cabinet.
I remember putting it there after buying it yesterday -
And know that there was a can in there before that, too.
COULD NOT FIND THEM.
I asked my husband if he might look.
It was right there.
As soon as you open the door.
Enter stage right: VISUAL AGNOSIA:
It's hard to identify a single object in among a bunch of stuff.
I don't 'see' it.

So gave my brain a boost on sardines and multigrain toast with kim chi...
And heading in for ....
Round....50?
Of my taxes. 

Side Bar:
Makes me think of the Netflix series, 'Wallander".
Kenneth Branagh plays a detective who develops Alzheimers,
After watching his father succumb to it.
I can relate.
W. is trying to organize his thoughts to solve a missing person case-
With many crumpled up pieces of paper littered about. 
My office looks like a bomb hit it:
Piles and and piles of papers and files,
And cards
And music stuff, An
d garden stuff
And sewing stuff....
And I plan to get to all of it,
Bit by bit -
After the flippin' taxes are done.

While I don't think that I have Alzheimers
(It's not in my family genes)
I do wonder if Lyme Disease speeds up the aging process?
People try to say that the forgetfulness, etc, etc, etc, is due to aging.
No.
I wasn't like this before the Lyme Disease.
No where to anything like the degree of everything that's hit me
Since the Lyme.

Side Bar:
Had a neuro visit two weeks ago -
Dr. wants to rule out Multiple Sclerosis
And Neurological Lyme.
And has a bunch more tests planned.
I might not do all that's being asked.
To what end?
First test is the VEP:
Visual evoked potential...
Have to look at a checkerboard screen for forty five minutes.
I'm concerned about that literally making me sick -
Setting off an ocular migraine.
Called the office about it.
No one got back with an answer.
 So I'll just close my eyes at some point I guess,
And see what that tells them.

...Until next time,
Still planning to head back to the six month point post Lyme:
Winter of 2016,
With a nutrition consult
And starting to chart my symptoms after my visit with J....
So much going on then.

Peace out,
Wishing you wellness.
Lisa