On May 5th, 2012, I was bitten by a tick. After that, my life was irrevocably changed in more ways than I ever thought were possible. In honor of how far I’ve come on this roller coaster that is life, I figured that I would write up an informational post about what Lyme even is and what to do about those pesky ticks that will be (and already are) everywhere this year. So here we go. Wait, let’s talk about ticks? Ticks are weird. And creepy. You know why? Because they’re arachnids. Yeah, you know. Like spiders. CREEPY. Ticks are tricky because there are literally hundreds of different kinds and ..read more

If you’ll remember, a few posts ago I wrote about the amazing work that Paula Jackson Jones and Angele Rice are doing at the Midcoast Lyme Disease Support & Education; a Lyme disease awareness organization here in Maine. Their endless capacity to continue to show support and spread awareness is only outmatched by their incredible ability to put on an event. That’s right, folks. In this wild world of Lyme disease, we can have fun, too. This Saturday, April 29th, MLDSE will be hosting their 3rd annual conference for all things Lyme related. This event is free–though donations are accepted–an ..read more

There comes a moment in the life of every person who is chronically sick where you need to decided how you’re going to survive. That moment came to me last fall. It suddenly became very clear to me that there was a very real chance that I may never get better. That I would wrestle with this disease off and on-sometimes winning, sometimes losing in a very real way-for the rest of my life. And I couldn’t let that stop me from creating a life for myself, a life that I could enjoy, one that would fulfill me and one that I could extract pure happiness from. I started small by setting a goal: go bac ..read more

There is no cure for Lyme disease. And there is great controversy and medical division surrounding diagnosis and treatment options. Medical professionals who treat Lyme often don’t work with health insurance, thus treatments and initial testing can become astronomically expensive. There are still many in the medical community at large that won’t even give Chronic Lyme disease the time of day. The CDC is still eons behind on the protocols and practices that they advertise on their website. There are still people across the whole country-heck, the whole world- who don’t know what to do when ..read more

Well, it’s 2017. 2017! I wish there was a way to capitalize numbers. Let’s try this: TWO THOUSAND SEVENTEEN! How was that? Do you feel the impact of it? The newness of it? It’s that time of the year, the very beginning, when everything feels fresh. You get to do everything for the first time again; first cup of coffee of 2017, first shower of 2017, first hug, first car ride, first disappointment, first round of medications. For those of us who live with a chronic illness, today is perhaps just a tedious reminder that we now need to remember to write the date correctly, again, on all of the med ..read more

Believe me, I know what it’s like to feel that heavy, perpetual weight of chronic illness on your back. I know how it feels to put that label on like a coat and hide within it. I know what it’s like when you feel as if you’re about to become completely smothered by the monstrous mass of it all. I know. But there is a light because with awareness comes clarity. So you feel crappy, and it’s the holiday’s- what can I do to help you feel better about yourself and your life? Here we go. The first thing that needs to happen is you need to acknowledge you hurt. Life is hard. You have a chronic illnes ..read more

The term Lyme Warrior, much like the term Spoonie, has become a household name given to those of us (by us) who suffer from Lyme disease. We call ourselves warriors because having a chronic illness is a battle. Every day, a battle. A long, drawn out, uphill battle that we spend most of our time on- what feels like -the losing side. Due to the elusive physical evidence of Lyme disease, it has been dubbed an “invisible illness’’. That alone creates such debilitating emotional and societal hurdles in the daily life of those of us who suffer that we often feel unwanted, misunderstood, overwhelmed ..read more

Everybody has their own opinions about what treatment protocol is best, or what they believe is the correct way to treat Lyme disease. This post is not about me pushing my beliefs onto you, but about outlining the different types and some of the most popular forms of treatments to help you better understand the options that are out there. As I’ve said before, patients need to be their own advocates, and the best way to do that is to be as informed about your situation as you can possibly be. If you click on over to the CDC website for Lyme treatment you will find a short list of antibiotics an ..read more

As I was beginning my research and gathering information for what will now be my next post (on Lyme treatments and protocols) I realized that some of the information would be much better understood if I first prefaced it with a full Lyme and associated coinfections overview. How fun does that sound? Here we go. What is Lyme disease? Lyme disease is a bacterial infection. More often than not, Lyme disease is acquired via the bite of an infected deer tick. Though cases of Lyme have been reported in all states, the Northwest and Upper Midwest are most largely affected by the growing epidemic. A t ..read more

In the world of Lyme disease there is a little thing called the Herxheimer reaction. It is something that is extremely prevalent and affects a countless number of people, yet is still largely counted as a mystery by many patients and doctors alike. So, what even is the Herxheimer reaction? And why is it such a pain in my ass? But first, some history: In the late 1800’s/early 1900’s there were two Dermatologists/bacterial researchers. One, an Austrian-Adolph Jarisch-and the other, a German-Karl Herxheimer. While studying the affects of Syphilis on patients during treatment, the two first observ ..read more