To Those struggling with chronic lyme
Today I want to speak to those of you struggling with chronic Lyme symptoms. I know you have gone through every imaginable treatment plan, taken hundreds of supplements, antibiotics, gone to body workers, tried all the modalities from holistic to the Western Medicine model…
You've done all the therapeutic diets, made all the lists, used calendars and tracking apps to track your symptoms, meds, and your habits. You have missed so many activities in an effort to take care of yourself and manage your energy output. AND, you’ve worked to manage the balance of getting exercise as well as rest. You've done your very best and have tried so hard to get well, and yet you're still suffering. Maybe some things have helped, maybe you are better than you were, but the symptoms are persistent. Probably you are at the point of believing that you will need to manage symptoms indefinitely.
I want to offer you a different option to consider. Perhaps these physical symptoms that you're experiencing have not responded to physical treatments because the answer is really in treating your brain and spirit. As Nicole Sachs says: “The problem is not in your head, but the solution is not in your body.” You aren’t making this up. You are physically suffering, and it is having real-life impact; AND the solution is not in treating the body but in treating the brain and your nervous system.
Here are some questions that turned my life around when I finally asked them of myself (I, too, suffered from what was diagnosed as chronic Lyme):
What if you are already well?
What if your body has already kicked the virus and coinfections?
What if your brain has learned the pattern of illness, and what if your symptoms are both a memory and a prediction of what it feels like to be ill?
What if you are caught in chronic fight/flight/freeze/fawn mode?
I think for most of us this can a challenging question to ask, and potentially off-putting – it can put us on the defensive because how many times have we been told that we are FINE, meanwhile we can’t eat, think, or get out of bed, etc. I get it. But what is true is that our bodies are designed to heal; they know what to do with viruses; antibacterials work when we take them; herbal remedies are extremely effective; many of the treatment modalities we use are brilliant… Most of you have done all you can do for your body, but what about your brain and its neuropathways?
The brain not only plays a “big part” in what we experience physically — it IS THE ORIGIN of all of our physical experiences! Helping the neuropathways in the brain UNLEARN the symptom story is necessary for full recovery. The reason why most symptoms go from acute to chronic is because the brain has made associations and has created a fast-track response that does not always automatically update once the original root cause (illness, injury, trauma, etc) is gone and has healed; it is continuing to receive information that there is danger, usually from continuing behavioral and thought patterns that perpetuates the belief that we are NOT OKAY. The professionals studying all of this agree that post-viral syndromes such as Chronic Lyme and Long Covid and Chronic Mono fit the bill as neuroplastic conditions. This is amazing news because it means there is hope of full recovery! The very meaning of “neuroplastic” means that the pathways can be changed!
If any of this sparks your interest, I encourage you to look up resources that talk about neuroplastic pain and symptoms. (It’s also referred to as TMS, Mind-Body Syndrome, and PPD – Psychophysiologic Disorder). The research is growing, and more and more practitioners are finding that addressing the brain instead of the body is freeing their patients and clients from the grips of their chronic, persistent emotional and physical suffering.
I have so much hope for you. Even now while your symptoms aren't going anywhere, I know that there is hope for you to live a full life FREE of chronic symptoms. You do not have to just manage or survive. You can be revived and thrive!