Reflections

This summer has been flying by! I can’t believe it’s almost time for school to start again. It’s officially been over a year since I’ve been in college, which sounds crazy to me. Two years ago, I would have never believed it if someone told me I would be taking a year and a half off of school to heal from a Chronic Illness. It’s been a year of growth, reflection, painful times, the best of times, laughter, tears and lots of faith. I am seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, which helps with the whole healing process more than you would think. I am so excited to push past all of this and start my life again. In the meantime, I am going to try and enjoy this phase as much as I can and see all of the good that can come out of it. I have learned to be so grateful for the good days, and still have a positive outlook on the bad days. I’m not perfect and definitely have those times of struggle where I am down and out, but I feel much more hopeful after those times pass. I am so thankful to have friends and a family that support me with getting better, and a boyfriend who is always there for me, helping me through this phase in more ways than he knows.
Summer is a season of lots of sun, and good memories. It’s a time where I look back on the past years and can remember those times with a nostalgic feeling. They’re remembered with sand, salt water, messy hair, tan lines, good food, and even better company. This year is another very memorable one that I will never forget. It’s been a rougher one because of going through Lyme treatment, but there have been some amazing times spent with the ones I love most. It will be interesting to reflect back on this Summer next year and to see how far i’ve come!

I hope you all are having a blessed Summer and are making some amazing memories!
Email me at naturallyhealinglyme@yahoo.com If you ever want to talk to a fellow lyme warrior. Stay strong ❤

-Alex

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Hope

 

 

 

It’s been quite a long time since my last post. I have been so consumed with healing and my treatment program. I’ve been on a roller coaster ride of emotions with this portion of my treatment! I am currently focusing on killing off the co-infection Bartonella, so i’ve been herxing a lot from that. Lately i haven’t felt a whole lot like myself. It’s the strangest feeling because it’s like i’m trapped in my own body. Although I recently just had a doctor’s appointment with my Naturopath, and I feel much more hopeful after that. I have been making steady progress with my treatment which is nice to hear! I still have a long way to go, but I will get there with time. Even though i’m not physically stronger yet, I know I am spiritually and mentally stronger than ever before. I feel at peace. 

The quote above spoke to me when I came across it. Sometimes it’s so hard to accept where  I am in life right now. It all feels wrong, like I don’t deserve to deal with a chronic illness. As much as I want to say “It’s not fair” or “why me,” I have to accept that God has put me in my current situation and way of life for a reason. Someday I will be able to look back and know I am stronger and who I am because of all of the trials and tribulations I’ve gone through. I know that this is a temporary phase in my life and that even though there are days when I am convinced that my struggles will never end, they will! I WILL get better, and I WILL get my life back! I just have to be patient and trust in all that God is doing in my life and that it all has a purpose. As long as I keep myself grounded in Him, I can do anything! For anyone out there reading this that has been struggling lately as well, hang in there and don’t give up hope! 

Hope you are having a great day ❤ Just keep swimming! 

Email me at naturallyhealinglyme@yahoo.com, I would love to hear your Lyme stories! 

-Alex 

 

 

 

Limitations

I know I haven’t written a post in a while, but today i felt the need to write. Lately, i’ve been so un-motivated to do anything. I always feel like laying down, resting and not doing much. The new herb I’m on for Bartonella has been making me herx so I’ve been extra- out of it. Anyway, thats not what I was planning on writing about. 

Knowing that you are limited and unable to do something because of a chronic illness is one of the hardest things I’ve had to deal with. I’m not even talking about the fact that I had to stop going to College, and move back home with my parents. I’m talking about the little things you’re faced with on a daily basis, reminding you of how you can’t do things that “normal” people can do. Like this weekend, when I went to church and was informed of a volunteer day of serving the community that the church puts on each year. I wanted so badly to help out and just say, “I’m in!” and all would be perfect in the world. I really wanted to help out the community and the church, but knowing that I am physically limited and cannot perform several hours of manual labor made me feel so sad. I started to tear up as the people I knew there all signed up and asked if I wanted to help out too. As much as I didn’t want to admit that I’m not able to do 5+ hours of physical labor, I knew I had to. It’s always so hard to see the people I love doing things with their lives that I know i’m incapable of doing at this time. I know that in the future, I will be faced with more opportunities like this and I WILL be able to go to them. It’s just so hard to accept it in the moment, when it’s all so real. I can’t wait to get my life back, and fight off this Lyme! As much as I hate it sometimes, I realize that now I appreciate so many things I had taken for granted before. It’s definitely put things in to perspective for me, which I am so grateful for. 

 

Hope you are all having a lovely week… keep fighting Lyme Warriors! ❤ 

-Alex 

A Few Of My Favorite Teas!

I am such a fan of tea! I usually have at least 2 cups of decaf/herbal tea every day! Here are a few of my favorites over the years that i’ve re-purchased multiple times 🙂 

These three teas are some of my favorites for the Winter/ Holidays! In the Winter I tend to go for rooibos red tea, as well as some good ol’ chai 🙂 

 

For the Spring/Summer I find myself reaching for this fruity Peach tea (seriously so good!) or the Harney and Son’s peppermint tea. I also drink peppermint tea whenever I have an upset stomach, it works wonders! 

 

Around bedtime, I generally go for earl grey or the Yogi honey lavender stress relief tea. They are so soothing at night, especially the honey lavender one 🙂 

 

As I’m sitting on my deck, writing this blog post i’m drinking some rooibos tea! It’s beautiful out today 🙂 

What are some of your favorites that I should try? I would love some suggestions! 

Hope you all are having a great week! 

-Alex 

My Natural Lyme-Fighting Regimen

This is a general overview of all of the supplements/pills I take everyday that were all recommended to me by my Lyme Doctor! In addition to these supplements I usually have a green juice once a day, and do coffee enemas (not very fun but they make a HUGE difference in making me feel better) every other day as a part of my treatment. If you would like to know about any part of my treatment in more detail, feel free to email me at naturallyhealinglyme@yahoo.com! 🙂

Every morning when I wake up, I take Cytomel (hypothyroid medication) and desiccated adrenal supplements. About 30 minutes later, i take Transfer Factor LymPlus to help kill the Lyme. This has been making me herx and feel pretty crappy lately which only means that it’s releasing toxins and working! so i’m okay with that 🙂 Since I’m only in the beginning stage of my treatment, this is the only thing i’m taking to specifically kill the Lyme. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow, so that may change soon!

These are drops that I take 2x a day (once in the morning and once at night). Renelix helps to detoxify the kidneys, bladder and urological tract. Itires supports lymphatic drainage and swollen lymph nodes. The Apo-Hepat helps with liver and gallbladder dysfunction.  They have significantly helped me with being able to handle a lot of herxing! Since they detoxify the body, they help get rid of the toxins released by the Trasfer Factor LymPlus that I take.

I take these Sugar/Starch Digestion Enzyme Supplements at each meal to help with my digestion (go figure haha). On the back of the bottle it says this supplement, “Provides a unique blend of enzymes to help optimize digestion of high sugar/starch diets minimizing carbohydrate intolerance and other food allergies.” I also take Vitamin C with each meal (about 3-4 times a day).

At lunch time I take D3, Zinc, Chelated Iron, and Calcium Lactate. Pretty straightforward 🙂

In the evening, I take a powdered magnesium supplement as well as the detoxifying drops again.

Last but not least I take FolaPro, Activated B-12 Guard, All in One Multi-Vitamin, Phosphatidyl Serine Complex, and ActiFolate before bed. This was a supplement protocol recommended by my doctor that is supposed to aid neurological health. Oh and I forgot to add it in the picture but I take another dose of the Transfer Factor LymPlus before I go to bed as well.

Well that is all that I take in a day! **Disclaimer: I am by no means a doctor or a professional and you should consult your doctor before making any changes in your routine.**

Let me know if you guys are taking any of the same supplements to treat Lyme, and if they are working for you!

Hope you all have a beautiful day!

-Alex

One of the most frustrating things I am faced with on a daily basis is the fact that my body won’t allow me to do the things I want to do in life.Well, not yet at least! I used to love to dance, run, bike, hike and read. With Chronic Lyme, I feel as though I am trapped inside a body that is stuck and won’t allow me to do these things. It’s quite depressing when the activities you used to love to do are no longer in your life… I constantly try to replace them with other activities but I haven’t found the joy in them yet. It’s as if my freedom of expression was taken from me. I am trying to keep my head up and am so looking forward to the day when I can start dancing and doing what I love again! Until then, I am on a quest to find out some new things to enjoy in the meantime!

Be brave fellow lymies! ❤ Hang in there!

P.S. If any of you would like to email me to know more, feel free to ask me for it in the comments!
Have a beautiful Day

-Alex

Awareness

Sometimes I get angry thinking about the fact that I now have Chronic Lyme Disease because of a tick bite that I never really knew about. If I had been aware of what a tick bite looked like, or what the symptoms were, then I could have avoided a whole lot of hard times. At the same time though, whats done is done and now that I have it the knowledge about it, I can hopefully help make others more aware of it. Even with the 30,000 + people who have Lyme, there is such a lack of awareness of the disease to the general public. It makes me sad because so many people out there are suffering from mysterious symptoms and have no idea what is going on with their bodies. They can go on for years without figuring out what is really wrong, and thats if the lab results don’t come back as a false negative. I hope that someday diagnosis and treatment will be much easier and that our world will be more aware of this difficult disease. 

If you want to find out more about Lyme Disease, I recommend watching the powerful documentary called, “Under Our Skin.” It does a great job at explaining the disease and shows a few stories of people struggling with it.  

Let me know what you think if you decide to watch the documentary! Stay strong! 🙂 

-Alex

 

Sometimes this is the most important thing to remember. I can recall the first few times I sat there doubting how much longer i could deal with this constant fatigue and daily struggles that came as a result of Chronic Lyme Disease. Looking back, it’s hard to believe how long it’s ben since I’ve been/felt healthy. Sometimes I ask why I had to be dealt this hand of cards, but in the end it doesn’t even matter because i know it’s made me a stronger person. I know that there will be a day when I no longer struggle, and that this fight for health will all be so worth it. Sometimes changing your perspective on a situation can make all the difference! Hang in there fellow lymies, you’re not alone! ❤ 

-Alex 

February Favorites

Hello there!  welcome to Naturally Healing Lyme! For my first post, I thought i’d share some beauty products i’ve been loving lately. Let me know in the comments if you guys love these products too! 🙂

Before I get into it, just thought i’d introduce myself a little bit. My name is Alexandra or Alex for short! I’m from sunny Northern California! Join me in my journey of healing from Chronic Lyme Disease 🙂 If you would like to know a little more about myself, check out my “about me” section at the top of my blog.

Here is the compilation of my favorite beauty products of February. I have been trying to use more natural products lately, so here are some winners that have been incorporated into my routine!

Since i’ve been trying to reduce the amount of toxic metals in my system, i switched to an aluminum free deodorant. I’ve been using this Crystal Essence clear deodorant roll-on in the pomegranate scent. Although it doesn’t reduce the amount you sweat (since it’s aluminum free), it does work pretty well since it has natural salts and minerals in it! I would definitely recommend trying give it a try if you are looking for a more natural deodorant.

The next favorite would have to be my dry brush. I use this about twice a week, before I shower. Dry brushing your skin helps increase circulation to the skin and helps buff away those dead skin cells. It also helps stimulate the lymphatic system, which helps to eliminate toxins from the body. Since starting to use this a few months ago, I have noticed my skin feels overall a lot softer and smother! I got mine from a local natural foods store.

 

 

If you’re looking for a natural perfume that is free of all of the usual harsh chemicals, fragrance oils are a good alternative. This is my first fragrance oil, and I love it! You only need to use a drop of two and it lasts all day. I like this Amber paste scent by Kuumba Made since it’s very warm yet subtle. I purchased this from Whole Foods, and i’m sure you can find it at most natural food stores or online.

I have been loving this face toner from Acure. It’s the balancing rose and red tea version, made for oily/problematic skin. I have noticed that my skin doesn’t get as oily when i use this, and I would definitely recommend it if you have and trouble with your skin like I do sometimes! It’s also very refreshing to spray on your face after getting out of the shower! You can find this toner at Whole Foods.

 

This 100% pure Jojoba Oil from Trader Joe’s has been my favorite face moisturizer lately!  I wanted to use a more natural moisturizer for my face, so started using this about two months ago and have been using it ever since. I love it because it absorbs quickly, and doesn’t leave an oily residue on my face. I even have acne prone skin, and this hasn’t broken me out at all.

 

Last but not least, I have been using this face wash with tea tree oil from Trader Joes. It has an herbal, natural scent to it and it makes my face feel really clean but not dry after I use it. also really like how it contains a lot of natural ingredients and essential oils. I would definitely buy this cleanser again!

 

Alright well those are a few of my beauty favorites from the past month! What are some of your favorites?!

-Alex