I just finally got to a Lyme Literate Dr. and he said that exercise, even though we are exhausted is good. As much as we can anyway. He said that exercising adds more oxygen into your system and Lyme hates Oxygen which is why it hides.

He also prescribed Lugols solution to help with my adrenal function. It's a really old remedy that he says still works. I should mention that he is a holistic Dr. that also put me on major antibiotics until we can treat completely holistically.

Lugols is basically strong Iodine that you put in water and try to gulp down. It tastes terrible and burns your throat. I am feeling some amount of energy since I started taking it (3 days ago). Maybe your Dr. would have more insight as to whether it would be good for you.

Good luck and congrats on finally getting the help you need!

Alyssa

Mentioned above is that Lymes hates oxygen and that is why it hides. Someone please write and let us know what this means.

Lyme is a microaerophilic organism, which means it does not do well in a high oxygen environment, like the bloodstream, or extremely vascular areas of the body. This is why you hear of Lyme "drilling" in to parts of the body that do not see a lot of blood or oxygen. These places would be tissues in the joints, brain, the lymph system, white blood cells and as deep as possible in to any tissue at all.

Antibiotics are carried by the bloodstream and penetrate body tissue to a certain degree. But, if Lyme avoids the bloodstream and digs deep in to body tissue, antibiotics will have a hard time getting to it and killing it, which can be the reason some folks are on many months, to a year or more, of antibiotics.

The idea is to increase the oxygen "pressure", which forces oxygen deeper in to body tissues, thereby getting at the Lyme bacterium. Exercise forces you to breathe harder, which increases oxygen pressure in your body. That is the theory behind exercise as part of a good Lyme regimen, and it's a great thing to do for yourself. People on a regular exercise regimen seem to recover much more quickly than those who are not.

However, don't go out and start training for a marathon. The idea is to exercise to your body's toleration limit. Exercise, yes. But, when you hit the wall, stop and rest. Do what your body allows you to do. Try three days a week; a long walk, a bike ride, swim or any kind of aerobic activity you can do. Increase oxygen, increase oxygen pressure and your antibiotics will be more effective.

Another form of therapy that is used is HBO, or hyperbaric oxygen therapy. This is an artificial way to increase oxygen pressure to very high levels, and is known to be effective for many people. It is known to create some pretty mean Herx reactions as well, and, it is usually not covered by insurance (so what else is new with Lyme treatments, eh?).

If you are not able to tolerate exercise at this point in your treatment, you can take crystal free CoQ10 to fight fatigue. This is a natural substance produced in your body, and is not harmful at all. As a matter of fact, the older you get the less you produce, so it's a good supplement even if you are not sick. A good measurement of how much to take is to round your body weight up to the next 100. So, if you weigh over 100 pounds, go ahead and take 200mg, twice a day.

I can tell you from experience that it does work. During my "dark time" - the time when I was trying to figure out what was wrong with me - I had come across literature discussing the bad effects of statin drugs. I had been put on two statin drugs at one time, and was hospitalized due to the side-effects of the interaction. In my reading, I discovered that my problems could have been caused by these side-effects. It was shown that statin drugs dramatically decrease the body's ability to produce CoQ10, thereby causing substantial fatigue. I started taking 300mg, twice a day, and the improvement was dramatic...and I'm a skeptic of sorts, so that is saying something.

There is one problem with CoQ10...if you are being treated for Babesia, or your LLMD suspects you have Babesia, do not take CoQ10 at all, or take it at very LOW doses. CoQ10 decreases the effectiveness of treatments for Babesia. You can read up on this in writings by Dr. James Schaller. He is looking in to this a bit more to try and determine just how much CoQ10 you can take while on treatment. His initial findings were that 50mg or less per day would not hurt. Personally, I don't think that little does any good, so save your money and don't take it at all until your Babesia is taken care of.

As always, please discuss things with your doctor.

Hope this helps.

Tom

About 10 years ago I was put on Lipitor for cholesterol problems. No big shakes, I tolerated it well, or so I thought. Around that same time I was developing severe lower back pain and being investigated for what might be causing it. After two years, I was told there was no medical reason for my back pain. About then, my doctor told me my triglycerides were elevated and put me on Tricor. My nephew, a pharmacist, told me that was a potentially deadly combination, but I thought nothing of it because he said doctors prescribe it because the reward is worth the risk.

Two weeks later, I was having trouble getting out of bed. Two weeks after that, I couldn't walk. Two days later, I was in the hospital with pending kidney failure. Luckily, it was caught before any damage could be done. I went off both drugs and felt better within a week. I have not taken one statin since then.

During my Lyme treatment, my LLMD had me take Welchol, to help bind with the toxins and flush them out of my system so they would not be reabsorbed. Even though it's not a statin, I started reacting within a week and had to stop taking it.

Statin drugs cause deficiencies of CoQ10 because the same pathways that the statin drugs block to lower cholesterol, are the same pathways that CoQ10 uses for synthesis.

Because of my experience and personal research, I am a big doubter of the cholesterol and heart disease link, but that's not for discussion here.

Now, if you are interested in reading about a doctor who is quite the crusader against statins, check out this link for Dr. Duane Graveline. He's not an LLMD, so mentioning his name is not against the rules:

http://www.spacedoc.net/

Your point about statin induced myopathy and pre-existing Lyme will jump out at you when you read about all the side-effects he lists from statins...which is like a laundry list of Lyme symptoms. Your thoughts on the subject would be interesting.

I may have to contact him and start a discussion!

Tom

RE: I have felt so exhausted that I thought I had figuratively speaking -- sleeping sickness. I have tried something new for the last two weeks. As far,

unless a coincidence, this has helped me stay awake. I started to drink a cup of caffineated coffee when I first get up - day light hours. For years I have not had any caffineated coffee, tea, soda, etc. This is no quick fix - but the caffine, once it gets into my system, seems to help keep me awake for hours. The caffine, as far, does not seem to be making my heart beat any faster.

Just an FYI. If it's helping you, then good. Try green tea if you can. At least that has lots of antioxidants...and caffeine.

Tom