My Journey with Lyme Disease (Part 1)

I was bit by a tick in June of 2018 and began treatment using a holistic approach in August of 2018. Here is Part 1 of my journey to the present date (March 2019). I still have a way to go in my healing, but have made huge progress so far!

When and Where I was Infected

Last June (2018), we were in the process of moving out of our house in Western Connecticut, and moving some of our things into my parents basement in the Hudson Valley in New York, for storage while we set off to RV full time.

I saw what I thought was just a black speck of dirt stuck to my leg, and tried to scrape it off. It took a lot of work to get out, and it wasn’t until I got it off that I realized it had teeny tiny legs and was definitely a nymph deer tick.

FYI, don’t do this! If you can’t get that “speck of dirt” off of you, your child or your pet easily, be sure to get a magnifying glass and tweezers and remove it properly. If you remove a tick improperly, it increases the chances of it aggravating the tick and then it may “spit” it’s pathogens into you.

We were in the process of moving, so I’m really not sure how long the tick was attached, but it was probably at a minimum 6-9 hours.

They do say a tick needs to be attached for 48 hours to spread the infection, but this is misinformation, especially if the tick is removed improperly.

Initial Symptoms

That first night after removing the tick, I had night sweats and chills, but I thought it was my body “fighting off” whatever pathogens it injected into me.

After the tick bite, it was a gradual decline. I felt fine for awhile, but slowly started getting more tired and having more frequent headaches.

It slowly increased to also include more joint pain in my knees, elbows and shoulders that increased over time. I’ve always had achey and “cracking” joints, but this was worse than what I had felt previously.

I also started to have drastic mood swings and panic attacks. Other symptoms included increased hunger, increased heart rate and what I called “shallow” breathing, or an inability to catch my breath even when trying deep breathing exercises.

Later on, I also started experiencing hormonal issues, brain fog, memory and word recollection issues, low blood pressure, low body temperature and numbness in my back. I also woke up with the left side of my face numb several times, but luckily that subsided quickly.

One “hallmark” symptom that I never got was the bullseye rash. From the research I’ve done, I have heard that less than half of people get the classic bullseye rash. You can most certainly have Lyme without it, despite what doctors and the CDC may say.

My Path to Treatment

I have to say that I am so glad this didn’t happen when I was living in that house in Connecticut, because our 100 year old house had a mold problem. I battled symptoms much of the time that we lived there. You can read more about my mold story here.

Lyme and mold are very interconnected, and I could have gotten much more sick if I was battling both at the same time.

I’m sure you can understand from the list of symptom above, that after about 2 months of increasing symptoms, I decided it was time to seek some help.

At this point, I had been doing quite a bit of research and listening to podcasts from experienced doctors and practitioners on the topic, and was pretty sure it was Lyme, Babesia, or another tick-borne illness (or a combination of several, as is common).

I decided to look for Lyme Literate doctors. At this point, we had been living in our RV for a few months and were in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

I looked for a doctor several weeks ahead of where we were traveling, which put us near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I knew I would prefer to go the alternative route with my Lyme treatment, after doing research and reading many stories where people did not have much success with conventional medicine.

The place I settled on is a highly-rated natural clinic called Serenity Healthcare Center in Waukesha, WI. They not only specialized in Lyme, but also had expertise in mold, which I know I have struggled with previously (and maybe was still feeling the effects of).

I asked the receptionist a boatload of questions, and then decided to make my initial appointment.

I liked that this clinic can do their treatments remotely for up to 12 months, because they have patients all over the world. The initial appointment was in person, but all my successive appointments have been phone consultations. This worked well with my full-time RV lifestyle.