Every now and then, I look at what I’m doing and I ask if I’m really getting better. This spring has been so hard that I often wonder if I’ve cursed myself by taking vaccines or even going at the Lyme infection by triggering it. I guess the only way to find out if the coil machine works is to keep using it and getting it right some of the time.
It’s been a hard two months since I got back from visiting my sister’s family. I was already sicker than I was at Christmas, the previous time I had taken a coiling break. January was sort of magical. After a little bit of coiling, I had no Lyme symptoms and no Babesia symptoms. Then I woke the beast. First I did it by eating eggs. I had small flares that went away within a few days of coiling. The visit to my sister was after the first round of vaccinations. It took longer for the changes in my immune system to trigger the three tick-borne infections I carry (Lyme, Bartonella and Babesia), but trigger it did. It also took longer for me to recognize the symptoms and treat them. I wasn’t back to my January freedom from pain and fatigue, when I took my coiling break.
At the end of March, I took the last of the vaccinations. I haven’t been well since then. I didn’t realize how much worse the vaccination could make me. I was so tired for so long. I had more Lyme symptoms, mostly neurological. The Babesia came back, mostly in the form of extreme fatigue. And the Bartonella got worse, despite increased coiling, after having been getting less and less severe.
Babesia
So, in my last post, I talked about containing the Babesia. I did alright. After a week of full-body coils, I was able to take off for a week. But it is starting to come back. I had energy on Monday, so I went to a yoga class. I’ve been tired all day again since then. Tired enough that I don’t want to do anything but sit on the couch and knit. I’m out of focus and utterly drained.
As of today I’m back on the full-body coiling for Babesia. I’m hoping that 3 weeks will be enough to get rid of the active infection.
Revisiting Lyme
Starting in September 2011, I’ve been using a Lyme coiling protocol of 3 minutes on each part of my body at 432Hz, with extra time on a few key locations (abdomen, liver, spleen, sacrum). At first I did it over the course of the week. Then over the course of two days, once per week. Then I started doing my whole body in a single day once a week. I only did this after the herxes became minimal, even without all the detoxing activities. Soon I found myself doing it every three days.
Based on personal observations, I strongly believe that the Lyme bacteria reproduce slowly in the human host, once they reach critical mass at which point the colony has the capacity to resist die-offs. At that level, the herxes are ugly and coiling only needs to happen once a week.
Once the bacterial load is smaller, I think it reproduces faster, which is why the symptoms flare up more often as I get better. Coiling more frequently makes sense. As long as I coil more often that the bacteria can replace themselves, I see improvement.
All of this doesn’t help with the dormant bacteria. I know there is a dormant load. I trigger it by accident sometimes (stress, a bad night’s sleep, etc.). I also triggered it on purpose, by cutting out my antioxidant supplements, by eating certain foods that give me a reaction, by taking vaccines. Then the dormant cyst form wakes up and attempts to recolonize my body with active Lyme.
Once again, as long as I coil more often and kill the bacteria faster than they can reproduce, I come out ahead.
I’ve been doing that with the three minutes every 3-4 days since I took the vaccine. But somehow, certain symptoms just wouldn’t go away. In particular, the ones generated by my central nervous system were making me crazy. Besides fatigue and the need to sleep 12+ hours a day, I had the sensation of insects crawling up and down my shins, and sometimes my arms, too. Then there is a dull ache, sometimes with tingling or other skin sensations on the entire right side of my body. Then there are the hot spots that appear on my palms and the soles of my feet…and the random, sharp, short-lived pains anywhere on my body, but especially my head. All CNS generated. So what am I doing about it?
Adding to the CNS symptoms, I had a semi-permanent pain in my ribcage on the right side. Enough to drive me to distraction.
My solution was to coil my head and spine (7 locations), my liver, abdomen, and spleen, for 5 minutes, and my heart for 3 minutes, every day for Lyme. I’m on day 5. Already the skin sensations are gone. I’m going to keep going, though, for at least ten days. Then after that, I may continue at 3 minutes on my head and spine, abdomen and heart, every day. (The only reason to decrease the time is so that I can get back to Bartonella.) I’ll continue coiling the rest of my body every 3-4 days.
I’d really like to get rid of the spine pain in the morning and the dull ache on the right side of my body. Both of those come with Lyme flares, but also with Lyme herxes. They are the only clues I have left that I’m herxing as a result of the CNS coiling program. I’ll keep going for as long as I can.
Bartonella on the Back Burner
All I was really hoping for this spring was to get to the end of the Bartonella infection. I was pretty aggressive with it for quite a while. Unfortunately, I can’t do all three infections at the level needed to make progress on all three. Since Bartonella has the most tolerable symptoms, it has to wait.
For now, I’m prioritizing Lyme and Babesia. I’m hoping that by the third week in June, when I take my next scheduled coiling break (to visit my parents in NYC), I’ll be done with the Lyme and Babesia symptoms. I’d like to go back to coiling for Bartonella most of the time and occasionally for Lyme, to keep the symptoms from coming back.
Shouldering the Infections
My shoulders are still a hot spot. I knew this before I went to a yoga class on Monday. Coiling my shoulder knobs has brought me the good kind of grief, the bigger herxes, the localized pain and stiffness, that the rest of my joints have already gone through and are on the other side of. I knew that there was still somewhere in my body where active Lyme and Bartonella were in reserve. I suspected it might be my central nervous system. Well, it is, but it turns out my shoulders still have an untapped reserve. I’m still paying attention, with the coil machine, to my shoulders, because they may be the key to finding an end to these illnesses.
After yoga, my shoulders were the only part of my body that had the out-of-control pain I used to get in all my joints after yoga classes. To my relief, my hips and sacrum weren’t on fire the next morning. They felt stretched but not irritated. Yippee!!! My shoulders, on the other hand, were aching and sore and stiff, and still are, today, Thursday! So I know there is more to go.
Menstrual Success
I’ve stayed on DIM for over 6 months now. After one late period, I’m back on track. I have only normal menstrual problems, cramps, mild headache, somnolence. Wow. What a difference. The most recent cycle was a reminder that even though I feel worse again, I haven’t completely screwed up by using big triggers against the Lyme infection. The Lyme hasn’t regained its hold of all my bodily systems. I feel bad, I’m in more pain and I’m more tired. But I haven’t lost control of my entire hormonal system, the way I had for so many years, even before I knew that my problems stemmed from Lyme.
Considering Cortisol
My weight, however, is starting to inch up again. I’m not sure how to respond, or if I can. I know I need more exercise. I’m doing better on eating a reasonable diet, not too carb soaked, low on sugar, usually enough protein. But my weight has me looking again at dysregulated cortisol.
I read more about cortisol recently and I’m wondering if the long term stress of fighting these chronic infections without antibiotics has put a strain on my adrenals.
Once I read enough to think the answer is yes, I started wondering if I should do anything about it or just let it go for now. I’m nervous about resetting my system too strongly and putting the Lyme back into cyst form. But I’m also worried about forcing my body to deal with damages from unresolved problems piling up as I do nothing.
For the short term, I’ve decided to do a little something, but not much: I’m eating small quantities of very dark chocolate (87% cacao) every morning. That is the mildest intervention I could find.
When I take my next coiling break, I’ll used either Siberian Ginseng or Licorice in the mornings to keep my cortisol up and give my adrenals a break. By then, hopefully, I’ll have routed the current crop of active Lyme using the coil machine, and I won’t be adding to the reservoir of cysts.
Categories: healing process, Herx reactions, using the coil machine
Tags: babesia, bartonella, lyme, yoga
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Coiling for Lyme 