-Michele

Stress is the best friend of Lyme Disease. When you are stressed you release a chemical called cortisol. Cortisol totally TANKS your immune system, and Lyme will take full advantage of this, especially if the period of stress is an extended one. You can feel significant flare ups of symptoms of Lyme under extremely stressful circumstances.

Alcohol is something you should avoid while you are being treated for Lyme disease. Your liver is busy detoxifying your body, and if you drink alcohol, that gives it another job to do when it should be giving all it's attention to getting rid of the toxins from your Lyme infection. Once you beat the Lyme back, you can go back to drinking small amounts of alcohol. The alcohol may be causing the nausea problem.

So my suggestion is that you avoid stress and alcohol...of course it's much easier not to drink than it is to get stressed out. Which leads me in to the physical manifestations you mention above....

Based on your description, it would seem you are having quite a severe anxiety attack related to the flare up of your symptoms from too much stress or alcohol. Believe me, I can relate.

Before I was diagnosed, like anyone, I had no idea what was going on with me...a different symptom came along almost weekly...something new to deal with. When I had trouble breathing, my blood pressure would go through the roof and I would pass out or my head would swim around like you wouldn't believe. Five emergency room visits from July 2006 to August 2007 (when I was diagnosed). Each of these visits was caused by an increase in a symptom, or a new one that scared the living crap out of me! Blood pressure went up (cortisol does that too, by the way...sends your blood pressure way up), legs got weak, head would swim, vision got blurry, arms and legs turned in to 1,000 pound weights and yes, I thought I was having a heart attack.

Once I was diagnosed, my anxiety and stress went WAY DOWN, because I finally had a name for my enemy and I could deal with it. I am still in treatment and I still hurt, I still have trouble breathing, I am dizzy and all these things are troubling...but I know why I have them...so I talk myself down from the ledge and just relax.

There is one other reason I want you to consider for your flare-ups. Have you been told about a Herx reaction? It happens when your body is killing off the Lyme. When you kill one of those buggers, their cell wall ruptures and any toxins that were inside are released in to your body all at once. The result is that all your symptoms get worse, because you now have more toxins hitting you. This is particularly hard to deal with during the reproductive cycle of the bacteria. When they are reproducing, you kill more of them and yet even more toxins are released...making you feel even worse. Be on the lookout for a pattern. Do the flare ups occur once per month? Once every three weeks or five weeks? My cycle is about five weeks.

I know this is horrible, but it is an unfortunate reality of this disease. Some people get horrible Herx reactions. Some hardly notice it at all. If just depends on how unlucky you are. But realize this, you are killing them off, and that's what counts. You should notice your Herx reactions getting less severe as time goes on, it all depends on how high your bacteria load is. Over time, they should decrease in severity until you don't have them at all. Treatment is a marathon, Michele, not a sprint.

So here is something you can do...laugh, a lot. Watch comedies on TV or a funny movie. Make time to laugh. It builds your immune system and release endorphins that will make you feel better.

Get whatever exercise you can tolerate. Again, it increases the immune response and helps circulation of endorphins. Get up and move around. Do what you can.

And get plenty of sleep. This is your body's time to rebuild itself and re-regulate all your functions.

You are not alone in these things you are feeling. Many of your fellow sufferers have been and are still going through the unfortunate variety of manifestations brought about by Lyme disease. I hope this information proves helpful.

Take care and be well.

Tom