Imagine a little girl with so much energy and joy in her that she can't even stay still when she sleeps. Her days are spent outside chasing insects and running wild on her family's acreage. She only resigns herself to sit down for school or to draw.... and even then, her legs are wiggling so wildly that she often got bruises on them from banging the chair legs.
Now, imagine this girl a few years later laying in bed with no color to her cheeks and no spark in her eyes. She has been struggling for the past two minutes to gather enough strength to stand up to get some water. She finally slides her legs off of her bed, sits up, and holds tightly to the sheet with her hands and closes her eyes because a strange cold feeling just swept through her legs and her heart skipped a few beats. She clenches her leg muscles because she was told to do that when her blood pressure got too low. She stands up and slowly walks out to the hall, where she gets dizzy. The corners of her vision become black and creep together until she is blind. In the few seconds it takes to fall to the ground, she opens her eyes wider to try and see, but nothing is there before her. Then, thoughts become fuzzy and she isn't conscious when she lands on the carpet. Her eyes open a few minutes later and her mind is a blank slate. She doesn't even know her own name. As she thinks about it, still laying on the floor, she begins to remember that it starts with a K. She thinks, "Maybe if I try to remember someone talking to me I'll know....." But she can't seem to remember people other than vague images, no words they say are there in her mind yet. At last, after she has sat up for a few minutes, not knowing what to do with herself, she remembers that her name is Kelly.
That is my name, and this is my story. I grew up on my family's land at the foot of a mountain. I loved the life I had there, and oddly enough, I wouldn't change one moment of the story you are about to read. Little Kelly was full of life, strength, and health: perhaps too full of it. My favorite things to say were, "I know," and "I'm fine." I've learned that its OK to not be OK, and that I didn't know a thing about my limits.
I was eight when I had my first tick bite, but many more would follow as we lived on that land. The deer from the mountain would climb down and visit us when there was a drought, which is common in the desert. Our dogs would get ticks, and of course, I was always hugging and petting and playing with the dogs, so ticks became an irritating part of life which I was willing to put up with to play with my four legged friends. My mom took me to the doctor because she was afraid I could catch something from the tick. I don't remember everything that the doctor said, but I remember that it was a very short visit and afterwards my mom was angry because the doctor didn't really say anything or give her any information.
About six months later I developed a rash all over my body, from head to toe. My mom took me to the doctor again and I was pronounced to have an allergy to polyester since my shirt was about 60% polyester. However, this doctor didn't run any tests, and didn't even consider my mom's concern that it could be related to my occasional tick bites. He dismissed the whole idea as an over protective mother grasping at straws. However, he was a doctor, so we thought that diseases from ticks must be uncommon like he said, and I just stopped wearing polyester until years later I did it just to prove him wrong. I have tested his theory many times, and I never have a reaction to polyester. This rash was the tell tale Lyme Disease rash which some people develop after being infected.
As a little girl I was far ahead in school and was learning musical instruments, foreign languages, and history very quickly. I couldn't learn enough! However, after that rash, it was like my mind couldn't concentrate, remember, or grasp the things it used to. I still did well in school, but I couldn't do what I had done before... just instinctively and quickly understand things. I gave up learning Spanish. I developed arthritis which made me have to give up learning my instruments. I would practice the flute and end up in tears because my fingers hurt so badly. I couldn't hold the violin because my neck and back ached. I gave up my music. I quit high school all together for awhile because I was too sick to do any of it.
I was so sick that I lost everything important to me except for two things: my faith and my family. One night, my sister and I were both having insomnia, a common Lyme disease symptom. Both of us were sick, and tired of being so. We prayed together, and not five minutes later we remembered when we started getting sick all the time, about the drought that year, and about our tick bites. We remembered hearing that Lyme disease came from ticks, so we got on the computer and researched it. We found a Canadian site with a questionnaire. It had about 70 symptoms and it said, "If you have more than twenty of these symptoms chronically, you may have Lyme disease and should visit a doctor." Both of us had more than 50 of the symptoms chronically. With a new hope, we told our Dr. about our suspicions. She didn't quite believe us, but didn't see the harm in treating us with antibiotics. In two weeks, my arthritis was gone and I could play my flute again.
Healing has taken many years, but every month is better than the last. To treat the damage done to my heart I turned to alternative medicine. I could barely walk a dozen yards without having tachycardia after treatment, so I learned flow yoga to give my heart exercise. It was slow enough to not push me too much, but got me into shape enough to walk. Then, I discovered the power of nutrition and started eating a heart healthy diet. I was getting better, but then my health started to slip away again. I found out that one treatment of antibiotics is not enough to cure someone from Lyme disease, because the bacteria will hide dormant in tissue and come out after the antibiotics are gone. Even worse than this, the antibiotics can turn the bacteria into an L-form bacteria, which is far more dangerous. At last, I discovered essential oils. This has, by far, given me the most significant turn in my health. Frankincense gives my heart what it needs to beat properly, and several other oils like Peppermint, Lemon, Clove Bud, and Oregano oil help my body expel the remainders of Lyme disease from my tissue. I also use Olive Leaf Extract which is a powerful, natural, immune booster.
This has been my journey with Lyme disease. I have been broken and blessed with a new life and new appreciation for the power of what is naturally here for us to use. The body has the ability to heal itself. All I had to do was give it the tools it needed to do the work.
The following articles will take you step by step through what Lyme Disease is, what it does, how to be properly diagnosed, the treatments available to you, and how to change your lifestyle to keep the disease out of your life for good. All information is taken from peer reviewed medical journals, health magazines, or interviews with doctors, and will be cited and referenced.
I hope you find the information you need.
Kelly
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