Following the Hope

Hello, Friends,

While announcing a new direction that I hope to take with this blog, I also think it's important for me to mention that I'm presently battling Lyme disease.  This will help explain, in advance, any delays in my ability to post.  Moreover, Lyme disease can be an important factor in the subject of MCS.

Although there is pain right now, I believe I'm at a very good place in my treatment and I have real hope that things will soon be better.  My particular version of Lyme settled in my lower limbs, mostly my foot bones and soft tissues.  I've had bilateral calf, ankle, and foot swelling which has resembled that of kidney failure; but just today, my doubts as to the source of the swelling finally vanished.  As the swelling slowly recedes, I can now feel what is beneath it:  bone pain like that of many bruises in the big and little foot bones, soft-tissue pain -- all localized inflammation, which also imparts a continual burning sensation as the siege against the Lyme continues.

Having been in a bewildered, exhausted fog the past month of treatment, really stunned at how Lyme manifests itself and just hoping to get through it, I'm now feeling more real pain but I'm also more alert.  That's a very long sentence but I've also got hives right now so I'm just trying to make my way through this.

The hives, the pain, anything weird -- I'm told it's all to be expected, so I'm OK with it.  Guess I had the Lyme for a while before I knew I had it . . . so these posts have been slowed down, also, for a while.  I had even shut down this blog for several weeks, being sick and generally all out of sorts.  Now, I must effectively begin again.  I can't promise anything regarding increased frequency of writing, but I can surely try to post more often.

Through all of this, there's been a chorus echoing through my head:  "MCS and Lyme!  Lyme and MCS!  Connect the dots!  Connect the dots!"

I do not doubt that there are many dots in this equation to be connected.  From firsthand experience alone, I can simply state:  Each thing makes the other worse.  And when Lyme symptoms and MCS symptoms occur simultaneously, it's nothing to joke about.   In that event, there's just more of everything:  more overall toxicity, more swelling, heightened neurological symptoms and increased hormonal shifts, adrenal depletion, slower detoxing, more delayed or completely prevented immune response . . . just a mess.   It's impossible for me to tease apart all the details.  I just know they're all "in the mix."

Lyme disease, alone, can do crazy things neurologically.  It can amplify the senses.  So can Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  So can sensitization to chemicals.  So can a fever/virus/infection.  So can certain pharmaceutical drugs (which are synthetic and contain chemicals).  So can food allergies. 

Previously, I've usually been able to discern, in my own experience, what part of my (triggered) neurological distress was a chemical reaction (due to its characteristic pattern and reliability of response) and what part was due to other factors.  At present, however, the Lyme disease is a very big thing on my platter and I'm still getting acquainted with it -- although I also seemed to have had an active case of it 25 years ago which was never addressed.  From what I can tell, I've had very few chemical reactions lately.  Of course, I've barely been going anywhere due to the Lyme.  But the few times I've gone out, things haven't been really all that bad.  That's good news.

From here on in, I'm focusing on a new angle:  the concept of neuroplasticity as it relates to MCS.  This simply means the ability of the brain to change and adapt to new conditions -- both environmental and psychological.  Sometimes the brain changes for the worse.  But, sometimes, it also changes for the better.

Please see the new pieces featured on my sidebar and the new tab up top entitled, "'Limbic Sensitization' Hypothesis."

I hope to focus on the Limbic Sensitization hypothesis within the next few posts.  My intent is to combine this hypothesis with the concept of neuroplasticity and see where it leads.  I'm not making any conclusions in advance -- that would be impossible.  I am, however, intending to "explore" each concept as fully as this brain is able to.  This is my way of "following the hope" wherever it leads me.

When in doubt, I always "follow the hope."

Cheers!

~ Daisies