Welcome to Surviving Lyme!
Coming soon to this site will be stories of surviving chronic Lyme disease. More than stories of suffering, these posts will offer simple strategies for living fully in spite of illness. This isn’t a medical resource with supplement protocols and therapy reviews. It is a survival resource rooted in eternal hope.
What you are soon to discover by reading these posts is that you are not alone in your sickness. There are others out there who are struggling every day to make a life in spite of Lyme.
My hope is that here at Surviving Lyme you will find encouragement and hope for your journey.
This blog makes me happy. I am so glad that you have finally gotten the answers that you have been searching for over the years. The journey is long and sometimes tough, but you are strong and I know you will get through it. 😊
I got my PICC placed again this week. Who knows for how long, but I know it will help again. It is amazing to have doctors out there who understand Lyme the way that they do and are able to drastically improve peoples’ quality of life. Good luck with your treatment!
Lauren, it is so good to be on the right track. It is tough and some days I feel worse than ever before but I know that is part of the process. Set backs are really just set ups for a better future!
What does your Dr. put in your PICC? What caused him to decide to put in another one? Were you having more symptoms that the PICC will help with specifically?
I am currently receiving Rocephin. It’s one of the best antibiotics to help fight the lyme that is currently in my eyes. My optic neuropathy started to flare up several weeks ago and unfortunately, is affecting both of my eyes now. With my pregnancy, the PICC keeps me more at ease because I know the medication will protect the baby too. I can tell it is already working because I have been experiencing my herx reaction the past few days. I am optimistic 😊.
My optic symptoms have been flaring, too. I woke up this morning with my left eye in a complete fog. It always makes my stomach queasy and my head dizzy when this happens. Do you experience that, too?
How are you feeling in the pregnancy apart from the Lyme? If it is possible to separate the two!
That’s funny that you mention the nausea and dizziness. I am experiencing all of those symptoms right now. It’s hard to function today, but I have to remind myself that this is part of the process. There have been some complications with this pregnancy tracing back to my Lyme. The baby is okay at this point, but we will be having my 20 week scan in Pittsburgh along with a fetal echo in a couple of weeks. It’s a long wait, that’s for sure.
I’ve been comparing the process of getting the Lyme out to chemo for cancer. It shares a lot of the same characteristics. Both require getting worse if there is any hope of getting better. I am taking all of the crazy symptoms and feeling terrible as a good sign. It means the Lyme is unhappy because it is getting kicked out.
I’ll be praying for little baby’s protection. Does new baby have a name yet? What hospital do you go to down here in PGH?
Yes, the symptoms are horrible some days. Especially lately. The night sweats, muscle spasms, intense joint pain and migraines…ugh!
We can’t decide in a name yet, haha. We have a few in mind, but nothing for sure. I will be going to Magee Women’s in Pitt. Unfortunately, the prescription pain medicine I was taking for my Lyme symptoms is causing the doctors some concern about the baby’s heart. I had been told in the past, it was safe until the 3rd trimester so I was given the go ahead. But, as it turns out, my new OB office is not comfortable with it and consulted my high risk doctor in Pitt and they also agreed it made them uneasy. So fingers crossed that he is okay and all of this worry is for nothing! They put me on something else that is safer so I am hoping it works. So far, though, no luck. But I need to do what it takes for the baby.
Safe to say…I HATE lyme.
I’ve been having the night sweats, too. It actually sounds like we’re dealing with very similar symptoms at this stage of our treatments.
I can’t even imagine being pregnant during this. You amaze me! I don’t know how you do it. Are you still working, too?
Yes, I am! Just 3 12 hr shifts a week and strictly weekends. So, it isn’t too bad. The pain makes it hard sometimes though.
I don’t know how you do it. Keep me updated on how your Drs. appt goes in PGH.
Will do! I just had my Cleveland Clinic eye appt today. My doctor thinks I may have a lesion in my brain that is causing my visual field test to look the way it does in my right eye. But for now, no MRI with contrast due to the pregnancy. Hopefully if it is a lesion, it will shrink up after this round of Rocephin. Fingers crossed!
If it isn’t a lesion what do they think is causing it? Has the Rocephin cleared this problem up before? We should get together sometime to chat more!
We should! 😊 for now they are going to see if the Rocephin works. Rocephin helped immensely last time I took it. However, my scans have always been clear. Lyme can cause brain lesions though, and after proper treatment, they disappear. So that is my hope!