It sounds odd, but it’s true. Lyme Disease saved my life in so many ways. In August of 2017, I began an incredible, life-altering, healing journey. It started when I woke up one morning with intense pain in my right wrist. My wrist was so stiff that I couldn’t move it without experiencing shooting pain that brought me to tears. I promptly made an appointment with my primary doctor. She advised me to take anti-inflammatories and to follow up with an Orthopedics specialist if the pain didn’t go away.
The pain not only persisted, but continued to get worse. I started to experience numbness and tingling along my entire arm. The specialist diagnosed me with carpal tunnel and tennis elbow. She prescribed heavy duty steroids and sent me to an occupational therapist for physical therapy. By then it was mid-October and I had started to experience muscle weakness and fatigue. After just two sessions with the occupational therapist, where I could barely complete simple movements, I was told that I had been misdiagnosed and I was sent back to my primary doctor.
After weeks of testing to rule out everything from Lupus to Multiple Sclerosis to Rheumatoid Arthritis, I was finally diagnosed with a positive Lyme test. It was early November. In just over two months, I went from being very active (swimming 4-5 times a week) to having barely enough strength to shower each morning. Lyme Disease is believed to be caused by a tick bite. I have no idea when I was bitten by a tick, but the symptoms I had were indicative of late stage or chronic Lyme Disease – meaning I could have been bitten years earlier. My doctor prescribed a three-week course of very strong antibiotics, which, like the previous treatments, did not help.
In the meantime, my symptoms only got worse. My joints hurt constantly, my arms and feet would go numb several times a day with no warning, and my muscles were so fatigued that I had to plan my movements throughout the day. One trip up or down the stairs took all my energy! The brain fog was the worst part because I could no longer articulate my thoughts. I knew what I wanted to say, but could not seem to grab common everyday words from my brain to communicate. Not to mention the memory loss. I would forget full conversations from only a few hours earlier! To say I was frustrated would be a huge understatement!
For almost six weeks, I sat in a very deep pocket of depression. I couldn’t do anything, and I felt useless. However, with so much inactivetime on my hands, I began researching everything I could about Lyme Disease. I connected with many other Lyme sufferers and hearing their stories only depressed me further. The common theme was how awful they felt all the time and that I should prepare myself for the long haul because life was not going to get better. Doctors just don’t know enough about Lyme Disease to treat it properly. Apparently, my positive test result was like winning the golden ticket! I learned that many people with Lyme never test positive, are misdiagnosed, or never properly treated. Their lives become a series of mostly bad days with a few good days sprinkled in.
This was not okay with me! I did not want to live the rest of my life like this! As an intuitive healer and energy worker, I knew there were other options out there. I decided that I would beat Lyme! I would kick Lyme’s ass! Making that decision was the first step!
Knowing the power of the mind and the incredible, natural, healing abilities of the human body, I created my own recovery plan.
1. Every morning I said aloud the following affirmations: I am happy. I am healthy. My body is strong. I am Lyme-free. Then I envisioned myself full of energy, healthy, and doing things like swimming and hiking. I manifested my healing! Mike Dooley’s philosophy, Thoughts become things, pick the good ones, became my new motto!
2. I scheduled weekly Reiki sessions and chiropractor visits. These appointments were vital, not just because of the healing activated in my body during each session, but also because they forced me to leave the house! I had a purpose to heal!
3. I booked a MediCupping session, which I highly recommend!* One of the many benefits of cupping is that it flushes bacteria and toxic substances from the body and stimulates blood flow in the muscles. Having gone from being very active to doing nothing, my muscles had atrophied and needed attention desperately.
4. I changed my eating habits. For years, I found comfort in all the wrong foods and when the Lyme prevented me from exercising, I began gaining weight. Based on my research, I found that celery has unique compounds that aid in restoring the digestive system. For 6 weeks, I drank 16 ounces of celery juice every morning to flush toxins from my gut. I also worked with a health coach to change my diet for the long-term. I like real food way too much to give it up, so balance was the key! Now I understand what foods best fuel my body and how much I should eat. I am now healthier than I have ever been, and I didn’t have to give up my favorite foods – can I hear an amen for chocolate and cheese!
5. I completed a 28-day Soul Coaching journey, an in-depth program that I now provide for my clients. Soul Coaching® is dedicated to clearing and cleansing the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual aspects of one’s life and that’s exactly what I accomplished! Although I was physically active before I was diagnosed, the rest of my life was not quite in balance. Emotionally and mentally I was doing way too much for others and was not devoting enough time to self-care. My mindset had to change because I was running myself ragged. It’s not lost on me that contracting Lyme forced me to focus on me!
My focus on holistic healing not only rid my body of any trace of Lyme Disease in 8 months, but also changed my overall life for the better. Through the process of healing myself, I learned to pay attention to all aspects of myself. I became a walking, talking, breathing example of the power of intention and energy healing. While I realize that this path may not cure all physical ailments or diseases, our bodies have an amazing ability to self-heal and our minds have the awesome ability to manifest our greatest desires! Getting medical attention when needed is always recommended, but opening your mind to other methods of healing can have a phenomenal effect on your overall health and mindset.
*I highly recommend Kate at Integrated Healing Studio for MediCupping. Connect with her today and tell her Tracey sent you.