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Big decisions & changes

10/25/2012

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This post is both hard to write & exciting at the same time. It's hard because when things change at the drop of a hat it gives me little time to adjust. And I'm the kind of girl who needs to give myself time to accept change. At the same time this whole journey has been kind of on a whim moments so I can't say I'm completely surprised.

My doctor & I made the decision to hold off on the 3rd round of Bartonella treatment & instead begin treating the Lyme disease itself. This decision was not one made easily by me. It was something I prayed about for days & nights on end, and God laid the answer on my lap.

At this point the Lyme disease has infiltrated my brain (neuroborreliosis), my digestive system (resulting in loss of gallbladder function), my endocrine system (adrenals, thyroids, and major hormones), and my balance/visual system. The one place however that Lyme had NOT got to is my nervous system. That was typical of Lyme so I felt blessed it had not spread there. However, last week my right hand began spasms I have never felt before. Constant cramps that left me unable to type or use that hand properly. We ordered blood work in hopes that it was an electrolyte deficiency, but everything looked okay. These spasms also began in my left foot and I knew it wasn't good. I began to pray for an answer. As the spasms didnt stop & went into its 6th and 7th days I knew this was it. The Lyme has infiltrated my nervous system and I will be damned if I let it get any further.

My doctor, (who I can't sing enough praises about) completely had my back in urging and supporting me to table the Bartonella & get to attacking the Lyme itself. Every day & every minute I let this horrible disease manifest inside of me I am doing myself an injustice. I don't regret treating the Bartonella because I honestly do feel markedly better from the 2 rounds. I am thankful I could tackle that to an extent. Also, since this creates antibodies to the pathogens my body will continue to kill off Bartonella even when not actively treating it. So I believe I am a winner in that aspect.

So although I did not mentally plan for Lyme treatment I know I have to just jump in head first and start tackling it. The fear I felt when my felt my muscular system doing things out of my control was indescribable. I refuse to sit here & let this take over my body any longer. In this situation I think determination is overpowering the fear I have, and fueling me to get ready to take it on.

Xoxo,
Christina
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Rice dreams milk NOT gluten free or for gluten sensitive people

10/19/2012

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So this post is a warning for all my gluten sensitive friends out there! For months I have been drinking Rice Dreams rice milk. I noticed at first my stomach felt kind of crappy after I was drinking it, but considering I have stomach issues I kind of brushed it off as being just a separate issue. As time went on, I drank my rice milk shake in the AM & noticed difficulty in eating lunch/dinner. I didn't have an appetite, I was full, cramping aches & bloating. Food was so hard to push down. Lucky for me this shake I made was 600 calories so I got a good portion in with that. I managed to get food Down but it wasn't a good fun time.

THEN 2 weeks ago when I had that horrible reaction to the medicine I didn't have breakfast or eat really for about a week. During the end of that week when I bounced back I wasn't having the breakfast shake but I was eating really well the rest of the day. So I was happy with that. I had a stomach that felt better then it had in a long time. It was like I got used to always having a inflamed irritated stomach that it was odd to have it feel good.

On Tuesday I drank about half the shake & my day was off instantly. GI issues flared, appetite was gone & I felt off.

Wednesday AM I drank the whole shake & within 30 minutes was so sick. Horrible stomach ache, horrible cramps, I was feeling miserable. I thought what is going on?!

That's when the power of Google taught me that Rice Dreams rice milk ferments their milk through BARLEY!!! Barley is a huge no no for gluten intolerant people. Although their milk is labeled gluten free, it's not truly gluten free as each dose has a certain amount of gluten. There isn't a quality control so one jug might have a trace amount while the next may have more. However their "average" doses are low enough to get the "Gluten free" stamp of approval.

This may not be an issue to some, but Celiacs for sure would react to it. Even me being just gluten intolerant couldn't handle it. With gluten sometimes it takes time to build up in your system & wreak havoc. It's not always instant. It builds up and causes inflammation all over the body. Anyone with a chronic illness already has plenty of inflammation so that is not an added bonus.

It also takes gluten a while to get out of the system, so I didn't notice until I went a long time without the shake just how much it effected me. Then, since I had an already irritated stomach, putting the gluten on it Wed was the final straw. My stomach said "enough is enough."

I'm now recovering from that. It's been a long 2 weeks. Things are in stale mate as I try to get back on my feet, back to eating more than 700 calories a day & ready to take on this last round of treatment for Bartonella.

So this is a word of warning to those who are maybe noticing they feel off to check their milk substitutes closely! Also rice dreams is a big no no for me as I've learned, so take time to research what they use for your products. It's easy to sneak in gluten but not always easy to find the culprit!

Hope this was helpful to someone :)

Xoxo,
Christina

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Photos from the Lymewalk

10/17/2012

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My brother sent over a lot of beautiful pictures from the Lymewalk. The view is amazing, & enough to heal almost anyone with just a glance ;)
Oh how I love Southern California!

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Update.. The long & short of it

10/15/2012

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I have so much to cram into one post, so ill try to keep it brief as possible!

Last week I didn't talk about my personal health very much because it was a tough longggg week. Sunday's bad experience from the medicine had my stomach in knots for the whole week. Lots of sleepless nights, lots of days with lots of pain & very little food. I'm finally on the mend a week later though, so I'm hoping to start treatment for the 3rd & final round of Bartonella in the next day or two. I didn't want to talk about last week because 1. I felt like my complaints were minuscule in comparison to the story I read about Lane, and 2. I had to kind of get over the fact that this issue I had hoped to resolve would be tabled for a while.

Moving on! Yesterday was the Lymewalk in Los Angeles that my brother attended to walk in my name. I will have pictures & videos from the event tomorrow up on here, but it was a beautiful event. They had a speaker on Lyme disease & lots of people coming together for people they love with 1 goal in mind... Finding a cure.

And with that in mind I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who donated & helped sponsor this cause. Words can not express the utter shock I was in to see how generous people could be. The total raised was $1,005 and I'm just blown away by that. It's genuine compassion & kindness. It gives me hope that yes we will find a cure, because there are enough good people in this world. And it opened my eyes to a new way to see the world. When I get better I want to give back to people the way they have to me throughout this entire journey. I want to put that good energy back into the world and change someone's life, because truly this event & other daily acts of kindness from friends/neighbors has changed mine.

So thank you. And most of all I give the most glory to God who gave me a loving brother who is so selfless he gave his entire Sunday to this cause.

Xoxo,
Christina

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