Chris’s Story

bacteria and is similar to lyme, and, of course, lyme. I was also positive for 2 viruses, Epstein Barr (mono) and HHV-6 (another virus that comes out when your immune system is non-existant). I had a lot of blood work done to test my immune system, which was basically not working. I also had testing done for my thyroid, adrenals and hormones, all were extremely low.I started out taking meds to kill Babesia b/c it is the worst infection I have. I have 2 different strains of it. It is chronic. I will never be able to eradicate it on the medications that are currently available, but I can get the numbers down w/ treatment and then stay on a maintenance dose. The medicine I take for this is malaria medicine and it makes me sick as hell. I’m down to taking it one week a month. I will always need to do that. Next, I started treating lyme and Ehrlichia, both are also chronic infections and I will need treatment for the rest of my life, but eventually it will be a maintenance dose. I’m not there yet with those two infections. (I was being treated for Lyme since 1996, but this doc took a different approach where he “pulses” the meds).

Next I started to work on building up my immune system with herbs and supplements. I did a lot of research on my own and learned about Glutathione. It is the “mother of all antioxidants” and chronically ill people are always low in it. It is made in the liver and helps the body to flush out toxins. I am full of toxins from antigens and medications I take to kill them. My body was not de-toxing at all, so I started getting Glutathione IV’s in May and it turned things around for me significantly. I started being able to get out of bed. I had been 80-90% bedridden for the past 2 years. This past May was the first time I started being able to get out of bed almost every day.

Next, I started taking thyroid meds, and supplements to support my thyroid, adrenal glands and hormones. Supporting these 3 things gave me more energy, and I started being able to get out of bed every day and even started being able to leave the house a bit, on my own. Before, I was too tired and dizzy to drive.

Once I started feeling well enough to be out of bed, I was able to do more things for my health like eat a better diet and exercise. When you are bedridden, a salad is the last thing you want to eat, and exercise is out of the question. Exercise is still pretty much out of reach for me, but I am trying to do a little bit here and there. I’m eating a diet of 2/3 raw fruit and veggies/day. I make smoothies with fruit and yogurt and just started making green juice from veggies. Changing my diet gave me even more energy. I try to eat all organic, very low carbs and dairy and no processed sugar. I follow this the best I can, but I will still eat a cheesesteak and drink a beer or two on occasion.

I’ve been continuing to research almost every day and I found that people who are helped so significantly by glutathione like I was, likely have a genetic mutation called MTHFR. http://www.methyl-life.com/ I have 2 mutated copies of the 1298 gene, which means I can’t methylate (break down B vitamins (especially folic acid)) . So my liver is overwhelmed by unprocessed (un-methylated B vitamins) which clogs up everything and makes my body unable to get rid of toxins. I need to take methylated forms of B vitamins and have to stop eating any foods that are “enriched” with B vitamins. This is basically any food that contains white flour and even some whole wheat foods. My doctors don’t know very much about this disorder, so I’ve scheduled a telephone consult with a doctor who specializes in this genetic mutation for September.

So, to wrap things up, I went from being 80-90% bedridden in February to being at about 50% functioning (I was 0-10%). This is great, but of course, I want to be at 80-90%, so I still have a lot of work to do, but I’m getting there, and it’s been really freaking hard.