Last week I let you all know about my diagnosis with Lymes and what a struggle it has been. Wednesday, I saw an infectious disease Dr. (Dr. Curry love him!) Dr Curry helped to clear some things up about Lymes disease.
I discovered I have more then likely had Lymes since last year and recovery can take 6 months to a year.
I mentioned in the last blog some of the symptoms I have been having over the last 6 months:
Fatigue, muscle pain, joint pain, headaches, restless sleep, hair loss, inflamed feeling all over my body, along with a host of other things that may or may not be related.
The fatigue and pain have been the hardest to deal with but what has really really ranked up there is the 24 lbs I have gained between January and March and have stayed.
So this was of course one of my top 3 questions for Dr. Curry….
There’s not a lot of documentation about gaining weight with Lymes disease …..or at least so I thought until I talked with Dr. Curry and he explained why and then encouraged me to do even more research on it, and even gave me a case study and places to look.
According to the Biotoxin Pathway, biotoxins from Lyme disease produce inflammatory cytokines. These cytokines bind to the leptin receptor in the hypothalamus. This blockage disrupts how leptin is able to regulate weight. Patients with elevated toxins often have difficultly losing weight. However, there are a subset of patients
that have the opposite problem of not being able to gain weight. Meaning you could really go either way, people with Lymes lose weight or gain weight depending on how the hormones react and your toxin level.
This blockage also interferes with the process of producing alpha melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH). MSH is a master controlling hormone which also becomes depleted. Lower MSH disrupts a whole host of hormones, inflammatory compounds, and chemicals that regulate insulin resistance. When this entire cycle is disrupted, regular weight management strategies don’t work. Hence why, even though I have been eating a diet of whole healthy foods with an appropriate calorie intake and exercise, I can’t lose the weight.
Here is a case study:
Lorna did aerobics and ate a dairy-free, sugar-free, and wheat-free diet. Not matter what exercise or diet she tried, she couldn’t lose any of the extra thirty pounds she gained after getting Lyme disease and a Mycoplasma infection. The toxins from these infections stimulate the production of inflammatory cytokines that can block her leptin receptors, which could result in retaining extra weight.
30 lbs! Thirty pounds is typical weight gain for people who experience Lymes. (again it can go the other way). And Let’s be honest here, I did not spend the last 4 years of my life working my ass of to gain 30 pounds. So you can be sure that I am going to do everything in my power to figure out a way to get these nasty little buggers and toxins out of my system so that my hormones and my body begins to do what it is suppose to do again.
What I have discovered is even though my brain desires a more fit body, my subconscious brain is on board… my physical body screams NO! Every morning between 3-4am my body wakes me in pain. It hurts to roll over and move to a new somewhat comfortable position. When I do climb out of bed my body screams NO. But I know it’s important to get moving. Gene and I have been walking in the mornings on the weekend. You would think a nice 40 min walk would feel good on my body. Unfortunately it does not. My knees and my back hurt, my leg muscles get tight and all I want to do is sit… but that is wors
e because when I try to get up to move my body stiffens. But I know walking is important and imperative to healing my body.
I’ve had this unique ability since I played sports in high school to mentally block pain. No, not all pain. I could never have surgery without something for pain but what most people consider a good amount of pain I am able to mentally block and go about my day. I believe I have gotten so good that 99% of the people around me would never know I have pain or if they do how much pain I really am in. It’s when the pain reaches a point that it’s too hard to block anymore and it consumes me. Then my focus changes and it’s hard to get the pain signal out of my head which then brings in stinkin thinking and a whole snowball effect happens.
WHO wants that? Not me! So that’s why I am focusing on the
things that I am doing and can do.
I currently still can work, a lot of people end up not being able to work. I currently am tolerating my medication and will be on it for another 14 days for a total of about 6 weeks. A lot of people have reactions and have to change medications after a few weeks. I currently workout and exercise as often as I can when the pain does not overwhelm me. I eat whole foods and focus on foods to decrease inflammation, improve my gut health, keep my immunity up and give me energy. I go to bed on time and get as much sleep as I can along with a nap when my body tells me I require it and drink lots and lots of water!
I find it interesting how many people don’t say a whole lot about what they are facing until much later. Like singer Averil Lavigne who was bedridden for 6 months with Lymes disease or actor Kris Kristofferson being diagnosed with early onset of Alzheimer only to discover it was Lymes. And then I have people that have sa
id that they were diagnosed had a rash, felt like the flu, took the medication and feel fine. There is such a wide range of symptoms and recovery when it comes to Lymes disease, the most important thing to note is that it’s really important to be an advocate for yourself and get treated right away.
I want to say how grateful I am to have such
a wonderful husband who has been my rock, a handful of really wonderful friends and family who support me. So many friends at the gym who have stopped to cheer me on, thank me for coming out about what I have been facing and even meeting with those who are not necessarily going through Lymes but a health Crisis.
“you’ve got one life, one chance at it. And what you do with it is up to you”