5 Conditions to Consider When Treating Lyme Disease
When treating Lyme disease, it is important to consider what other conditions you may have so that you get the best out of your treatment plan. Oftentimes Lyme disease is not the only condition you will deal with in your healing journey. As if Lyme disease were not enough to be diagnosed with, there are often other issues going on that could interfere with your healing process. In order to get the most out of your healing journey, discovering those other sources for complete healing will be vital. Listed below are five possibilities you may want to consider.
Why am I not getting better from Lyme Disease? Other conditions to consider.
Most of us have heard of mold or have even seen it at some point in our lives. Maybe in a home we grew up in, or possibly in a wet basement. Whatever the case, many people have heard of and seen mold, but did you know that mold can make you extremely sick?
Mold toxicity can be quite dangerous and should be considered during your Lyme disease treatment, especially if your Lyme treatment has stalled out, or isn’t working as well as it should.
Let's look at some symptoms of mold toxicity.
headaches and migraines
unexplained muscle pain
blurry vision, watery eyes (can also be dry eyes)
uptick in asthma symptoms
mood and depression
coughing and sneezing (allergy-like symptoms)
shortness of breath
fatigue
brain fog
tingling and numbness
And that is just scratching the surface of the symptoms that can come along with mold toxicity. It is also said that digestive issues could be related to mold toxicity as well as dry skin. It is a good idea to consider mold even if you haven't noticed mold in the home or at the workplace, especially if you have “hit a wall” in your healing journey and can’t seem to turn the corner and get better beyond the healing you’ve already experienced.
2. Heavy Metals
Did you know that our bodies can become overwhelmed with heavy metals? It does happen and it is not as rare as some may think it is. Heavy metals are all around us, in the food we eat, water we drink, and air we breathe. Heavy metals can also be in the containers we store our food in, or drink our liquids out of, and even in our medicine. Many people think of lead-paint when they think of heavy metal poisoning. However, heavy metal poisoning is not just from lead-based paint, although that can be a source.
Heavy metal poisoning may possibly be a source of some of your symptoms. If you feel like you just cannot get better from Lyme disease, even while in treatment for a long period of time, you may want to explore heavy metal poisoning.
Here are some symptoms that can be associated with heavy metal poisoning:
nausea
shortness of breath
weakness
chills
diarrhea
changes in vision
fatigue
headaches
memory loss
pain in muscles
anemia
This just scratches the surface of symptoms and heavy metal poisoning symptoms can vary from person to person, depending on what heavy metal is in your body, and how overloaded you are; also considering what other diseases you may have.
3. Parasites
I am sure no one wants to think about the possibility that there are parasites in their bodies, but it is something that should be addressed especially if you cannot seem to get better from Lyme disease.
Some of the parasites you may possibly have in your body are hookworms, whipworms, roundworms, and tapeworms but there are more varieties, and it is even possible you have been infected with more than one type of parasite at a time.
Parasites can enter your body via contaminated food and water. And different parasites can cause different symptoms in your body.
Let's look at a few symptoms parasites can cause in the human body:
digestive issues (nausea, bloating, diarrhea etc)
anemia
muscle and/or joint pain
fatigue
hives and other skin issues
lack of appetite
itchiness
and abdominal pain
Depending on the type of parasite, there could be more and varied symptoms than even the ones mentioned above. Try not to become overwhelmed by the thought of one more thing you must kill off in addition to Lyme. Just picture them as a roadblock to becoming better, and that roadblock needs to come down, in order to find more healing in your body. I know it can be a bit overwhelming to think of everything that could be going on in your body, but knowledge is power, and healing can come from treatment.
Learn more about parasites here.
4. Yeast/Candida
You may have heard of yeast before, particularly if you are a woman and have had a vaginal yeast infection. But did you know that Candida, a type of yeast (fungus) can, if allowed to overgrow in your body, affect all sorts of bodily systems? Many people do not realize that there's even such a thing as a yeast overgrowth. Although you may have heard of this term before, maybe you did not think much of it. It may now be time to consider an overgrowth of yeast in your own health when you just can't seem to get over the hump in your healing journey. Not to mention most people have used some level of antibiotic treatment for their Lyme disease and antibiotics can lead to an overgrowth of Candida.
When yeast is allowed to overgrow, and the symptoms spread throughout the human body, it can cause a wide variety of symptoms. Candida often overgrows due to poor diet or antibiotics. It is, however, a misconception that Candida itself travels throughout the body in the bloodstream. What actually happens is that the toxins released by Candida are what leave the gut and travel throughout the body, which can lead to brain fog, for example.
You wouldn't necessarily think something like yeast could cause much havoc in the human body, but it really can and so let's talk about the symptoms to look out for with Candida overgrowth.
Candida overgrowth symptoms:
brain fog
fatigue
yeast infections that keep happening
digestive issues such as bloating, pain, nausea and diarrhea
white coating on the tongue called oral thrush
joint pain
dizziness
irritability
allergies
and much more!
There are 11more common symptoms of Candida overgrowth, but well over 20 less common symptoms. So, if you are experiencing anywhere from a few to several symptoms or even seemingly unrelated symptoms, it may possibly be stemming from yeast and might be time you investigated it as a possibility.
5. Stress and Trauma
Something not to be overlooked is the role of stress and trauma in the body. According to an article published by The Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences "Studies have shown that short-term stress boosted the immune system, but chronic stress has a significant effect on the immune system that ultimately manifest an illness."
And according to WebMD "stress seems to worsen or increase the risk of conditions like obesity, heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, depression, gastrointestinal problems, and asthma." But even more specifically to the Lyme patient, did you know that stress is a leading factor in Lyme relapsing? So, as you can see, stress is nothing to sneeze at. It can become a big deal in your body.
Some symptoms of stress in the body:
jaw clenching and grinding
muscle tension
aches and pain in the body
racing heart and chest pain or discomfort
panic attacks
weakened immune system
headaches
depression, irritability
and even hair loss
Stress and/or trauma can play a bigger role in our chronic illness journey than we may have ever suspected. And stress and trauma can affect perfectly healthy bodies as well, it is not just those with chronic illness that can be affected by stress. You may want to take a hard look at your stress levels or past traumas, and evaluate how that is affecting your current health story, and your journey with disease.
Check our blogs on neurological retraining.
In the end, knowledge is power, and when you are fighting something as complex as Lyme disease. It is important to have an arsenal of knowledge at the ready for when you come up against a roadblock in your healing journey. It may not just be Lyme disease holding you back from achieving more healing. It may just, in fact, be one or more of these conditions that are running wild in your body and need to be addressed.