He Who Hesitates is Lost

I just read an article reporting that Lyme Disease has become epidemic in our country. While it is found in all 50 states and has even been reported in Europe, most diagnoses are made in the Northeast/New England states.

It has become the fastest growing infectious disease in the United States, infecting more people each year than HIV/AIDS. If Lyme Disease is not caught and treated while in the very earliest stages, it is a devastating disease. It not only causes serious physical damage, but causes mental and emotional anguish as well.

Lyme is not easy to diagnose and many people are misdiagnosed so long that by the time they are properly diagnosed, it is too late. The disease progresses to an advanced stage and can then only be managed as it has already begun causing irreparable damage.

I had a personal experience with this disease several years ago. My dad is an avid golfer. At this time he was in his late 70's and quite active and healthy. My youngest son was graduating from high school. We all slid into the bleachers at the football field on a sweltering late June morning. My dad had a hat on and there were buckets of cold, bottled water being circulated, so he stayed hydrated. Once the ceremony was over he went to one of the enclosures to get out of the sun and heat.

Feeling fine, we all went to my home to begin the graduation celebration. I had trays upon trays of food and guests dropped in continuously for the next five or six hours. My dad ate well and enjoyed the conversation and company. When I called him several days later he said he wasn't feeling very well and thought it was something he ate at the party. Concerned, I asked what his symptoms were. They were bizarre to say the least.

He felt weak during the night and actually had trouble getting out of bed quickly enough to get to the bathroom. Then later in the morning he wanted to go out to buy a paper as he usually did. He told me he "couldn't remember how to get in the car." When pressed to explain more fully, he said it took him about 15 minutes to remember how to get himself into the front seat behind the wheel. Then, once he did, he drove to the deli to get his paper and had the same problem returning home.

That really frightened me because it was obviously more than a stomach bug - it was affecting him mentally. He went to his doctor but because he did not explain his symptoms clearly to the doctor (and the doctor did not ask the right questions - see the previous post!), he diagnosed him with a bladder infection and put him on an antibiotic that caused severe side-effects and of course did not do anything about the cause of the problem.

As God would have it, he had an appointment several days later with his dermatologist to check on a past skin cancer. When the doctor began examining him he noticed the tell-tale bullseye rash on the back of his thigh! My dad, of course, never saw it and when he was with me he had long pants on, not shorts, as he did when he went golfing.

That doctor immediately prescribed the correct antibiotic and my dad was fortunate enough to catch it in this early stage. If he'd had this appointment a few days later, the rash may have already disappeared and he may have gone months until a proper diagnosis was made. I shudder to think what could've resulted. If his symptoms were so dramatic at this stage - I don't want to know what could've happened had he waited.

So, my message to you is this: take precautions to protect yourself from tics, check yourself when you have been outdoors, and investigate any unusual symptoms - regardless of how bizarre they may seem - and do not hesitate!!

Listen to your Gut!

Mothers know their kids better than anyone. I remember when my son, Matt, was small he had one ear infection after another for a time. We were visiting my inlaws at the Jersey shore and he was actually on an antibiotic, yet I was still up with him all night. I called the doctor and said he must have developed a tolerance to that antibiotic. He told me that couldn't be. When we got home and I took him in, sure enough he had a raging ear infection and the antibiotic was not touching it. Score, mom one, doctor zero.

Several years later, Matt was about 9 years old and we were living here in the Hudson Valley in our new home. We have well water here which we'd never had before. Matt began to develop a horrendous cough. You know the type - people would turn around a look at him as if he had typhoid fever and pull their kids away from him. I couldn't blame them - he sounded awful. I took him to our pediatrician who prescribed, what else, an antibiotic and a cough medicine. His cough seemed to improve slightly while he was on the meds and then went right back once we stopped. Took him in again - same story - and same result. She never tried to figure out what might be causing the cough, just sent us out every time with something to suppress the annoying (and embarrassing) symptom and never giving me an answer as to what may be causing it.

I was at my wits end and was praying one morning and asked the Lord to please show me something that would help Matt. Sure enough as I watched a show later that morning a doctor was being interviewed who had written a book about natural ways to deal with sinus and respiratory problems. I just knew the answer was in that book. As it was just before Christmas and we were on kind of a tight budget, I told my husband that all I wanted for Christmas was that book. Being the wonderful man he is, he obliged.

I sat down and began reading and didn't even get past the first chapter. He talked about how very common substances we wouldn't even consider may cause allergic reactions - one he mentioned was sulfur. That jumped out at me because every time we turned on the water faucet the smell of rotten eggs was overpowering - our water had a very high sulfur content.

I was ecstatic! I told Matt - from this moment on we would conduct an experiment - he was to only drink bottled water and we would see if that helped his cough. When I tell you that by the end of that day his cough had improved 100% and was completely gone within two, I am not exaggerating. It absolutely amazed me. I called the doctor to let her know what I'd discovered in case anyone else had the same problem and she was flabbergasted - she couldn't believe that was the answer and said she'd never heard anything like it.

Fast forward to his teen years and we tried this natural acne remedy. After the very first night he woke up with his eyes almost swollen shut and red welts on his face. I went online and checked the ingredients again and then called the company and they confirmed that it did contain sulfur. When I asked to return it as my son was obviously allergic to it, they told me "you can't be allergic to sulfur."

Yeah, you can and he is. His stomach even gets a little funny sometimes when he eats whole eggs - the yolks are a good source of sulfur - so we do two egg whites and one whole egg for his omelets.

Those were the experiences that propelled me into studying natural health more seriously and the more I learn the more exciting it is. Just always remember to listen to your gut - I knew there had to be an underlying cause of my son's symptoms, even if the doctor didn't or just didn't want to be bothered trying to figure it out.