Lyme Self Help Part 1- Lower Inflammation

Lyme self help seems a reach.    This is the first of several blogs to address key areas where you can use self care to support your recovery from Chronic Lyme disease.  This blog will focus on tips to help manage inflammation. Many people stricken with this tick born illness are tired achy and worn to the bone.  So on top of all that you have to help yourself get well?

Yes to heal and have the best recovery you really do.   This post is Part #1 in  a series  to highlight Lyme self help opportunities.  The focus is ways to lower chronic inflammation through life style choice and changes.   Please share this if you know someone under the weather from Lyme disease.With Lyme Disease Information is Power. Get Informed, Get Treated, Get Better! Share on X

Medicine has offered so little to so many suffering with Lyme and the other infections.  It can leave them hopeless and in a state of declining ill health. Antibiotics, the first  and main line of treatment, hasn’t worked for everyone.

The lack of treatment success has forced people to build a much larger and broader community of support to heal and rebuild health.  For some this includes significant life style change, self help and self care.

Lyme Self Help Treatment arms

Lyme is a complex illness that generally requires a multi-pronged treatment approach.   For aspects of treatment you need to get your health care team involved.  There is plenty to do.

Call in the experts.  Have them design the antibiotic regime, herbal protocol, IV to detox.  Your doctor  and health care team can set up your treatment schedule, optimize the 70 pills a day you take, what ever it is that you need. Reach out for the help and support that you need. Check out the Central Mass Lyme conference Saturday May 21, 2016  for up to date treatment strategies and community support.

On the level of self help you really have to engage or get a family member or advocate to help you.  You are not your illness.  To help your body heal from long term infections, you need it to be functioning optimally aside from the Lyme disease.  Be as healthy as possible to fight the infection and repair the damage.

 

 Lyme Self Help – Lower Inflammation

It is so so important to normalize inflammation in your body.  Short term inflammation in response to injury or infection is normal and healthy.  Long term or chronic inflammation is not normal or healthy.  The Lyme community of organisms uses chronic inflammation to shield itself from your immune system.  Inflammation drives many of your symptoms making you feel bad.

Getting inflammation under better control will leverage your ability to address all the other treatment areas.  In Lyme it really helps to focus on leverage items.  Starting to feel better and stronger helps you stay on tract with all the other aspects of treatment.  In addition there are a lot  simple Lyme self help changes that cool things  off.

Find the chronic inflammation drivers in your life and extinguish them!

1. Smoking  (just quit took me 4 tries)
2. Drinking (quit or moderate)
3. Inflammatory Foods (see below)
4. Excess Weight
5. Chronic Lack of sleep
6. Stress Bomb Mentality
7. Low Grade Infections (teeth, bladder)

Regular bed time, relaxation practices (meditation, EFT) consistent gentle movement (swimming, walking) and  an anti-inflammatory diet can go a long way to help lower chronic inflammation and help you feel better.  If these are huge changes for you, get some help to make them happen.  Find a coach or a support group and plug in.

Other than the struggle to change your perspective and habits there is no down side  to  quitting smoking, loosing weight, getting enough sleep and releasing stress.  Once you engage these new Lyme self help habits, it is all upside.

Use of an elimination diet can identify the foods that trigger inflammation in you. Basically you eliminate foods that commonly cause inflammation, sugar, wheat and dairy, to allow your body to reset.  After a period of weeks, you can evaluate, reintroduce and identify  which foods are problem foods. The Lyme Diet and The Lyme Disease Solution are two books that explain the elimination diet in detail and how it works and helps.  Both of these books give you a plan to follow.

At the next level you can add specific foods that quash the inflammation cycle,or work with your health care team to add supplements, herbs, and drugs that really work.   Here is a link that discusses inflammation and some supplements that support normalizing chronic inflammation.

The next post in this series will focus on self help for some symptoms of Lyme disease.  Stay Tuned!

Please remember this information does not constitute or take the place of medical advice, it is for learning only.  Please consult your health care team and keep them in the loop.  (For the purpose of transparency, none of these links are affiliate links, rather articles, people and products I have direct experience with.)