1. WE MUST LEARN TO BE EFFECTIVE CARETAKERS OF THE BODIES WE HAVE BEEN GIFTED

I do not have a medical degree. I had no idea what Lyme disease was. I wasn’t a food chemist, and I hadn’t been to school for nutrition (yet!). I was an everyday person: a wife and a mother, a daughter, a sister and a friend, who was really given no other option than to start problem solving or accept my circumstances. I made finding out about my health a priority in order to get to where I wanted to go. I believe every single human being has that capability.

2. DON’T EVER LET ANYONE TELL YOU NO

Because it will always be you living with the consequences of someone else’s limitations, and that rarely serves us well.

3. LOOKING FOR ANSWERS

Today I can tell you that for me there was no singular answer. Lyme disease brought a constellation of symptoms that were multi layered and multi systemic in my body. And Lyme, as a diagnosis, was one piece of a bigger healing puzzle. It was with patience (that’s something I had to learn) and consistency as I addressed my body AND my mind one.piece.at.a.time that I got myself and my body to where I’m standing today. And truthfully, a half-hearted, half-baked approach can really only ever achieve half hearted, half way results. SO, one of the first things you have to decide for yourself is how badly you want to get well? How far are you willing to go? Then it’s time to do the work. But what work? Was my next question. It’s not always easy to know which work to do. And you can work as hard as you want to, if it’s in the wrong direction it’s still not going to get you where you’re aiming to go. That’s where strategy and efficiency becomes important.

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Healing is multi-layered. If you’ve become chronically unwell there are undoubtedly several bodily systems breaking down and causing symptoms. I had been addressing my gut health, migraines, hormonal imbalances and a myriad of other bodily disparities for several years before I went anywhere near killing the spirochetes that had set up residence in my body. That evolved and was the direct result of a combination of factors. One was the fact that, being the great mimicker, lots of other diagnoses had to be ruled out before we got to infectious diseases or consideration of an infection. Another was the fact that Lyme is not easily diagnosed in Australia. And the third was the fact that I was lucky (and will be eternally grateful) to have some exceptional Doctors on my medical team that were treating and supporting my body systematically and as a whole. That is why my practice focuses on working with your doctors as part of your healing team. A great doctor or two are worth their weight in gold in the realm of acute care. 

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When it comes to the human body I believe all systems are related and can influence each other in both positive and negative ways. Very few symptoms are ‘random’. If you’re noticing something not working right in your body there’s a reason. The cause, and its subsequent treatment, may be simple or it may turn out to be a more complex answer but there’s ALWAYS a reason. And just because it’s ‘common’ doesn’t make it ‘normal’ either. My husband had been telling me it wasn’t normal for me to be that tired and that I needed to go to the doctor YEARS before was diagnosed with Lyme disease. At the time, I responded with something along the lines of: “Of course I’m tired! I’ve got two small children and my husband is at work all the time!” And kept on keeping on. Sound familiar? In retrospect, I’m not sure I would have been physically resilient enough to get through a thorough Lyme treatment from the place that I had ultimately deteriorated to without taking that time in the lead up to rebuild minerals, nutrients and support hormone issues that had developed over time. It takes a long time to get that sick. And it’s going to take time to get better. But I’m far enough down the road now to tell you it can be done. We can heal.