The Silver Lyming

In this interview, I get to spend time talking with Anna Brennan, author of "Ultraparent Thinking". While I do not have children, the ideas and strategies Anna shares are applicable to every area of life, so I encourage everyone to read this (if possible as I know some of you are too unwell to read currently). Anna had four children and all of them struggled with health issues ranging from cognitive to neurological. She struggled tremendously with feeling like a "normal" parent and providing adequate support for her children. Anna was ultimately able to get a clearer diagnosis of what was happening with her children which included some tick-borne illnesses. I applaud Anna for finding a doctor who could help her with her children, for finding healthy ways to cope with the struggles raising four children can have let alone since they were all unwell, and for having the foresight to be able to share her system in a book that could help others in similar predicaments. She is truly an inspiration, and my life has been made better knowing her and reading her book.

For those of you not familiar with The Silver Lyming, this podcast has been created to spread hope for those who are in the thick of healing from Lyme and tick-borne illness, as well as anyone needing some overall inspiration. The guest I feature are living miracles (as we all are) and share a wealth of knowledge, not only about Lyme and tick-borne diseases, but about how we can adapt and overcome even the most harrowing health experiences. I am truly honored to bring you their stories and to have regained my own health after a seven-year struggle, simply to get an accurate diagnosis.

Please like and subscribe to this podcast as it helps others find me. Hope gives others the courage to heal and without your support, the person most needing to hear these words, may not find me.

Sadly, there are not that many Lyme medical specialists. This week I interview the one that I saw in Southeastern PA. Rita helped save my life and I am incredibly grateful. She is also a regional leader for PA Lyme Resource Network, a group that I am also involved with. I know she is incredibly busy and can have a three month wait list. Rita is particularly passionate about helping those with Lyme and tick-borne illness because it has affected many people in her personal life. Thank you for all you do Rita! May God bless you and your family and give you many years of practice yet!

If you are in the medical field, consider becoming an ILADS trained doctor or nurse practitioner. We need way more hands on deck. To remind you 400,000-600,000 people are infected in the US alone every year. That is an incredibly large population that needs more support.

Imagine that you suddenly started having leg tingling, jaw chattering, and facial twitching and doctors telling you it was from anxiety. Then your symptoms amplify and include severe vertigo, shortness of breath, and extreme fatigue and still not getting any answers from the "standard" medical community. This is what happened to Abby Fernald and gratefully she was connected to a functional medicine doctor a few years into her quest to understand what was happening to her body.

The damage was already done however, as Lyme and tick-borne illness are TIME SENSITIVE. The sooner you get treatment, the better your chances are of stopping it before it becomes chronic and thoroughly infiltrated throughout your body. Abby unfortunately wound up bedridden and using a wheelchair due to the severity of her tick-borne infections combined with mold toxicity. Once she got to a doctor that understood what was happening to her, she was able to start on the right protocol, and within four weeks, she was able to walk again. This is a great reason why it is important to get to a specialist that fully understands tick-borne illness. Although it can be rather expensive to see one because typically, they are not covered by insurance.

Please take the time to reach out to our elected officials to let them know this is unacceptable and please take the time to listen to Abby's story. She has healed herself enough to be able to practice jiu jitsu and freely shares her journey on TikTok under @Abby.healthandwellness. Her vulnerability and willingness to educate others is absolutely amazing.

This episode is near and dear my heart. Jackie is the patient coordinator for PA Lyme Resource Network (my parent organization for the support group I host) and is also a resident of Berks County, PA (my hometown). Jackie is an amazing soul and gives back so much to the Lyme Community. She has fought tick-borne illness for decades, like so many do, and never gives up. She writes a blog called Hope Through Chronic Illness (https://hopethroughchronicillness.com) and does her best to guide people back to wellness. She is also a fitness instructor at the local gym. It is an honor to know Jackie and to hear her story. Take a listen and leave a comment letting us know what you think of this powerhouse!

Kathy Dolan is a true warrior. She not only overcame Lyme disease but is also turning it into something beautiful by becoming an advocate through the Illinois Lyme Assoicate. She struggled with Lyme disease and a lack of resources available to help her when she was at her darkest times. Gratefully she has the support of her loving family to help carry her through the toughest parts.

Kathy is now healed from Lyme and is putting together a concert series called "Music Heals" to bring people together and provide support for those struggling to heal their bodies. Through this experience, Kathy is hoping to raise awareness and encourage others going through similar experiences.

Pay attention to Kathy's story as she is yet another person who was misdiagnosed and when she was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease, she was able to heal. This happens far too often, and we need better testing. Please reach out to your local elected officials and let them know we need more sensitive testing.

Please like and subscribe if you have found this episode helpful as it helps my show find its way to others needing this information. It can help save someone's life.

Cara's story is rather remarkable. Cara has made a full recovery from Lyme, tick-borne illness, and breast implant sickness. Cara and her family had moved to Northern Virginia about 9 years ago. She was training for a triathlon and noticed some abnormal aches and pains which she chalked up to getting older and the hardcore training she was doing. She then went to Mexico for a business trip and got so sick, her boss sent her home a day early. She felt like she had the flu (common early onset Lyme Symptom btw) and was diagnosed with a double ear infection, bronchitis, and strep throat. She took a break from training to give her body a rest, but just did not get better no matter what she did. She took antibiotics and rested, but ultimately a friend who had experienced Lyme, recommended Cara to get tested for Lyme since she had so many unanswered health challenges and they live in Northern VA which has its fair share of ticks and subsequently Lyme disease.

She finally got her answer, but the toll had been taken. Cara had to stop working and basically lay on the couch 24/7. It was a huge adjustment for her and her family. She tried many things to heal and ultimately learned about Lyme-N. She is the second guest I have had on my show that used this to heal from Lyme.

The Lyme-N helped her immensely, but she was still not quite well. She eventually decided to get her breast implants removed to leave no stone unturned, and once they were taken out of her, she noticed an immediate improvement.

Take a listen to her full story and the other things she did to help her body heal. Please like and subscribe if you have found this episode helpful as it helps my show find its way to others needing this information. It can help save someone's life.

Do you practice yoga? This is something that completely changed the way I healed (and my life), and I am incredibly grateful for finding it. My guest on this episode is one of my teachers and someone I have known for most of my life. I was excited when she reached out to me to be a guest on my show. I had never really thought about the similarities with healing and a yoga practice. I have thought plenty about how much yoga has helped me heal but they really are so much alike in that you have to continually practice both to get any better.

Kami Kiritsis owns Aqua Om Paddle, and has also displayed her endurance through creating her own business as well as through having a yoga practice. Her business takes things to a new level with incorporating yoga on a paddleboard. As someone who practices on the ground frequently, taking my practice on the water was really hard. The parallels with healing from chronic illness and this practice are immense so I hope you enjoy the info in this episode as much as I did talking with Kami about them. Kami is a great teacher and offers classes on water, on the ground, and even in a chair for those who may not have the strength yet to do it standing. Feel free to reach out to her on social media or at her company website: https://www.aopaddle.com/. She really is one of the best teachers I have taken classes from. One of my favorite things she taught me is "peace begins with me" and using each syllable on a finger of one hand. It gives the mind something to focus on to allow for a more meditative and calming state of being.

I would love to hear your feedback about this episode. Drop a line below to let us know what you think. And if you found this info useful, please like and subscribe to help others find my show. I aim to spread hope that you can heal and awareness about Lyme and tick-borne illness so hopefully you do not have to experience what I did and countless others.

I absolutely love this episode. Tanya and I met through a mutual friend, and it is uncanny how many similarities our stories share. Tanya is a true kindred spirit and also hosts a podcast to spread hope and awareness about Lyme and tick-borne illness called "Lyme & Beyond with Tanya" which is a fantastic show that I have added to my play list. She went for seven years without a proper diagnosis, and she is incredibly passionate about helping others heal. She is a beautiful soul who has gone through much trauma but has come out better for it on the other side. Take a listen to her enlightening story about how she healed from Lyme and multiple co-infections.

Like all my guests, Tanya is open to connecting with anyone who wants more info on her healing journey. Thank you for all you do for this community and beyond, Tanya:)

If you find this episode useful, please like and subscribe. Sharing is even more awesome as I know there are people needing to hear this. Thanks for supporting me and helping to share that there are better solutions available to keep you safer, and HEAL💚

This week's guest is another amazing soul. Sami Kirschbaum is not only someone who has gone through Lyme disease, but she has also suffered through mold toxicity as well. Sami has gone from being bedridden to owning her own practice called the Lyme Resilience Collective to help guide others toward healing. She has spent many hours training to become a resource for those afflicted with Lyme and other vector-borne illnesses.

At her worst, Sami was unable to walk, experienced temporary blindness, collapsed frequently, had short-term memory loss, suffered from Chronic migraines, and had 50+ additional symptoms. Now she is thriving and was even able to move across the country to AZ where she is settling into her new location. She spent countless dollars on fixing herself and saw practitioners here in the US as well as abroad to regain her health. Every penny was worth it because she is healthy and whole today, but it should not have to be this way. We need better legislation to protect us against having to pay for this out of pocket, as well as better access to fixing the issue.

There are far too few medical specialists to treat the 400,000-600,000 people infected every year in the US alone. Please take the time to listen to Sami's journey as well as the time to contact our local elected officials to tell them it is time we do better. People deserve good quality of living which means good health at an affordable rate. We should not have to go broke fixing this issue. Sadly, Lyme and its related co-infections have the highest suicide rate of any dis-ease and I completely understand why after having experienced it myself. Don't wait till you get it to get it and care. Now is the time to act.

You can find Sami on social media or on her website, lymecollective.com. She is happy to help you and is very good at what she does.

If you find this episode useful, please like and subscribe. Sharing is even more awesome as I know there are people needing to hear this. Thanks for supporting me and helping to share that there are better solutions available to keep you safer, and HEAL💚

#ticks #lymedisease #tickprevention #tickbornedisease #healing #hope #inspiration #lyme #survivor #thesilverlyming

I am loving this episode as Katie and I have been friends on social media for years. I have enjoyed watching her growth and healing right before my very eyes. Katie lives in Ireland so please note, this is not just a US-based health issue. Lyme and tick-borne illness affect people on all 7 continents.

Katie's journey with Lyme started in 2007 with the bite of an infected tick. She was unaware of what that meant however and suffered for 11 years with failing health. Her grandmother was watching TV one night and saw show talking about Lyme and told Katie she needed to get tested for it as that sounded a lot like what she was struggling with. She ultimately had to go to a private doctor and send her blood to a lab in Germany to get diagnosed as it was not acknowledged aptly in the public healthcare system in Ireland.

Once Katie received her diagnosis, she felt better knowing what was causing her issues, but like so many who go without a quick diagnosis, she had a lot of work to do to fix herself. She had to redo her entire being to recover her health and is now a successful actress, creating a film called "Warrior", a film about a girl named Jenny who suffers from Lyme, which will be released in the Spring of 2025. Follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook to keep up with updates about its release.

I am so proud of you Katie for being your own best advocate and figuring out what was ailing you and preventing you from living a normal life. May you always have such strength and resilience, and most importantly, good health.

If you find this episode useful, please like and subscribe. Sharing is even more awesome as I know there are people needing to hear this. Thanks for supporting me and helping to share that there are better solutions available to keep you safer, and HEAL💚

#ticks #lymedisease #tickprevention #tickbornedisease #healing #hope #inspiration #lyme #survivor #thesilverlyming