The Silver Lyming

This is an extra special episode as this is the story of my cousin, Saha, who has struggled with Lyme and tick-borne illness possibly from birth. She had bad colic as a baby and had a ton of digestive issues. So many of her symptoms were digestive related in nature, which may be a bit of a different presentation symptom-wise than most people experience. It unfortunately took her a VERY long time to get a diagnosis. She had been successful at getting herself to a more stable point until she moved into a moldy house in Nashville. This is when many of her symptoms began appearing and it was a downward spiral from here. An interesting point Saha makes it the link between mold and her spiritual health, as mold grows in darkness, so was it a reflection of herself showing that she had to focus on shining the "light" internally to help address some deep stuff spiritually? Saha has done a lot of "deeper dive work with herself" and it has helped immensely. She also uses nutrition, which is something she has had to evolve with because she has had so many gastric and digestive issues. Take a listen as Saha shares some of her healing practices and how she got better, including her experience with #Kambo, which is something I have never tried but have heard a bit more about in recent years from the Lyme community to assist with healing. Please leave a comment below if this is something that has helped you. Check out my channel for other episodes and please like and follow if you feel this can help someone on their Lyme healing journey. Visit my webpage to learn more about my journey and services offered to help you heal: www.thesilverlyming.com #thesilverlyming #lyme #lymedisease #healing #healed #getwell #believe #strength #perseverance #annedesjardins

As we have learned in previous episodes, Lyme can affect more than one family member. This is what happened to Carol and her family. Carol, her husband, and her daughter, were all impacted by Lyme/TBD. None of them are certain where they contracted it, but they are all certain that they had it. Carol and her husband did not suffer tremendously and gratefully were able to recover with minimal effort, but their daughter was not so lucky. One day, it appeared as though she had a stroke, and they did not understand what was happening to her. Prior to this, she had a lot of sinus infections and tonsilitis, but nothing like this. They had her tonsils and adenoids removed. She also had become incredibly moody and gained a lot of weight. Nothing made sense. Carol was trying to get her daughter in with a holistic doctor, but he was struggling with Lyme/TBD himself, so it made getting an appointment challenging. He was finally able to see her and the testing from Igenex came back negative. I want to highlight this as I have never heard that the Igenex testing was not 100% accurate but evidently it is possible to still not test accurately even with their specialized testing equipment. Her daughter then was diagnosed with asthma which was a shock as she never had breathing issues before. This takes us to when she had the episode that mimicked a stroke, and they rushed her to a doctor that told her she was simply seeking attention. After further testing, they ruled out things like a brain tumor or cancer and turned back to the holistic doctor for help with healing her. Her daughter is doing so much better now and they are all grateful to have made it back to wellness. Currently they still maintain a healthy lifestyle, but that was something they were already doing before the Lyme and tick-borne illnesses. Having had their experiences, it just makes staying in that lifestyle easier. When Carol feels her body start to feel off, she gives herself a round of herbs to regain "control". Take a listen as Carol shares many of the healing protocols they participated in and some to consider staying away from. Check out my channel for other episodes and please like and follow if you feel this can help someone on their Lyme healing journey. Visit my webpage to learn more about my journey and services offered to help you heal: www.thesilverlyming.com

Chris was a terrific athlete as a young child until about the age of 10. He can remember a day where he had a burning sensation on the back of his neck, and when his mom looked, she saw what potentially may have been an insect bite. It actually turned out to be a bullseye rash, but at the time, it was not quickly recognized as such. After that experience, when he returned to school and sports, he was no longer the same child. He could no longer play ball well and had developed a fear of the ball almost overnight. He began to suffer from a lot of bruising and nose bleeds which no one could explain. Chris ultimately had his spleen removed because he was having issues with it, and that seemed to help for a bit, but after a few years, the issues with his platelets returned. His mother finally found an amazing doctor through a TV show that was able to help Chris heal. He was doing great until he had a traumatic life event that caused him to revert back into sickness. He also was re-infected by another tick and had to go through the whole healing process again. Gratefully he has pulled through and is mostly mended again. Listen to his story and to how he healed himself, not once, but twice, as it may help you with a golden nugget on your own healing journey. You can contact Chris at [email protected] or 570-606-1551. He offers card readings, theta healing sessions, and guided meditations. Follow me and like this episode so more people can find my show. These stories may help save someone's life.

Carrie's story is a little bit unique in that she herself does not have Lyme or tick-borne illness, but two of her daughters have contracted it, one of them contracted it twice. In supporting her daughters in the recoveries, she learned all too well how expensive and difficult it is to treat these infections. When her daughter Sam began experiencing symptoms, Carrie did not know what was wrong with her. She took Sam from doctor to doctor trying to get answers to what her daughter was experiencing. It took 8 months to get a diagnosis, which at that time seemed like forever, but Carrie has come to learn, that really is nothing in the Lyme world. Sadly, many go years and decades with no answers. Carrie ultimately got Sam to a functional medicine doctor that really was able to start making progress with Sam's healing. Because of how Sam is as a human, she was able to navigate through school and get through high school but it was a challenge. Carrie's younger daughter, Shay, struggled quite a bit more than Sam because they are different people and Shay was younger when she first got sick. It was a struggle for Shay to get through school and Carrie herself was really struggling with not feeling angry because it was harder to get her better and people just don't understand. They gratefully did get Shay well again but unfortunately, she was re-infected with a whole new strain of Lyme and Bartonella a few years later. Shay was devastated she was going to have to go through healing again and developed an eating disorder, which is another sign of bartonella. Currently Shay has been able to get rid of the Lyme, but the Bartonella was being a bit more persistent, and they are working on getting that completely into remission. Through her girls' journey, Carrie has seen first-hand what this does to people and how expensive it is to fix it since the treatment is generally not covered by insurance. She started Sam's Spoons Foundation @samsspoonsfoundation863 to help others offset the cost of treatment. Visit www.samsspoonsfoundation.org to learn more and make a donation if possible. If you are interested to share your healing story with Lyme/tick-borne illness, please contact me. I would love to have you as part of the healing hope we can provide to the world. Visit my website, www.thesilverlyming.com to learn more and to contact me.

If you don't already believe in miracles, you will after hearing Ricky's story of healing from Lyme and tick-borne illness. Ricky's started with a light bull's-eye rash on his chest (that alone is rather miraculous since only about 35% of people get a bull's-eye rash) in 2017. His Lyme test initially was positive but then another test only showed him positive to one band. He was still referred to an infectious disease doctor who told him he did not have an active case of Lyme but had only been exposed to is at some point in his past. That began a two-year search for him to figure out what was actually happening to his body. Ricky had hundreds of tests trying to determine what was causing his symptoms including muscle biopsies and was bounced from doctor to doctor, like so many in the Lyme world. He had severe insomnia, depression, anxiety, and picked up all kinds of addictions to help him feel a little better. Doctors attempted to give him all kinds of diagnoses including ALS, and his cholesterol was super high. He FINALLY got to a Lyme-literate doctor and was properly diagnosed, but by this time it had disseminated through his whole body. Life got very hard for him because it was a chore just to be normal and function, which put a strain on his relationships at home and work. His daughter asked one day if her daddy would ever be happy again and that was his breaking point. He made up his mind he was going to heal form that point on and had a long conversation with God, and he says in that instant, he was healed. That experience was rather profound for Ricky and it showed him the process of what needs to happen in order to heal. He has learned so much from his experience and is now helping others find health. He looks back at his journey and appreciates the importance of having faith that you will heal, and the Universe will bring you everything you need to do so. It is better to surrender to the dis-ease, not give up, but surrender to it. Do not fight against it. Go with it. When you are able to do this, the healing becomes so much easier. Check out Ricky on Instagram or at his website: www.thepowerofyou.coach He has a lot of great insight and teachings to offer.

Can you imagine eating your lunch and suddenly losing the ability to chew your food? This is exactly what happened to Patrick one day. He was eating food with his wife and lost the ability to finish chewing. All he really could do was fall face first into bed hoping it would pass since he did not have health insurance at the time. Sadly, it did not pass, and he went to the walk-in clinic the next day. When he removed his shirt, the doctor exclaimed that he has Lyme. This worried Patrick because it is a disease which he thought meant permanent. This put Patrick on a course to regain his health over the next two years. One night, he was watching TV and saw something about Gerson therapy which involved juicing. The story he saw was about Max Gerson's daughter who saved her eyesight with juicing, so Patrick felt compelled to start juicing. He began noticing improvements in his body and felt a lot younger almost overnight. Patrick started adding glyconutrients, which he expands on, and now actually sells because of how much they helped him and the people he shared them with. His company is Herbastat (herbastat.com) where he sells other herbs for a variety of uses such as running. Patrick now competes in triathlons after his bout with Lyme and being forced to heal himself. He started his own company and became the "Lyme Healer" (lymehealer.com) after Lyme and tick-borne illness forced him to stop working at his financial planning with the elderly that he was very passionate about. Gratefully, he has been able to find another way to support himself and his family. Lyme can take EVERYTHING from people so pay attention and do your best to prevent contact with ticks in the first place. Patrick has been infected more than once which sadly is not uncommon. Ticks are most prevalent in the area he lives, but are found EVERYWHERE. Your best bet is to check yourself, your kids, and your pets daily. Use repellent and protect your property to the best of your ability. For more info on keeping your property and self safe, visit palyme.org. Follow me here or any of the podcast channels (Spotify, Apple, iHeartRadio, etc) to hear all episodes. Your support is greatly appreciated. It helps these stories find more people that need to hear them.

This week's episode is well-timed with it being six years since my diagnosis with Lyme/TBI which is a moment that has completely changed my life for the better (and for those of you who know me, you know 17 is my Angel number so I could not resist using it for my episode). I remember thinking about dying so many times in the months leading up to August 4, 2017, and FINALLY had an answer that I could target to heal versus just throwing everything against the wall and hoping something sticks. This journey was hard to walk but I am so grateful it happened because it has given me a much deeper understanding of life and has forced me to change in ways I do not think I would have embraced otherwise, that are so much better for me in the long run. I have learned so much and expanded tremendously as a soul through this journey and that is worth its weight in gold. And ultimately, I have HEALED. All good things in the end but... There are things I wish I could change as I know they affect others like the time it took to get a diagnosis, the amount of money and effort it took to fix myself, and the Standard testing that is available is at best 65% accurate. I am grateful I could find a way, but we should be further along with this disease than we are. There are a lot of issues surrounding this disease from physical to political, and people are unfortunately caught in the middle. Please take the time to reach out to your local elected officials and let them know that something needs to change with how we handle the treatment of Lyme disease/TBI. In the state of PA where I live, insurance companies currently do not have to help cover the costs of treatment and I can speak from my own experience that it cost me THOUSANDS of dollars a month to treat myself adequately over an extended period of time. I acknowledge that some people can heal almost instantaneously, but there are a good number of individuals who do not and are left to either suffer because they cannot afford treatment or to figure out how to pay for things. We need a better understanding of this disease from the Western medical community, and I pray that I will see that in my lifetime. People should not be left to suffer because we do not understand it well enough. If you come are struggling with Lyme/TBI, feel free to contact me. I work with individuals to help them heal. I am starting to post educational videos on my website at TheSilverLyming.com specific to healing with Lyme using a blend of Ayurvedic teaches and those I have learned reading and researching in my years of dealing with this sickness. I am also intuitively gifted to be able to help suss out the root cause of disfunction in the soul to help facilitate more rapid healing. You can schedule an appointment through my website.

The timing to release this week's episode couldn't be much better! This weeks's guest has alpha-gal syndrome. That's the one being talked about in the news so much the last few days that gives you an allergy to red meat and other animal products. What's even crazier is we know that it comes from a tick bite, but the doctor that found his alpha-gal REFUSED to test for additional tick-borne infections. How can someone have a tick-borne illness but we refuse to look for any other infection, while there is a HUMAN suffering with unanswered health challenges??? Good reminder how we MUST be our own best advocates when we do not feel right. Ethan's symptoms started when he was 8 with a random panic attack. He didn't get help till he was in his 20s. That's a long time to suffer. Check out his story and symptoms, and how he's HEALING his body💚

Dr. Sue Eisen is a functional medicine doctor and holistic chiropractor. She gratefully had a medical background to guide her to a diagnosis of Lyme and tickborne illness potentially sooner than the average person. She feels she was bit in the winter of 2008 when she started with a general fatigue and possible bulls' eye rash (Erythema migrans) and in the back of her brain she kept hearing "Lyme disease" and was able to get treatment. Her story did not end there because even though she is a physician, she had trouble getting enough antibiotics from one practitioner. She had to go to a couple doctors to try to get enough and wound up with a bad case of neurological Lyme. She started with increased OCD, and once she was able to get enough treatment, she says that resolved itself and has not returned. Dr. Eisen was infected again in 2015 when a spider bit her...I hope you are reading this to understand that ticks are not the only insects that can transmit Lyme. She thinks she may actually have contracted bartonella from it, which is another infection similar to Lyme that both ticks and spiders, and potentially other insects, can transmit so please take the time for preventative measures before going outdoors. This is a great segue into what Dr. Eisen has found to be one of the greatest gifts her duration with Lyme and tickborne/spiderborne illnesses gave her, her company that make natural, organic repellent called Tick Tock Naturals. (www.ticktocknaturals.com) which I can say from personal use smells amazing. Dr. Eisen is super passionate about preventing bites in the first place because she understands how much easier that is for people to do than to fix what happens to people after an infected bite occurs. You can hear in our interview that Dr. Eisen is currently practicing and you are able to work with her either in person or remotely, depending on your proximity to her. You can connect with her on social media by looking for Dr. Sue Eisen. She shares useful info on health-related topics so check her out.

Like many of us, Gigi Thibodeau is not sure how she contracted Lyme/TBI. She started to feel unwell about 5 years ago, July 4, 2018. She experienced what she will call a "tipping point" (I have thought about this many times with my own story and with others I have interviewed, is there a tipping point in which we get bit so many times, it is overload for our bodies or is it already in us and a major life stressor occurs and activates it?). She got incredibly sick right away after that event and experienced a lot of vestibular challenges, which ultimately forced her to have to give up her job that she loved incredibly. She was a writer and a teacher and could no longer make her brain work for her to perform her job. It took her 2.5 years to get a diagnosis. She finally found a doctor who was able to tell her what was going on with her because she could not even stay awake anymore. He explained to her the faultiness of the traditional testing that is available, the Western Blot and ELISA tests, and talked to her about co-infections like Bartonella, Babesia, Ehrlichiosis, etc. She was so grateful to finally have a diagnosis, although she had a TON of TBI so it was bittersweet knowing what is wrong but realizing how sick she really was. Her practitioner let her know that it would not be the fastest fix. I do my best to be mindful when talking about this with people because I believe in miracles, I have experienced many, but this usually is not an overnight fix, especially in those who have long-term/undiagnosed infection. He warned her that this is more of a journey to try to prepare her for what was/is to come. What he told her after that was slightly disturbing to her in that he said she should not talk about it openly because she would turn people off to her. Take a listen to hear her talk about this experience and her healing process. I have known Gigi for a long time, and she has gone from completely bedridden with the room spinning out of control to being UPRIGHT and able to hold a long conversation with me on her own. She has been able to return to writing and is finding a completely new style since her bout with Lyme an TBI. She went to Mexico for treatment most recently which has helped her tremendously. Please leave a comment to let me know what you enjoyed most about this episode. I think for me it is the entire thing:) I appreciate all your love and support and remember, HEALING IS POSSIBLE. I know it gets dark and lonely, but we are with you.