Chronic Lyme is as the name indicates…chronic. But it definitely was at it’s worst during tough antibiotic treatment.
I was recently talking to my girlfriend who is currently going through Lyme treatment and we both agreed: it has the tendency to make you completely irrational, depressed and kind of crazy. I’m not afraid to look back and laugh at myself now– but that’s not to discount the seriousness of herxes.
Hopefully, if anything, this gives you hope that if you’re going a little nutty right now, there is an end in sight! I have since ceased these odd habits.
1. I walked around an old, giant cemetery for 4 hours…in the middle of the day.
I think I did it to reflect and meditate. But looking back, it was a pretty creepy of me.
2. I watched the same 10 second video of my sister who had recently passed away. For 3 hours. On mute. To this Switchfoot song.
I’ll cut myself some slack here and say my younger sister passed away two days before I started treatment. So I was grieving. But there are usually healthier ways to grieve than that.
3. I overreacted to everything, especially to those who were just trying to help.
My parents are the most important people in the world to me. But I remember irrationally being mad at tiny things, which isn’t me. I have since apologized, but still… not cool to yell at people trying to support you, no matter the emotional stress.
4. I engaged in arguments I otherwise never would have cared about.
I remember listening to a couple of guys from my school talking about an old fraternity rivalry from 2010. Of course, it was petty, but I would normally not have called them out on that. Yet, on Lyme treatment I couldn’t take the triviality, and definitely engaged in an argument I cared nothing about. There are better ways to spend the little energy we do have!
5. I’m pretty sure I thought my friend’s dog was my spirit animal.
His 13-year-old Shetland Sheepdog was aging appropriately, so naturally his body started failing. But, it kind of mimicked how mine started failing which MUST mean he’s my spirit animal, right?! My gallbladder started malfunctioning and had to be taken out. Then, his dog’s gallbladder started malfunctioning. I had tummy problems. His dog had tummy problems. I was incredibly tired and needed naps all the time. You guessed it…so did his dog. Because he was 13. Which is 91 in dog years. Probably not the spirit animal thing.
6. I watched every episode of VEEP in 5 days.
Okay, so binge watching isn’t that uncommon. But not only did I do this with VEEP, I did the same thing with Mr. Robot, Orphan Black and I went ahead and re-watched The Walking Dead, Parks and Rec and The Office. People don’t really warn you about how boring being sick can be.
7. I drank this plant stuff to try and get rid of my thrush.
Ok so this isn’t that crazy, but it does show how desperate we can get to find concoctions and ways to fix the symptoms we are experiencing during treatment.
