What Do I have in Common with Plum Island?

About a year ago in my own research about Lyme disease, prior to my diagnosis I tried to uncover any rock that would shed light on Lyme disease. I did this because I was almost certain that I would be diagnosed with Lyme disease. There were several practitioners whom thought Lyme was likely part of my picture. Needless to say, when the diagnosis was actually made, in some strange way it actually brought a sense of relief. It made so much sense with everything that was going on with me, my symptoms and my history.

Part of doing research is finding both sides of the story and trying to cut through all the BS or crap and making sure that your findings or conclusions are based on sound sources. Research doesn't always reveal the most pleasant findings. I remember something I stumbled across about Lyme and it goes a little something like this... There is a beautiful pristine island located off of Long Island, called Plum Island, but what goes on there is not so beautiful and pristine. Human visitors are generally not welcome on Plum Island with the exception of the few biologists that are employed there. The island serves as the Animal Disease Control Center and is currently owned by the Department of Homeland Security. There is a serious conspiracy theory that this island is where Lyme was produced by our own government in addition to West Nile virus and a whole host of other biological germs. … so you see this is what Plum Island and I have in common. 

Plum Island - Lab 257

I discovered there is a book about this conspiracy called LAB 257 authored by Michael Christopher Carroll. He spent several years researching Plum Island and was able to visit the island and its labs on several occasions until he was no longer welcome once it was discovered what his intentions were. He is an attorney with a personal interest. Several months after discovering that this book exists I saw a documentary about the very subject of Plum Island and the connection to Lyme and several other biological germs that aired on the Discovery Channel. I had avoided ordering LAB 257 because I wasn't quite sure I could deal with the anger and frustration that would likely surface from reading such a book given that I have chronic Lyme disease. Yet, recently something told me that I was finally ready. I ordered the book and have only read a few pages, but from what I can tell in the short amount I have read is that it seems to be a carefully written and well researched book with resources to back the findings. So far it is chilling and disturbing. At the very least it could be a bunch of BS, but at least I'll be more informed on the subject from someone else's point of view. It is an interesting conspiracy and may not be that far fetched. I can only imagine what kind of biological catastrophes could be on the horizon.

I'm glad to live in this country despite knowing that our government doesn't always conduct itself in a manner in which it protects its citizens. This is one of those times I have to ask, “What if?” and What can I do?” Plum island is one of those places that I think our government would rather the majority not know about. Check out this article and the video included:  NewsDay.com

Here is the press release that Discovery Channel sent out prior to airing the show: Press.Discovery.com

Candida and the Repurcussions of Antibiotics

I'm not one who is much for resolutions. I feel if you need to change something, then simply change it, but don't wait for the new year to make it happen. That is just a recipe for high stress and failure in my opinion... but I do like to reflect on the past as each new year roles around. It is good to remember where you have come from. As with any year 2013 had its share of good and bad, but I have to say that I really feel like progress has been made with my health and I intuitively feel that 2014 will be a good year for making strides in my health as well. 

I'm feeling better since my last post, but wanted to share the double edged sword that antibiotics bring, which is why I really hold out and typically don't use them except as a last resort. I'm sure this post will ring true for many of you. I am very susceptible to Candida overgrowth and while on antibiotics I began to crave sugar like crazy. One of the tell tail signs of Candida overgrowth. Also, because I was on Amoxicillin, which is in the Penicillin family, my body can only tolerate so much. I am allergic to penicillin and I ended up with hives near the end of my treatment. Oh, goodie!! Anyway, it was the lesser of two evils as the other antibiotic option listed "snapping tendons" as a possible side affect. Uh, sign me up... NOT. So I picked my poison and I knew it was highly likely I would end up with hives. The interesting thing is that because of the methylation pathways that we've worked on clearing, I was actually able to tolerate far more than the last time I had to take Amoxicillin and my body cleared the hives much quicker in 3 days vs. 3 weeks. Anyway, I am now on the herbal detox for Candida and it is working for sure. I've had miserable nausea and severe diarrhea, but I think I'm nearly past that point and I have 3 more weeks left on this treatment. Bye, bye Candida. The treatment is high in Allicin, which is high in sulfer and that means not so good with my CBS mutation. I have to take Molybdenum to help counteract the effects of the sulfer. A little Activated Charcoal seems to help too. Anyway, I know the Candida die-off symptoms are temporary. I've been down this road before.

I saw my Lyme ND at the end of January and treatments for the co-infections are progressing very well at this point. I'm able to increase my dosage of the herbal tinctures I'm on and the goal is to get to 50 drops of each per day. I'm currently at 34drops per day and hope to reach my goal by mid-March given there are no bumps in the road.  Once I'm there we will switch to a stronger formula, but in the meantime I have to keep an eye on what my Dr. thinks may be an additional co-infection, Babesia. I've been getting night sweats and no I'm not perimenopausal. In addition to some brain fog that still hangs around and is typical that is shows up in the afternoon. If this all persists, we'll have to treat the Babesia in the others we are already treating. Eventually we'll move on to adding Artemisinin and others to address the Lyme. We'll also do a heavy metals challenge following my fast that is scheduled for April. 

In the meantime while I'm anxious about starting the fast I've taken almost all carbs out of my diet with the exception of 5 grams timed at 5 hour intervals. My body seems to be liking this and my hope is to kill two birds with one stone. I'm trying to starve the Candida and use my fat stores at the same time without upsetting the glycogen/insulin balance. This should regulate my blood sugar and not provide excess sugar for the Candida to feast on.

Not only am I looking forward this year to making inroads my health, but I'm excited and can feel it in my bones when I think of going back to school. Sounds crazy I know, but the program is Integrative Therapies and I hope to complete the degree with a foundation in Nutrition. I look forward to continuing to help others in the future by putting some real book knowledge under my belt in addition to my own life experiences. My hope is to be enrolled before the end of 2014.

How are you doing? I'd love to hear from you. Let me know what you'd like to know about in future posts. 

Happy early Valentine's day!

Cheers to 2014 and Improved Health in the New Year!

I'm 3 weeks in with a bug I've been fighting. At this point I'm just ready to be done. I even threw in the towel a week ago and tried conventional route with antibiotics, which actually helped me to improve, but not 100%. The worst part is the ear infection, which make me feel like I'm walking around with a fish bowl on my head. That said, this is the first time I've really had a serious acute illness in a year. That is a really good thing and I can tell my body is really trying to fight this thing, it just takes longer for me and the downside is that I may have to try another antibiotic. This is not my favorite thing to do because I run the rick of Candida overgrowth amongst other things. I have a good plan in place for preventative measures.

Ok, enough about the acute illness. I recently got my labs back that look at my environmental exposure and toxic levels. Environmental toxins are known as the "obese makers" and may be a contributor to my weight gain and inability to loose. My tests were pretty good with the exception of Parabens. I'm someone that has taken measures to really reduce my toxic exposures, but the last piece is my makeup and hairspray. It is one of the toughest transitions for most women. I'm ready though. I recently ordered make-up by Tarte and so far so good other than removing the make-up. I'm not sure why it seems to be more difficult to remove this make-up, but my new challenge is to find a good make-up remover. In addition to switching out my make-up I am supplementing with Siliphos and Glycine, which will help protect my liver and kidneys as well as indirectly build my Glutathione levels and coleus forskohlii which will help with thyroid hormone production and fat metabolism including the removal of toxic fat, which is where the body stores parabens and other environmental toxins, hence the "obese makers."  So, I've started my protocol recently and I'm hopeful that it will help with the fasting process that is planned for spring.

I've recently developed Tennis Elbow, which is annoying and makes it difficult for me to do my weight lifting regimen. I have resorted to Ultrasound with my chiropractor and hope that it will be as effective as it was with my plantar fasciitis in the past. 

I will also meet with my Lyme ND later this month for next steps, but so far so good on this protocol. I recently started Curaphen, which has given me a better quality of life. My overall chronic pain issues are significantly better as a result.

I am so hopeful about improvement with my health in 2014 and as a result I'm hopeful I'll be abe to do some things that I've been wanting to do for quite some time. I'm even toying with the notion of going back to school part-time for Integrative Therapies. My fingers are crossed that this may become a reality as crazy as it sounds to go back to school once again.

I hope this post finds you well and I hope 2014 will bring out the best you yet!

Feeling Good

Hello friends. Once again, I am sorry for the delay in this post. I have good news. I've been feeling pretty good on a regular basis. I have to give credit to a number of things that my wonderful doctors have been guiding me with. I truly think that the genetic testing I had done was one of the best things we did to make some progress that is noticeable. We are currently working on clearing my methylation pathways so that all process can operate more smoothly. The first two SNPs (pronounced snips) we have been addressing are a homozygous CBS mutation and a heterozygous MTHFR mutation (A1298C). Together they cause my methylators to act as if they are being flushed away. I apologize for getting this wrong in the last post in saying that my circumstances would cause methyl trapping. Genetic mutations are a complicated subject. With a CBS mutation it is necessary to lower your sulfer load, which for me means temporarily going on a low sulfer diet and supplementing with Molybdenum which removes sulfer (I'm 6 weeks in and have 2 weeks to go.) and for an MTHFR mutation it is necessary that you are not getting any supplemental Folic Acid in your diet because with this mutation, the body cannot make use of it. I am also supplementing with Thorne Methyl-Gaurd plus. It is a methylation support supplement that contains active B vitamins including greater amounts of 5MTHF, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12. So, the exciting thing is that I think that these efforts have made just about everything else we are doing so much more effective and that is something I am so thrilled about. In addition I am almost to a full dose with the second addition to my Lyme treatment and co-infection treatment. I think that is also helping me to feel better. BUT the most exciting was wen we added Curaphen to my protocol. The difference in my level of pain was significant and noticeable in less than 24 hours. There haven't been many times in the past few years of treatment that I could say that about much of what we were doing. I feel like we are really beginning to make headway and I am so excited. It is like I've gotten a little piece of my life back.

On the forefront some things that are planned for future are addressing my high triglycerides through a very special fasting process that is guided by physician who specializes in resetting the metabolism.  We will not be doing this until Spring/Summer, but I'll keep you posted. In the meantime we are testing for environmental toxins, so I'll let you know what the results are in my next post. Addressing these will also help with underlying causes of my weight gain and high triglycerides. Eventually we'll also look at heavy metal toxicity and we'll also address the EBV. Eventually we hope to address other pieces of my methylation pathways which may include B-12 shots and IV Glutathione. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

I'm feeling good about the direction we are headed in and I am hopeful that I will continue to feel much better in addition to gaining control of my triglycerides and weight gain.

I hope that everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving holiday!  

Breathe, Breathe and then Breathe again... Sigh

We must stop meeting like this... I have so much to tell and I'm not sure where to begin, but I'm sure once I'm done you will fully understand why I haven't posted in over two months.

We had such a wonderful and much deserved vacation in August to Northern California for our twelve year anniversary. We spent a couple days in Geyserville, where we did a 15 mile bike ride through beautiful vineyards. 

Vineyard in Geyserville

...then some time in Petaluma and Sonoma. We ate a the Girl and the Fig, which was something I had been wanting to do and then we headed to the Muir Woods for a 5 mile hike through the beautiful redwoods. 

beautiful redwood tree in Muir Woods

Our last couple of days we spent in Point Reyes. They know how to live. We visited a beautiful cheese farm 

Point Reyes Cheese Farm

where we learned to make paella. Yes, we made that and it was as amazing as it looks.

the paella that we made

It was all wonderful and I have no complaints, other than needing another vacation already.

When I returned from vacation I had my genetic test results. I'll go into further detail about those. I also came home to some disappointing lipid results. I'll come back to this... what happens next is a domino of crazy stress makers that my body is still recovering from. We were home for two weeks when we discovered a giant plumbing issue. We live in an old neighborhood and the tree roots had grown through the old plumbing causing basement flooding and all kinds of back up issues... this ended up being an $8-10K issue and was when I was so glad I'm not the home owner. I felt sorry for our landlord. None-the-less it was a huge inconvenience for us as well. I was only able to take one minute showers or a little over a week, we really were not able to flush very often and could do minimal dishes while the problem was being fixed and by this time there was raw sewage flooding my basement. Not good. This all gave me a new appreciation for the devastation that was about to hit our beautiful state of Colorado, the 2013 flood. While the plumbing was being fixed my husband had to leave for a week long business trip. He missed the flooding devastation that was in process. All the while our plumbing was being worked on round the clock. By the time my husband returned home, the plumbing was fixed and the rains had let up slightly, but there was more flooding to come.  The floods have finally receded, but our state has so much clean up that will probably take years. There has never been flooding like this in Colorado.

Then, I received a call from my sister and come to find out she was scheduled for major oral surgery the following day, which she had told almost no one about including myself because she has been traumatized by dentists since she was a little girl. She will now suffer for the rest of her life and must build a trusting relationship with a good dentist. I had an extreme amount of guilt for not being there for her, but I had no idea. I was so worried and so glad to hear that she had made it through this procedure, but she has many more to come over the next few months. I'm just hoping the worst is behind her and that she won't be in pain. 

Next is the icing on this stress cake. My dear sweet dog Jack had a seizure on the Sunday following the day my husband returned from his business trip. I was home alone with him when it happened and it is one of the most terrifying and helpless feelings I have ever experienced. I was able to load my dog in the car along with my other dog and I drove to the vet in pouring rain. My husband met me at the vet where they ran a series of tests and X-rays... this was the day we would find out that our sweet dog of 11 years had terminal cancer. Some of you may not understand this, but our dogs are like children to us. The vet gave us a shot of valium to give to him if and when there was a next seizure. We went home determined to spoil Jack for whatever time we had left with him. Mostly he still seemed like himself and we were told that he is in no pain. Needless to say I decided that going to work on Monday wasn't an option. I needed time to deal with the news I had just received and I felt like a bus had hit me. On Monday morning, less than 24 hours after the first seizure a second one had begun. I gave him the valium and it didn't work to stop the seizure like it was supposed to. I was by myself with him again and I was really freaking out. I knew this was it. Jack is a daddy's boy and I frantically tried to get in touch with my husband. We took Jack back to the vet and the options were not good. It was time to say goodbye to our dear sweet boy. We miss him so much.
 

Our sweet baby Jack - R.I.P

Goodbye sweet friend. Needless to say, the loss is still pretty fresh. It will be only 2 weeks tomorrow. I have moments when I think I see him and moments that make me burst out in tears. I know it will take time. My body is exhausted and none of this has been good for all the health challenges I face. Our other dog, Dre, is finally coming around to being himself again, but he certainly went through depression and we were a bit worried about him. We are spoiling him rotten and this is the one time when I believe that is perfectly fine. He is 11 too, so we will make the best of his time with us.

The day after Jack passed, I had my appointment with my ND. It is time to start making inroads with regard to genetic mutations that seem clinically relevant with my symptom picture. I'm truly excited about the things we can now personalize with my results. I have roughly 60 genetic mutations and several are in the area of methylation. This is the area we are beginning to utilize because methylation is important for genes. I'll go into further detail about all the mutations I have in a future post, but for now I will focus on the CBS mutation that I have. It is heterozygous and because of this mutation it is compounding the problem with my MTHFR mutation. The CBS pathway is responsible for sulfer and when there is a mutation in the gene it can cause methyl trapping, which causes more problems. That said, I will have to go on a low thiol diet for 8 weeks. Thiols apparently are more important than just avoiding foods that are high in sulfer. So, no more dairy (I primarily avoid with exception of goat milk products, which I will need to avoid), cruciferous veggies (broccoli, kale, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, mustard greens...), onions, garlic, wine, most meet other than poultry and fish and eggs of course, which I am already avoiding and any products with added sulfites. I have to avoid them to lessen the sulfer load on my body and in the meantime I will be supplementing with Molybdenum among other supplements, which will help to lower my sulfer load and assist my body in being able to utilize the methylators.

Genes are complicated yet interesting. I am fascinated by my tests and not too disturbed by things I had no idea I am at high risk for (Multiple Sclerosis, Macular Degeneration, Celiac Disease...). Though there is one that bothers me because it it hits close to home for me every time I have a lipid profile done. I eat so healthy and I am so active despite all my challenges, you would think that I would have optimal HDL and triglycerides. My HDL is lower than ever and triglycerides higher than ever... all that combined with finding out that I am at high risk for Coronary Heart Disease, Obesity and Diabetes combined with low Adiponectin levels according to my genetic test results... not good. All the more reason to push my docs to get creative with ideas and motivation for me to do all I can to take preventative measures beyond what I am already doing. So we are running a VAP test, which will actually tell us about the health of my actual cholesterol cells. I should know the results next week and we'll take the necessary steps from there based on what we find out. 

In addition, I am doing well on my Lyme protocol and will be able to add an additional remedy about mid-October, which should help in improving symptoms. My Lyme ND is also checking for viruses that Lyme patients are more susceptible to. I should know those results next week as well.

Last, but not least, my husband made me a wonderful dinner for my birthday yesterday. Thank you hubby! It was yummy.
 
That is all for now. I'll share more next month. I hope that all of you have a wonderful and enjoyable fall!

What's in Your Genes?

Well, I certainly know more about myself and I hope that knowledge will pay off. As it turns out I have a heterozygous A1298C single copy mutation of the MTHFR gene. That actually explains alot. It also means that it is highly likely that I have other gene mutations as well. The MTHFR mutation is very common. Research indicates that almost 50% or more of the population has an MTHFR mutation. Essentially this gene provides information on creation of an enzyme that helps in the methylation process, providing processing information for amino acids and protein building blocks in addition it is responsible for reactions necessary to utilize B vitamins, in particular folate. This gene mutation can cause a plethora of symptoms or none at all depending on the individual and a homozygous mutation is considered to be worse. It is also link to a number of chronic diseases including many autoimmune conditions. Here are a couple of helpful websites that may be helpful. Dr. Ben Lynch and the MTHFR gene mutation, Dr. Amy Yasko, MTHFR Support,    If you are a regular reader and your symptoms are similar to mine it may be something you should get tested for. I hear the treatment can make all the difference in the world. I hope that is true. I will be starting treatment soon, so I'll keep you posted. In addition, gene testing has become more affordable. You can order a panel that will test for a bunch of gene mutations for only $99 at https://www.23andme.com/ We have ordered this panel and I will get results in about 6 weeks. I will keep you posted. I think it will be interesting and helpful to see the results. It really means that medicine can be personalized.

It also turns out that my body really resisted the synthetic thyroid hormones. It became very dangerous for me to stay on them any longer. I had the option of going on natural thyroid hormone, but since I technically do not need to be on it and we tried them to see if they would help improve any of my symptoms, I felt like we gave it a good try, but I wasn't willing to explore any further. I have felt more crappy than normal for the past three months of being on T3/T4. I decided it was time for a break and I can always give it a shot in the future.

My primary Naturopath is back from maternity leave. Yay! It is so nice to have her back and consulting with the other doctors on my case. She knows me so well. That said, I know we still have a long journey ahead and she will be integral along the way.

I've been in alot of pain as of late and realized that while my pilates studio has moved and is in process of opening up a new location, my body is feeling it. I cannot wait to get back to a regular pilates schedule. It has been a few weeks and I am definitely jonesing for a pilates session.

The vitiligo has spread a bit and my docs are putting their heads together for a remedy. We'll see what they come up with. Psoriasis has been flared a bit too, but is getting better now that I'm not on the hormones any longer. I'm still doing a detox and will likely complete the detox some time next week at which time I believe the next step is to ramp back up on the Lyme treatment... I'm very nervous, but ready to move to the next step. Please send me positive thoughts. I'm really hoping my body doesn't have another crazy reaction this time.

Ah, last but not least, the best way to end summer will be a vacation. I'm so excited. We are visiting Sonoma and Muir Woods near the end of next month. We have not been on a real vacation in about 5+ years. We've had some long weekends visiting family, but we don't consider that a vacation. I cannot wait. It is going to be awesome and I get to take a break from my supplements for a week. Yay! If you knew how many things I'm taking, you might be able to appreciate why this seemingly small thing is such a big deal to me. It will make things easier at the airport too. I'll try to share some pics with you next month. 

In good health!

Battle Scars

Hello my peeps. I hope you are well. I continue to fight the good fight. I’ve been experiencing jitters for about a week now. That is my technical term for feeling like I drank a ton of coffee, only I have not;-) It is a horrible and frustrating sensation. My assumption is this is happening due to the synthetic T3/T4. I’m about at the end of my rope with the thyroid hormones and I’m about to ask to be weaned off depending on how the next labs look. We’ll be retesting labs again in the next week or so. My nerves feel fried and I’m exhausted, needing to sleep many hours. I may have overdone it this month as we have been on the go all month with the exception of this weekend. Thank goodness I had nothing planned for this weekend because I obviously needed the sleep and even after sleeping a ton I just don’t feel rested. The rest of the summer is pretty packed full of activity too, so I’ll have to do a better job at getting proper rest and relaxation. I’ve also had severe diarrhea off and on for about the past 2 months. I’m sure this is adding to the exhaustion as well.

After the reaction to the Lyme treatment, my doc had me stop the treatment and begin a detox of Liver, Kidney and Lymph. She has me slowly working up to a full dose of the PEKANA Basic Detox Remedies. I’ll be at a full dose next week and will remain there for probably 2-3 weeks. Then we’ll restart the MC-BAR-1 Lyme/co-infection remedy. I’m nervous. Here is a look at what I’m left with after the first try. 

Vitiligo patches on forearms and hands

These are my battle scars/vitiligo and they are here to stay unless I’m lucky and they fill in with pigment like they did when I was a kid. Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks and destroys the melanocytes. It is essentially a lack of melanin in the skin. Melanin is what gives our skin color. I’ve had other spots of vitiligo show up recently and I’m wondering if it is the combo of me being on Cat’s Claw (also for Lyme) and being exposed to the sun simultaneously. I started the Cat’s Claw when it was still winter and exposed to the sun far less. I haven’t had any hives like I did while taking the MC-BAR-1.

I have a new theory after participating in a live webinar with Dr. Marty Ross. He is a Lyme expert in Seattle and he answered another person’s question during the webinar about sensitivities. When individuals like myself are super sensitive to all types of things (food, environment…) they often have a defect or mutation in MTHFR. Here is a link from Dr. Ross: MTHFR: Lyme Byte 

MTHFR is a gene that helps us synthesize folate as well as aids glutathione in the detoxification process. MTHFR mutations or defect are very common. I’ve asked my doctors if this is something we should consider looking in to. I’ll keep you posted.

My regular Naturopath will be back part-time from maternity leave in the middle of July. I’m looking forward to having her at the helm of the ship again. That is not to say that my Lyme Naturopath and my D.O. have been doing a wonderful job at moving things forward while she has been on maternity leave.

I hope everyone is enjoying summer. Remember to get rest and don’t overdo it. There is always a ton of great things to do in the summer and it may be tough to say no. Take it from me, it is best to say no so that you don’t hit that wall and end up in bed and missing out on all the fun. I’m still trying to recoup and I have a massage scheduled for tomorrow. I’m hoping this will provide some relief for my nerves and the persistent exhaustion. Until next time, I wish you good health!