The Demographics Of Healing

Do you ever wonder who are the souls that find permanent healing from chronic Lyme disease? I mean, what healed them? What kind of people are they? How do they live? Do they work? What is their home life like? What is their history of trauma? Are they mostly men, or women? Could we learn a thing or two about what it takes to heal if we understood their demographics? Yes, a multitude of variables affect healing, but wouldn't it be great if somebody funded a study to determine what factors, beyond the obvious, such as immune function and infection load, allow people to heal? Wouldn't it be great if we had some actual numbers regarding their demographics?

Personally (and based upon my limited knowledge), most of those whom I know that have found healing from chronic Lyme disease are men. I haven't done an official poll, so it may not be true that more men heal than women. However, given that more women are afflicted by chronic illness (this is a fact), I have to wonder if their healing is also more complicated. Studies have been done which demonstrate that women are more affected physically by emotional stress than men. Perhaps the emotional strain of Lyme disease takes a greater toll on their bodies, too? Perhaps men are better able to resist physical damage as a result of relationship, financial and other stress?

What about work? Have those who were able to maintain a full-time job while sick found greater healing? After all, the few sufferers I know who are in remission or close to it, worked throughout much of their illness. Did they heal because they weren't that sick to begin with? While their infection load certainly factored into it, I wonder if their healing was instead helped by the distraction of work and having things to think about besides Lyme disease. And perhaps because they were already employed in professions they enjoyed, they found greater incentive to heal. Maybe their motivation to work while suffering from disabling symptoms also drove them to desperately want their lives back. Not that any of us don't; but subconsciously, some Lyme disease sufferers may believe that life is easier this way, or that because they don't know what they would do with their talents if well (since it has been so long since they have been able to utilize them), they don't heal.

Furthermore, how do people who live alone fare compared to those who live with a loving, supportive family? Surely healing is affected by the amount of positive companionship in a person's life. The healed that I know spent much of their time with others.

How about financial status? Do those with greater financial resources find healing faster than those who don't? Based on what I know about my fellow Lyme disease companions, I would say that this depends. If a person is so poor that they cannot treat their illness or are severely stressed by financial hardship, then that person may not heal as fast as the more financially privileged soul. On the other hand, those whom I know that have found great healing, have received it by employing simple strategies. A few others that I know have spent thousands and yet still struggle with illness.

Yet other demographical factors to consider are: age, income, and physical location. Common sense dictates that being younger is an asset, as is living in a clean, healthy environment, surrounded by green and plenty of oxygen. Diet, adherence to regimens, as well as healing strategies chosen are likewise important, but are more obvious considerations. But do we have any concrete statistics about how much any of these factors affects healing? Not yet.

Finally, how much past or current emotional trauma have the healed endured? One friend of mine, who suffered greatly in childhood, but who has managed to stay positive and optimistic throughout his life, is now nearly in remission. Everyone carries scars from their past, but some have been dealt a more difficult hand than others, and how they have responded to that trauma may affect how quickly they heal from Lyme disease now.

We can measure a multitude of other demographical, social and other factors, but without statistics and being able to isolate all of the variables, how can we really know which ones really affect healing? My only recommendation would be to try to learn about the lifestyle and history of your acquaintances who have found significant healing from Lyme disease. Perhaps the clues from their lives will provide you with greater insight into how you can heal from the illness.