Praying for Lymies's Purpose: Creating biographies for each Lyme friend to help us get to know each other better. To let everyone know that they are not alone. Also to leave each Lyme friend know that we are praying and thinking about them.
Questionnaire
Here are the things I need to know from you in order to be featured:
Name: (First name and Last initial)
Age:
Location: (general or specific, up to you)
Illnesses
Symptoms
Background
Treatment Plan
Do you have family members with it?
Specific prayer request
Do you have a blog? What's the website?
Would you like your photo posted with your biography?
Is there a Christian song that has special meaning to you?
Email address so I can contact you
I write a biography based on your responses. Then we'll contact each other several times until the biography is "just right." Then I'll choose a date for your biography to be posted.
If you prefer, you can write it entirely on your own - but I will proofread it to make sure that it reads well and get your approval before posting.
Upcoming Featured Lymies
Comment if you want to be featured. Leave your email address.
I want to send all my love and prayers to all my Lyme warriors. The best way I know how is to write. I write a biography about each patient so people who come to pray will know exactly how to lift you up to God.
You will receive a questionnaire so please return it quickly so I can prepare for writing your biography. Once I finish writing your biography, I will send it to you for approval before publishing it.
Want to be a Featured Lymie and your name is not above? Leave me a comment and ask to be Featured.
If I receive two questionnaires back at the same time, I will choose the one to go first that asked originally that asked me first. The quicker your information gets back to me, the quicker you can be featured for prayers.
Emma K is a 24 year old from Morgantown West Virginia. Emma was born in Los Angeles California, but moved to West Virginia around age 2. She has always loved the outdoors. Emma doesn't recollect a tick bite, but she was always sick as a child with chronic sinus infections and had mono that just wouldn't go away.
Emma's troubles also included severe right shoulder/neck and jaw pain that would turn into a debilitating migraine up to 5 times a week. Emma had fatigue so strong that she didn't think she would be able to put one foot in front of the other. She had hip pain, confusion and word loss.
Emma's been in treatment for 8 months and she has a lot less fatigue and only 1 migraine a month. Her hip and knee pain has reduced and she still has some lingering shoulder/neck jaw pain. When she's at the peak of a herx or feeling particularly "lymie" she still has some confusion and gets lost. She does feel a lot clearer though.
Emma has been diagnosed with Chronic Lyme and Erhlichia. She responds to Bartonella treatment and also has high heavy metal toxicity. Currently, she is pulsing and changing around many antibiotics. She also takes a ton of supplements. Most recently, Emma started A-Bart and has seen a vast improvement already. She feels that mild hyperbaric chamber is the thing that has helped her the most. She will begin chelation therapy for the high amounts of lead, aluminum, cadmium and another heavy metal that she can't remember right now. She also has Physical Therapy and energy work & massage.
Emma knows of no other family members diagnosed with tick borne illnesses. She requests prayers of continued healing path. She knows that she's on this healing path and can feel that she's getting there. She also would like another prayer for anyone suffering. Emma has a blog called "Feeling Lymie" Her blog address is http://lymieekatern.blogspot.com/
*** Emma has been in the hospital several times this week. Her latest blog dated today (September 28 2011) explains everything. ****
Her favorite song is Angels Watching Over Me, but I was unable to locate a great video so in substitution, I Can Only Imagine (Mercy Me)
Shadow M. is a 42 year old single mother of two living in Southern California. Shadow was born and raised in Iran and moved to the United States at the age of 16. After she finished High School here, she got her Bachelors degree in Computer Science and Math in 1992. She was married the same year. She got a job working as a software engineer. While she was working at HP, she had her first daughter. In 1997, Shadow went back to school for pre-med and received her Masters in Physiology in 2001. She started Medical school after. In 2002, Shadow had her second daughter. She graduated from Medical school in 2006 and did residency from 2006 to 2010 in psychiatry. Shadow divorced in 2009.
Shadow has Lyme Disease, Babesia, Mycoplasma, Ebstein Barr Virus, HHV6, CMV, West Nile and another co-infection bacteria. All of these things give her severe fatigue, muscle weakness, muscle stiffness and pain, joint pain and swelling. She also has brain fog, headaches, nausea, sleep disturbances and depression. Shadow also struggles with migrating pains, panic attacks, loss of balance, mood swings, heart palpitations, air hunger, blurred vision and suicidal thoughts.
Shadow is on a variety of IV medications. She used Invanz followed by Rifampin. She also used two months of Azithroycin. She also uses Oral Mepron interchanging every three months with Malarone. Shadow also uses Oral Tindamax.
Shadow is very thankful that she doesn't have any family members with Lyme Disease. She really needs prayers for positive thoughts and energy. Her blog website is http://www.mylymediseasestory.blogspot.com/
I am currently working on writing a biography for Shadow. If you're interested in being featured, leave a comment with your email address and I'll contact you with the survey. :)
If you have been featured in the past and want to have an update, please contact me via a comment and leave your email address so I can contact you. Here is the survey for updating:
Name
Age
Location
How have you improved?
What things have gotten worse?
Specific prayer request
Anything new you want to share?
(you can also answer any of the questions from the original survey if they didn't pertain to you the first time around and do this time around such as blog, family members with it?)
Would you like to use a photograph? If so please email it to me if we're not on FB together
1. All of the old biographies (and posts) will remain. If you come across any URL's that don't work, please let me know via a comment on that particular post. It's difficult to go through every post and find links that don't work. I may copy & paste some of the prayer posts into one post to make it easier for you all to go through the old posts.
2. Want to be featured? Leave a comment. Any ole comment will do, but please leave a way for me to contact you. If you don't, then I can't contact you. It's as simple as that. All comments are moderated so leave your email address for me to contact you. I will get back with you with a Questionaire. We'll connect on several different occasions to make sure that the biography is correct and then I'll set a date for it to be published.
3. First come, first served. I'll keep a list on the blog. Whoever returns the Questionnaire first, gets featured first. It's that simple. Where is the questionnaire? Look over to the left hand side and you'll see it. Otherwise you'll get it in your initial email contact with me.
4. NO MORE EMAILS! In the past I had utilized the "Email 2 Blog" function. I will no longer be utilizing this function. I was getting too many spam messages and very few actual messages. It was difficult to weed through so I decided that comments were better.
5. Want to leave a prayer for a lymie? Leave a comment at the end of their biography.
With revitalizing the blog, I thought it would be fun if I added pictures. So along with the Survey, I will ask if you would like your photo on the blog.
1. Survey for Original Biography
Name
Age
Location
Illnesses
Symptoms
Background
Treatment Plan
Do you have family members with it?
Specific prayer request
Do you have a blog? What's the website?
Would you like your photo posted with your biography?
Is there a Christian song that has special meaning to you?
Email address so I can contact you
Go ahead .. what are you waiting for? Leave a comment so you can be featured!
Heather is a 28 year old Mother who has Chronic Lyme Disease that currently lives in Texas. Her husband is in the military so they move quite frequently. They have two daughters age four and one. Heather was bitten by a tick at the age of 6. She even got the classic bulls eye rash. Heather didn't have symptoms of Lyme until a few years later (including the classic Joint Pain). She had symptoms off and on throughout the years that were not correctly diagnosed until she gave birth to her oldest daughter at age of 24. It took three more years to get a Lyme diagnosis. She is finally in treatment and showing small, but hopeful progress.
Heather experiences nerve pain, bone pain, extreme fatigue and weakness. She is using pulse therapy long term antibiotic therapy using multiple antibiotics at one time. Heather and her husband suspect that their four year old daughter also has Lyme, but do not have the financial means to get her tested right now.
Heather's specific prayer request is that of encouragement and endurance as she fights Lyme Disease. She also needs encouragement for her husband who bears the brunt of all that she can not do. He not only works an 8 hour day, but takes care of the household. Heather needs strength and grace from God to get through her day tending to her young children as best as she can even though she feels so terrible that even small tasks seem impossible.
Heather has a blog that she uses to tell how she's feeling. It's called "Today I feel Exceptionally."
It also has her full Lyme biography if you would like to see. It's at the top right hand corner of her blog.
Welcome to Praying for Lymies. It is with this blog that I hope to share with the world the difficulties we all face with Lyme Disease. I started this blog in March of 2009. It was my hope to feature one Lymie per week, however it quickly grew and things changed. In April, May, and June I had 138 posts (some were from me, some were from others). Then things slowed down. I only had a handful of posts each month the rest of 2009 and then only a handful of posts in 2010. I slowly stopped checking in to see if I had any new messages.
Then a couple of days ago, I saw the first button that Mrs. Dawson made for Praying for Lymies. It was the urging I needed to come back. I looked at the comments that needed moderating. I had a ton of spam messages, but there was ONE. One that asked to be featured. Now this person did not leave an email address for me to contact, but that one person made me realize that I missed the passion I put into this blog.
So if you have been featured in the past and want to have an update, please contact me via a comment and leave your email address so I can contact you. Here is the survey for updating:
Name
Age
Location
How have you improved?
What things have gotten worse?
Specific prayer request
Anything new you want to share?
(you can also answer any of the questions from the original survey if they didn't pertain to you the first time around and do this time around such as blog, family members with it?)
Would you like to use a photograph? If so please email it to me if we're not on FB together
Welcome back. Things have changed (the background for one!), but some things will remain the same. Here is what I wrote in my revitalizing the blog post.
1. All of the old biographies (and posts) will remain. If you come across any URL's that don't work, please let me know via a comment on that particular post. It's difficult to go through every post and find links that don't work. I may copy & paste some of the prayer posts into one post to make it easier for you all to go through the old posts.
2. Want to be featured? Leave a comment. Any ole comment will do, but please leave a way for me to contact you. If you don't, then I can't contact you. It's as simple as that. All comments are moderated so leave your email address for me to contact you. I will get back with you with a Questionaire. We'll connect on several different occasions to make sure that the biography is correct and then I'll set a date for it to be published.
3. First come, first served. I'll keep a list on the blog. Whoever returns the Questionnaire first, gets featured first. It's that simple. Where is the questionnaire? Look over to the left hand side and you'll see it. Otherwise you'll get it in your initial email contact with me.
4. NO MORE EMAILS! In the past I had utilized the "Email 2 Blog" function. I will no longer be utilizing this function. I was getting too many spam messages and very few actual messages. It was difficult to weed through so I decided that comments were better.
5. Want to leave a prayer for a lymie? Leave a comment at the end of their biography.
With revitalizing the blog, I thought it would be fun if I added pictures. So along with the Survey, I will ask if you would like your photo on the blog.
1. Survey for Original Biography
Name
Age
Location
Illnesses
Symptoms
Background
Treatment Plan
Do you have family members with it?
Specific prayer request
Do you have a blog? What's the website?
Would you like your photo posted with your biography?
Is there a Christian song that has special meaning to you?
Email address so I can contact you
Go ahead .. what are you waiting for? Leave a comment so you can be featured!
I have a beautiful friend named Alisa. Not only is she beautiful on the outside, her heart is absolutely pure. I met Alisa in 2007 after my Lyme diagnosis. I would go to get IV treatments and this beautiful girl sat near me. As we laid there in our own treatment chairs, we would talk when we weren't sleeping. I barely remember our conversations, but I do remember we talked about my Lyme Disease, her heavy metal poisoning and our mutual vein problems. I remember her talking about traveling, but with my Lyme Brain I couldn't remember why she traveled all the time. Alisa was there on the day I got my PICC line. And Alisa was the first person (other than my husband) to see my PICC as she was contemplating getting one. She saw my PICC less than 30 minutes after it was placed.
So I have been wanting to do a biography on one of my dearest Lyme friends since I started this blog. I contacted her recently asking if she would be interested and as all of you know, it's very difficult when you're in the depths of Lyme to form a complete thought. So while I know it's difficult for her to do my survey right now and while I don't have the information to do a true biography on my friend, I do want you to get to know Alisa and her soul.
Alisa currently lives in North Carolina not too far from me. She just recently got married and her husband is a dream come true for Alisa. I've seen her wedding pictures and to say that she looked absolutely radiant is an understatement. Alisa struggles with many aspects of Lyme. I don't even know where to begin and since we haven't actually seen each other in so long, I really don't know of even half of her difficulties. I do know that she has seizures. She does IV treatment at home through a port and also has a feeding tube. The difficulties of Lyme brings loneliness. Because you don't get Lyme until you get Lyme, people outside the Lyme world don't understand how complicated Lyme is for Alisa so she feels lonely. After you read this, you will hear her beautiful voice which is why it is so frustrating that Alisa now has to go to speech therapy because her muscles in her mouth have weakened so much.
When I reached out to her, she was worried that she wouldn't be able to answer the questions the way she wanted to. Her brain struggles constantly that she has moments where she doesn't even recognize her husband. She had two hours the other day where she could handle light noise and being able to read & comprehend, but that doesn't last long. So that's why I wanted you all to get to know my friend Alisa. She & her husband need your prayers.
The best way I know how to share with you my friend is to have you listen to her voice. This video is from 2008. And a year ago, I rediscovered why Alisa traveled so much when I discovered this video. Alisa is an incredible singer and talented song writer. Go to the bottom of those post to read the lyrics.
My note to my friend:
Alisa, I love you. I consider you to be one of my best friends. I thank God that He put me through my own Lyme journey because He allowed me to meet some absolutely fantastic people in this world which at the top of that list is you. It is my desire that God heal you completely and you absolutely deserve the best this world has to offer. This song gives me incredible goose bumps and reaches my soul. I think it is a wonderful anthem for Lyme Disease even though you may not have known you had Lyme when you wrote these heart touching lyrics. When you are able, I would love to do a true biography with the survey I sent. But for now, I hope this helps touch your heart as much as you've touched mine. May God bless and heal you.
Your friend,
Jennifer
Breathing by Alisa Turner
It is dying to come out It is killing me within Someone check if I’m still
Breathing Just keep me breathing Oh now what should I say I wanna to keep it from the heart Well someone check if I’m still
Breathing Just keep me breathing See this is why I sing it It’s gonna keep me breathing
I should’ve told you from the start of things That tonight I’m really suffering And me I hope you’re still
Believing Don’t stop believing Cause if you stop believing Than it will keep me singing
I do have thought of suicide I know it’s brave of me to say (I know) But am I brave enough
To Stay Enough to stay So this is why I’m singing To keep me breathing
A lot of Lymies that I have featured here, I haven't had the pleasure to meet in person. Brenda N. is an exception to that statement. I met Brenda in a small town of North Carolina. Her family had gone to the huge Lyme Walk in DC. When Brenda made the comment of how she wished we could have a walk in North Carolina, her sisters were determined to make it happen. They did just that. To read more about the Lyme Walk, see my personal blog Living the Lyme Life.
Back to Brenda:
Brenda is a 49 year old Lymie originally from Virginia, but she now lives in a small town in North Carolina. Prior to getting Lyme Disease, she had never been sick. If you roll up Brenda's Fibromyaglia, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure and neurological issues all into one nasty disease, you have Lyme Disease with coinfections.
Brenda is well on her way to remission and while it may sound like a lot the symptoms that remain are Neurological issues, spinal and knee pain, swelling of some joints, fatigue and sometimes feeling disoriented. This is miles from where Brenda used to be. In the late 70's, Brenda was treated for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. She was hospitalized for a full week on IV antibioitcs and made a full recovery. She went on to live a full and productive life for years.
Brenda got married and had a wonderful daughter (that I've also met!) who is now 30 years old. In 2008, she was bitten again by a tick and diagnosed in 2009 by her primary physician with Lyme. Three weeks into Doxycycline, her doctor sent her to an Infectious Disease Doctor. This is where it is unreal to those without Lyme, but those of with Lyme have heard this story a multitude of times. The Infectious Disease Doctor told Brenda that she did not have Lyme Disease and she needed to stop the Doxy right away. Another year passes and her health continues to decline faster and faster.
After this year, she finally sees a Rheumatologist and she requests that Brenda repeats the Lyme tests. Brenda says, "Well you guessed it, another positive." She couldn't believe it especially after the specialist said that she did not have it. She goes onto another round of Doxy and since so much time had passed since her initial bite, the infection had spread into her spinal cord and brain. Brenda has been in treatment since 2010 and believes her doctor has saved her life. She was having seizures. She was using a wheelchair and now she's walking on her own two feet. Brenda feels, "Mind you, it is not as great as others walk but it is wonderful to me :) "
Currently her treatment plan includes: Doxycycline, Mycobutin and Cefdinir. She's pulsing these at 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off. Her other medications include: Gapapentin, Oxcarbasepine, L Methyfolate, Lamotrigine, Cymbalta, B12 shots and Hydroclorothiazide. Along with all of these Brenda takes Omega 3, Magnesium Malate, Vitamin D, Tocotrienols, Glucosamine, Chondroitin, Probiotics and a multivitamin. She also does a lemon drink for liver cleanse, eats a lot of sunflower seeds (for MSM, which is good for inflammation), lots of Orange Juice and Detox Baths with Epsom salt and baking soda. Brenda has been in physical therapy for 13 weeks now. She uses Electro Stimulation and recently started Water Therapy.
Her cousin is currently being tested for Lyme Disease. Brenda needs prayers for her days that not as good. Brenda is such a special person that she wants to be there for anyone who is having a rough day. She believes that praying together or praying for one who is sick helps. She says, "Prayer does work, I truly believe that. Sharing prayers and faith together will surely get us through the difficult times of this disease." I couldn't have said it better myself.
Jaime M is now a 33 year old mother of two wonderful children in Ohio. She was so sick a couple of years ago that her husband had to carry her into her Mom's house for Christmas dinner. She couldn't walk, talk or even hold a pen to write her name. She was constantly throwing up. Jaime got to the point where she wrote goodbye letters to her children and husband. She knew that if things didn't change, she would be dead within the month.
Jaime looked death in the eyes. Jaime said, "By all means I'm not scared to die, to be in heaven with no more pain and suffering and surrounded in pure love sounds pretty nice. But I keep fighting the fight for my kids. They truly have saved my life." After Jaime got so bad, she decided she wasn't going out like that and she quit treatment. She crashed even more. For a couple of months, she got even sicker (which she didn't think was even possible). However, eventually her body started to even itself out.
Jaime's gone from over 60 symptoms to about 20. She hates to admit to people that she stopped treatment and now feels a little better because she thinks that's a choice people have ot make for themselves. She plans on doing some natural stuff, but introducing it very slowly and gently. She also plans to do a lot of detoxing because she thinks it's important.
Pain is her worst symptom. She feels like her sacrum is splitting in half. She lays on tennis balls to release some of the pressure points, it feels like something is wrapped around her spine so much that she can feel it all the way through her stomach. Jaime is still very nauseated and after her cycles (you ladies know what I mean!) got so bad, that her obgyn put her on the pill. She hopes that by telling others some of her embarrassing symptoms that she might just be able to help others out. To be quite blunt, her menstrual cycle was so heavy that she would use both super plus tampons and a super pad and have to change them both within the hour. However, since her OB put her on the pill, she's basically had a period for the past 3 months. So now she's considering a hysterectomy. She's so scared to take this step and she's had so many surgeries.
Aside from the obvious prayer for their health, Jaime would like prayers for a few other things as well. She wants prayers for her children that they know how much Jaime loves them and how much God loves them. Jaime also is in terrible need of support from her family and friends. She has very little support and is being terribly hurt and terrible things are being said about her (Jaime told me the things, but I don't want to repeat them here on the blog to protect her). For the past 12 years, no matter how sick Jaime was, she went to every family function and though she couldn't stomach to eat, she'd help cook and clean up the messes. She also has to deal with the fact that other family members don't help at all.
Jaime also needs help with a financial break through. She thinks it would benefit her so much if they could just leave their home. Her neighbors and mean and nasty and her children can't even play in the front yard. However the market is crashing and they are upside down in the house that they can't afford to leave.
May 29th 2009, I featured Molly from Michigan. Molly is now 52 years old and I recently got in touch with her to find out how she has been doing. She began Rifing for Babeiosis. Molly thought she didn't have it, but her doctor felt that it couldn't hurt since it had been taking so long for her to recover. Rifing stirred up another monster and she herxed like crazy. She's been rifing for a year, but she's had some interruptions in getting truly aggressive. Molly is up to two Babs sessions per week. Molly's pain levels have improved as well as her overall health.
Last year, Molly lost two very important people in her life. It has really affected how her family feels. Then in early June, Molly's husband was diagnosed with stage IV Neuro Endocrine Cancer. This is a very aggressive cancer. Joe's Pet Scan showed that the cancer has metastasized to his entire body. This year has been very stressful and Molly's health as suffered.
Joe is responding very well to Chemotherapy and they haven't ruled out some alternative treatments. Molly says that while it may sound weird, she thinks he's going to be around for a while. They are praying for a miracle and aren't ruling anything out. Joe constantly displays a positive and friendly attitude which has kept Molly strong as well. Molly says, "He is an amazing man."
Please pray that Molly makes good decisions about her health so she can be well enough to care for her husband of 30 years. Please pray that if it is God's will that Joe be completely healed as well as his comfort during this horrendous journey.
When I first posted about Molly, I also posted this youtube video.
Christine M. lives in Huntersville North Carolina, but she is from New York. She is a 44 year old late stage Lyme patient that has many of the classic symptoms of the disease. Prior to becoming ill, Christine was engaged to be married and worked in the Human Resource department of a Health Care Agency.
Some of the symptoms that plague Christine are swelling in her spine, head, legs and arms. She's has a burning sensation throughout her entire body, severe migraines and itchy skin. She feels a heaviness in her entire body making her body unable to move. She has nausea, muscles squeezing, nerves burning and severe heat intolerance above 65 degrees. Christine has stinging joint pain, cardiac issues and severe fatigue. Complications that have plagued her in addition to Lyme Disease are EBV virus, HHV6 virus, blood infections and Fibromyalgia. Christine also has Babesia.
Christine's treatment plan included IV Antibiotics for 4 1/2 months, but it had to be stopped due to complications with two kidney stones (one of which needed surgery), a gall stone (which is being left alone for now) and bad reactions to some of the antibiotics. She couldn't get into the Dr's office for her 2nd office visit per year. She's currently on the Byron White Protocol until she can see the Dr. again at the end of September.
As far as she knows, Christine doesn't have any family members with Lyme. Christine's specific prayer needs are mainly financial. Since her case is Late Stage and disability isn't enough to cover the cost of her LLMD. She appreciates any prayers on her behalf.
It's been a while. It's been since 2010. I took an unannounced hiatus. Recently, I came across one of the Praying for Lymies buttons. It gave me an urging to come back. So I'm revamping things.
1. All of the old biographies will remain. If you come across any URL's that don't work, please let me know via a comment on that particular post. It's difficult to go through every post and find links that don't work.
2. Want to be featured? Leave a comment. Any ole comment will do, but please leave a way for me to contact you. If you don't, then I can't contact you. It's as simple as that. All comments are moderated so leave your email address for me to contact you. I will get back with you with a Questionaire. We'll connect on several different occasions to make sure that the biography is correct and then I'll set a date for it to be published.
3. First come, first served. I'll keep a list on the blog. Whoever returns the Questionnaire first, gets featured first. It's that simple. Where is the questionnaire? Look over to the left hand side and you'll see it. Otherwise you'll get it in your intial email contact with me.
4. NO MORE EMAILS! In the past I had utilized the "Email 2 Blog" function. I will no longer be utilizing this function. I was getting too many spam messages and very few actual messages. It was difficult to weed through so I decided that comments were better.
5. Want to leave a prayer for a lymie? Leave a comment at the end of their biography.
Go ahead .. what are you waiting for? Leave a comment so you can be featured!
I am living my life. I've treated Lyme, Bartonella, Candida and Heavy Metal Poisoning. My symptoms were drastically improved after 2 years of treatment. I did well for a year or two and then started having a backslide in August of 2011. I've been seeing my doctor since March 1 2007.
I have severe D defiency, but my Iron levels are now normal (after Iron infusions). I'm treating with oral antibiotics currently for Lyme, Bartonella and Babesia. I'm living life as full as I can with the skills that I have and the love I receive.
My recent labs showed a very weak immune system and low Cortisol. So we're fighting to bring that back up. Some therapies I'm using are IV Vitamin C, HBOT treatments and herbal remedies plus yeast fighting medicines along with medicines to boost cortisol levels.
I've not used the HBOT in a while, but I found it helpful. I'm on a load of oral antibiotics again because the herbal remedies alone were not effective enough.
Living life as full as I can with the skills that I have and the love I receive!
