Lyme disease – If you’ve ever had the misfortune of crossing paths with this disease, you may have asked yourself this question. Where is the cure? Lyme disease is a relentless disease that I have seen time and time again in the farming and horticulture industries. Most commonly known as a tick-borne illness, Lyme disease only requires one contaminated tick to bite and infect one very unlucky host. For those who spend a lot of time outdoors, ticks can be an absolute pest. They can be very small and difficult to find. Especially if they happen to hide in your hair or crawl beneath tightly fitting clothes. Oftentimes they’ll go unnoticed and symptoms will arise without ever seeing the culprit. It’s a disease that causes a multitude of problems that wreak havoc all throughout the body. The brain, eyes, chest, joints, nervous system, kidneys and connective tissues can all be significantly impacted by Lyme disease and the list does not stop there. Non-distinctive symptoms and unreliable testing can make Lyme disease difficult to diagnose. It may take years for a diagnosis and it may take even longer for a cure. In fact, many people believe that Lyme disease sufferers never completely rid themselves of the disease once infected. I am not one of those people.
I suffered from Lyme disease for five years, but was only recently diagnosed in 2017. Before I received my positive diagnosis, my journey with Lyme disease was rocky to say the least. From the beginning, Lyme disease showed me that it was nothing to mess with. The disease traveled straight to my brain and I experienced “head rushes” that made it nearly impossible to focus or stay still for too long. About two years into the exhausting “head rushes”, Lyme disease started attacking my nervous system and I was diagnosed with Shingles. One year later, I started experiencing an unusual amount of fatigue and joint pain. I continually tested negative for Lyme disease, but was eventually prescribed the typical Lyme disease medicine anyways. After concluding the long and unpleasant prescription, the next symptoms began. I was burdened with fever spikes that only lasted one day at a time and my weakened nervous system started to impact one of my eyes. More doctor’s offices and more prescriptions followed. Looking for explanations other than Lyme disease, doctors started diagnosing me with everything from fibromyalgia to allergies. Nothing made sense anymore and I started to give up, but then my final symptom hit. Crippling chest pains left me in tears on a regular basis. Some days it was hard to simply walk or laugh or breathe. I had reached my limit.
My concerned family and friends started reaching out to others to help me find any type of relief. One thing that I love about the nursery industry is how willing we are to help one another. An admired colleague recommended that I make an appointment with Dr. Jeanne O’Connell with Restorasis Health, located in Frederick, Maryland. That is when everything changed. Dr. O’Connell was unlike any doctor that I had ever been to. We had a long consultation and she shared her vast knowledge of Lyme disease with me. In the blink of an eye, everything that I had suffered through was made perfectly clear. She asked me to think about the options that she presented and to think about the path that I felt comfortable taking. The option that I decided upon was a treatment called Lyme-N. Lyme-N is a very expensive medicine that is inhaled through a nebulizer machine. About one week into my treatment, something magical happened. One by one, the symptoms that had plagued me for five years, started to disappear. By the completion of my treatment in September of 2017, I was symptom free. The disease was gone and the proof was in my blood. The proof was even in my DNA. It’s almost been one year since the start of my Lyme-N treatment and my symptoms have not come back. I am forever grateful for everyone and every decision that lead me to her office and I am forever grateful for Dr. O’Connell.
Almost everything that I know about Lyme disease is thanks to Dr. O’Connell. Lyme disease causes physical damage to the body. The healing process for that physical damage will vary for everyone. These days, I focus on staying healthy to help my body heal from any microscopic wounds that Lyme disease left behind. That may just be another blog topic for a different day, but for now, I hope my experience with Lyme disease will help others find relief. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it and never, ever give up.
Tick Bite Prevention Tips
- Cover as much skin and hair as possible when heading outdoors
- Wear insect and tick repellent on exterior clothing
- Use insect and tick repelling body soap, shampoo and sunscreen
- Use insect and tick repelling laundry detergent
- Look for lavender and citronella in soaps and sunscreen – Products with natural ingredients are available
- Change your clothes and thoroughly check for ticks (don’t forget your hair) when heading indoors
- Sticky lint rollers may help pull ticks off of clothing
- Avoid tall grass and wooded areas when possible
Wear light colored clothing outdoors to help detect dark colored ticks
Ashley Miles, CPH
Ruppert Nurseries
Website Links And Products That I Use Can Be Found On The Following Page
Links and Products
Dr. Jeanne O’Connell – Restorasis Health
http://www.restorasishealth.com/
Dr. Bronner’s Pure Castile Liquid Soap – Lavender
There are many reasons why I love this soap, but the non-synthetic lavender is why I use it to fend off ticks. Great for shampoo, body wash and laundry detergent.
Mother Earth’s Soaps – Skeeter Beater
This body soap is made to repel insects. The ingredients in this soap are natural and effective.
Sawyer Products – Permethrin Clothing Insect Repellent
I use this on my boots when heading into heavily wooded or tall grass areas, but it can be used on most outdoor gear, if not all.
“Healing Lyme” By Stephen Harrod Buhner
I found the information in this book to be extremely useful and helpful. This healing path was too overwhelming for me, but it may help you find relief.
Pure Synergy – Eye Protector
Lyme disease can affect your eyes. This vitamin has been a great addition to my routine.
Pure Synergy – Resveratrol
I love this super antioxidant. I take it daily for my overall health.
