Chronic Triathlete

Starting Herbs Now Too...

A few weeks ago I started seeing a Chinese Medicine doctor and acupuncturist. Her name is Karen Vaughan and she's thankfully located only a short distance from me — finally a doc I don't have to drive far to get to... not that going into Manhattan to see Dr. R. is all that far, but it's a hassle.

To date I've seen her twice. At our first session we mostly talked. I gave her my Lyme story and she laid out her thoughts and background in treating people with the illness. She's worked with several sufferers with great success (she says). Her herbal mentor, who's name escapes me but wasn't anyone I'd heard of, was one of the pioneers in treating Lyme with herbs (she says). I need to get his name and look him up to verify what she's saying, but in general, I trust what she's told me so far.

First session
During the first session I got an herbal/acupuncture 101 class. She did a basic acupuncture treatment on me. I'd never had acupuncture before and it actually hurt more than I was expecting. Not a lot and certainly less than some of the blood taking experiences I've had, but I felt it. She also gave me a tincture (medium-sized bottle shown) to help my worst symptom, brain fog. I'm to take one dropper full (approx. 20 drops) 3x a day. This includes:

• Rosemary - Not exactly sure why this is in there. Didn't really see anything about it working with Lyme, but it's a pretty standard herb so I'm not worried about taking it.
• Ocimum - Couldn't find a link-worthy page for this one, but I did see lots of reference to it being an antibacterial agent. Also saw some reference to it being a treatment in India for Malaria, so there you go. 
• Cimicifuga  - Wikipedia tells me the name means "bedbug repeller" in some language. Nothing surprises me anymore.
• Horseradish - I did a snort-laugh at this when she told me, but a quick Google turned up a bunch of technical documents that, as far as I could tell, said that B. Burgdorferi reacts poorly to it.

Additionally, she gave me a little aroma therapy mixture (tiny-sized bottle shown) to sniff whenever I'm feeling "foggy". This seems absurd to me, but I make a point to leave it on my desk and take a whiff whenever I remember. If nothing else it seems to work like smelling salts. I get a little perk off it. Inside it has:

• Rosemary (again)
• Linalool - It smells kinda minty

Second session

In our second session, she did a "raindrop" treatment on my back. Aside from being rather relaxing and leaving my skin feeling nice and soft (and smelling like Italian dressing) I didn't notice any results. Not that I really expected to after only one treatment... I'm just saying. Anyway, I wasn't really there for the needles and oils. What I started seeing her for was her knowledge of Chinese herbal medicine.

Between the 1st and 2nd appointment I had emailed her a list of all the supplement and pharma things I'd been taking. This allowed her to better refine and customize her "prescriptions". Here's what I ended up getting. I'm to start with one dropper full (approx. 40 drops) 3x a day for two weeks and then move up to two droppers:

• Sarasparilla - An old fashioned treatment for Syphilis, so there you go again. BTW, I recall that the Smurfs liked to eat Sarsaparilla leaves. I'll leave any connection there to the reader's imagination.
• Andrographis - One of the core herbs in the Buhner protocol
• Stillingia - Another treatment for Syphilis
• Flower Extract - She was a little vague on this one. Flower power? 
• Guaco - An antidote for scorpion and "serpent" bites. Oh, and a Syphilis treatment as well. 

And how's all that going for you?

I half-heartedly started the brain fog mixture right after the first session. Other than it tasting like a combo of lighter fluid and bourbon with a cigarette butt thrown in for texture I notice nothing good, bad or otherwise. It seriously may be the worst tasting thing I've ever voluntarily consumed.

After the second session I started the Lyme tincture very slowly. It too tastes like poison. I did one dose a day for a couple of days to see what it did to me, but I really didn't feel anything other than a burning in my stomach like I'd just chugged some rubbing alcohol. So, after 3 days I moved up to 3x a day. That's when it all started to hit me. I've felt like ass since Tuesday (it's Friday morning now). It's gotta be a herx.

Everything's jacked up. My head feels completely hollow yet over stuffed at the same time. My head is so foggy that I had to defer driving my daughter to school today over to my wife. I did a little driving of the Audi yesterday and felt kind of moderately safe. However, there's no way I would have ridden the Ducati. This is rare for me because I often, weird as it may seem, sort of come together when I drive... especially the bike. It really focuses me and I tune out all the noise in my head. So to not even be able to drive the car today is major impairment for me.

In addition to the above, I have little muscle aches and stiffness all over — something that I very rarely get — and the right side of my face is feeling a little frozen — though you can't see it when looking at me. I also itch all over like when I started the Mepron, but I don't have a rash. Good times!

What's next?

I was really skeptical about the herbal route, but this reaction — assuming it fades over the next few days like my other pharma-induced herxes have — is telling me that there's something to it. I see Karen, as well as Dr. R., again next week. I'm interested to see what Dr. R. has to say about the herbs. When I've asked him about them in the past he's encouraged me to look into it, but didn't really offer any guidance.

40 Pills A Day

Every Sunday night I set up and organize my pharma and supplement needs for the upcoming week. It's a chore that's getting more and more time consuming and I've really grown to hate it. I use to enjoy the organizational aspect of it. I felt like I was being "proactive" in my recovery and that my attention to detail was all worthwhile. Unfortunately, as the weeks and months have dragged on it's become about as interesting as washing the dishes.

Still, I know that this may be of interest to people so I thought I'd share what goes into my week of 40+ pills a day. Some of this has changed since I took the included photos (and it may change drastically now that I've started seeing a Chinese herbalist), but here's what I'm taking currently.

I always use to equate big pill trays with old people. I feel like my Grandmother when filling this up.

Morning (Just before or an hour after eating)

• Mepron 1tbs
• Zithromax 250mg
• Minocyclin 200mg
• Diflucan 100mg

Lunch (Just before or an hour after eating)

• Basic Preventative x3
• BrainWave Plus x3
• Cordyceps 500mg X2
• Cardio Guard Plus with CoQ10 x3
• Olive Leaf Extract 250 mg x1
• Glutathione 400 x1
• Chlorella 300mg x1
• Primadophilus Bifidus x1
• Sacchromyces Boulardii x1
• Culturelle w/ Lactobacilius x1

Afternoon (Snack-time between lunch and dinner)

• Samento 13 drops
• GSE 13 drops

Evening (Couple hours after dinner)

• Mepron 1tbs
• Zithromax 250mg
• Minocyclin 200mg
• Diflucan 100mg

Late Night (Same as above list. I always wake up at some point in the evening so I use the opportunity to take some supplements)

• Basic Preventative x3
• BrainWave Plus x3
• Cordyceps 500mg X2
• CoQ10 200mg x2
• Olive Leaf Extract 250 mg x1
• Glutathione 400 x1
• Chlorella 300mg x1
• Primadophilus Bifidus x1
• Sacchromyces Boulardii x1
• Culturelle w/ Lactobacilius x1

Of course, I don't always manage to fit all of these in everyday. Some days I forget to take my supplements with me when I go out. Other days my food and pharma schedule gets in the way. Taking things on an empty stomach away from pharma is best, but when you're constantly hungry, and trying not to loose any more weight, food time is all the time. That said, I do, almost without exception, take my pharama stuff every day. I figure that if I have to choose between missing pharmas or supplements that I should skip the latter.

Storing all of these plus the half-empty bottles of antibiotics that my LLMD prescribed, but later switched has become a small challenge too. I've taken over a whole drawer in the kitchen pantry for the stuff that doesn't need to be refrigerated.  Everything has to be kept up high so that my 4 year old daughter doesn't help herself to Daddy's "vitamins".

There are actually a few more in there now.

Kicking Candida's Ass - Part 2

In part one I talked briefly about what Candida is and why it’s an issue for me. In this part I’ll share with you the pharmaceutical and natural treatments I’m taking to combat it.

Dude, I’m on drugs!
My LLMD has me on a single pharmaceutical — Fluconazole (aka Diflucan) for yeast. I had been taking Nystatin previous to seeing him, but he says Diflucan is much better at clearing things out. As I understand it, Nystatin only works in the intestinal tract and is poorly absorbed into the body as a whole. Diflucan, on the other hand, is absorbed systemically and can hit the yeast wherever it may be in the body.

When I started Diflucan, I definitely noticed a herx. My brainfog and fatigue got quite a bit worse. This was due to the toxins that are released by the die-off of the yeast organisms and I expected this. However, I was a little disappointed when it didn't abate after a few weeks. This caused me to start really looking into Candida infections and how to go beyond just using drugs in their management. Or, better said, how to plan an assault on my yeast that attacked it from several directions at once.

Would you please pass the Organic Juniper Berry Extract?
On the flip side of the pharma coin, I'm also using herbs to control my Candida. I'm still working on refining this aspect of treatment, but I believe that I've already zeroed in on some things that are helping me:

Grapefruit Seed Extract
Grapefruit seed extract (GSE) is known in the health food and alternative healthcare communities as a strong combatant against bacterial, yeast and even viral infections. It's easy to take, my stomach tolerates it without a problem and it's non-toxic (at the correct dosage).

Of course, like with everything to do with this stupid illness, I take the claims of GSE with a grain of salt. There are many people out there that tout its abilities, but there are a few that site a couple of specific studies that say it's all bogus. *Sigh* I can only comment from my personal experience which has been positive. I take 10-15 drops in 12oz of water once a day. I usually use Lemon/Lime seltzer water because the taste of GSE is pretty bitter. The seltzer seems to cut the bitterness.

Samento (aka. Cat's Claw)
Cat's Claw is a curious little plant. Used for centuries by Peruvians and other indigenous cultures of South and Central America it has found new life in modern alternative medicine. Widely used in conditions ranging from HIV to cancer to Lupus it's just about anti-everything. It is said to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer and anti-viral properties. You name it and Cat's Claw is said to kill it. This also includes Candida.

The trick with using it is that it's wickedly potent. The recommended dosage is 15 drops in 8oz of water. Before I started taking it I'd read accounts of people having massive herxes off it so I started slow. For my first trial I mixed 3 drops into my daily herbal tea (see below). All was fine so the next day I decided to push it a little and up it to 10 drops. Serious mistake! The next day was one of my worst ever. My head felt like it was going to explode and my brain fog pushed up to a 9 on my daily symptom chart.

If you decide to try this proceed with caution. I backed all the way down to 3 drops daily for a week. The following I upped it to 4 for a week. Then 5 and so on.

Herbal Teas
So while killing off the yeast with Diflucan and GSE is a good thing, it has it’s own ramifications — I now have a bunch of dead yeast floating around inside my body. The body can only absorb and remove so much of the deceased yeast so it’s important to help it along with some detoxification aids. There are a variety of all-natural things you can use to do this. I prefer herbal teas.

There are a wide variety of herbs that are said to be good at ridding the body of impurities. I’m not big on doing a ton of research to figure out exactly which ones do what so I kinda go with a shotgun approach. I drink 2 to 3 big cups of detox themed herbal tea every day. Out of the different brands I’ve tried, I like Yogi Teas the best (I’m a sucker for nice packaging). The Detox flavor has a blend of all the herbs people who know more about herbs than I do say are good for detoxification. And it tastes good. That’s good enough for me.

I also drink 1 or 2 cups of green tea. I think by now everyone knows that green tea is a powerful antioxidant and free-radical sweeper. Yogi Tea has several varieties, but I just go for the Simply Green Tea flavor and add my own natural lemon juice. Strict yeast diets say to stay away from caffeine, but I find that really hard to do. I’ve also read some negative things about the decaffeination process so I prefer to drink it, but in moderation. I’ve cut way back on my coffee — to none or one small cup a day — but after lunch I’ve always needed a little something to hold off the post-lunch food coma. Green tea gets me going and feels healthier than coffee.

Is it working?
I think it is. I recently switched up my antibiotics and have been having some mega-herx symptoms that eclipse any improvement, but previous to that I was starting to notice a reduction in my brain fog and an over all upswing in my energy level. I’m sure some of this is due to the herbal treatments, but I believe that what’s really helping me the most is the changes I’ve made in my diet. I’ll go over that mess in the next post.

Kicking Candida's Ass - Part 1

This started out to be a quick post on what I’m doing to combat Candida and yeast, but it soon spiraled into a lengthy essay. To make it easier to read I’m going to break it up into three parts. In this, the first segment, I’ll quickly cover Candidiasis and why I’m having an issue with it. Then, in the subsequent posts, I’ll report on the different things I’m doing to deal with it and provide some links for your own research. I hope you find it helpful.

My LLMD is of the opinion that the root of my brain fog is Candidiasis — a systemic infection of Candida albicans. Seeing as my foggy head is really my most annoying symptom I'm trying to take this aspect of my treatment as seriously as I am my fight against Lyme. I always thought yeast was an… um… woman’s problem, but I’ve been enlightened to the fact that it can be an issue for anyone.

What is Candidiasis? I can’t even pronounce it.
Candida albicans are a natural strain of yeast that from an endosymbiosis (save that word for Scrabble) with the body to neutralizes a certain species of gut bacteria. It is very useful in the body when it is found in low concentrations because it helps maintain ideal intestinal flora levels. This maintenance is the normal, healthy function of Candida albicans.

However, the use of antibiotics, even for a short time, can throw off the happy harmony in your gut and allow the yeast to reproduce as it pleases. This leads to a dysbiosis in the gut (a state of more bad bacteria than good) that can quickly snowball into a systemic and chronic issue. For Lyme patients who, like me, are taking relatively massive amounts of antibiotics this is a particularly critical in the treatment of our illness.

How do I know if I have a problem?
It's hard to differentiate yeast overgrowth symptoms from the regular Lyme symptoms because they're practically identical, but when yeast starts to get out of hand it can lead to some very common health disorders. These disorders can range from fatigue, possible muscle weakness, sleep disorders, anxiety, headache, depression, rashes and other skin disorders, hives and itching, brain fog, diminished sex drive, muscle and joint pain and chemical sensitivities.

There is a blood test that can test your Candida levels, but my LLMD doesn’t think it’s worth the price of a needle stick. He treats more on symptoms than blood tests. I also had a naturopathic doctor tell me the same thing. I did have a CFS expert test me way back when I thought that was my problem. The test showed a slight elevation, but noting wildly out of control. Of course that was before I started taking antibiotics.

There’s also a spit test that you can do at home. I tried it, but it’s pretty gross and I’m not going to go into it. Seemed like a bunch of bull to me anyway. Google if you’re curious.

What can I do about it?
Of course, like with everything else I'm up against, the treatment is almost as bad as the illness. Fighting Candida involves a treatment trifecta of drugs, herbs, and diet/lifestyle adjustments. The latter being by far the hardest part for me to adapt to. It involves a huge change in just about every aspect of my already pretty healthy diet.

If you’re in treatment for Lyme (or simply taking antibiotics for any other reason) you should seriously be considering addressing yeast during your treatment. It’s vitally important to keep your body as healthy as possible as you fight the spirochetes. I’m still working out what works best for me. I’ll share what I’m doing in my next posts.

31 Vials of Blood

I had my appointment at the Fibromyalgia & Fatigue Clinic (FFC) in Norwalk, CT on Thursday 02.28.08. Interesting experience.

Dr. Maria DiGiovanni is the physician there. I liked her and found her to be a relatively warm person — at least far as doctors go. She sat with me for 45 minutes as I rattled off my story and told her about myself. As I talked she interjected from time to time with information on what's happening biologically with the different symptoms I described. Some of it was a little technical and over my head, but she had a couple of visual aids that helped me understand. During a sidebar on the thyroid she spontaneously drew a picture illustrating why people with CFS often have issues with it. It helped.

Later, she gave me a general overview of what CFS means in the body (very similar to this article). She said that at the FCC they focus on Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum's protocol and believe that CFS is caused by a hypothalamic dysfunction. Through his studies he's come to the opinion that the hypothalamus, being the master switch for the entire endocrine system, suffers a "short circuit" or "blow out" during periods of physical or emotional stress. This could be life stress (job, work, family, etc.) or a physical one (illness, surgery, car accident, etc.). This blow out causes everything to be thrown off and sends the body into a chemical chain reaction resulting in CFS and Fibromyalgia.

I'm simplifying it, but what Dr. D said all pretty much fit with what I've read. So I decided to try out her suggestions. She gave me the following prescriptions and supplements:

• Cortisol - To help balance out my circadian rhythm and sleep better
• Nystatin - For canadida and yeast
• Rest & Restore - It's full of Melatonin and has been really helpful so far
• MitoMax - For mitochondrial health and ATP improvement
• Daily Energy Enfusion - A bunch of vitamins in one powder

All of this seemed well and good. I'm a little skeptical of all the supplements, but I'll try them out and see what happens.

Then she sent me off to the blood guy. He was a nice and comfortably chatty man. As he got me to roll up my sleeve and applied the rubber band tourniquet he pulls out this tray with an entire rack of vials on it.

"Are ya ready for this?" he asks me.

"All of them?!" I reply.

Smearing a slightly sadistic smile on his face he says, "Yep."

31 one vials of blood later I felt like medieval patients must have back when the barber put the leeches on them. Luckily I decided to try one of the FFC's vitamin IVs so I had an hour to sit around in the LazyBoy, listen to my iPod and snack on free crackers before getting in the car to drive back to Brooklyn. In the chair is where I took the picture with my iPhone.

So, all in all, it was a useful and worthwhile trip. I'm taking the supplements and the pharma drugs and they seem to be doing something right. The Melatonin is helping me sleep a little better and the Nystatin is having an effect on the Candida (more on that in a later post). I'll also certainly be getting back the most thorough blood test of my life in a month when I return to see Dr. D again. More news on this as I get it.

Finding New Disciplines

One of the things that I love about training is the discipline of it all. Getting up at 5:30am in February to run, staying on pace for miles and miles or holding form while swimming... the list goes on. Accomplishing these things through a workout or across a training cycle were, in some ways, even more fulfilling to me than going a new distance or setting a new PR. It's this type of accomplishment that, since I'm unable to get out and swim, bike or run much right now, I really feel I'm missing from life.

To fix this, I decided to explore some non-aerobic or non-endurance type activities that required a certain level of skill and discipline. I looked into martial arts classes, taking yoga or pilates, but, after reading an article about cancer patients recovering quicker while doing Tai Chi, I decided to try it out.

I've always been interested in Tai Chi, but never made the time to really learn about it or even understand its principles. Not knowing where to start, and not wanting to join a class where I'd make a fool out of myself, I went to Amazon and looked up Tai Chi DVDs. The top search results gave me a couple of options from the same instructor Ramel Rones. I checked out a few reviews and saw that Ramel really knew his stuff so I bought two of his DVDs — Sunrise Tai Chi: Awaken, Heal and Strengthen Your Mind, Body and Spirit and Sunset Tai Chi: Relax Your Mind, Body and Spirit.

        

One of the ironies of my CFS is that though I'm really tired most of the time, I can't get a decent nights sleep. Most CFS sufferers have the same trouble. I can usually fall asleep easily, but I inevitably wake up 3-4 hours later and then roughly every 1-2 hours after I get back to sleep. It's this frustrating cycle that keeps me from getting in some really rejuvenating stage 3 and 4 sleep. Fortunately, I've found that if I do the Sunset program before going to bed I'm usually able to stretch my initial sleep period to 4-5 hours. I also think I sleep better during that time and get a more restorative sleep. All good things.

I have yet to find a way to work the Sunrise program into my morning. I usually sleep until the last possible minute before I have to get up and go to work. I wish I could get up an extra hour earlier to do some Tai Chi, but hitting the snooze bar is far too easy. So much for being disciplined :-)