Lyme Disease

Not many people know about Lyme disease. I had never heard anything about it till my doctor wanted to test me for it, as I am sure many of you had never heard of it prior to me sharing my experience with you. Even among medical professionals not much is known. Although researchers have found evidence of the existence of Lyme dating back millions of years ago, it only has just recently been discovered when medical researches began putting the pieces together to an unexplainable outbreak of the disease in Lyme, Connecticut back in 1975.

I found this video - actually, my mom is the one who found it - that really sheds light as to what Lyme disease really is and what being infected with it is like. It makes me incredibly emotional every time I sit down and watch it because it perfectly portrays exactly what I have been experiencing. If you are interested in more fully understanding what this is all about, I would highly recommend you watch this. Unfortunately, the video isn't on YouTube, so I am unable to upload it directly on here, but you can just follow this link: http://vimeo.com/65479794


As I have explained previously, Lyme disease is caused by a spiral-shaped bacteria called Borrelia that is most commonly transferred through the bite of an infected tick. Once infected, the bacteria lingers in the bloodstream indefinitely, gradually making the host sicker as time progresses. The Borrelia bacteria has many characteristics that make the disease difficult to both diagnose and for the body to fight back without treatment.

Because of its spiral shape, the Borrelia bacteria literally screws its way through the tissues of my body. allowing itself to hide within other cells, often times remaining undetected by my immune system.  The bacteria then proceeds to replicate and then kill the cell which it inhibited.  When the immune system finally recognizes the presence of the bacteria, the Borrelia can inhibit the antibodies that are attacking it, causing the immune system to turn against and kill its own protective proteins, causing greater inflammation and suppressing its effectiveness. In addition to this, every time the immune system fights against the bacteria, neuortoxins are released into the bloodstream, causing even more problems for the immune system to clean up.

Unlike most bacteria that replicate every couple hours, the Borrelia only replicates every three weeks. This makes diagnosis tricky. In order for the diagnostic test to come back positive, the bacteria needs to be replicating and the antibodies need to be fighting back. Since the bacteria attacks the body's immune system, this is sometimes impossible, because the immune system cell count is so low that it stops fighting the bacteria all together, causing all activity to go unnoticed by the diagnostic test. Currently, the best way to diagnose Lyme is analyze the patient's symptoms and immune cell count and to simply begin treatment and and wait to see if any improvement occurs.

For the last eight months, I have been experiencing chronic fatigue, vertigo, and MS and epilepsy type symptoms. A healthy individual's immune system cell count is between 350-400, a chronic Lyme patient's count is below 100. In a given day, my count ranges from 100-150. This indicates that there is a high probability I have chronic Lyme disease. I began treatment last Wednesday, February 3rd, which consists of high dosages of antibiotics along with IV therapy. Below is a fun picture of my pill box. We had to get an extra one since the four-section box didn't have enough slots. Including the Sambucol extract I have to drink everyday, I take 18-19 pills everyday. Starting next Wednesday , I'll begin my weekly doctor visits where they'll put medication in an IV and run it directly into my bloodstream.

I'm feeling very optimistic about treatment. The down side is that for the first few weeks, the side effects of all the medication will make me a whole lot worse before they make me better. I've been pretty much stuck in bed for this past week, which is a bummer, but at least I'm confident that I'm on the right path.

I did have an experience this weekend that really opened my eyes to the reality of what being a Lyme patient entails. Just the other night, I woke up at about 1am with uncontrollable tremors and seizure activity (one of my symptoms that has worsened with the start of treatment) and soon felt it rather painful and difficult to breath. My pharmacist had previously said that this was a possible reaction to the medication and that if it were to occur, I should go to the emergency room. So off to the ER we went, all while the tremors and painful breathing continued. When the ER doctor finally got in to check up on me and after Sam explained about my possible diagnosis of Lyme, the doctor pulled Sam outside of the room and told him that I was crazy. He said that Lyme disease isn't real, that I was just having an anxiety attack, and that I was just faking the seizures to get attention.

This diagnosis from him made me so angry at first, but I now realize that is not uncommon for those infected with Lyme. The disease was discovered only forty years ago, and thus there is much controversy about it in the medical field. Those aware of Lyme and what it does are working hard to raise awareness, but there are still so many who are uneducated about it - and what doctors don't know doesn't exist. I know I am not crazy (we literally have already gone down that road). I know that what is happening to my body is not normal. I just pray that awareness and research of this disease will continue to grow so that others who are unfortunate enough to become infected with it will have a brighter future.

I am just so grateful to my Father in heaven and my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is through their grace and mercy that gives me the hope to press on.


Bless,

Makenna