Sunday, January 11, 2009

The Big Question

So since the beginning of my treatment, I have always wondered the big question.

When is a ------------------ just a ---------------------?

You can fill in the blank with any symptom. When is a headache just a headache? When is an itch just an itch? When is joint pain just joint pain? "Normal " people get headaches & itches & even pain in their joints just for no known reason. Idiopathic. Well I have a "cause" for my headache (Lyme), itches (Candida) and joint pain (Lyme or other tick borne illnesses). But when does the bug go away enough that my headache is just a headache or my itch is just an itch or my joint pain is just joint pain.

You see I haven't had a headache in probably 8 weeks. I got one on Friday. After my long sleep Friday night, I woke up free & clear of a headache. I thought, "Wow a headache was just a headache." That is until this morning when I woke up with a whopper of a headache. These headaches are reminiscent of my early on Lyme headaches so it begs the question ... am I well enough to spread my treatments out by 8 weeks? I suppose time will tell. If the headaches continue, then I will have my undesired answer.

My itches & rashes come and go. One day they are not there and I have a tiny itch and the very next I have a huge rash wherever the rash is. The question becomes how quickly do I treat Candida. If I have a moment of itchiness, do I think immediately jump the gun and start Diflucan treatment? Or do I wait until the rash shows up?

This morning along with my headache, my knees were hurting. However on December 30th, I received a Wii Fit as a gift. I have worked out 10 of the last 12 days. I would attribute this to the joint pain ... IF ... I had never had Lyme Disease at all.

So my big question is

When is --------- just a blank? Can anyone answer this?

2 comments:

Renee said...

I don't have any answers for you Jennifer. I feel teh same way and have the same questions?j
I am in constant relentless pain. Some days worse...espcially about the 3-5th days on Zithromax in my weekly pulsing....BUT it never goes away and I have had pain for at least 24 years.
I have Lyme but I also get pain from exposures and from foods I should not be eating..so I am alwasy trying to figure out what is causing the increase of pain this time...or itching...or moood swings. Are they just "normal" or are thy Lyme enduced.....
I don't think we can figure it out very well.
Do you keep a chart of symptoms? It is recommended and I did it for 18 mo and quit....it felt free to quit, but when I have a symptom come up all of a sudden I don't have the memory to look back and say well that was gone a long time ....or it is now bacteria reproduction time...
I don't have an answer for you, Jennifer....I don't think I am far enough in my journey to have enough good days to compare. It is frustrating, though isn't it.
Renee

Jennifer said...

That is the thing ... I have been doing really really well the last few months. In fact unbelievably well. Only thing that has really bothered me is the Candida/Itching/Rashy thing.

So when I've had a headache 2 of the last 3 days ... it makes me a little scared that I could be going backwards in my quest for a maintenance program.

But I am almost positive the joint stuff is because I've not exercised in two years and have exercised 10 of the last 12 days!

I used to keep a really well documented symptom chart, but since I've been so well I forget to even do it. I have found that I have really kept an account pretty well on the blog here. So I can go back and look when the itching started compared to my treatments and so on.