2 year Update... incl. Eleuthero, NAC, Glucosamine/Chondroitin Sulfate, etc.

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone,

I haven't posted in ages, and just wanted to give a bit of an update.

Except for some seasonal bug issues over the past winter, which may or may

not have been connected to my Lyme, I feel I've turned yet another corner in

recovery. Again, I can say that I'm feeling better than I have in years.

I've also been busier than I've been in years and, though I've felt tired and

somewhat stressed out at times, due to increased responsibilities I've taken

on, I've been holding up and bouncing back amazingly well.

I'm still doing the Healing Lyme core protocol at lower doses (which I adjust

up and down a bit as I feel the need). I started this almost two years ago,

minus the Astragalus (so Andrographis, Cat's Claw, Resveratrol and

Sarsparilla), on June 30, 2006, to be exact.

I added Eleuthero back in November (Nature's Way Standardized Siberian),

starting with one cap and eventually upping to two. I take both of these with

lunch. They didn't agree with me at breakfast, maybe because they were too close

to my Armour Thyroid.

Because of the questions that came up since wrote the book, about

whether chronic Lyme is TH1 or TH2 dominant (so " Andrographis vs Astragalus? " ),

and because the " busier tick season " was coming up, I decided to add Astragalus

in April of this year. I only take one daily, and " balance " it with one cap

of Andrographis daily (both of these also with lunch). I never had a problem

taking Andrographis, like some people do, and did it for some time the way the

book outlined. I just don't feel I need much of it anymore.

I added NAC/N-acetyl cysteine in May, starting with one 600 mg. capsule

daily, but went up to two 660 mg. caps at some point (I don't remember exactly

when), so I'm now at the recommended dosage of 1200 mg. daily (Healing Lyme p.

144).

I also dropped my Glucosamine/Chondroitin sulfate supplement in May. I had

mixed feelings about it for a long time. I have a book about CFS and

FMS/fibromyalgia which I got long before my Lyme dx (these " syndromes " and Lyme

symptoms

can apparently be one and the same, at least in some cases). This book

mentions that people with FMS who have high levels of hyaluronic acid don't do

well

on glucosamine or condroitin. I don't know if this is true, or if there's a

test for hyaluronic acid levels, but I've been feeling better since I dropped

glucosamine and condroitin, and I think I may be someone who should not be

taking

either. I may look into this further.

As is often the case, there's more than one ball at play here, and I can't

know for sure what one thing or combination of things might have helped me reach

another level of healing, but I wanted to share in case any of this rings a

bell for anyone. And also to post again that the Healing Lyme protocols have

worked very well for me (after years of illness, with multiple symptoms and

relative disability from Lyme, undiagnosed for at least 15 years).

I still take various other supplements, under the supervision of a wonderful

naturopath, including Iodoral iodine supplement, which made a big difference

shortly after I started it (and led to me being able to drop my dose of Armour

Thyroid -- for anyone on thyroid meds who tries iodine, please watch your

thyroid blood levels as this combination can cause you to go hyperthyroid).

I haven't been keeping up with posts here, and don't know if I will in the

future, but I try to check in a bit at intervals, and I continue to wish you all

much health and happiness!

Cat

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