I hit a milestone today! (Good News)

I had my last physical therapy appointment today! I've been seeing my PT for the past 3 months for 18 sessions. When I started my legs and arms were not nearly as strong as they had been for the past year since I'd fallen ill. Walking up a flight of stairs would make my legs feel heavy, and running a mile would leave my legs feeling wobbly with the strain afterwards.

Well, I'm happy to say that after months of strength exercises, stretches, and a whole lot of effort, I'm so much stronger in my legs and arms that my PT graduated me from our therapy sessions! She told me to continue my exercises into the foreseeable future and to come back if I develop new physical problems, but that she's really impressed with how much I've improved since my evaluation a few months ago. I'm really happy to have gotten a lot of my physical abilities back, though they aren't quite back to 100% yet. But they're improving, so I'm going to keep up the work.

As a bonus she also showed me some upper back stretches that really helped with lingering stiffness I was having in those muscles. That alone would have been worth the visits.

For those of you who are feeling weak or have muscle stiffness or pains you can't seem to get rid of, I hope you'll consider seeing a physical therapist! They usually offer complimentary screens to see if they can help you.


I'm still working through a few other issues (some recurring headaches and tingling/pains in my feet) but apart from those I'm doing much better these days. Continuing to work my way onto the final few herbs of the Buhner protocol for Lyme+Bart, and will be taking them for the next few/several months to gauge progress. Keeping my fingers crossed I'll keep improving, but if not then I'll re-evaluate then with my LLMD.

Just wanted to share a positive update. Still have some rough days here and there, especially on busy work days when I'm travelling, but doing better overall.

Thanks! I wanted to share my progress with you all. I stay have a ways to go in some other areas, but the improvement in my strength and stiffness has been very nice. Can't get lax about it now, though, gotta keep working hard and remembering to take all of the vitamins and herbs at the right times! It can be hard to fit in all of it, especially during busy days, but I'm managing so far.

I've been treating since January'17, started with 6 months of antibiotics. In August I started the buhner protocol after a month off, and I've been adding things in since then one at a time. I'm almost on everything now, but it'll be a while until I know for sure if it's working or not. I still have a few herbs to start.

I've made improvements gradually, none of it really involved drastic or sudden changes in how I felt. A lot of two steps forward, one step backwards. I plan on taking the full Buhner protocol for Lyme+Bart for 3 months. If I haven't made significant progress on my remaining symptoms or if I feel like I've gotten worse, my LLMD and I will talk about adding some antibiotics back into the mix. Hopefully they aren't necessary, though. The last month or two on anitbiotics I didn't make much progress and they started bothering my stomach, so that's plan B at this point.

It definitely hasn't been a fast road, and my tingling/pain in my feet still bothers me sometimes, but I've learned how to manage it. So for the foreseeable future I'll be taking Buhner herbs, continuing my PT exercises, and taking it easy outside of work.

I got bit in May'17 when I was out hiking in the woods (we think). CDC test was negative a month or two later, I was tested for like a hundred things cause no one could figure out what was wrong with me. Everything seemed fine with bloodwork, but my doctors knew I wasn't well so we kept looking. Eventually I ended up reaching out to an LLMD after my cousin's family shared their Lyme experience (my cousin was sick for two years with Lyme+babs when she was 9). And so I was diagnosed in January'18. So roughly 6 months from the onset of symptoms to diagnosis. Longer than some, shorter than others.

HeartsinPain said...
Thanks for that. I started my very first treatment yesterday. My bite was in late July. So I’m about three months from the onset but have had a lot of issues already. Hearing your story gives me hope! Thank you!

That's really quick HeartsinPain...I'm sure it will be a speedy recovery for you. I believe I was bit back in Dec '17 and finally started treatment around July '18 and now I'm almost 3 months into treatment and have made some gradual improvements as well although nowhere near 100% and still not able to work at the moment =\.

Noah,
That's great news!! Thanks for sharing.

Did your insurance cover PT, and did your doctor refer you, or did you do it on your own and pay out of pocket?

PT would probably do me a lot of good. I'm pretty stiff and have joint and muscle stiffness and weakness and can't do stairs without suffering. I'm not very good at doing things like that on my own. I would likely benefit from the structure of PT.

Great news!

Its good that regular PT worked for you, your lucky.

More proof that length of infection time must make a difference in ease of muscle recovery.

I had about 250 PT sessions and maybe even more Chiro sessions in 12 years before I looked into various forms tissue release. None of the "normal/conventional" PT's and Chiros knew what to do with my ridged muscles and fascia.