Welcome to my first.... and who knows.... possibly only blog. I feel it's important to share this journey I'm on right now.... having been recently diagnosed with Lyme Disease, and seeking true healing. It is appalling how many people take years to get a diagnosis, and spend their life savings in the process of reclaiming their health, once they finally figure out how to do it. This information shouldn't be a secret, and doctors should be trained. Thank God for my naturopath! She gets it..... and my own research..... now I get it, too....

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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Some little-known stuff about lyme, heavy metals & such...

Good morning.... it's a beautiful day up here on Whidbey. This time of year brings out the bald eagles, who are nesting, and bunnies galore. At any given time I look out a window and see a bunny or two. I always say that nature is the great healer, and our beautiful sanctuary in the woods is the perfect spot for healing and peace of mind. My Reiki clients and students love it here, too. There is some powerful good ju-ju around....

I have a couple of intentions for this blog.... There are lots of blogs written by people with Lyme. I want to specifically talk about the Salt/C protocol and how it works for me, for if this treatments works as well as it is being reported to work(and so far with no known major side effects/dangers), it could easily transform the healing process of the Lyme sufferer. I want to do my part to help educate people so that they don't have to go through months or years of expensive therapies that may not work and may even hurt them (such as the overuse of antibiotics). The next issue will be to tackle why it takes so long for folks to get a correct diagnosis. I would say that's largely due to fear and people giving up their power to the medical establishment. There are ways of dealing with things that are healthy and supportive to life. While medications and surgeries are definately useful for certain kinds of life-threatening situations, they are often not necessary. Unfortunately, there are only a couple of tests out there that can accurately assess whether someone has lyme, and even they tend to have false negatives, meaning people walk away thinking they don't have it, when in fact, they may. The test that showed me positive on several indicators is called The Western Blot. Expensive..... but it was important to confirm that what I was dealing with was the lyme bacteria. That doesn't mean I'm not dealing with others things.... there may even be some things undiscovered as of yet. But in my heart I feel that the lyme bacteria are primarily what are causing pain for me. The heavy metals don't help, either....

The other reason for the blog is to share my experiences and learnings with friends and family. People are constantly asking me questions trying to understand how the heck I ended up with Lyme, how I'm sure it's not something else, what my treatment/healing process looks like, etc. Hopefully, this will help to answer some of those questions for people.... not that I mind explaining things in person. But there is a lot of info to impart, and it's easy to log-in from time to time and just expound upon a particular thing, and then go on my merry way. I find the blog to be rather liberating. A few years ago I wrote and edited a book, The Ways of Spirit: 30 Visionaries Share Philosophies, Paths and Practices, and that was a huge, all-consuming project that had me up at 5 am most mornings working obsessively on the manuscript until I went to work at 8 am. These days I just roll out of bed when I feel like it (usually around 7 am; I LOVE having NO alarm clock anymore), and sit down at the computer for a few minutes when the mood strikes. Ya gotta love that.

I think most people have heard that Lyme disease is transmitted via tick bites, and that is true in probably most cases. They are also saying mosquitos may carry it, and there are a few various other opinions out there about how it is transmitted, but I'm not going to touch on those at this moment. Infected ticks transmit all sorts of cooties - various bacterias and possibly funky worms (all of them microscopic, of course. You want to see some strange photos of these critters, go to www.lymephotos.com). The common perception is that if a person is infected with lyme bacteria from a tick, they will experience a red "bulls-eye" rash/pattern on their body. In truth, less than half of people who get lyme from ticks ever experience a bulls-eye rash; I never did, and I had tick bites at ages 17 and 38. After that second bite, though, I did suddenly have a raging eye infection, and my left eye has never been the same since then. I have to think the little borrelia buglets have something to do with that.

The bacteria can hang-out in a fairly dormant state for year's in a person's body. I had a number of symptoms all along, but they weren't noticeable enough for me to become overly concerned. I've always been fairly robust and healthy, and so "little things" never really bothered me much and I just figured they would go away eventually, which most of them do. With lyme disease, symptoms come and go all the time.... The joint pains are interesting because they migrate around - some days my shoulders and knees are screaming, some days my hips and "sit bones" are killing me. The insides of my elbows get really inflamed many days. Some days I feel so good I can almost forget about it until I try to squat down or climb stairs or lift something heavy, and then I am reminded that my knees and arms don't want to do that.I'm becoming very good at listening to my body and doing what is wants to do, or doesn't want to do...

So in my case, the bacteria were around, but they weren't overwhelming until triggered by some emotional factors which occured last spring when I was feeling unwell and stressed-out at work, and when my daughter decided to move back to California. Suddenly, I could hardly move - my body was racked with pain. Lots of "lymies" are told that this is all in their heads, and you can kind of understand why that is so, for strong emotions can trigger major episodes. But they trigger very real responses that allow the bacteria to take hold and proliferate, overwhelming the immune system. Rather than not working well, as one might suppose, the immune system actually goes into hyper-alert mode, trying so hard to fight off the emergence of all the critters. In a way, it actually works TOO well. This is one probable reason that I haven't had the flu or a cold in a few years (except for maybe a couple of days of sniffles winter before last).... my immune system fights all that stuff off immediately. (Of course, Reiki has also helped keep me very healthy for years, as well). That's why I have to continue to strengthen and support the immune system, so it can regain control and balance in my body. Yes, this is possible and do-able, and yes, it takes time for the immune system to re-gain the upper hand. As they say, Rome wasn't built in a day.

So along with the lyme journey, I've also been dealing with too-high levels of lead and mercury in my system. I did a 10-week detox last fall, which took the mercury level way down, but the lead still needs some work. You may think that everyone has mercury in their systems these days, and that is true. But some of us have way-high levels of it that are truly harmful. Mercury doesn't just come from fish, but from tooth fillings and all those lovely vaccinations we had as kids. I had my last mercury dental filling removed recently - a tricky process that must be done a certain way by a dentist trained in those things.

I was exposed to a lot of lead as a teen when I worked in an old building with lead paint (one of my jobs was to sand the paint off the walls. We knew nothing about lead, then.... I didn't even wear a mask when I was sanding). I can remember my dad washing paint off my hands with gasoline (leaded back then) as a kid after we had been painting, and he was out of turpentine. I don't know what other exposure I've had, but those come to mind. I hate to say it, but I think if most people were tested for heavy metals they would be surprised to learn what is stored in their systems...

The 10-week detox was pretty horrid. That's where I first experienced herx reactions. NOT FUN. I'm glad that's out of the way for now. I am hoping to sweat a lot more of those metals out of my system in my sauna, which is known for getting down to the level of heavy metals. I may have to do more chelation/detox down the road, though. My doctor says I don't want to have lead sitting in my brain when I get older... This gives new meaning to the expression "get the lead out!" ;-)

Also, because my immune system is in overdrive, I tested positive to quite a few things on a food sensitivities test..... in fact, much of what I was eating! Wheat, soy, eggs, dairy (I wasn't eating much dairy), and even some weird things like asparagus and almonds. For a vegetarian to remove soy and eggs from their diet is not easy.... although now I know much better about which veggies are fairly high in protein (broccoli, peas, avocados), and I eat more nuts and seeds (although they can be harder to digest). I will rarely have something with egg or soy in it, which will generally land me in my acupuncturist's office to clear things out of my system. Refined sugar? Don't even think about it! The only "sweet" I eat at this time is the very occasional small dollop of honey in something. For some reason, I react to agave, which is a bummer. Fruit is now dessert for me. Weirdly enough, I have become a fan of baked yams, which used to gross me out. But they are sweet and I will usually eat one a week. And of course, carbs convert to sugar in the system, so that means really limiting intake of grains, although the whole grains take much longer to break down into sugar. My doctor would like to see me off carbs entirely, for now. I haven't quite gotten there yet.... I do the occasional gluten-free oatmeal or oat bran, corn pasta, rice noodles, or basmati rice. Do I ever splurge? Trust me, if there is an Indian restaurant in the vicinity, I make a conscious choice to go for the gold (love that whole wheat paratha/bread).... and of course, I pay the price soon afterward. When the system gets flooded with carbs/sugars or foods I'm sensitive to, I can practically feel those little bacterials multiplying...

Of course, when one eats this way, one tends to lose weight. 32 pounds so far. Now honestly, I had the weight to lose, and I can still take off a few more without worrying about it. It's come off very slowly over the past year.... I haven't been "trying" to lose it. But it needed to come off and it did, and I actually feel so much healthier in so many ways. (Now if I could just get my driver's license photo changed! I look at it and am reminded of how bloated and crappy I was feeling at the time it was taken. Thank God I don't feel like THAT any more!). If I drop below 130 then I will have to start ramping up the amounts of food (including carbs) I'm eating.

I have learned to truly love greens - especially spinach and bok choy, which I eat a lot of. A couple of times a week I throw it all together into the blender - spinach, kale, beets, whatever is on hand veggie-wise, with some ginger and lemon and a little banana or apple, and whip it up into something fairly drinkable. I cook a lot more now (those who know me well, please stop laughing and get up off the floor), and make all kinds of interesting concoctions. Erick lovingly eats these things with me, although he still draws the line at consuming an avocado or a yam. I rarely eat out anymore, except at places I know I can get organic, fresh stuff. Here on the island that means Living Green, and once in awhile, Greenbank Farm at the Pie Cafe (they cook with lots of organics, and yes, I do have the willpower to resist the pies, but it ain't easy...). When we travel, I research ahead where the organic groceries and restaurants are and patronize those as much as possible. We are so blessed to have a beautiful organic farm less than two miles from our house (The Raven and the Spade), from which we get a weekly box of wonderful things...

OK, that's enough for now. Have I freaked anyone out yet?? It's an interesting journey, I must say, and I am a better person for it. My neighbor recently approached me about starting a support group for women with immune-related challenges and chronic pain, such as fibromyalgia, MS, lupus and lyme, and I said YES, let's do that.... we begin in May. There is strength in numbers, and in learning/debriefing/laughing/crying together. She came up with an awesome title for the group, "Chronic Wellness." Ya gotta love it...

Have a beautiful, magical day! Sukie

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

What do you mean, saved by salt...?

Good question. The title I chose for the blog is actually kind of humorous for me. I wanted something a little more catchy than "how I spent my summer vacation treating lyme disease." Since I am choosing to blog right now while starting this heavy-duty salt protocol, it seemed like a catchy title.

However, let's be real.... no one is "saved" by anything.... and in fact, I don't need to be "saved." I just need to be here for me, and be committed to my healing and transformation to vibrant health. As Ariana would say, "Everything happens for a reason." I do believe that. And in spite of the pain I feel in various parts of my body, I also feel better in many ways than I ever have. How's that for irony? Well,it's no accident. I have worked hard this past year to bring myself up to the point where I am right now, feeling really great mentally, emotionally and spiritually, having much of my old energy back, and totally engaged with life and Light.

(This entry will be one of the longer ones, as I feel it important to give a brief summary of some of the "stuff" that contributed to where I am at right now. There is no way to capture it all, but here are a few highlights...)

This healing "crisis" came at the perfect (perhaps agreed upon) time... after I had been working non-stop for over 20 years in child welfare, followed by running non-profit agencies, doing the Silicon-Valley commute chaos and life in the fast lane.... and then the last couple of years before moving to Whidbey were spent preparing for that move - house hunting (five trips), planning a wedding, raising baby goats, running The Sanctuary on top of my day job (although my day work, as well as my healing work, have never been "work" to me....), then packing, moving, un-packing, settling into the new, dreamed-about slower lifestyle, surrounded by nature. In quiet and solitude. Leaving the traffic, concrete, smog, noise, and overcrowded conditions behind.... and just as much, I was feeling a call to come to Whidbey, and back to the Puget Sound where I had been born, where my heart had always felt at home.

And that's exactly where we are at and it's so beautiful. Every day Erick and I look at each other in amazement and say "We LIVE HERE!!!". Yet when I came here, after promising myself a lifestyle change, I found myself seduced into being the Director of a local non-profit, and back into a swirl of activity many hours a day. I had been having a certain amount of pain in my joints, and other symptoms of what I now know are symptoms of lyme, and telling myself that it was "hormones." The office I worked in (the size of a large bathroom) had three computers, a copier, fluorescent lights and no ventilation, which didn't help at all. The EMFs drove me crazy, and I was/still am super-sensitive to chemicals.

The "hormone" rationale only went so far, until the time I found that I was struggling to walk up the hill to my home, and in such pain in my joints that I could hardly move. Initially, it was a little terrifying. I struggled with that for a couple of weeks before it occurred to me that I wasn't getting better - something was really wrong and I needed to seek attention. I went to a local MD who told me to "exercise more." (Pretty hard to exercise more when it is excruciatingly painful to move). I went to an osteopath who told me that I was structurally sound, who looked worried and said I probably needed some testing. I've never been big on western medicine and have always avoided medical attention except when I absolutely needed it (if I hadn't been so stubborn, perhaps I would have sought medical attention after those two tick bites....!).

So I went to visit a local naturopath, Dr. R. (I'll ask her if I can use her name in this blog...). Extremely sharp, knowledgeable and on top of her game, I knew I was in a good place to get some help in figuring out what was going on. Her primary approach to everything is to strengthen the immune system, and that's what we went to work on. I had to do an overhaul of my (already pretty good) eating habits, and began taking homeopathics and quite a few supplements, including intravenous vitamins (not my favorite thing to do, and my veins finally threw in the towel and said "no more"). I started using her far-infrared sauna (bliss) and ended up purchasing one of my own, which I use faithfully at least five times a week. I went to acupuncture every few days, too, for the first few months. I needed that kind of strengthening. My entire being was exhausted, flat-lined, and all I could do for a few months was sleep, read, rest, eat a little, sleep, read, rest, eat a little more.... I had to let go of my job. During that time Ariana moved back to California and that, too, was really hard, even though I knew it was time for her to step out into her own light and her own life.

OK, so I did ask for lifestyle change, right? I received it!

Nothing in our planning said that I would not be able to work for awhile and that Erick would have to float the boat. But he is my hero - he works three different jobs that he absolutely LOVES, and somehow we are doing just fine. Thanks, Baby! (I am actually getting back to working more now in my Reiki practice, and all kinds of opportunities are coming my way, with my improving energy. The Universe knows what it's doing. I've also learned I can live on WAY less than I ever thought I could.)

Lifestyle change? YESSS! Thank you to the Great Mystery.... I appreciate it ALL!

So back to the salt.... after many months of being in denial that there was a serious, on-going problem here (and after finally being diagnosed with lyme, as well as toxic levels of lead and mercury in my system), I had to take a time-out to just study and read-up on what I was dealing with. Not that there is any one answer, or any easy answer. There isn't. But what I really wanted to know was: How have people with a diagnosis of lyme disease gotten themselves better, to feel well again? I realized I had to take my healing into my own hands and own it.

I read many stories of people who had gone through all their savings trying to get well with antibiotics and western medicine (Lyme is known as the "disease of the rich." If you don't have the money, you don't get well. That's why the Salt/C protocol is so exciting - it's inexpensive in comparison to most other treatments). I found that people were, on the whole, not getting well the western/allopathic way. I came across information on Rife machines, which treat lyme and other types of "dis-eases" using various electro-magnetic frequencies. Many, many people report tremendous improvement and amazing relief from years of symptoms, after using Rife machines. I learned it would not be a quick journey. Everyone said to be prepared to use the machine faithfully for at least a couple of years before really starting to feel any better. Then there is the little matter of what are called "herx" reactions (Jarisch-Herxheimer reactions), which happen when the lyme bacteria die-off in one's system. They emit a toxic chemical that, when killed in significant numbers, can cause a person to experience agony even more excruciating than the pain of the disease itself. I've experienced a few of those in reaction to various treatments (including a 2-week run of antibiotics), and they are powerful things. I felt like my muscles had been shredded by the claws of a grizzly bear. Can you say WTF???!!! or scream OUCHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

I had pretty much decided to order a Rife machine, and when I sat down one day to buy one, I learned that some of the places that manufacture them don't even have them available, as they are in such high demand (they are also used to treat fibromyalgia - which some believe is essentially the same thing as lyme - and a whole host of other conditions). About that same time, I learned for the first time of the Salt/Vitamin C protocol. My naturopath also gave me information about it, encouraging me to give it a try. I have to give her a lot of credit - she is very trusting of a person's own guidance about what is best for them. She also acknowledged something that I knew in my heart.... she said, "I think a big reason you are doing so well, in spite of all of this, is the Reiki and energy work that you surround yourself with." I couldn't agree more. The Reiki, meditation, and quiet that I engage with every day are what help to strengthen and nourish me on all levels. That being said, I've had a few moments of depression and anger during this past year. While I feel like I worked through my "anger issues" years ago for the most part, I found myself feeling pissed off sometimes about being in pain and not being able to control it... I would be lying if I said some days didn't look pretty bleak.

So for healing, I decided to take a closer look at the Salt/C protocol, since Rife machines are very expensive and, apparently, not always easy to come by (there was a certain model I wanted, the Doug Coil Machine...) So I figured I would start first with the Salt/C and see what happens. It is a newer therapy, and people are having excellent results with it, in feeling better - even freed from most or all of their symptoms - and in actually dramatically reducing their bacterial load. There are numerous types of bacteria that reside in our bodies: some friendly, and some not so much. When our immune system is functioning well, the not-so-much ones lie low and don't make too much fuss. When the immune system goes haywire, these bacteria come out to play, in a big way. They infiltrate all parts of you (if they haven't already) and begin to make themselves known in a huge way.

For me, it was mostly in my joints and muscles. The bacteria drive themselves deeply into these places for they are hard to reach there. Some other lyme-related symptoms I've experienced have included blurred vision (which changes often in its intensity), brain fog (intermittent), speech glitches (rare), sweats (lyme or menopause or both?), funky nodules under my skin (little pods of critters... how fun is that??), heart palpitations, weird electrical sensations in my feet and legs (these went on for years and I wondered what the HECK they were!), cramping in feet and legs, sharp pains like someone suddenly poking me with a needle, hair loss (intermittent), tinnitus (haven't had that in a couple of years now - lyme symptoms ebb and flow), thyroid problems (that started years ago, around the time of my second tick bite). They say as you address the bacterial issues, you essentially will re-experience all of these "stages" and symptoms you've been through, which means re-visiting all of the above again before I say "bye bye" to the whole deal.

The Salt/C protocol, in contrast to the Rife protocol, is inexpensive and easy to accomplish, by ingesting a combination of un-iodized, pure sea salt and high-quality C up to four times per day (there's more to it than that, but that's the gist of it). We've all heard a lot about the dangers of salt these past years... well iodized salt that has been stripped of minerals really is BAD for us, and causes many kinds of health problems. Pure salt in its natural form is actually very GOOD for us, and when taken with equal amounts of Vitamin C, there is a synergistic effect that actually kills-off the "bad" bacteria in the body, without harming the good stuff. I won't go into the whole protocol right now, but suffice it to say this is something one wants to do under a doctor's supervision, with an understanding of how much to take, and how to work up to the proper dosage.

Again, those herx reactions can be pretty gnarly, and you don't want to bring on more than your already compromised system can handle. That's why it takes a couple of years or more to start to feel well. You can only go after a certain amount of bacteria at a time, and you have to hit them in their various life-cycles and stages. It takes awhile. It takes a lot of patience (never my strong suit, but I'm learning....) And all this combined with healthy eating (organic veggies and fruits, organic whole grains, and not much more!). Organic meats are okay, too, although I don't eat meat so that is non-applicable for me. My doctor tried to talk me into eating a can of sardines a day for the Omega 3's.... I tried, I really did, but EWWW... SO GROSSS!

That's enough for tonight. You get the idea... we are embarking upon a bit of an adventure here.... My philosophy about this is not to "go in and kill the suckers!" but to bring my body into balance and wholeness, and trust that when my immune system is healed and strengthened and the bacterial load has been brought under control, my pain and other symptoms will subside, and I will be out there kayaking, doing yoga, running, playing tennis, and all those other things I so want to do and am really missing right now.....

But you know what? It's all good. I love life, and I am blessed beyond imagining..... it helps to have the world's most loving, supportive husband, the most awesome daughter, many dear, close friends, soul sisters, amazing family, our beautiful home, this gorgeous island, and this incredible planet. It's not a perfect world, by far, but it is stunning, and I embrace all the experiences it has to offer..... Day after tomorrow the Salt/C Odyssey begins! Sweet dreams tonight...

Chomping at the Bit.... let's Gooooo!

In two days, on April 1st, 2010, I will start one of the newer protocols for Lyme Disease treatment, the Salt/Vitamin C protocol. I have been preparing, researching, reading, seeing healers, doing my own energy work (I am a Reiki Master), using homeopathics and acupuncture, meditating, resting, eating clean and healthy, and gearing up to downsize the Lyme bacterial load, upsize my immune system, and not simply regain my health, but attain a more vibrant health than ever before. I am committed to this, and I know it can be done.

It took awhile for me to accept that I was dealing with a very stubborn bacteria that wasn't going to go away simply with my intention to make it so. Once I broke through my several months of denial about it (and about $10,000 worth of various treatments), I began to research just HOW people are getting well from Lyme. It ain't the traditional way, that's for sure... the use of antibiotics against this disease, especially once you've had it awhile.... are questionable. I have decided not to use them, period.

The two treatment modalities that stood out for me: The Rife Machine, and the Salt/C Protocol. Because of the prohibitive cost of the Rife, I am starting with the Salt/C protocol, which is inexpensive and simple to use. It does, however, take a huge commitment, and I feel I am finally ready on all levels - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. I've been "chomping at the bit" and a bit restless lately, so ready to just get started! But timing is important and I've had to work around a few events and commitments..... and finally my target date is almost here.....

More soon on the protocol, my process of discovery, and musings on the mysteries and gifts that life brings us (sometimes disguised as something else!).

Sukie