Healing from Lyme Disease naturally - Dry skin brushing

Owning your disease... controlling your lyme symptoms and helping rid the body of toxins created by a lyme diet using the dry skin brushing technique.

Healing naturally from lyme takes a lot of hard work. There's a routine to get into and rules to abide by and frankly, it's dull. However, as I'd rather my life was dull - and not painful - I've managed over the last ten months to find a rhythm with it all that I'm comfortable with. The party loving/coffee reviver/choc-o-holic in me never saw that coming.

That last sentence sort of gives you a clue to the fact that my life is a lot less chaotic these days. In fact, life has changed considerably. Part and parcel of having zero energy and being forced to stop as much as taking control and turning my diet on its head. For my diet has changed dramatically. And when I say dramatically, I mean DRAMATICALLY. No refined sugar, no alcohol, no caffeine, no wheat, no dairy, no gluten. 98% of the time. Ahem! I'd better stick the 98% caveat in there as YES,  I do enjoy a cup of tea each day and it is made with cow's milk... I do sometimes have the roast with the gravy AND the Yorkshire pud... but hey, didn't someone clever say It's what you do most of the time that counts. Besides, living with lyme is hard enough :-)

However hard it's been - and it has become easier - sticking to the diet definitely helps my symptoms. Fact: I'm starving the bacteria which would thrive on anything full of sugar, wheat, yeast etc. It kills it. Truth is, when I veer off the diet, I notice the inflammation immediately, all thanks to the bacteria enjoying a party. Then when I go back to the diet, pain is caused again this time thanks to the bacteria dying off. Something called a Herxheimer reaction. Worth looking up. Antibiotics can cause this too... Mostly headaches and head pressure, blurred vision and extreme tinnitus. My head feels like it has done the cycle in the washing machine and is left stuck on spin. It stands to reason that I'm encouraged to eat cleanly. I know not everyone understands the choices I now make, especially where alcohol is concerned, but not everyone has to live with Lyme...

It's not diet alone that helps me control the severity of my symptoms. There are other tips and tricks too. One of these is to encourage the lymphatic system to move and therefore drain toxins, using dry skin brushing. This is where you brush all over the body lightly (not the face) prior to jumping in the bath or shower using a soft brush - you don't need to brush hard. In fact it is quite the opposite, with the lymph responding to the lightest touch.

Starting at the soles of the feet and brushing several times over can induce movement where pockets of fluid might be stuck. I brush straight up my legs and down my arms, and then over my tummy in circles. Lastly, I brush in towards my heart from my chest and collar.

It makes sense when you read about lyme and other co-infections. The bacteria when latent can hide in cyst form so dry skin brushing can help make it difficult for it to clump together, encouraging transference via the lymph drainage system instead.

There have been times over the years that I have been left completely lifeless courtesy of Lyme. Zapped of energy. 'Real' fatigue replacing blood with treacle. Weighing me down to the point that exercise is out of the question. Gosh, being able to lift even an arm takes everything, rendering me useless. Climbing the stairs is equal to climbing Kilimanjaro. On these occasions when exercise is out of the question, the dry skin brushing technique has helped stimulate the lymph for me instead.


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