Ahhh is it Herx or something else

I was trying to avoid caffeine/stimulants for a while to see how I did, but I ended up just making some hot cacao with maple syrup and salt.

Helped take the edge off:

https://www.blbchronicpain.co.uk/news/chocolate-crps-chronic-pain/

Things started going down hill in September. So really about a month or so, I think, that I’ve been feeling poorly.

A couple years ago a had what may have been a Herx that lasted I would say a couple months at least (very bad physical pain), and then all of a sudden started feeling inflammation being switched off in my body, almost like a switch, something had changed, and then by the end of it, over the course of 2 weeks of steady improvement day to day, I was maybe 95% back to my old self.

So… this experience gives me hope that what I am experiencing is a Herx that will lead to something good. Unfortunately, I back slid last time I got to 95%, which makes this so tricky. Even if I get to nearly perfect health again, I will always be afraid of something throwing me off balance and causing all my symptoms to return.

I did a mold test at one point and it was negative, so I don’t think that it is part of my issue… for me, more likely history of Lyme and then later a bout of food poinsioning/life stressors and then Cipro and other antibiotics for the salmonella, and then C Diff which the Cipro caused while getting rid of the salmonella. Thankfully no mold that I’m aware of… but definitely gut issues/joint pain/fatigue/poor sleeps and energy… been trying to find the root for a while and maybe it’s mitochondrial damage from the antibiotics or something. Lately I’m trying to focus on mitochondrial health by doing Thiamine and supporting nutrients for a while to see if I can switch the metabolism into a more healthy state (they say thiamine can actually switch metabolism from a catabolic state to an anabolic state (from breaking things down to survive to building stronger—see Chandler Marrs, Derrick Lonsdale, and Elliot Overton)… maybe heal the vagus nerve assuming that has probably been assaulted from all the stress my body has been through while giving the body proper nutrients to gain the energy it needs to overcome illness, which is likely the result of some sort of energy deficit. That’s my hunch. The hard part is how to get the body to become an energy powerhouse again after being damaged by environmental stimuli to the point that it goes into survival mode and has trouble switching off the inflammation and survival geared responses…