Regaining Strength: My Recovery Journey with Lyme and Co-Infections

Yesterday I walked 7,814 steps (3.5 miles) which I know doesn't seem like much, but to me it was like conquering Mount Everest.

Let me put it into perspective...

Two months ago, on Memorial Day weekend, I nearly cried because I had to walk across the Super target and back to the car. Something people do every day without thinking about it, but that day I was so tired it felt like I had to run a marathon.

I

t was also the same day that I put my leggings on inside out and didn't even realize it until the day was almost over!

You see, walking was something that had become really challenging for me as my treatment for the tick-borne infections progressed. Some days were better than others, but on my really exhausted days, I had to actually think about how to make my body move.

Here’s why...

Lyme and other tick-borne infections are super sneaky. They wrap themselves up in a protective shell and hide from your immune system and standard western treatments like antibiotics. The only way to effectively treat them is to basically unwrap their shell and ask them to come out and play.

So, in order to get better, I had to let my body get worse for a while. Since the co-infections I was “lucky enough” to contract affected my nervous system, one of the major symptoms was loss of coordination in my left side.

The tick bite was in my left armpit, so it makes sense that my left arm was affected the most, but it also began to affect my left leg as well. Essentially, it caused me to lose motor control on my left side, making it difficult to do things with my left arm and sometimes my left leg.

On bad days, my left leg just wouldn't want to work. So, instead of walking like a normal person, I felt like Doctor Frankenstein’s Igor dragging my left leg around.  It was something that made me feel hugely self-conscious.

That's why my walk yesterday was a huge triumph for me. Not only was I able to walk a considerable distance but also, half of it was up a steep hill.

It was challenging and I was exhausted when I got done. But I also felt a huge sense of accomplishment, similar to finishing a tough CrossFit workout

I know I still have a long way to go to get back to feeling like myself again, but I'll take the small wins as they come.