A Breathing Meditation

Get into a comfortable position, spine straight, but not rigid.  Can be sitting or laying (if you won't fall asleep).  Can be in a chair or on the floor.  Bring your thoughts to your breath, and keep bringing your attention back to your breath when it wanders.  No judgment on the wandering, just notice and bring back.
 

In Breath:
Born Anew,
Out Breath:
and We Die,
In Breath:
Born Anew,
Out Breath:
and We Die,
In Breath:
Born Anew,
Out Breath:
and We Die,...
(continue this for as long as you will, 5 minutes, 30... until you rest in the ever-present NOW,
and the fleeting nature of our existence becomes all you are - nothing -
along with the knowing that YOU ARE EVERYTHING).
In Breath:
Born Anew,
Out Breath:
and We Die,
In Breath:
Born Anew,
Out Breath:
and We Die,
In Breath:
Born Anew,
Out Breath:
and We Die,In Breath:
Born Anew,
Out Breath:
and We Die,
In Breath:
Born Anew,
Out Breath:
and We Die,...
And the Birth and Death that is This Lifetime
Is but a Breath of a Greater Lifetime. 
A Lifetime where We Are the Mountain.

 

Lyme Journey

I've been wanting to update my Lyme journey for some time now.

Since my last post on Lyme, 9 months ago, I slowed down with the protocol I listed there.  I just needed a break from months and months of drinking bitter tea all day and taking handfuls of supplements!  Also, I wanted a new baseline:  what I felt like if I did nothing.  I had good and bad days, none too severe, but none 100% (which is the goal right?).  I'm definitely doing better, but am not as good as I was before the Lyme.

At that time I was having insomnia (and had been for months).  I think it may have been a result of the herbs I was taking for the Lyme being drying and creating Yin and Blood Deficiency giving my Shen no place to reside at night.  I made a formula that was specific to my body (see a qualified Herbalist to help you with this if you are having this problem).  I no longer have insomnia and haven't for some time.  Thank goodness.  I think sleep is extremely important for healing Lyme.  I get 8 or more hours a night.

In June I began taking two homeopathic remedies (Spirochetes Detox and Homeopathic Lymes Formula) recommended by a fellow Herbalist I know through my school.  He got these remedies for me as you can only get these remedies through a licensed practitioner.  I took these for about 10 days and went into a severe herxheimer reaction.  I think this is a good thing because it is the result of die-off.  I think the homeopathics bring the Lyme out of dormancy so your immune system can fight it?  Good thing aside though, the herxing is horrible.  I had joint and muscle pain and stiffness, swollen lymph glands, minor rash ina few places, severe neck and shoulder tension, mild headache, fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, irritability, facial acne, and just overall felt bad.  Ugh.  At times, like the end of the day, the pain would get excruciating.

 Here are the blends I used in decoction:
for Herxing/Detox:
Red Clover
Triphala
Turmeric
Lobelia
Gardenia
Eucommia
Forsythia
Skullcap
Reishi
Dandelion Root
Red Root
I would have added Cleavers if it was growing fresh in my yard
                          as it does some times of the year.


for Tight Neck, Shoulders, and Upper Back (Tension):
Ligusticum
Bupleurum
Turmeric
Dong Quai
White Peony Root
Cinnamon
Milletia
Licorice Root
Skullcap
I may also have added Kudzu Root, Notopterygium, and Clematis if I had them in my apothecary.

I would stop the homeopathics and replace them with the above decoctions and feel better in a few days.  Then I would see what happened.  I kept not feeling 100% so I would return to the homeopathics thinking that they were helping with getting rid of the Lyme for good, and the cycle would repeat.

In July I posted this on my school forum where I am sharing with my fellow Herbalists:
"Now, I feel practically 100%.  I hope it's for good.  Only time will tell.  I keep realizing that I am not in pain, am not horribly fatigued, and every thing is not a trial - simple things like carrying my pocketbook.  I had been doing my best to deal with the symptoms and otherwise trying to ignore it, but it was taxing.  I was finding myself having to not be in my body to deal with the pain and discomfort, so I would just get in touch with it sporadically to see how I was doing (and it was not good).  Sometimes it screamed at me.  Anyway, that is ALL gone.  I've been Landscaping like mad and took 4 hours of (aerobic level) Bellydance on a day off and I still feel GOOD and energetic after it all.

Whew, like I said, I hope this is it.  I have learned a lot about what so many people have to deal with living with pain and/or discomfort.  I had never had anything as serious as this before.  I am thankful for this.  Also, the TCM relevant learning has been spectacular.  My symptom picture has run the gamut.

I had a feeling in my joints like they were burnt.  Not burning, but burnt, for lack of a better descriptive.  I thought it was the damage done to my joints, but now I feel like it was probably the Lyme itself.  I don't feel that now.  I've felt it almost constantly for the last 11 months, except for the one point when I had been hardcore about decoctions and supplements and felt 95% better.  But now I am thinking the Lyme was just dormant during that better phase."

Now in October, I mostly have hip joint pain and facial acne (I think this is the detoxing), but also other joint and muscle pain, and the upper back tension (the latter is something I had before the Lyme - Liver Qi Stagnation/Wind).  I did have severe shoulder joint issues before the homeopathics but have not had them since the first course.  That burnt feeling is still gone and has not come back.

Lately I have just been making decoctions specific to whatever is going on with me at the time.  I'm back to feeling 95% and planning to start up the homeopathics again.  At this point my goal is to be able to take them for a month without herxing; once I can do that, I will stop them - hopefully for good.  Otherwise, I will make decoctions specific to my particular symptom picture - easy enough to do when you have over 200 herbs in your apothecary.  Right now I am making a modified Si Wu Tang.

I've come across and read two more books.  The first highly recommends the local Teasel Root and has lots of other good info.  I have used the TCM Teasel Root:  Xu Duan, but not the local one - Dipsacus sylvetris.  I plan to harvest some and make a tincture soon.  Many feel this does a similar thing to the homeopathics and is the answer to beating Lyme...will keep you posted.  The second book is more of a biography/novel format and may be helpful to some of you to feel you are not alone in this ordeal.



Also, I continue with weekly deep tissue massage, epsom salt baths, and regular visits to the Korean saunas.

I have yet to mention diet in dealing with Lyme and must add the importance of eating organic, whole foods so your body has the nutrients it needs to heal and is not dealing with detoxing from toxins in junk food.


I also leave you with this wonderful poem:

from 'To Bless the Space Between Us, A Book of Blessings'
by John O'Donahue

For a Friend on the Arrival of Illness

Now is the time of dark invitation
Beyond a frontier you did not expect;
Abruptly, your old life seems distant.

You barely noticed how each day opened
A path through fields never questioned,
Yet expected, deep down, to hold treasure.
Now your time on earth becomes full of threat;
Before your eyes your future shrinks.

You lived absorbed in the day-to-day,
So continuous with everything around you,
That you could forget you were separate;

Now this dark companion has come between you.
Distances have opened in your eyes.
You feel that against your will
A stranger has married your heart.

Nothing before has made you
Feel so isolated and lost.

When the reverberations of shock subside in you,
May grace come to restore you to balance.
May it shape a new space in your heart
To embrace this illness as a teacher
Who has come to open your life to new worlds.

May you find in yourself
A courageous hospitality
Toward what is difficult,
Painful, and unknown.

May you learn to use this illness
As a lantern to illuminate
The new qualities that will emerge in you.

May the fragile harvesting of this slow light
Help to release whatever has become false in you.
May you trust this light to clear a path
Through all the fog of old unease and anxiety
Until you feel arising within you a tranquility
Profound enough to call the storm to stillness

May you find the wisdom to listen to your illness:
Ask it why it came. Why it chose your friendship.
Where it wants to take you. What it wants you to know.
What quality of space it wants to create in you.
What you need to learn to become more fully yourself
That your presence may shine in the world.

May you keep faith with your body,
Learning to see it as a holy sanctuary
Which can bring this night-wound gradually
Toward the healing and freedom of dawn.

May you be granted the courage and vision
To work through passivity and self-pity,
To see the beauty you can harvest
From the riches of this dark invitation.

May you learn to receive it graciously,
And promise to learn swiftly
That it may leave you newborn,
Willing to dedicate your time to birth.

Healing from Lyme: Defeat the Spirochete!

I posted some time ago with a list of symptoms of Lyme disease, of which I had most.  I am doing a lot better and I want to share my protocol.  When I read that post from almost 3 months ago, I realize how much of an improvement I have made since that time.  I have gone from feeling rather bleak to being hopeful.  I do feel that I should be able to reach a point of being symptom free.  As of now mostly I just have joint pain (in the shoulders and hips), tightness in the upper back and neck, occasional mild headaches, and some emotional difficulties (depression, irritability).  I also have dry mouth at night which I am working on by addressing my Liver Yin Deficiency (TCM).  I'm not sure if it is related to the Lyme particularly, or if it's an effect of the Lyme treatment.  I was having insomnia regularly until recently which is not normal for me (prior to getting Lyme).  I took herbal formulas to address the insomnia particularly along with doing some acupressure.  The latter which helped tremendously.  Anyway, I want to share what's been working for me...

 Initially, back in September of last year, I took a month of antibiotics (along with various herbal formulas prior to the research that led to the formulas I am sharing here).  I did notice some improvement initially but then reached a point where I was not improving and not well and I felt that it would not be good for my body to continue taking the antibiotics.  I did not want to destroy my intestinal fauna and felt my immune system needed all the help it could get if I was going to defeat this spirochete!  I decided to try a serious run of herbal formulas and supplementation.



I consulted two books I found on Lyme along with various online sources:



The Buhner book I cannot recommend enough.  'Course I'm biased because he happens to be a favorite author anyway, but it's the most comprehensive book I could find on Lyme and natural healing.  The second book is modern CM, not TCM, so it has lots of scientific study data.
Also, I just found this book, literally.  Not sure why I didn't come across it before.  It looks good too.



Here are the best two online sources I found besides Buhner's:
Fruehauf
Winston

Here is the Herbal blend I made specifically to deal with the Lyme:
(I also have been making various herbal formulas along the way as needed to deal with my personal symptom picture, which is quite possibly different than yours, so I am not going to share those here - see a qualified Herbalist if you want to do this yourself).
A major key to defeating the spirochete is to change what you are doing regularly.  It has an incredible ability to respond to threats and will defend itself against whatever:  antibiotics, herbs, your immune system, etc...  You need to trip it up.



So, here are the various herbs and herbal formulas that I interchanged.  I did not follow a specific schedule, but would switch up every few days or at most every two weeks, with an occasional missed day because life'll do that.

#1 - Herbal Formula in Decoction - amount that I took daily (when I took it that is) decocted in 4 c. water with lid for 1/2 to 1 hr. then strained and re-decocted the same a second time, then composted (except Reishi, see below)

Hawthorne 3g.
Turmeric 1-30g.
Licorice Root 3g.
Ashwaganda 3g.
fresh Ginger 1g.
Neem tincture
Dandelion Root 10-30g.
Forsythia 12-15g.
Lonicera 12-15g.
Polygonum cuspidatum* 9-30g.
Cat's Claw* up to 20g.
Devil's Claw 3-6g.
Red Root 1g.
Astragalus 3-16g.
Chen Pi 3-9g.
Red Clover 6-15g. (added in last 10 minutes to infuse)
Smilax 3-6 g.
Teasel 6-12 g.
Eleuthro 8-30g. (I add this only when I will be drinking it in the am only as it can too stimulating for sleep)
Reishi 15 g. (this needs to be decocted 6-8 hours for full break down, so I pull it out before composting the marc and continue to re-use it)
Artemesia annua 9-27g. (I didn't have this on hand and so didn't add it, but would if I had it)
Add honey to taste as needed to get it down; it is bitter.
*The starred herbs are ones that I worked up to taking the full amount, watching for unwanted side effects and cutting back the amount if needed.

#2 - Boneset- as a cool tea, 1 oz. herb in quart boiling water, let steep with lid overnight, strain and drink

#3 - I make a separate decoction with Andrographis* up to 9-15g. as it is 'The King of Bitters' and overwhelms the already bitter formula above.  Also, it is stimulating to me, making me almost giddy, and I don't want to have it at night.  It may not affect others this way though.  I add honey to taste to help get it down.

#4 - Gaia Para-Shield - a product you can get from Mountain Rose (see link to right to order).  I took this to help with the damage to the digestive tract from taking an antibiotic for a month and also because it has some herbs in it that should help with the Lyme.  Here is info from their website:  "This formula supports a healthy intestinal environment and supports the GI tract by promoting healthy intestinal flora.

Contains: Black Walnut Fresh Green Hulls (Juglans nigra), organic Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), organic Sweet Wormwood herb (Artemisia Annua), Pomegranate Seed (Punica granatum), organic Gentian Root (Gentiana lutea), Coptis Rhizome (Coptis chinensis), Ginger Root (Freshly Dried) (Zingiber officinale), Clove Bud Oil (Syzygium aromaticum), Vegetable Glycerin, Vegetable cellulose (capsule)."

#5 -  LB Core Protocol - from a great company who has put together a formula based on Buhner's book into capsule form.  Green Dragon Botanicals

On top of mixing up these 5 listed above, I also am taking a lot of supplements to help with the Lyme itself and also to repair the damage it does.  This is the daily amount but I rarely actually take it daily because it is so many pills and they should be taken in several portions throughout the day rather than all at once so the body can process them, and well, it just doesn't happen some days.  This protocol is a lot to keep up with for months on end.  I'd say on average I have taken this daily amount 3-4 times a week.

Supplements

Vit. C 1000-3000mg. (I often take Emergenc-C for this)
Vit. E 400-800 I.U.
Pregnenolone 50 mg.
Huperzine-A 100-200 mcg.
Magnesium 400-1200 mg.
Zinc 30 mg.
Copper (I have just stopped this as I don't want to interfere with Zinc absorption, but took it for awhile - see Buhner's book)
Selenium 200 mcg.
Garlic- Kyolic Formula 100 - 2 capsules
Vit. D 2000 I.U.
Probiotics
L-Carnitine 250 mg.
Acetyl-L-Carnitine 500-1500 mg.
Alpha Lipoic Acid 100 mg.
Glucosamine sulfate 1500 mg.
Quercetin 500 mg.
Grape Seed Extract
regular food-based, high-potency multi-vit/min (I like Rainbow Light brand)- not a one a day, not a generic store brand - this is a case where you get what you pay for - your health is worth more than being cheap


I also have been having SuperGreens+ almost daily in about 4 oz. of organic juice and 4 oz. of water.


Extreme heat is supposed to be of help in combating Lyme and it does seem like it helps me so I have been going to a local Korean spa about 1-2 times a month that has hot saunas up to 170 degrees and spending as much time as I can in there.

I take hot baths with a couple cups of Epsom salts to help with the joint pain.  Sometimes I add a cup of Lemon Balm herb in a bath bag.

I saw an acupuncturist for 5 weekly visits (and 156 needles, yes, I counted!) and it helped a lot with the pain and emotional difficulties.  I stopped going because I felt I reached a plateau with this particular acupuncturist, but may go to another whom I learned specializes in Lyme.  The one I went to did not seem particularly knowledgeable about Lyme. 

I get a few (1-4) massages a month and it helps quite a bit with the tension that seems to be in my body.

Otherwise, I try to eat well and get good sleep as usual as this makes a huge difference no matter.

I have been using St. John's Wort oil and Comfrey oil on my sore joints and muscles.

I sometimes use Yunnan Bai Yao plasters on my painful upper back.

An herbal blend for my particular symptom picture.

Best of luck if you're dealing with this, and please, share anything you have found or experienced.  It seems Lyme maybe be epidemic and we need to pool together our findings since no one seems to know real clearly how to deal with it absolutely.

For the longest time my symptoms seemed to fluctuate drastically, continuing to have some really bad days, but now I seem to be having mostly better days and some days almost normal.  I think it's also important to make time for relaxation and renewal, such as yoga, meditation, walks in nature,...  The body gets quite stressed dealing with Lyme and needs to be given extra care.  I notice that a couple alcoholic drinks or getting too little sleep or eating junk food will make me feel much worse than it ever did before.  So, if nothing else having Lyme has forced me to take even better care of myself than I used to because when I don't the results are especially unpleasant.


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