After suffering for years and years with different types of treatment plans my doctor and I stumbled across a new one that works really well for me. I'm taking Doxy at a smaller dose to not upset my stomach, and Metronidazole which treats other forms of bacteria such as coinfections. With this combination I'm feeling a decrease in almost all of my symptoms.
Completely unrelated, my heart symptoms of palpitations, fast heart rate, dizziness, etc. became worse for the first time in months. I went through a Holter-monitor test, another Echo-cardiogram, and a physical to try and diagnose the source. After finding nothing, it was decided that my Bartonella has now moved into my heart and is running wild creating symptoms that can't be caught on film with no rhyme or reason to them. I feel the aching pain in my heart, my sternum, and my collarbones still. Sometimes I run my hand down my sternum and feel the permanent ridges protruding from a bone that was one sawed in half. I feel the claviculae joint pop and crunch as my collarbones shift around. I even feel a knot at the top of my sternal incision scar that still had bit faded yet and remains a bright red bump. I perform scar therapy on all of my scars by massaging them and applying a silicone liquid that's supposed to soothe them away. Most of my scars are already disappearing, fading away into small white lines. I know the knot will subside too in time. My mother's research says maybe 2 years, but it will one day be barely visible. I see actors on my favorite shows with faint white lines down there middle of their chest and feel so much more relatable to them, like we have so much in common. Maybe one day even my significant other would be able to understand what I've been through from first hand experience, though I do not wish for that.
These battle scars will be reminders of where I came from but mostly what I can overcome as I push myself to future goals. I pray that my Lyme symptoms stay under wraps as I take the next journey forward in my life. I know stress can make it come back full force once again, and I know exercise and diet may be keys to successful future treatments.
Tonight I remember where I was at the beginning of the year, when I signed up for my first gym membership and how I thought the year would go. I never knew it would have turned into this, and I haven't returned to the gym because of my pain and undiagnosed continuous heart symptoms, but I remember where I was so I know how far I've come and what is left for me to still experience.
Tonight I remember where I was at the beginning of the year, when I signed up for my first gym membership and how I thought the year would go. I never knew it would have turned into this, and I haven't returned to the gym because of my pain and undiagnosed continuous heart symptoms, but I remember where I was so I know how far I've come and what is left for me to still experience.
Thanks for sharing your story!! We need more people to speak up and educate their peers about lyme :)
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Sheryl
www.lymeandback.blogspot.com