messtafarian
Member
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2013
- Messages
- 814
Not sure if anyone is following along with my struggles here but I just wanted to log that I took an abdominal CT scan to check for any obvious structural abnormalities in the gut. I put this off for a long time because I am actually timing my ionizing radiation -- November was semi-ok but that still will have given me two xrays and one ct in ONE year. Medical Science also wanted me to swallow a nuke so they could watch my thyroid dispose of it but I declined that one.
In any case...the whole thing was completely normal. I have "mild thickening" at the esophageal junction ( GERD) and the previously-mentioned adrenal adenoma. My mother died of pancreatic cancer and I've been waiting to hear now for years that something was up with my pancreas but apparently nothing is. Biliary, liver, spleen, intestines, all normal.
What isn't normal is that I have "borderline" Lyme disease and three active viral titers -- EBV, CMV and coxsackie. These viral titers are far uglier in number and nature than the Lyme, which is at a very low level. I doubt any standard American Lyme test would have ever found it. The doctor who runs the lab in Germany made the recommendation that I treat the hell out of the viruses and ignore the Lyme at the moment since it's really bringing up the rear in terms of pathology.
I think about this all day. On the one hand I want to treat the Lyme NOW because it scares the crap out of me. LymeWorld is a terrible world, nothing is certain, there is no good information and people rattle on for YEARS about their continued disability because of their Lyme disease and I DO NOT WANT TO BE THAT PERSON. On the other hand --- my immune system seems to be suppressing it. Problem is that while it is suppressing the Lyme it is suppressing my immune system. I believe that's how the body deals with a spirochete. I don't think the Lyme suppresses the immune system; I think the body gets very cagey managing this infection.
But basically I am freaking out. I knew two years ago that something was different -- something was *wrong.* I kept hearing it was menopause or stress or Lack of Faith or whatever but I knew something was *wrong*. Two years ago.
The basis of the recommendation to treat the viruses first has to do with the way that a suppressed immune system loses control of viral replication. So instead of hitting the bacteria with lots of antibiotics you help the immune system beat down the viral load -- then it has some leisure time to deal with the bacterial load. You do this before you are too sick to move, eat, or read a newspaper.
That is the theory. What I'm weighing is whether I can afford to believe it.
In any case...the whole thing was completely normal. I have "mild thickening" at the esophageal junction ( GERD) and the previously-mentioned adrenal adenoma. My mother died of pancreatic cancer and I've been waiting to hear now for years that something was up with my pancreas but apparently nothing is. Biliary, liver, spleen, intestines, all normal.
What isn't normal is that I have "borderline" Lyme disease and three active viral titers -- EBV, CMV and coxsackie. These viral titers are far uglier in number and nature than the Lyme, which is at a very low level. I doubt any standard American Lyme test would have ever found it. The doctor who runs the lab in Germany made the recommendation that I treat the hell out of the viruses and ignore the Lyme at the moment since it's really bringing up the rear in terms of pathology.
I think about this all day. On the one hand I want to treat the Lyme NOW because it scares the crap out of me. LymeWorld is a terrible world, nothing is certain, there is no good information and people rattle on for YEARS about their continued disability because of their Lyme disease and I DO NOT WANT TO BE THAT PERSON. On the other hand --- my immune system seems to be suppressing it. Problem is that while it is suppressing the Lyme it is suppressing my immune system. I believe that's how the body deals with a spirochete. I don't think the Lyme suppresses the immune system; I think the body gets very cagey managing this infection.
But basically I am freaking out. I knew two years ago that something was different -- something was *wrong.* I kept hearing it was menopause or stress or Lack of Faith or whatever but I knew something was *wrong*. Two years ago.
The basis of the recommendation to treat the viruses first has to do with the way that a suppressed immune system loses control of viral replication. So instead of hitting the bacteria with lots of antibiotics you help the immune system beat down the viral load -- then it has some leisure time to deal with the bacterial load. You do this before you are too sick to move, eat, or read a newspaper.
That is the theory. What I'm weighing is whether I can afford to believe it.