Flattening the Roller Coaster Tracks in Life With Lyme Disease

I’ve been on this Lyme disease journey for over five years and it’s been the worst roller coaster ride of my life. But I am making progress and flattening the tracks quite a bit. I can’t always see it that way, especially during flares. It’s like being in a thunderstorm. The wind whips about, throwing you off balance and you can’t see 10 feet in front of you. You can’t imagine that the sun is up there, beyond the clouds and that it will re-emerge. But it always does.

I have a six-word mantra. “This will pass, it always does.” I’ve said it to myself, silently and out loud thousands of times. As the good days increase, as they have in the last six months, I have to remind myself that I am getting better. I keep a daily symptom tracker and numerical assessment of each day on a scale of 1-10. Six months ago my weeks were averaging about a six. Now they average about an eight with some sevens occasionally. I look at it often to remind myself that I am improving. It is one of the great challenges of these infections, It’s easier to dwell on the bad days than to revel in the good ones. Chronic Lyme does that to your psyche. You’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop, because it has for so long.

I have Lyme and babesia which is a beast in and of itself. I believe I’ve quieted the Lyme after treatments at a clinic in Mexico where I did hyperthermia. But the ride continues a year later. Still searching for those keys to the castle. It’s not just one door. Most definitely not. Most of us understand that there are so many layers to this condition. From the dozen or so co-infections to the conditions that these bugs trigger. POTS, thyroiditis, Hashimoto’s, etc.

So I keep trying new keys to unlock the treasure chest of good health. I’ve found some nuggets scattered about and I’m still confident and hopeful that the pot of gold is at the end of the rainbow. I hope it’s not a fool’s errand. I don’t think it is.