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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"

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443 Pages - $39.95
Published August, 2009
Written by Connie Strasheim
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Friday, June 19, 2009

Good-Bye, Costa Rica

It's funny all of the interesting twists and turns that Lyme disease brings into a person's life. After all, it brought me to Costa Rica. Yes, I came here in November, 2007, to write my first book on Lyme disease, but the financial devastation that Lyme had caused in my life up until then, along with my need to go deeper in order to find healing, is what has kept me here until now.

Indeed, in the twenty months that I have been here (well, really a year and a half, if I don't count the trips that I have taken back to the States in between), I have been healed of many things, probably in part due to living in a slower, more peaceful, and perhaps less toxic environment, and I am moving back to my "home" in Denver in just three days, stronger and healthier than when I left.

As I prepare myself for the reality of moving back to what will now be somewhat of a foreign country to me, I realize that as much as I wanted to avoid reverse culture shock and keep one foot back home, (because living here was never meant to be a permanent thing for me), I have yet immersed myself enough in life here to realize that returning to the States will yet be an adjustment.

I guess I've been here long enough to comprehend that I'm no longer leaving a foreign country; I am leaving behind a life, complete with friends and a lifestyle that I love and am now used to.

I don't know whether to scream because Lyme did this to me, or to rejoice because Lyme gave me the opportunity to experience life in another country.

Or maybe Lyme did nothing and my god's purposes were to take me out of the States for awhile anyway, for other reasons. But I did have a home in Denver and Lyme took that away from me and I knew that as long as I had symptoms and was unable to work, it would be easier for me to get by on my own in a cheaper country. And so I left the United States, and at the time, it seemed as simple as any other lifestyle choice that Lyme had obliged me to make.

Leaving Costa Rica and moving back to Denver will be bittersweet. I feel certain that this coming week will be marked by moments of sadness and tears as I say good-bye to loved ones here, but also by smiles and joy, at the prospect of going home to see my loved ones there.

They say that moving back to your own country after having lived overseas is more difficult than moving to a foreign country, because, when you move to a foreign country, you expect life to be different, but when you return back home, you expect things to be the same as before and they are not. But it's because you have changed.

It will be interesting to compare life in the United States to that of Costa Rica, once I am back "home". When it comes to healing, however, I don't know whether the environment in Costa Rica, or the United States, is more beneficial for those with chronic illness.

The pace of life in Costa Rica is slower than in the United States, which is conducive to healing. Life is also less complicated here in some ways, and that includes the people. Dare I say that we in the States are too analytical, and it is to our detriment?

Also, Costa Rica probably has fewer environmental contaminants than the United States, especially EMF's. Organic food is scarce, however, and access to supplements and Lyme treatments, even scarcer.

It's also noisy as heck in this place, and there are fewer creature comforts than in the States. Box spring mattresses, dish washers and dryers for example, aren't really the norm in the average Costa Rican household.

But the cost of living is lower here than in the States, which can take another immense burden off of those who are trying to recover their health.

So in some ways, life in Costa Rica can be beneficial to those with Lyme, but in other ways, it can be more stressful, and especially if you don't speak Spanish and aren't accustomed to Latin culture.

In any case, it's time for me to go back, and I must do it now, before I get too comfortable with life here. Because no matter how much I appreciate Costa Rica, I sense that greater purpose awaits me back "home" in Denver. In any case, I am determined not to let any Lyme bugs stop me anymore from fulfilling my god's purposes for me, whether these be in the United States, or any other country.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome Home, Connie. I hope your transition goes smoothly.

Ann

sixgoofykids said...

I only spent a summer in Mexico in college and I said, and in almost the exact same words you just used, that it was harder to come back home because I expected it to be the same, and it never was. I knew Mexico would be different, but thought coming home would be easy.

Be easy on yourself when you come back. That was the first time my Lyme became disabling .... but I also had to leave a guy behind, so it was more than just coming home that triggered the flare.

I wish you luck with the transition. Perhaps joining a hispanic group in your church, if they have one, would make it easier ....

Connie Strasheim said...

Thanks Ann, me too! :-)

Miss Goofy,

Thanks for sharing your experience.

The first time I went overseas, I spent a summer in Mexico, also. I was 17 at the time, and like you, the experience changed me forever. I also lived in Argentina for a year when I was 20, and in London for six months when I was 27. So I guess I should be used to this! But I think anytime you have to say good-bye to people you love, it's hard. For me, this and going back to Denver to try to work full time when I don't feel quite ready is what seems most difficult right now. But I will be careful, because it's not worth jeopardizing my health over-and I do believe that God will provide the right opportunities for me. Thanks for your thoughts! Hope all is well with you.

Connie

Renee said...

Welcome back to the US Connie
Hope and pray the trasition goes well for you will little or NO effects on your health.
God's plan for you is for good and not for evil....He will guide and lead you as you well know.

Sandra McNicol said...

Hello there

This is Sandra not sure if you will remember me but we met in Panama in Jan 2008 across on Bocas Bravas. I just wanted to wish you all the very best for your return trip to the USA. When I come across people with Lyme I always mention your blog and this very inspirational young lady I met who was handling the illness so well. Sending you lots of strength and the very best wishes.

Un abrazo
Sandra

David Rupert said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
David Rupert said...

Connie

Welcome "home".
So good to have you back in Colorado.

Your friend...
David
www.redletterbelievers.com

Dorien said...

Dear Connie,
this is just so amazing.
I am a dutch woman, Dorien van Stiphout, having lyme's disease since at least august 2007.

I decided to get a water filter on my water tubes in order to have a better quality of water which can support my detoxification properly. To make this possible I needed the help of a plumber. Now here the miracle is starting.
The plumber came along. And I am currently doing bioresonance / colour therapy for getting rid of the lyme. I started having a chit chat on my colour therapy with the plumber. I carry a little device with me all day and night which sends out the exact frequency of my borrelia mutant. This device has got some silk thread inside, with the exact colour needed. And the method is developed by some dr from new sealand: dr liley/ dr brooker. In Holland there is some site on the internet called "hyves.com" which showed the results of some people who got cured from lyme disease because of this method (colour therapy in conjunction with bioresonance therapy). The practitioner who helps me is totally convinced he will get me cured from the lyme disease within 15 weeks. I am on week 5 now only. So I cannot yet say I am cured... He also told me that the candida will take a longer time to get rid of as well as the allergies I am suffering from. 15 weeks is still soon considering the at least 2 years I am already suffering this disease. Anyways. I explained the plumber about the disease. And then he told me that he once got a girlfriend in the past who is also and still is suffering from lyme's disease. And he told me that she even wrote a book on it. Then I couldn't believe he mentioned your name Connie!

I just have to say your book gave me very much support during the months I was alone in my house and suffering this disease while not knowing which therapy to follow. I felt very strongly I did not want to go on antibiotics (penicilline), but was very much searching for my own way.
I have used cat's claw as well as cumanda for a while. Later on I started doing the buhner protocol. But it seems a long time already...

I heard and read you've lost your job because of this chronic illness. I feel sorry for that.
At least you have written a beautiful book on your experiences Connie! I read somewhere that you wrote that you did not exactly know whether you should have been glad or not that you got lyme disease and what your quest for health brought to you...

I can completely agree with what you say. The lyme disease opened my eyes for so many things. For the bad health system in Holland. For the toxification of our bodies and the possible dangers deriving from it... For the stupidity of the average gp in Holland. Amalgam troubles... The dangers of anorganic minerals in water which should be ruled out. All the additives in supermarkets. Well you know what I am talking about having read your book...

Ok, this is it for the moment. I wish you a vital health dear Connie. I hope that soon you will be recovered soon from this disabling disease... Thank you for having written your nicely written book on lyme disease! Every lyme disease patient has to start to become its own doctor lately and you helped to make the world a little better with your book...

Reinder van Diggele asked me to send to you his kind regards!

Love,
Dorien van Stiphout

Connie Strasheim said...

Hi Sandra,

So great to hear from you! Of course I remember meeting you in Panama. That was so much fun. How are you?
Thanks for remembering me and for referring people to the blog. I hope this finds you well and to run into you one day again in another corner of the world!

Take care, Connie

Connie Strasheim said...

Hi Dorien,

Thanks for your kind comments and for sharing your story. I apologize for not responding but I have been really busy these days!

Please keep me posted on your progress with your current therapy. I do hope that it works for you!

I know this journey is hard-and like you said, we must all be our own doctors. Thankfully, more and more people are writing about this disease so we are always getting more, and hopefully better, information about how to treat it.

Reinder is such a great guy-we met in Indonesia about ten years ago. If you see him again, please say Hello and send him my best wishes!

I wish you well in your healing journey, as well.

Take care,

Connie

leven-met-lyme said...

Dear Connie, thank you for your thoughtful reply. I might call Reinder to send you his regards although I guess he also might have written to you already. He was so astonished to have a look at your book and hearing I've read your book already. We live in a small world don't we?

I will definitely keep you informed on my hoped for progress. My practitioner is convinced I will be lyme-free by september 23, my 6th session with him. I do not even have to pay him right now. Just only when the lyme-treatment is completed... (but then afterwards he still will do the yeasts and the allergies).

Hopefully you will keep me/us also informed on your lyme journey... I also watched your youtube films on the bionic 880. In Holland I also did biophoton therapy, but not with the bionic 880. It did not work out well for me, but I guess it was also because the therapists did not know enough about the tricks of the borrelia and its partners in crime.

I read that you got back to the US lately. I will keep on following your story.... I hope you will find your way back again.

Love and take good care,
Dorien