Treatment & Recovery Update, September 2017

Recently I've been asked about where I'm at right now regarding my health and I've found most to be surprised I'm still in physiotherapy after four full months of it... and yet still in a considerable amount of pain. "Why is that?" They ask. "What's causing the pain and fatigue, is it still active Lyme?" It's so difficult to try and explain in a five minute chat, so I promised a few people I'd write something up soon.

According to the magnetic testing performed by one of my Lyme specialists earlier this week, he is not finding active infections at this time and believes the symptoms I'm still experiencing are due to damage caused by the infections while they were active. This test is not always 100% accurate, especially when distance testing is performed, so in order to be sure, we plan to send away blood work to a specialized lab in Germany to test for active infections and viruses so that we are assured we aren't missing anything. It's a process to do this so we've been procrastinating this task.

But lasting infections or not, the recovery phase will be long and gruelling and could take a number of years. Regaining your health and strength after a serious case of late-stage Lyme disease is difficult and almost always there is permanent damage to some degree.

The reason for that is because while the infections went undiagnosed they invaded my muscles and various organs. During this late-stage of the disease many negative effects occur in the body. The muscles affected shrink, weaken, tighten, and then scar tissue develops. Blood flow is also restricted in the body, limiting the oxygen needed to keep tissues and organs healthy, and nerve damage occurs. A heart and lung function test I had done also revealed my heart and lung muscles are weakened. This greatly reduces my stamina and energy levels, leaving me with lasting chronic fatigue.

In order to reverse as much of the physical damage as possible my rehabilitation plan currently consists of the following:

Physiotherapy:
-Myofascial Muscle Release.
-Connective Tissue and Scar Tissue treatments.
-Acupuncture.
-Dry Moving Cupping.
-Laser Therapy.
-Heat Treatments.

Other pain management and recovery therapies I'm doing include:
-Trigger Point Injections into the most affected muscles (starting soon). This procedure will be performed by my doctor every six weeks-three months, as needed.
-Several prescription pain killers and muscle relaxants as needed.
-Chiropractic adjustments.
-IV vitamin Infusions.
-Herbal antibiotics (maintenance doses until further testing is done).
-Various vitamins, minerals, supplements.
-Several brain therapies and practices for CNS dysfunction.