Doxycycline Round 2, 1 1/2 months into treatment

I talk to my friend Heather S. in New Jersey. She was a friend I knew years ago in TV production and she helped me figure out, at the time, that I was having candida/yeast problems. She has always been someone who just sort of shows up when I need help. We reconnected this summer when I moved home and she was suffering from undiagnosed fatigue and pain. She tells me she has been diagnosed with lyme. She had tests previously and they were negative, but the doctor she found sent her tests to Igenex. She has been in an enormous amount of pain and the fatigue has completely debilitated her. After 7 months of many doctors and misdiagnoses, here she is also with lyme disease. I am thrilled for her that she has a diagnosis, but know the road she is going to have to walk down. She is also now on doxycycline and I am checking in with her to see how she is feeling. She is always so good about comparing notes with me and giving me advice about what the doctors say. She already has some info for me regarding supplements. It is going to be interesting to see her journey alongside of mine.

I struggle with taking naps. I know that they are good for me and Los Angeles Heather and I figure out that when I take them I tend to sleep better at night. But I am in a constant state of guilt, still, that I should be doing SOMETHING. I'm sick enough that I can't work out of the house, but I am no longer so sick that I can't get off the couch every day. I'm sort of in this healing limbo. My Mom goes off to work each morning and says to me, "what are you doing today?" Even though I know she's just curious, I am defensive and feel like I should have a list of projects I'm going to tackle. Heather suggests that I think of naps as "preventive medicine" and that each time I take one it is getting me closer to recovery. i like that idea.

I am 1 month and 2 weeks into this 2nd round of doxy. I definitely feel different. I am doing gentle yoga every other day now, and I am having a night or two in which I sleep all night. I have 2 weeks left of this round and then I will have to see what happens in February. It is obvious to me that doxy makes me better, and I wonder how I am going to remain healthy after I go off of it again? I also intuitively feel like my immune system is shot, and I am going to have to do some research as to what I need to do to get it to a stronger place.

I make an appointment at the Jefferson Hospital Headache Clinic in Philly. I can't take these headaches that put me down for days every month. It's time to be as pro-active as possible and get all of this under control. I refuse to spend most of 2010 in bed. That was 2009! They tell me the first appointment takes 3 hours and there is a psychological evaluation. They can't take me until the end of March.

I see Dr. Saviour, again, and he takes more blood to check my white blood count. He tells me that my insurance has called him and is checking into my records. So basically I am on disability, which just about covers my expenses, paying $600/month for my health insurance with Cobra, but still paying co-payments, lab fees, etc., and now my insurance company is checking my records!? You gotta be kidding me.