Elaine C's Biography

Elaine C is a 34 year old woman from Rutherfordton North Carolina. Elaine has Chronic Lyme. In addition to Lyme, she has Asperger's Syndrome/High Functioning Austism. Elaine is a published author and a produced playwrite. She also is an ex-medical student. Currently, her treatment plans consists of pulsing antibiotics, intravenous Vitamin C, Intramuscular Vitamin B and lots of other supplements.

Elaine suffers from a variety of symptoms from Lyme Disease. She agonizes with Lyme migraines along with pains in her muscles, joints, jaw and neck. She also experiences severe short term memory loss, blurry left side vision, night sweats and balance problems. She has left right disorientation, insomnia, confusion and a decreased ability to concentrate. In addition to these, Elaine is challenged with facial nerve tics/paralysis, sinusitis, sore throat, hoarseness, muscle twitches, numbness, tingling, shooting pains, a slow heart rate with irregular heart beats. She also has lack of verbal fluency and photo and sound sensitivity. However the worst symptoms for Elaine as a writer are Mild Aphasia.

Elaine is fortunate in the fact that no other members of her family have Lyme, but she has 18 friends in her area with Lyme including two very close friends. Elaine's specific prayer request is that she can find wholeness and balance in her life. If you're interested in finding out more about Elaine, check out her websites: twiztedtraveler.wordpress.com and saintaspie.deviantart.com

Emma K.

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's Biography

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/

Heather's Biography

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.

My Friend Alisa

Compliments of Angelique Cook Photography

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

Brenda N's Biography

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.

Christine's Biography

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.

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Jessica's Biography

Jessica is a 33 year old Lyme patient living in California. She is infected with Lyme Disease and Anoplasma. She probably has Babesia and Bartonella too.

Jessica suffers from muscle and joint pain. She also has numbness, tingling and burning mainly in her arms and legs, but those things can be felt in other places on her body including her face. She often has a rapid heart rate and can be over 200 beats per minute. She suffers from heart palpitations, dizziness/lightheaded, ringing in her ears, muscle spasms, twitching and fatigue. Jessica experiences temperature issues almost always feel cold, but has hot flashes. She has shortness of breath, ADD symptoms. The most scary issue involve her heart though the pain, dizziness and feeling lightheaded are bothersome too.

Jessica experienced her only known tick bite over 20 years ago. She's experienced severe stomach problems (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and the fatigue started 15 to 20 years ago. The last 15 years or so, she's experienced most of the symptoms. The dizziness really started in around 10 years ago. Jessica felt weak in the knees and her fatigue increased along with insomnia.

Jessica was diagnosed with ADD seven years ago and began medications for it in the last two years, but she's had symptoms of ADD since elementary school. She began to get short of breath, having the heart palpitations and heart racing about 5 years ago. She's also been diagnosed with Asthma and inappropriate sinus tachycardia after a treadmill stress test showed that her heart rate went as high as 272. She was put on Beta Blockers. Jessica had a scary episode of severe muscle pain that left her with no strength in her arms to such extent that she couldn't even squeeze toothpaste out the tube. She had ongoing episodes of weakness, tingling and burning. She was told that this was anxiety, depression and possible Fibromyalgia.

Jessica saw a chriopractor/nutritionist who suggested that it could be Lyme Disease. Lab Corp testing was negative, but at this point she had read enough to know to try to find a Lyme Literate Doctor. She found one in San Diego and tested IGeneX positive and officially diagnosed April 28, 2010. Jessica decided to find a new Primary Care doctor after the last one saw the positive test and said she didn't have Lyme or any other serious condition. Her new doctor is well versed in treating Lyme and agreed to help her. Though due to the denial of disability, she had to see a third doctor ... and Infectious Disease Doctor. She actually agreed with the diagnosis and was concerned over the heart issues. She feels Jessica has Lyme Carditis. Since Jessica's most severe symptoms started 5 to 7 years ago, she's seen three family practice doctors, 2 cardiologist, 1 GP/Cardiologist, 1 Neurolgist, 1 Psychiastrist, Multiple ER and Urgent Care doctors prior to being diagnosed with Lyme Disease.

Jessica's LLMD felt she was too sick to start medications right away so Jessica began with supplements and added medication later. She is currently on Doxy, Mepron, Biaxin, Plquenil, artemisinin, teasel root, similax, transfer factor mulyi-immune, tinidazole, nystatin, magnesium, and a handful of other supplements and herbal tinctures. Jessica is supposed to be adding Levaquin for just 30 days. Once this is completed, she'll have a chest port put in for IV Rocephin for a minimum of six months.


None of Jessica's family has been tested, but she does have two daughters (ages 4 and 7) that need to be tested. Her biggest prayer request is that her disability gets approved and that her daughters don't have Lyme.

Dayna's Biography

Our next 24 year old Lyme friend lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. For our US friends, that is in Canada. Dayna has three symptoms that are most disturbing to her. Those symptoms include a tightness/lump sensation in her throat, intense all over head pressure which includes the occasional sharp pain and bladder irritability. To Dayna, it feels as if there is always urine sitting in her urethra. Her other symptoms include eye floaters, occasional pain or tingling in her feet and hands. In addition, she has rashes off and on. Up until last year, Dayna was a very healthy and athletic person. She loved to go out with her friends and even went to school. However in the middle of July (2009), Dayna spent the day at her boyfriend's lake cabin. Upon returning home the next morning, her mom noticed a weird bite on her leg. Dayna thought nothing of it thinking it was nothing more than a mosquito bite since they are really bad in the Winnipeg area. Two weeks later though she just didn't feel right. She had a really weird feeling in her stomach and overall she just didn't feel well. She headed to the emergency room and all of her blood work returned normal.

Over the next few months, Dayna's health continued to escalate up and down. In December of 2009, she got her first major symptom of bladder irritability. She saw a Urologist who noted there was something major wrong with her bladder, but he had never seen it before in someone so young. By February of 2010, Dayna started getting a consistent feeling of tightness in her throat along with the lump sensation causing a shortness of breath. She saw two different ENT's and of course they found nothing wrong. By April, she began feeling pressure at the base of her skull and eventually the pressure was all over her head and entered her nasal cavity.

Dayna saw about 15 different specialists whom looked at her like she was crazy. The only doctor that thought something wasn't right was the Urologist. Dayna told him her other symptoms and asked if they could be related. He didn't think so, but he was the only one that truly believed that there was something wrong. She told her parents that she couldn't live like that anymore so they called her Urologist asking for Dayna to be admitted to the hospital. She stayed for four days undergoing various tests only to find nothing. Dayna was very distraught.

About two weeks later (at the end of April), she saw her Urologist again. He uttered the words she had been desperately waiting to hear. "Dayna I know what you have." He took her to a room and told her that she had Lyme Disease. Dayna had heard of Lyme, but wasn't quite sure what it was. Once she was asked to think back to where she could have been bitten, all of the pieces started coming together that she has been sick ever since she had been bitten at the lake. Of course, her Elisa test came back negative. However, her IgeneX Western Blot came back positive. In addition, she was diagnosed with Ehrlichiosis and three viruses. She realized right away there was no adequate treatment in Canada so she saw a LLMD in Arizona for three months. She used IV therapy with holistic and natural therapies. The treatment was unsuccessful for Dayna so she returned home following his protocol of oral antibiotics and detox remedies. The Urologist also gave her weekly IV's, but her body felt like she couldn't handle any more antibiotics.

Above all else, Dayna is thankful and fortunate that she has her Urologist. He's supported her since she first walked into his office. She doesn't know where she would be without his support. She can't believe there are so many people suffering with Lyme and can't get doctor's consent to perform the adequate blood work. Currently, Dayna is working with a Naturopath in New Jersey who also has Lyme Disease. This Naturopath said that antibiotics never worked for her and she healed through all natural supplements and detoxification. The Naturopath also believes that Dayna has a case of Babesia that needs to be treated before her Lyme can be healed. She's been on the new protocol for two weeks and the Naturopath is very uplifting and positive. Dayna is hoping that this is her time to heal.

Dayna's biggest prayer request is for the strength to get her through this struggle. She is ready to have her health back and prays the same thing for everyone else going through this. She prays that the people who have been ignorant towards individuals with Lyme Disease will eventually open up their eyes and start helping in the healing process instead of making matters worse. Lastly, she prays that they will allow for adequate treatment and diagnosing for current and future Lyme patients so that we all don't continue to suffer in the dark.

If you would like to post prayers or messages for Candice, go to the top to where it says "click here to post to blog" or leave a comment for her at the end of this post.

Jenny N.

Jenny is a 33 year old Lyme patient from Connecticut. She has been diagnosed with Lyme, Babesia and Bartonella. In addition to these tick borne illnesses, she has also been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, IBS, Dystaunomia, POTS, Endometriosis, OVarian Cysts, and IC.

Jenny doesn't recall a tick bite. After spending her first 7 years in Iowa, Jenny moved to Connecticut where she lived until 1990. At that time, she moved to another CT town. She still lives there. Jenny has considered herself a very sickly person since she was about 5 years old. Her doctors informed her parents that she was just a child with a weakened immune system which caused her to be sickly. She had numerous bouts of pneumonia and strep throat. She also seemed to pick up everything that went around.

In her 7th grade year of school, Jenny began having gastrointestinal issues and missed months of school. After test after test, she was diagnosed with IBS and sent away. She continued to live with that diagnosis with the help of medications. In 1995, she was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and thus began Paxil for the next 12 years. She was unable to wean herself off of the Paxil until then because the withdrawls were so bad that she had to remain on them. Paxil also seemed to help control her IBS.

In 1997, Jenny gave birth to her son and later developed Ovarian Cysts and Endometriosis. In 2005, she was diagnosed with IC after having bladder issues. A mere two years later, a Rheumatologist diagnosed with her Fibromyalgia. After Jenny had Endometriosis surgery in October of 2008, things went downhill drastically. Within days, she was unable to stand alone. She had to hold onto walls, she lost her balance and had severe heart involvement. She could barely think due to the brain fog she experienced.

By this time, Jenny knew that there was something drastically wrong and began her quest on the internet. She continually came up with Lyme Disease, but was confused since she had continued to test negative for Lyme through all the years of testing. She found the nearest LLMD and was clinically diagnosed in November 2008. She has been on aggressive IV treatment since June with a very well known LLMD. She has been under his care since April of 2009.

Jenny also takes oral medications and supplements. As of this time, her LLMD plans to have her on IV until the spring. They will try to transition her strictly to oral medications at that point. Jenny was supposed to be off the IV by now, but she developed a PICC line infection and had to have her first line pulled. Now that she has her new line, she is continuing treatment.

The list of Jenny's symptoms are length. This biography would be remiss if I didn't include all of her symptoms. So in no particular order of intensity, Jenny's symptoms are as follows: dizziness, weakness in her legs, arms and hands, difficulty writing, dropping things, strange sensations in her throat and pain in her neck and throat. She experiences achiness in her lower back, difficult breathing where she feels as if she can't get enough air, blurry/fuzzy vision, shakiness and severe brain fog. Vibrations in her head, feeling of pressure and tingliness, headaches, exhaustion and insomnia also plague her. Jenny also has tightness in her throat and neck muscles, nausea, loss of appetite and extreme weight loss. Her hearing has changed and it now sounds like a tunnel. She sees spots and lines, is sensitive to light, noise and smells, is off balance and lightheaded. Jenny has oral thrust, heaviness in her head and body, heart racing even with low blood pressure and experiences burning under her skin sensations in her face, chest and arms. She isn't able to concentrate, has ringing in her ears, hot flashes, numbness and tingling in her face, arms, legs and tongue. Jenny is cold all the time, experiences dry coughs, anxiety, clammy feet and hands. Chills, heart palpitations, low grade fevers and shortness of breath are among Jenny's symptoms too. Overall, Jenny just doesn't feel well. She doesn't feel like doing anything, but lay down.

In addition to her own illness, Jenny has a 12 year old son who also has been diagnosed with Lyme Disease. Christian has been sick since the day he was born. He had terribly issues eating and couldn't keep anything down (including breast milk). Every time he would eat, he would get sick. At a mere 2 weeks old, he underwent an Endoscopy. The doctors speculated that his digestive tract was not fully developed and it appeared that he had acid reflux.

Christian continued to pick up every illness that went around which included pneumonia and many viral illnesses. His adenoids were removed in 2002 and 3 years later he had to have 1/2 of his thyroid removed because he had a large goiter. Over the past few years, he began developing severe night sweats, high fevers (which reached 105), dizziness, headaches and severe stomach upset. She went through every kind of specialist to find the cause of his problems including an Oncologist. In 2008, he had his tonsils removed because he had continual swollen glands. Each doctor could find nothing wrong and he was eventually diagnosed with Periodic Fever Syndrome. This past October 2009, Jenny took him to see the Dr. J in CT (the best pediatric Lyme Doctor). He was diagnosed with Lyme and Babesia. He is currently undergoing treatment.

Jenny's prayers are that God gives her family the strength to overcome such a terrible illness. She desires to come out on the other side of this healthier than they have ever been. She prays that God will bless them with wonderful health. She wants God to show her hope and help her keep the faith that they will overcome Lyme and company.

Charlene's biography

I'd like to introduce our next Lymie to you all. Charlene is a 39 year old from Indiana. She is currently diagnosed with Chronic Lyme Disease and Fibromyalgia.

Charlene was originally bitten by a tick in 1985, but wasn't diagnosed with Lyme Disease until 1986. At the time, the doctor told her mom that she needed to seek appropriate treatment. However they never found help or support groups. Since they weren't able find this help, she was never treated appropriately. However, she was put on antibiotics by her GP. This was only for a couple weeks at a time here and there. She finally became well enough to work part time and even that was a struggle for Charlene. She was always so sick, but she always pushed herself to continue. In May of 2007, Charlene was bitten again and had the classic bulls eye rash. The Lyme Disease became full blown and she has been bed-ridden since then.

Charlene has excruciating pain that is constant 24 hours a day 7 days a week. She has cardiac symptoms and often feels as if she is going to pass out. She has difficulty walking and has sore & achy muscles. Often feels constant flu like symptoms along with sharp stabbing and throbbing pain. The treatments she has endured have been unsuccessful.

She has exhausted all options that she can think of. Her prayers are that God will grant her the strength she needs to endure the battle at hand. On a personal note, I would like for you all to pray that Charlene can find a physician willing to treat her complicated condition. I won't go into detail about what she shared, but please pray for an open minded physician that can help her. She currently isn't on any treatment for LD.

Katherine M.'s Biography

Our next featured Lymie is in her late 50's. Katherine M lives in Arizona and has been diagnosed with Lyme Disease (along with co-infections). Back in October of 2001, Katherine became too sick to continue to work, do household chores, walk and read. Katherine was finally diagnosed with Lyme Disease in 2003 and began treatment.

Katherine's largest symptom are cognitive. She can not sit upright or be on her feet longer than 5 to 20 minutes. She needs lots of downtime and often types lying down with the keyboard on her legs. Katherine is in a forced vegetative state from about 10 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon. She isn't sleeping. She just is there. She has lost her ability to multi-task, read novels, cook dinner and tires easily. Katherine has been taking Amoxicillian & Biaxin for several months now.

Katherine needs to be able to move closer to her LLMD and a primary care physician who will prescribe her the medications and testing that she needs. She is in need of insurance to provide as much as possible since she doesn't have the funds to pay out of pocket. She needs prayers to know where to move as well as approval from the Section 8 Housing to provide her a quiet and safe place to live. Prayers for funding for both housing and for treatment are needed as well. Once Katherine finds a new place to live she's hoping to find help with packing, moving and unpacking. So please pray that God sends her people to assist her with these needs.

She is hoping that she will be approved for workman's compensation and they will provide the treatment she needs to regain her health as well as funds to move closer to her LLMD. Katherine has been blessed by the donation of two power chairs. One is for when she can not hold herself upright. She's also been blessed with a service dog, SSI and a safe, quiet, clean place to live. She is hoping that section 8 housing will be providing help with household chores twice a month starting this month.

Katherine is slowly seeing improvements, but feels that a lack of funds is causing it to take so long. She is very thankful for the medications and supplements that have been provided. She is thankful for everyone thoughts & prayers and hopes this will help people know how to pray.

Amy Z's Biography

Amy Z is a 27 year old Lyme patient that lives in Cincinnati Ohio. Amy has Lyme Disease, Babesia, CPN, Mycoplasma, Bartonella and Erlichia. Amy's doctor also suspects that there may be some foreign (tropical) infections that she may have picked up from internetional volunteer work based on her initial and recurring symptoms.

Amy struggles with a variety of symptoms, but the currently the symptoms that give her the most problems are severe fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, peripheral neuropathy and severe GI problems. She has nausea, gastropareisis and functional vagal neuropathy.

Amy fell ill very suddenly upon returning home from a medical mission trip to the mountains of Ecuador almost 5 years ago. She was a new RN graduate and had just recently passed her boards. She had a job that she loved, was active in her church and was very excited about her future. Life as she knew it suddenly changed when she fell ill. Of course her doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. Amy went to them with severe GI problems and they progressed rapidly to involve neurological as well as flu like symptoms. She was never able to return to her full time job.

Even though Amy had abnormal test results, her doctors still weren't able to figure out what had caused the damage much less the severity of her symptoms. She saw specialist after specialist, but no one could help her. Amy tried everything in and out of the book to help relieve her symptoms including: acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine, chiropractic, functional medicine, homeopathy, and naturopathic medicine. Some of them helped temporarily, but none of them stopped the progression of her illness.

After four years, she began to lose her vision. Amy grew so weak she felt as if she would die if she didn't find help soon. At that point, her Naturopath suggested that Amy might have Lyme Disease and insisted that she see an LLMD for treatment. Finally, she saw Dr. H in NY last summer and the ND was right. Much of the last year has been trial and error trying to find just the right protocol. Amy had a PICC Line placed this past spring and started IV Rocephin and combined that with several oral medications. She praises God that she is finally noticing progress with that combination of meds. It has renewed her hope that she can and will be well again.

Amy wants you all to pray that God will continue the good work that He has started by continuing to heal her. She wants God to guide her doctor in the treatment decisions especially since her GI symptoms have come back recently. Amy thanks God for how he has provided for her over the last few years. She could not have made it with her own strength. She feels it is truly a miracle that she has been able to work at all during this time. Please pray that God will continue to provide for her financially as she is single and only able to work part time to provide for herself.

Amy is now having to appeal her insurance company for IV coverage so she could use prayers that God will continue to move in her behalf. There was confusion by the insurance company and they have now denied two months worth of coverage and she is currently paying out of pocket for IV coverage. It is also her prayer that as God heals her that he will grant her with new hopes, goals and dreams. That He will put His will in Amy's heart so that she will only follow Him. Amy had given up on a future being sick so long. She needs God to guide her. She just wants to please God and in all that she does she wants to glorify, honor and obey Him. She wants her life to be useful for His purpose. She really misses being active in her church and community. She wants to be ready to "Go" when God says "Go."

Renee & Joel's Biographies

Renee is our next featured Lyme along with her husband Joel. They are a married couple in their early 60's from the Midwest. Renee has Neurological Lyme Disease, Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS), Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). Renee suffers from chronic bone pain, muscle & joint pain, poly-neuropathy, brain fog, memory problems, tinnitus and other Lyme symptoms. Renee also has allergies to a lot of different foods, chemicals, grasses and molds.

Renee's Lyme Disease went undiagnosed for 23 years. In 1991, she was given a diagnosis of CFIDS. She has also been diagnosed with arthritis, autoimmune thyroid disease and MCS over the years. She got to 50 percent of her former self with the help of alternative medicine when she was probably reinfected from Joel's infection in 2000. As time passed, Renee began to get more sick until she was home-bound and has remained that way the last 5 years. She finally saw a LLMD thanks to a friend and was finally diagnosed with Neurological Lyme Disease and three co-infections (Bartonella, Babesia, and Erhlichia). Renee has been treated for the last two years with Antibiotics with neurological improvements and a bit more strength, but there has been no real changes in the quality of her life. She hopes to be going on herbs to continue killing the Lyme and Co-infections.

Joel has Neurological Lyme Disease. He has become extremely fatigued. He also has balance issues, peripheral numbness and weakness. Joel fell ill ten years ago and they were told it was some kind of Post Viral Syndrome. After he had been ill for a few months, he recovered and was able to return to work. However in the last couple of years, he began having symptoms again. In June of this year, he was diagnosed with Late Neurological Lyme disease. He has just started antibiotic treatment trying to regain enough energy to work again.

Renee has a funny name for her marriage. She calls it "Partners in Lyme." :o) Please pray that Renee can find the right treatment to regain health and have some quality of life which she hopes will include less pain. They are needing the church to grant Joel a sabbatical and that he will heal from Lyme swiftly. Renee has two blogs. Go visit them to get to know Renee better.

Lyme Living

Autumn Years

Monkey Girl's Biography

Monkey Girl (who wants to remain anonymous) is a 41 year old Lyme patient who lives in Washington State. She most likely got Lyme in Singapore where she lived for a few years or in the Northern California area where she grew up.

MG tested positive for Lyme Disease, Babesia and Bartonella in March of 2008.  MG's Lyme doctor did not test her for any other co-infections since the treatments for them are the same.  Ten years ago, MG began having gastro difficulties including diarrhea and horrible stomach & intestinal pains.  The first round of doctor's MG went to tested for all types of Digestive Disorders.

By the time MG was 30 years old, she had already had a sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy, CT scans, endless blood work, etc…the only to be labeled with an IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)diagnosis.  Since they never did find out the problem, she feels this is a non-diagnosis.  MG would begin to break out in severe hives from head to toe as her "attacks" progressed.  She would be sitting on the toilet for hours in pain.  MG's blood pressure would drop so quickly that she would pass out while on the toilet.  She was hospitalized during at least 4 to 5 of these attacks.  She spent one of the attacks in the hospital for 5 days because the doctors couldn't control her pain.

A new more distrubing symptom was added to her list of symptoms each and every year.  The doctors thought she had IBS and hives, labeling it as possible autoimmune hives. Then severe fatique started settling in, joint pain in her hands, wrists and shoulders soon followed.

By the time MG moved to Washington, she was a complete mess.  Her thryoid began growing nodules at an alarming rate and completely stopped functioning in 2007.  She had two surgeries to remove her sick thyroid at the end of 2007 and had 2 biopsies that showed pre-cancerous cell change.  The thryoid problems distracted her doctors into thinking her thyroid had been the problem all along.  Even MG believed this for a while.  However, six motnhs after her surgery ... the fatigue and joint pain was unbearable.

Still having bouts of hives, MG was referred to an Infectious Disease Specialist in Seattle.  The specialist was convinced for six months that MG had Mastocytosis and she had a bone marrow biopsy.  The diagnosis was plausible as the symptoms she was having fit it 100%.  However, her bone marrow biopsy came back negative.  The Infection Disease Specialist sent MG on her way with no explanation.  The Oncologist did note that there were some irregularities, but didn't know what they meant.

Of course all of this caused MG to be depressed and overwhelmed. She was sure they would never get to the answers of her medical problems.   The doctors began implying that her problems were all psychosomatic and that all she needed were anti-depressants.  This caused her to be even more depressed because she couldn't believe that all her pain and physical problems would go away with an anti-depressant each day.

MG said, "It became, in my mind, ‘the chicken or the egg argument’ which came first the illness or the depression.  To me, I was only depressed because of my illness…but the doctors didn’t see it that way."

After finally hooking up with a Homeopathic Doctor in late 2007/ Early 2008 because she wasn't getting anywhere.  She sent in tests for Lupus, MS, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and even MG was thinking that Autoimmune Disease had to be the answer.  What else could it be she thought.

Fortunately, MG had a close friend in California that kept pestering her to get a Lyme Disease test.  She kept telling her that it couldn't possibly be Lyme because she doesn't remember ever having a tick bite.  She conventiently forgot all of the ticks she had taken off their dogs or all the ticks that she & her brother used to get going camping in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  Her selective memory was kicking in.

After all of her tests returned negative, the ND doctor was stuck.  However, MG's blood work did show high inflammatory levels and she also had a continous fever between 100 and 101.5 for going on 3 to 4 years.  For what it's worth, this never seemed to bother her regular doctors even though she told them she had a fever every time she went into the doctor's office.

At this time, the ND consulted a colleague who also suggested a test for Lyme.  At this point, they decided to test just to eliminate it from the list of possibilities.  Fortunately, the ND knew to contact IgeneX Labs in California to inquire as to which tests to order.  Three weeks later, the ND called to tell MG that she tested positive for Lyme Disease.  Four weeks later, the test came back positive for Babesia and Bartonella.  She was referred to a LLMD in Seattle.  She was completely overwhelmed.  It took a couple of months for the diagnosis to sink in.

MG's husband was treated for Bartonella solely based on her Lyme doctor's advice.  Early reports are showing that Bartonella (and probably other co-infections) can be sexually transmitted.  The LLMD's worry was that with all the treatment that her husband would keep re-infecting me.  Her husband doesn't show any signs of Lyme or co-infections. 

MG has not had her daughters tested yet.  They are not showing signs of sickness and it's a sensitive area of discussion.  Since they aren't sure when or where MG contracted Lyme, she can't be sure 100% and they are not ready to put them through the stress of testing since they both have a fear of needles.

Victoria Wilguess' Biography

Usually post these at 3:00 EST, but there was a scheduled outtage for the blog at that time. So I went and posted it earlier.

Please join me in praying for another Lymie, our third Victoria. Victoria Wilguess is from Oklahoma. Victoria has been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, Lyme Disease and co-infections. Victoria has pain all over, weakness, fevers, nausea, dizziness, insomnia, brain fog, migraines and horrible fatigue. She has also lost her ability to concentrate.

Three and a half years ago, Victoria was bitten by a tick while at a church retreat. She didn't know what damage this could cause so she pulled it out and didn't tell anyone about it. Doctors in Oklahoma doesn't believe that Lyme Disease exists there. A year later (during her 8th grade year), Victoria was diagnosed with Mono. She has really bad fatigue, joint pain, headaches, insomnia and a low grade fever. She was out of school for three weeks and never fully recovered from it.

Over the next few months, she kept having symptoms on and off. Victoria would come home from school, sleep, eat dinner and go back to bed. She was easily in bed by 8:30 every night and she wasn't able to climb stairs easily. Several trips were made to the Primary Care Physician and lost of tests were run. Of course nothing was found to be wrong and was told that it was from the Mono. Victoria and her family were fine with that answer and she made it through her 8th grade year.

Victoria was really excited to start high school, but a few weeks into school she got really sick again. She began to miss a lot of school and all she could do was stay on the couch. She saw a specialist in Tulsa that ran more tests, but the end results were that she was still struggling with Mono. Victoria was extremely frustrated at this time. She knew that the doctors were missing something. Just like many who have followed the same path, she went to doctor after doctor and they couldn't find anything wrong with her. Victoria tried to ignore her symptoms and wanted just to make it to summer.

During last summer (between her freshman and sophomore year), Victoria started going downhill. She kept herself busy with mission trips and church camp even though she was completely exhausted. She began having horrible fatigue, pain all over and couldn't sleep in the latter part of the summer. She would also run a fever for no reason at all. Victoria felt as if she had the flu all the time.

Every morning of Victoria's sophomore year was such a struggle. She would have to leave school early a few days every week because of the horrilbe pain and fatigue. In October, she finally saw a Pediatric Rheumatologist. After a full exam, she was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. The specialist put her on strong medications. Victoria was scheduled to go for mission trips in Europe, but blacked out twice the night before going. She woke up and didn't know where she was. After an emergency call to the On-call rheumatologist, she stopped all of her medications. She went onto Europe and stayed for two weeks. After returning home, she went to school for one week. She didn't realize this would be her last week at school.. Her symptoms never let up and she was sick all the time. She went to a natural clinic every day. She only went to church and the clinic.

They heard about a clinic in Reno, Nevada that deals with some of the worst and hardest to treat diseases. They use some conventional medicine but mostly natural medicine. They had now done some research and suspected that Victoria had Lyme Disease. The clinic in Reno specializes in Lyme. On December 2nd, they flew to Reno. She went to the clinic and the next day, December 3rd, Victoria was diagnosed with Stage 3 Lyme Disease. She stayed for 3 weeks for treatment.

They got home a few days before Christmas and continued doing shots and homepathic medications. They had to go back to the clinic again mid-January. She started back at school as a homebound student. That means that she would get assignments from the internet with a teacher coming to her house once a week. It also will help make sure she gets through her sophomore year of high school. She stayed in Reno for 2 weeks and returned home.

Victoria started having better days and she finished up Driver's Education so that she could get her license. Even though she had a day of Extreme Pain and could barely walk, she was able to get her license. In February & March, she went to the hospital off and on with pain and weakness receiving fluids and pain medicine. After staying in the ER for 7 hours, the ER doctors finally admitted her. She wasn't given anything once she got up on the floor bcause they didn't know anything about Lyme. After a day and a half of nothing, they released her. On April 3rd, she got a PICC line put in and started at home IV treatments. She goes to the ER at least once a week and sometimes more.

She's trying to find a doctor that will take her case in Oklahoma. (and as a personal plea from ME .. if you know of a LLMD that can help her in Oklahoma ... get in touch with me so I can pass this information onto Victoria).

On May 11, her church held a prayer meeting for me and 2 other teens that are struggling with their health. It was such an encouragement to her to know that so many people care. God IS taking care of her and holding her through all of this. For the past week and a half, Victoria has been unable to get out of bed. She still struggles to walk and find her strength. They are hopeful to be going to Nevada as soon as they can. They know they need to get out of Oklahoma for treatment because they have had doctors yelling at them telling them Lyme isn't real.

Victoria is holding out to find better treatment that will help with the pain of long-term Lyme Disease. She's trying to keep the pain under control and keeping up her strength to understand what God's plan is for her through all of this. She wants people to know that even though many doctors in Oklahoma refuse to believe that Lyme exists there ~ it does and she has it ~ and so do many other people. She has hope.

She asks for prayer for her family right now. Victoria and her mother are leaving today for 3-4 weeks of treatments in Nevada. Her dad and little brother will be staying at home.

Victoria started a blog the other day. Go support her and if you have suggestions, please leave a comment for her!

blog- http://victoriawilguess.blogspot.com

Victoria Wilcox's biography

Our next featured Lymie is 18 year old Victoria Wilcox. Victoria who is from New York also has Babesia. Victoria's symptoms include: seizure disorder, fatigue, muscle weakness, chronic pain, nerve problems, sleep problems, brain fog, dizzy spells. Unfortunately the list of symptoms goes on.

Victoria is a huge advocate for Lyme patients. She has two websites. One is her personal blog and the other is for her Lyme Walk. She asks for your prayers for her walk into missions. Currently things are going really well for Victoria health wise and she wants to continue advocating for Lyme Disease in street ministry.

Website www.lymewalk.org and http://vicupdates.blogspot.com

Normally, I write a whole lot on each Lymie. In Victoria's case, I am going to let "her" tell the story. This is a video that she made in January of 2008 with the help of some of her friends.

Nora's Biography

Nora found us through Brent Rigg's blog. A blog that I read every day. So it was my pleasure when she requested to be a featured Lymie to do so ... Nora, I hope you will continue to be apart of our blog and pray for all of our featured Lymies.

Nora is a 47 year old mother from Connecticut. Nora has two adopted daughters from China. The 5 and 8 year old have Lyme Disease, Babesia, Bartonella and Ehrlichiosis. Nora was also diagnosed with Lyme a couple of years ago.

There are multiple symptoms that could listed for days, but some of them include:

Extreme fatigue, headaches, irritability, irrationality, rages, memory loss, auditory sensitivity, light sensitivity, cognitive processing problems, tracking problems, tunnel vision, swallowing problems, leg pain, soles of feet painful, foods tasting different, no weight gain, fears and severe anxiety.


Nora's 8 year old story: (Hannah)

Three years ago, Nora and her family moved to a new home. They believe they got the disease in their own wooded back yard. At the end of July, Nora's 8 year old will be going off all medications. She's wanting specific prayers that her symptoms do not return. The 8 year old did 6 months of Oral Medications and were followed by 5 1/2 months of IV Rocephin and another medication. At this time, she got a bacterial blood infection, Serratia.

It was necessary to remove the hickman shunt in November of 2008. She took a short break off all medications and then went on oral Mepron and Rifampin. She just switched medications again at the end of May and will finish July 31st. Since the 8 year old was so ill the year she was in public school, Nora home schooled her this year repeating her 1st grade year. Nora knew there was no way with her poor state of health in September of 2008 that the little girl could excel in school. There has been great improvement over the last 9 months.

Currently, they are using vision therapy in hopes that it will restore her field of vision. Nora feels her daughter is still having some cognitive issues that may take a while to heal. Her anxiety is improved, but not completely gone and it remains to be seen how she will do with normal school pressures when she returns to public school in the Fall of 2009. They also need to work on improving her immune system.

Nora's family would appreciate prayers for both girls to respond well to the medications and that they would be able to rid their systems of these diseases. They are thankful that their daughter (Hannah) is doing better after 18 months of treatment and are praying that her symptoms do not return in August when she's off of medications. They also are wanting her eye sight to return to normal.

Nora's 5 year old story (Rebekah)

Nora's younger daughter did two short courses of medications. They thought she was better, but by October of 2008 she was diagnosed by the Lyme doctor and took Azithromycin and Mepron long term. Lately, her medications just don't seem as effective as they had been. And because of a virus, she had to take a reprieve from her medications and all of her symptoms returned very quickly. It was frightening.

Her symptoms are: headaches, knee pain, forgetfulness, screaming, fatigue all the time, irritability, constipation, painful urination-- She is seeing both a urologist and gastrointerologist for these problems. There was a concern that she had kidney stones, possibly she did, but now has been diagnosed with dysfunctional elimination syndrome. She's on laxatives and fiber and the results are slow so they have recently ordered a natural thing called Fruit-eze. Her daughter has always had sleep problems and they were told she has mild sleep apnea after a sleep study was performed.

Pray for Rebekah as well because she is having multiple problems. Things are difficult on her on so many levels and they need to reconsider her medications since she is just not doing well. They need her constipation and stomach aches under control as well. The past two years have been exhausting and stressful on each one of the members of Nora's family. Nora understands that God has them on this journey for a reason even though she doesn't like it. It's been hard for Nora to watch her girls be so sick and can't wait for the day they are free of these diseases.

Nora says, "Thank so much for your prayers."

Julia's Biography

Julia is another North Carolinian Lymie. At 22 years old, people ask her all the time what it is like to live with Lyme Disease. She usually says, "Oh it's nothing really, just some joint pain and short term memory loss." The reality of it all is that it's hard to have a life with Lyme Disease.
Julia usually doesn't ever truly answer the infamous question of, "What are your symptoms?" Its' too hard to explain to someone that doesn't have it.

Some of Julia's symptoms are:

-Rashes all over body depending on time of year and current therapy
-anxiety
-facial muscle paralysis
-Arthritis in both hips, and hands/fingers
-tendinitis in arches of feet, and ankles
-EXTREME fatigue
-severe depression, thoughts of suicide
-mood swings
-brain swelling, mostly in frontal lobes causing short term memory loss, and impaired speech
-dizziness, fainting spells
-blurred vision aka 'floaters'
-Nausea
-Paranoid moods

There is a big portion of Julia's Lyme Disease symptoms. She doesn't always show those symptoms every day. Some days are good and some days are bad. Her biggest problem is her cognitive brain issues caused by Lyme Disease. She has many other symptoms that she didn't list because her list is so extensive the post would be extraordinarily long.

Since Julia was about 13 years old, she was extremely depressed. The mixture of Anti-depressants would spin her into a manic state when she was 16. At that time, she was diagnosed with Bipolar and ADD. She switched medications every 4 to 6 months because they would work for a while, but then they would stop. Julia was often threatened with "Holly Hill" (our local um .. crazy hospital) because of her cutting problem and how much she hated her life.

Finally during Julia's senior year of High School, her mother's friend suggested that Julia had Lyme Disease. This friend's husband and children had all been diagnosed with Lyme Disease and the friend swore that Julia had Lyme Disease. So after all the years of difficulties, they took a trip down to see the infamous Dr. J for blood tests. This was in August of 2004 and the blood test showed that Julia had Lyme Disease.

Julia says, "At this point, I was in utter shock, but at the same time, I was extremely glad to know what was really wrong with me instead of having doctors guess, and guess, and guess. I was still cutting, having stomach issues, and having to leave school early because I felt so awful."

A few weeks later, she found out that she would be getting a PICC line placed. She had to drop out of high school her senior year and Julia was on IV therapy for over 9 months. Her PICC was pulled out in May of 2005 and Julia felt wonderful. She was on no anti-depressants or anything related to a mood disorder. Julia was genuinely happy for the first time in probably her whole life. She would get sick and throw up after lunch for about 3 months, but that too passed.
She spent the summer, happy, and started back at a different high school and ended up graduating in 2006.

At the end of 2005, Julia began to feel that she was slipping back into Lyme since she wasn't taking oral antibiotics during that time. She went to Meredith College for 2 years and during those two years she still wasn't taking her oral antibiotics. She didn't know that not taking the antibiotics would wind up slapping her across the face. The summer of 2008, after withdrawing from 3 semesters at Meredith, her parents were fed up. Her mother took me to a specialist in New York City, who dealt with mood disorders and Lyme disease. He would be able to tell if Julia was really bipolar or if it was really Lyme Disease. She remembers talking to Dr. R, but it was kind of all a blur.

Three weeks later, her mother, grandmother and she flew back to New York to get some testing done. She was tested for two days and was told that she showed no signs of a mood disorder, an average IQ, good at reading, but bad at memorizing. She also got a SPECT scan done to see how much oxygen is reaching certain areas of the brain. Dr. R. called two weeks later saying that Julia had brain swelling especially in the frontal lobes. He suggested that she return to Dr. J and that she needed another PICC Line.

She did not want to get another PICC, but on September 12, 2008 she got her 2nd PICC line put in. She named it Trixie and she was only supposed to have Trixie for 4 months. After 6 months of IV therapy, Trixie was removed. Julia felt better, but it wasn't as big a difference as she had hoped.

There's Julia's story, her Lyme story. She's forgotten some parts. Julia used to think, "I can't do that because I have Lyme Disease." Now she's changing her point of view to "What can I do with Lyme Disease?" She's taking her oral antibiotics as best as she can. She still feels symptoms, but tries to ignore them and move on. Pretty much every friend Julia has knows that she has Lyme Disease, but none of them truly understand what it's like to live with Lyme. She doesn't expect th em to either. She usually hides her feelings and emotions to stop them from worrying too much. She says she can fake happiness like it's her job.

But the one thing Julia knows for sure is that even though she has bad days and good days, Julia's friends and family stick by her. She is thankful every single day for her family and friends. Without them, she probably wouldn't be here. So, even though she hides emotions and symptoms, Julia knows that she can talk to her friends and family when ever she really need to.

Please pray for my friend Julia and her mother. Her mother also has been diagnosed with Lyme Disease.

Diana's biography

My dear friend Diana is a woman of God that doesn't focus on herself a whole lot. Diana (whom a lot of us call Sojourner) is a young 51 year old from Pennsylvania. Diana says that, " I used to be such a 70s girl; now I'm just a girl after God's own heart - a humbling mission."

First thing you must know about, other than her growing faith in God, is that she and her husband Barry have a beautiful daughter, Heather, who was diagnosed with late stage Lyme Disease over three years ago. Because of her history since birth, Heather's Lyme Team believes that her mom, is most likely the carrier of Heather's LD Complex.

Due to rising medical costs, Diana nor her husband Barry have been able to dive into the testing/treatment arena. Diana has a history of MS and Hashimotos Thyroiditis and evidence of Bartonella. If you marry that with Heather's suffering from birth, her roller coaster childhood physiologically, then escalating to over 15 very frustrating years of searching for the "root" answer, it seems plausible that Heather is a gestational baby.

She has suffered from 3 of the co-infections. Additionally, there have been ticks removed over the years. Pennsylvania is slowly growing in the education of Lyme disease; but as their trusted pediatrician apologetically shared with them after Heather's diagnosis from Washington DC, no one considered Lyme in PA until recently.

Diana's most prevalent symptom is the heartache of seeing her daughter face the magnitude of a late diagnosis and the ignorance of those whose motives have prevented research and development from moving forward. Heather nearly died of this disease. The pain, her brain, the long suffering and life threatening complications have had seasons of relentlessness, evoking fear and trembling. From paralysis to pseudotumor cerebri (brain swelling), severe papilledema, migraines, muscle/joint pain, hypo to hyperthyroid and blindness in the first two years after diagnosis to insomnia, adrenal exhaustion, co-infections, neurological, autonomic symptoms,multi-system complications, Lyme flares, toxicity from die-off and countless complexities, Diana and Barry know to be grateful for their blessings and for how far their medical team has helped their comeback kid outwit the bacteria, wake up her immune system and continue to fight her battle for the win.

Heather, now antibiotic and drug resistant, has an awesome integrative/complimentary team. She has a number of weekly physical therapies that no typical teen should endure; but, it keeps her on her feet and is a major factor in her body's ability to heal and strengthen her immune core response. From natural approach to nutrition and nourishment to Heather's spirit and body, the family covets your prayers for ongoing wisdom and guidance as they continue to trust in their faith and seek the Lord at every turn, sight unseen.

Only the Lord knows for sure; but based on clinical history and years of mountain climbing, countless ticks pulled in their (now known to be endemic) state; its highly probable that Barry and Diana carry the pathogens.

Barry and Diana thank you for praying:

... with thanksgiving, b/c we know that in the midst of such reality the Lord is faithful and gracious; that He honors His word to be 'for' us. For that we are very grateful.

...for His ongoing spiritual nourishment to Heather; in body and soul. We are grateful for the strength of her faith and trust in the Lord; it has helped us as her parents to walk the distance, as well. We are grateful she has come such a long way.

...for Dr. L, Dr. N, Dr. J, POM D., CMT R and Dr. I as they continue to care for Heth and lead us through this next season of her treatment.

...for 1 or 2 very special friendships in Heather's life (it would be a 2-way encouragement and blessing).

...with thanks for the new local off-Campus ministry that Heth can worship with Sunday evenings during school (she is unable to do mornings).

...for precious ones who did not judge, but understood, served and prayed for the reality that the Lord called our family to serve within, for His glory.

...that our joy would be deep and reflected in the way we minister as educators, mediators and patient to physician liaisons.

... for the Lord's blessing to Heather's obedience and to her future (we know what He promises whether she is here - or there with Him).

...that the Lord would allow us to continue to have a voice that brings lasting change in how others understand this disease both in the church and in the world; and for His gracious blessing to different efforts initiated on behalf of.

...for healing from the ignorance that this disease has imposed from those who do not understand and to our bodies, minds, spirits and our tested marriage (when your child faces death, you die to self again and again- we are battle worn).


Blessings in His love, Diana