I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase before!  My mother used to say it all the time.  It’s the perfect phrase to explain how I feel most days.  On one hand, I am thankful that God has blessed me to see another day, on the other hand, I’m immediately greeted with a number of symptoms that can change just as quickly as the day.

You see, with Chronic Lyme Disease, every day is a new challenge.  You’re always beyond tired. At least I am. That’s one of the major symptoms I have to fight hard against each day. No matter how much sleep I get, I always feel as though I’ve been awake for several days straight and that pretty much sucks!  Sorry, but I’m just being honest.  It can be quite frustrating to know that you have zero control over how you feel.  Yes, medication helps, (God knows I take lots of it) but for the most part, the medication is working on other symptoms, however, the exhaustion still lingers.  On any given morning not only am I extremely tired, my feet are swollen, I have a major headache and sensitive to sound and light, and that’s just for starters.  In a single month, I can navigate between over 100 different symptoms and no two days are the same.  Sounds like a party right?

I’ve learned over time that the medication I take will make me sick, but that’s how I know it’s working and doing its job to fight the Lyme and the co-infections that live in my body. So basically, it’s par for the course.  When I notice the medication is no longer making me sick, that’s a true indicator that the bacteria has become immune and that new medication needs to be explored.  My LLD will typically change up my meds every 3 months just so the bacteria doesn’t get too comfortable and learn how to “hide” from the medicine and continue to do harm.  The Lyme bacteria is pretty smart!

I’m still learning to deal with feeling both sick and tired. I’m hanging in there and confident that one day soon this too shall pass.

XO,

WC