Trying New Treatments and Wondering...

I'm having a really bad week.  I'm feeling so, so, so terrible - sore throat, severe aches, and total exhaustion.  And I am really missing Ken - both his help and his company.  As usual, I'm trying to figure out WHY I feel so terrible.  The problem is that I've tried too many new things in this past month.  I'm usually more careful to try one thing at a time and give it some time.  So, here's a rundown of what I've tried and what I think its effects have been:

On October 16, I started taking 1000 mg of Vitamin D each day.  Unless you've been living in a cave (in which case you really need vitamin D!), you've probably heard at least a small percentage of the studies on the miraculous vitamin D.  It seems that every week, there's a new study out touting its benefits.  Much of the research has focused on its beneficial effects on the immune system and the link between vitamin D deficiency and all sorts of immune disorders.  All of the studies say you can't get enough vitamin D from food or sunshine alone (and I can't be in the sun at all right now because of my Lyme meds).  My recent lab work showed my vitamin D levels right at the lower edge of normal, so I decided to try it again.  I tried it once before and it upset my stomach, but this time I seemed to tolerate it better.  I started Jamie on it, too.  It's hard to tell (more on that in a minute), but I think it is helping.

Just three days after starting vitamin D, I added a new supplement, Samento, to my Lyme regimen.  I read a study where Samento and another supplement were more effective in the lab than doxycycline (antibiotics) at killing Lyme, plus I'd heard good things about it from Lyme bloggers.  I felt slightly crashed for a few days, then had the best week I have had in many, many months!  It's hard to tell since I started the vitamin D just a few days earlier, but it looked like a brief herx reaction, followed by improvement!  The last week of October, I was almost completely symptom-free and felt great.

So, why did I mess with that success??  Yeah, that's what I've been asking myself for the last two weeks.  As you know, on November 1, I got a flu shot.  I have to say that I am really regretting that.  I've been badly crashed for two weeks now, though I'm not sure it's all due to the shot.  However, both of my sons got flu shots and had no reaction at all to it.  I suspect it affected me worse because my immune system dysfunction is worse than theirs.

This past Monday, I started Immunovir, a prescription medication that is supposed to help correct immune system dysfunction.  I realize now that I shouldn't have started it while I was still feeling bad, but I thought it might help normalize my immune system again and pull me out of this crash.  Instead, I have felt even worse this week, but now I don't know if that's because of the Immunovir or still because of the flu shot (or a combination).  I checked with my doctor and backed off the dose a bit yesterday, but I'm still feeling horrible, so I think I need to give it up completely until I get back to my normal baseline, so I can accurately assess its effects.  What I'm really worried about is that the flu shot may have caused a long-term relapse like I had last winter (which is why I got it in the first place!!).

OK, so that's my story.  Now it's time to go pick Craig up and take him for an MRI of his knee.  He hurt it playing soccer yesterday and had to go to school on crutches this morning.  So, he has an MRI tonight, then an appointment with an orthopedic specialist on Monday morning.  Did I mention I miss Ken's help??