Introduction

This blog is about one person's experience searching through various combinations of natural medicine and cognitive techniques to find solutions to the devastating ME/CFS (or CFIDS) illness complex, including Lyme Disease. I have received a lot of requests for reports on what I have learned while successfully treating my own case. If you are reading this because ME/CFS and/or Chronic Lyme Disease has taken over your life, I hope you will find some insights here.

This blog is an attempt to share what I am learning about ME/CFS and Lyme Disease. Therefore my purpose is informational and educational. I am in no way diagnosing or treating any illness, nor prescribing any particular therapy (my Disclaimer). If you have questions, please send me an email.



More Introduction

Honestly, I wish some other topic would be so important that I would write a blog about it, maybe my favorite music or how I love good literature. Sadly this disease has taken over my life to a large extent. But fortunately I have had some successes, and mostly stopped the progression of the illness. In fact I have experienced some improvements, I was partly bedridden for several years, but now have recovered limited mobility and some functional improvements.

This ME/CFS-Lyme blog begins in December, 2004, when I experienced my first dramatic reversal in over four years when I started the Salt/C protocol. I also discuss a few ideas about what might be causing ME/CFS and Lyme. In late 2005 I experienced more improvement, possibly from the continuing Salt/C, or some ongoing holistic work. But I also had some setbacks, and stopped salt/c. In 2006 I started having great success with EMF blocking. In 2008 I began using a self-talk process to address adrenal-amygdala looping that I believe is caused by the presence of neurotoxins. That lasted for a few years. I started using rehydration therapy in about 2010, and things have been stable since then. I finally updated the blog in 2019.

To get the full content of the blog you must just start with the older posts and read them all. Since I do not post often, that is not as difficult as it may sound.

Part of the purpose of the blog is to give hope to others, and to share what I have learned and am still learning, in my quest for the solution protocol to ME/CFS and related conditions, including Chronic Lyme Disease. I explore a wide range of health issues, but try to stick to the goal of finding an effective treatment plan for this disease.

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This update is long overdue. Although I've commented on comments over the past few years, there have been no new posts. Because there has not been much change, not much to say. I am still using many of the same treatments I've discussed, and my functional level is maybe a little less due to aging a decade, but no dramatic change there either. As far as supplements, there have been a few new developments. One is that over the past few years I have been making a daily rehydration drink, taking it morning and night. I will summarize the supplements I am currently using.

The rehydration drink has been the major change over the past years since I was maintaining this blog. The drink is based on a W.H.O. formulation to help third world patients battling dehydration due to cholera or other dehydrating diseases. This is a simple formulation, basically boil a handful of rice in a large pot of water, and add a tablespoon of salt. I am using sea salt (Actually 'Real Salt'), and cook them together. For about the last ten years I have made this weekly, usually in a pot. Recently I started using an Instant Pot pressure cooker, which is easier to cleanup, does not require watching, and is done in an hour or less. 

Here are more details, in simplified form, of the daily supplements I am taking for this strange illness: 

I am taking no pharmaceutical medications at the moment. In the past Lorazepam and Propanalol have been somewhat helpful, but I found it too easy to become dependent, and too many side effects. But I have to be careful to watch my stress levels, and track my blood pressure now and then, and I do use those meds if I really need them. But most of the time I don't. 

I've probably tried hundreds of of supplements over the years, but most do little. However, some supplements do help. Some meditation type self-treatments also are helping. 

So here is a categorical list of treatments that have helped the most. And I have been using most of these daily for years now.  

Methylation Support (B6, B12-hydroxo & methyl forms, Methylfolate, Magnesium chloride, Vit C),  

Mitochondria Support (d-Ribose, Goji Berry), 

Antimicrobials (too many to list, most used is olive leaf extract, grapefruit seed extract and oregano oils),  

Calming / Sleep aids (GABA, l-theanine, relora, bacopa, hemp seed, inositol, cacao in the morning),  

Aminos (goat milk protein, quinoa), 

Rehydration (Real Salt / sea salt, rice broth, cinnamon), 

and finally, the last item is not a supplement, but it is just as important. I am also focusing here on lowing my own stress thermostat, which is primarily:

Brain Rewiring (Ashok Gupta Program, the holistic approach in Dan Neuffer's ANS Rewire book, Nicola Bird's Anxiety Self-treatment Program). 

So that's it, the update, after nearly a decade. I will try to write another post sooner next time. 

I have tried to focus the last few years on understanding the complexities of this illness, and am thinking over how to explain how I believe we do not actually have a primary pathology, but rather a cluster of dysfunctions that contributes to a core set of symptoms... hopefully soon I'll write on that.

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