Lyme 0 - 1 Me

I had sat reflecting over breakfast about how the appointment with my naturopath would go. Clouded by recent illness - ten days bedridden and three weeks unwell, I was disillusioned to say the least. A Lyme relapse brought on by pushing into non-existent energy reserves had left me wondering why, when I'd been trying so hard with the detox diet I began eight months ago. A diet, I felt would play a huge part in my recovery, for lyme bacteria (and other infections also passed via tick bites) thrive on a modern western diet, so by cutting out 98% of caffeine, alcohol, refined sugar, wheat, gluten and dairy, I'd been starving the pathogens; killing off spirochetes. Or at least I thought I had. Finding myself laid out again, so unable, had been terribly disheartening and made a mockery of everything I'd been working towards regarding the natural recovery I was aiming for.

Two hours later in Basingstoke at the NTA headquarters, tests revealed a residual virus in my system that wasn't lyme at all. It wasn't Lyme! The implications of this were huge. My efforts were not in vain. I was helping my body to heal using ONLY plant based meds! My relapse had been down to not listening to the warning signs, straying from the diet, indulging in alcohol and late nights and consistently pushing myself to do more instead of rest. Yes I had been enjoying a return of energy and feeling better, but that was not to say I had any stamina. I abused the rules. And being exhausted and run down laid my body wide open to a further opportune viral infection which took ahold and knocked me for six.

Want to know the greatest thing about having that virus? I was able to fight it off myself. This time last year, it would have spiralled into a chest infection or shingles or pneumonia. Proof in itself that I am so much better and the alternative medicine route I am following is working. Kale anyone?!

My tests also showed something else. Something really rather astonishing. My lyme, plus every single other infection, Babesia and EBV to name two, have gone into remission. INTO REMISSION!



So where am I at now? Frankly, it is time for a period of stability. A summer enjoying wellness. How bloody wonderful is that?! I'm to continue with everything I'm doing: diet, detox, supplements, herbs homeopathic remedies, yoga and meditation (for it isn't just my diet alone), to continue to support my liver and adrenals and consequently immune system. To allow myself the time to build on the wellness I've began to glimpse. To get stronger and stronger, as I find myself building on those energy levels, to the eventual point that stamina will return. It is so positive. The best news? I feel well! I feel normal. I've just managed two weeks of running around like a blue-arsed fly - you have no idea how big a deal that is for me. I'm currently planning a weekend to see friend's for a birthday get-together having just enjoyed three nights of festival fun. Life as it is is suddenly returning to a sense of normality. Not to say it doesn't come with a sense of caution. I have to listen to my body. I have to book in some rest. I have to detox and keep up all the hard work. But let me say, when you are used to feeling ill, the hard work is honestly the easy part.

Admitting defeat is difficult, but when legs no longer carry you and you are forced to give in, well on reflection, it can sometimes be the best thing to happen. I've turned those recent three weeks - when I  imagined I was hi-jacked by Lyme all over again - into a hugely positive step forward. For that time forced me to take the mask off. To share how I am. How I am not. How I cannot be the person everyone wants me to be. For now at least.

Those three weeks were about acknowledgement and acceptance. And as I allowed myself to finally acknowledge I have Lyme disease; as I allowed myself to finally accept this was the way it would be, miraculously, all the while, I was fighting off another disabling virus.

Lyme 0 - 1 Me