I welcome all newcomers to our site and remind those of you who have often checked in over the last few years that your comments, personal stories, suggestions and recipes are always welcome and useful for all of us no matter where in the world that we live. Please feel free to ask questions and voice your opinions. Ann and I are always learning from you, our readers, and it is to our mutual benefit that we offer this website.
This year opens up a whole new avenue of exploration for my own health issues. I have known for some time that some of my symptoms were not due to MS. According to my MS specialist, my lesions are all dormant in both my brain and my cervical spine. Yay! The diet initially offered me rapid and dramatic recovery in my digestion, cognition, energy levels, and the return of sensation from my toes to my face. I felt stronger than I had in years. The healthier I became, the more I noticed other symptoms that had been lurking beneath the general discomfort and malaise of a body that was both numb and weakened.
I began to experience random joint pains that migrated hour by hour, day by day. My walking became less stable and I began to feel cognitively clouded again. One day I finally realized ”this is not MS- it is Lyme disease!”. 7 years ago I was bitten by a deer tick and though I did a typical short round of antibiotics at the time, the bacteria went into hiding and has become a chronic condition as often is the case. I have begun working with a Lyme disease doctor who lauded all of my holistic efforts to combat the effects of Lyme and its co-infections but is now taking me in hand to deal with eliminating the source of my recent decline.
He informed me that the tail of the spirochete responsible for Lyme also offers the same kind of molecular mimicry as proteins in the MS trigger foods for the auto immune system to attack the myelin sheath! He told me that he sees many people with both MS and Lyme, here in upstate New York where the ticks are abundant from the spring through the fall .
The MS Recovery Diet is a permanent way of life for me and is the solid foundation upon which any of the new protocols for Lyme will be based. I enter into this year with gratitude and continued good wishes for the health and well being of all.