First of all, I know I need to explain this a little. I take it for granted that people know what they're seeing because I automatically block out the normal and see the abnormal. (Thank you, Dr. Ramsey and Dr. Roberts! You taught me so much, and more than 25 years later, I remember more than I thought I would. Is it any wonder that Hematology and Pathogenic Microbiology were my two favorite subjects back then?) The larger dark gray circles with the lighter centers are red blood cells. J's have a tendency to stick together a little and form what looks like little stacks of coins. For my Louisiana folks...that's called rouleaux formation. It can be due to many things. Hers is slight, as was mine this time. In May, my rouleaux was significant. Also, some of her red blood cells (RBCs) form little points at the end of them. This can indicate mild leaky gut and gluten sensitivity. J. has been having trouble with her stomach after she eats to the point where she gets very nauseated. We're going to see if it's a gluten or casein issue (or both) by doing a modified elimination diet. Also, I'm going to monitor her blood sugar around the times she starts to feel that way to see if it fluctuates.
If J. doesn't get enough sleep (9-10 hours) and especially if it is cumulative sleep loss, she gets physically sick. I've seen it many times over the years after camps, church lock-ins, and sleepovers. Just a week ago she was at camp and it happened again. She texted me saying she had been up until midnight. When they got to the room she threw up and spent the rest of the night on the bathroom floor. Camps keep the kids up late and get them up early...clearly to her detriment. She only averaged 6-7 hours of sleep over a two-week period. She had back-to-back camps with a weekend to catch up on sleep in between them. It just wasn't enough. The second camp is where it affected her the most. It's bad enough that we're considering not sending her to camp anymore. Unfortunately, she gets so much out of them and loves to be there even in the midst of misery. It's a decision we'll have to revisit next summer, but we've pretty much decided that back-to-back camps are out.
Another thing to make note of is that she has never, not once in her life, been on antibiotics...which is not to say she's never been sick. She's had, MAYBE, two ear infections that I've treated homeopathically, and fevers here and there. I never have to take her to the doctor or ER for something I can handle. The two times I have has been because she's thrown up 10 times or more overnight. That's my limit until I start asking for Zofran and you can only get that with a prescription. That is after all other methods have failed. The other time was when she broke her arm in 3 places. I may be somewhat of a MacGyver, but...
She'll be 13 in September. For years, I've had to constantly remind her to do things...clean her room, pay me back for something she bought, do her laundry, etc. I have to tell her 4 or 5 times because she forgets. Since we have one child and I have no one else to compare her to, I just couldn't be sure it meant anything, but suspected it wasn't normal. I'm well aware that, at this age, kids choose to remember what they want to and their memory tends to be a bit selective. It still struck me as odd. At school, though, she has always been on the honor roll. This was just something I picked up on a few years ago in addition to the other things I mentioned. The most recent thing that's happened is that she's developed warts on one of her knees and plantar warts on one of her feet. Several years ago, all three of us had plantar warts at the same time. Warts are viral. The reason these caught my attention is because Lyme reactivates viruses. Those eruptions didn't seem to be coincidental to me and they sure aren't now after what we found out on Friday. That basically wraps up her history. She is pretty much asymptomatic. Now, we'll move forward with the plan which I'll explain at the end. First, here are some of her videos.
In the video below, there are 3 smaller white circles around the RBCs. That is yeast in her blood, which explains why she has been craving carbohydrates. You can't actually see the yeast, but you can see the gas it gives off. You look for bubbles that are not near platelets because you can also find them near there, but platelets also give off gas that shows up in the form of white bubbles. I knew pretty quickly that the gluten sensitivity I suspected was showing along with the yeast. There are other things I can get into, but it would be even more confusing to people who don't understand.
So, what are we going to do where J. is concerned? As I said before, she is basically asymptomatic. You have to remember that I lived with this for decades until my immune system quit functioning and I fell apart at the start of my pregnancy and never recovered. She should be able to live life as I have. The only thing I worry about is if a trauma comes along in the future. That can be emotional, physical...like surgery or pregnancy and childbirth, a car accident, or something else that attacks her immune system. Based on this, and a long conversation with my previous LLNP (thank goodness for that continuing relationship), we will most likely be treating her with one of two protocols recommended. We will be treating her on our own (not under the care of an LLMD) by putting her on Biocidin. If you click on the word it will take you to the website. A combination of Biocidin, Olivirex, and Takuna will attack the biofilm, help heal her gut, take care of the yeast and help with reactivated viruses. There is no point in getting a blood test since we saw everything we needed to confirm congenital Lyme. Chances are great that, even if we did, the test would result out a false negative.
You can believe whatever you wish where transmission is concerned, but you have to question whole families who are infected. You also have to consider the woman in "Under Our Skin" who had 4 pregnancies. Two were live births. Both children have Lyme. But, the more interesting thing is the other two pregnancies which resulted in miscarriage. The fetal remains of both were tested and both were positive for Lyme. Explain that.