Weeks 27: Burn Out and Yeast

For a variety of reasons this drug holiday was overdue and by the time it rolled around I felt like my body was "burned out" from the intense IV treatments. Here lies the dilemma in Lyme treatments: is the the treatment too toxic or are you herxing? Most likely it is both. This is where pulsing makes so much sense to me. I could not imagine doing drugs everyday, day in and day out, continually beating down my body.

I believe the goal in "conquering" chronic infections like Lyme, Babesia, Bartonella,and perhaps the XMDR virus is to fortify the immune system so it can go back to doing its job. Herbs or antibiotics will surely lower the infectious load but I don't believe these infections are ever entirely eliminated. To resume a great life you need to improve your overall health. Yes, lowering your infectious load is necessary, but overall health and balance with adequate detox, immune and hormone supports are perhaps equally important.

I have had Lyme since childhood. I lived a full life, though I frequently had to build up my body with all of the other things we grow tired of hearing about (herbs, hormones, supplements, good diet, etc). Unfortunately despite this, reinfection with a (seriously contaminated) tick leveled me in 2007.

Throughout my illness I had been faithfully supplementing with Transfer factors, vitamins/minerals, adrenal hormones (Pregnenolone, DHEA),and Estradiol/Progesterone. Normally, during drug holidays I added detox treatments, (infrared sauna, IV vitamin C, B complex, Magnesium, trace minerals, Methyl B12, and Zinc), followed with IV Glutathione, oral NAC, and vitamin E. But by week 27 I was too wiped out to get it together to do any of these marvelous things. I had "hit the wall."

I felt burned out from everything- drugs, supplements, IV pushes, gluten-free bread, IV nurses, green drinks, lab tests, you name it. Burn out can be a slippery slope, and in this apathetic state I became lax with Probiotics and developed yeast- severe, intractable yeast. Diflucan, Nystatin, Clotrimazole, and other anti-fungal salves had no effect. Thankfully, my orthomolecular practitioner prescribed Pleomorphic Alba (www.naturalhealthyconcepts.com/mm5/merchant.mvc? ), which worked immediately. I started back on Sacharomyces, (4/day), with 2 capsules of full spectrum probiotics, and glasses of Goat Milk Kefir. Yeast brought me out of supplement disdain and apathy.

P.S. Despite my burned out state, I was still able to do household duties, something I had not been able to accomplish prior to IV therapies.