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April, 2014- HELLO ALL! I am no longer posting to this blog. For the latest on me and my work, I invite you to subscribe to my NEW blog: www.conniestrasheim.blogspot.com where I share my latest findings on how to heal from chronic illness involving Lyme and other conditions. Thanks!

Greetings and welcome to my Lyme disease blog, a comfy cozy (and sometimes crazy!) place for cutting-edge information, encouragement and insight into the fastest-growing epidemic disease in the United States. In this blog you will find everything from bug-killing strategies to immune system and hormone help, as well as lifestyle and spiritual suggestions for healing from chronic illness involving Lyme disease. The information contained within this blog is based upon my own healing journey and what I have learned over the past eight years as I have been diligently digging and researching my way back to a better state of health. May you find it to be a source of hope, inspiration and wisdom in your own journey towards wellness.

About "Insights Into Lyme Disease Treatment"

About the book:

443 Pages - $39.95
Published August, 2009
Written by Connie Strasheim
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Sunday, August 03, 2008

I Don't Want To Think About Lyme Anymore!

I have a confession to make. I'm sick of Lyme. Of treating it, researching it, and...talking about it. I resent how much time it's taken out of my life. Yup, I'll bet you feel the same. You wish you didn't have to dedicate so many of life's hours to treatments and research and all the rest. You resent it stealing spaces of your life that were once rightfully reserved for friendships, work and "normal" activities.

Indeed, I was astounded when I first became ill and realized how quickly and efficiently Lyme had snatched my life out from under me. How it managed to shove aside all my life's activities and demand my full-time attention. How, from the setting of the sun one day, to its rising on the next, it had become my life partner; the companion and center of all my thoughts and doings. Kind of like what happens in an obsessive relationship, except that there has been no love in this one.

Periodically and as I have fought the disease, its pervasiveness has overwhelmed me, and even though I have managed to add a smidgeon of balance to my life through other activities, my new life partner, Lyme, has always clamored the loudest for my time and attention.

And always, I have given my pouting body the help it needs. Always, I have heeded the cry to look for the next solution to my symptoms, or to nurse my wounds and whine about my life because my aches and pains and too much knowledge have demanded that I do so.

But I've also learned that my body never shuts up. And, as long as I devote copious amounts of time and energy (not to mention money) to Lyme-related activities, the disease reigns as King over my thought world, and master over my body.

Of late, however, I've decided to dethrone the king, and this has meant leaving all things Lyme behind for awhile. If I didn't think that my words helped others, I would probably take a blog nap, too, but I figure as long as the rest of my world remains filled with things besides thoughts of Lyme, I'll be OK.

If you really, truly don't want this disease to rule your life, there are steps you can take to relegate it to a lower rank, but you must be diligent. If you are really sick and have lots of symptoms, this is more difficult to do, and perhaps for a time you must be content to allow it generous space in your brain so that you can get the medical care you need. But if you have been at this game for awhile and are moderately functional; if you can take walks in the park and go grocery shopping or manage dinner with a friend, then you may be in a position to re-assign value to Lyme and the pursuit of healing.

Millions of forces will conspire against you. Your symptoms will remind you every minute about how broken you are; you'll want to chat with others who have Lyme; your treatments and research for the next cure will keep you entrenched in thoughts of disease. Getting out from beneath your Lyme-brain will be no easy task.

So what do you do?

Lately, I've been avoiding situations that encourage me to think Lyme, Lyme and more Lyme!! If someone asks how I feel, I give a brief answer. If I'm lonely, and even though I'm tempted, I stay away from the Lyme support groups. Sorry guys, I love you, but I need a break from this life. (Don't worry, you can still email me with comments and questions and I won't turn you away!). I have put my treatments on hold in favor of giving my body up to God to do with as He wishes, because I think He can intervene more powerfully when I don't live with one foot in the mush of man's medicine and another in the world of hope for supernatural healing. Indeed, I have witnessed more instances of supernatural healing in Costa Rica than I ever saw in the United States. (I wouldn't advise leaving your current treatment regimen in favor of my faith-based approach, unless you feel led to walk that path), but personally, it is helping me to center my thoughts around other things.

Before you think I'm foolish, don't be fooled; the "other" things of life, are, in themselves, treatment for Lyme disease, because they enable me to aspire to a life outside of Lyme. By filling my brain with what I love and what I hope to become; by assuming health by doing what my body thinks I can't do; by engaging in the lives of others and taking an interest in their pursuits, or cultivating interest in a new hobby, I am removed from the world of disease. When my body pokes at me--or shouts--"Excuse me! I'm tired!" I heed the call for rest, but smash the laments that follow, replacing them with thoughts about what I can productively do in my rest.

It takes practice, determination and perseverance, but you don't have to think about Lyme disease all the time, or even half of the time. Indeed, by making it your servant instead of your master in the palace of your thoughts, you may attain greater healing.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Connie,
Your blog helps to validate what I am experiencing from Lyme. I usually stay away from all things Lyme including support groups, even talking about it with anyone. 99% of people I know would be extremely surprised that I deal with this everyday. But, like you, I need a vacation from Lyme. These past few weeks I watched friends and family take vacations and realized last week that there is no vacation from a chronic illness ! Many times over the past 11 yrs I have decided to have a day of NOT BEING SICK ! It makes me wonder if we are attracting illness in our effort to be well??? I enjoy your blog and hearing what you have to say. Have faith in your healing and stay strong. By the way, what do you do in Costa Rica?

Connie Strasheim said...

Hey Michelle,

I'm glad I could help!
I admire you for being able to be so discreet about your illness-indeed, I have not been so good at hiding mine from the world! It used to be the first thing out of my mouth whenever I'd meet somebody new, but I have realized the wisdom in not speaking about it all the time.
Yes, you are right, there is no vacation from chronic illness. I think the best thing we can do is engage in life and train our minds to think about other things, but of course doing so is a discipline, especially when we feel horrible!
Thanks for your encouragement. I wish you well in your healing,

Connie

Blessings,

Connie