More data to review.
I’ve been off abx since July and the numbers seem to reflect that things are getting worse.
But the data doesn’t really tell the who story. Or, what I mean is, just looking at the numbers, bars and lines is misleading. For one thing, I made a change to the symptom categories of my data chart back around July. I deleted a few items and reshuffled others. Doing this is what gives the majority of the jump up.
Also responsible is my extreme increase in exercise. I feel that this really sets things off causing me to experience wild peaks and valleys in certain areas. I endure this trade off because I so love the valleys and the feeling that I get while running and/or biking, but perhaps it’s time to tone it down a bit. As I mentioned in the previous post, I’m now starting a six week “rest” period after a particularly intense two months. Both my body and the numbers are telling me it’s the right thing to do.
But numbers aside, I have to say that my neuro symptoms are, overall, a notch or two worse. This is confusing to me because there were days, particularly around the end of the month, where things were pretty good. In fact I had two days where I forgot about being sick for hours at a time. Work was flowing, I went out and did things without feeling disconnected and spacey. Not exactly “normal”, but the best I’ve felt since getting sick, actually. Unfortunately, day-to-day, the fogginess is more “in the way” of things.
Today was a tough day and I expect tomorrow to be a rough one as I have to travel down to Washington DC for work. Regardless of what I said in the previous post about feeling pretty good after the race, I now suspect that the effects are now sort of settling in. I feel really jittery, anxious, tired and foggy. My hip has been hurting me too in ways it doesn’t normally. I’m also suspecting that I have some hint of a cold… which is weird because I have not had a single cold since getting Lyme — not even a stuffy nose. Back before I got Lyme, if someone in the house was sick, I would start downing vitamin C and other immune-boosting supplements to fend it off. Now, I don’t even worry about it. Such is the state of my immune system.
I see Dr. M on November 2nd to go over my latest labs. I finally got the whole jug of urine thing that I mentioned awhile back done properly. Hopefully, after I see him, I can get back into some sort of treatment regimen. I’ve been taking my supplements and other non-pharma stuff, but I think I really should get back on the abx at some point.
Yearly Summary To Date
Symptom Category Averages
Symptoms
Treatments & Exercise
Head & Eyes
Ears & Respiratory
Cardio & Muscles/Joints
Gastro & Neuro
Cognative & Emotional
I’m wondering.
A quick review of your data, specifically, the graph that listed all you major categories plotted against time in Sept. seemed to indicate that when you have a “bad” day, all of your symptoms are worse, and when you have a “good” day, all of them are better.
Would it not be easier, and less OCDish to simply rate your day, in sum, on a scale of 1-10 and plot that only? Then, if there are any outstanding features you could simply note it on a side comment box? Or, perhaps pick your most persistent symptom, say, your brain fog and plot that only? Assuming that when you have a good fog day you also have a good all-around day?
Why do I mention this? Because it might get you away from the whole “lyme is living you” vs. “you living with lyme” kinda discussion that you posted recently.
Just my 2 cents. It’s worked for me. I simplified to just caring about my overall, that’s the only number that I graph out.
bt
@Bob… OCD?! What are you talking about?
It’s true that after 2 years the charts have shown me that the Lyme-tide seems to rise and fall pretty evenly and regularly across symptoms. Very rarely does one thing spike dramatically. I think some sort of daily/weekly thumbs up or thumbs down with notes would be sufficient at this point.
Actually, I’ve been thinking about making a change to the charts at the end of the year. It’s nice to have a complete year in the same format.
For the record… I don’t actually open the Excel file that holds the chart data every night and enter in the numbers. I do it once or twice a week and fill it in based on what I recall. So, while I might seem super OCD about it, I’m not really that nuts.