Cheryl from the United States shares her Lyme Disease & Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) Journey

Cheryl from the United States takes LDN for Lyme disease and Co infections.

Her story  goes back into childhood. She had always struggled with some sort of illnesses. Gastrointestinal issues,  stomach virus, rashes on her face, etc

In her teens she developed depression and anxiety and later pain.

When she was 21, her dog got very ill and she noticed she had a four to five inches in diameter round bite that  looked like a Brown recluse bite. She was having palpitations and strange symptoms.  That bite stayed for about two to three months on her body and it had a little centre point.

They diagnosed her with fibromyalgia in 1994 because she felt like she had the flu all the time. And it just never went away. She was vomiting all the time, she had to leave school in 1995 and declared total and permanent disability. Then she slept all day and night, was freezing all the time, and nobody paid any attention. And at that time, Fibromyalgia  meant "It was all in your head." In 1996 a  specialist put her on Ambien and Flexeril.

She went into remission after started seeing his current husband from 1996 to 2000 until her children were born.

She started to get all sorts of symptoms,  restless legs and vomiting.

 She had twins and just slept one hour each night and by the time they were eight months old, her body was just in terrible pain, her gallbladder had gotten to the size of the liver. She got a two hours  surgery.

 The months following, she ended up trying Methadone, Oxycontin and all sorts of pain meds. She was freezing, had chills and sweats, had a lot of allergic reactions and scratched all the time, couldn't walk and visibly see swelling in her feet. So by late 2009, she was unable to leave her house, became housebound and couldn't wear shoes.

She would wear earplugs because she was so sensitive to sound and light. Everything had to be covered on windows. She was not eating most of thetime and still was vomiting.

Later on she went to a clinic and they told her she had been exposed to Borrelia. She received treatment with herbs and after 3 months was able to at least get out of the house in a wheelchair.

She came off opiates because she had Sjogren's syndrome.  Eyes and mouth were extremely dry and so she started a huge elimination diet. She started  on very low doses of LDN she learnt about LDN through a naturopath.

She started at 0.1 milligram, and  was going to bed at 4:30 AM. So she started taking it at 4.30Am and her schedule readjusted. Now she takes LDN at around midnight. She tried to up the dose but because she is very sensitive to medications, It took 4 months to see any results.

 "I tell people don't quit just because you don't see results right away, my body's been sick my whole life,  so it's not going to turn around in five seconds.

But by three months or four months after starting LDN, I noticed that I really didn't need a coat.

I went out one day to bike, and I wear a normal shirt without not sweating and do not have chills. I was able to come off medications like Neurotin and Flexeril.  By 9 months I could bend and clean.

Before I couldn't even pull my back leg up to 90-degree position I couldn't walk down my stairs.

 I think my quality of life is probably about an eight or nine now and some days it's actually 10. I have completed a course successfully at Oregon state university after not being able to go to school for years.

And I do pottery, I am a personal advocate now in Portland for a group.

And so I would say that my quality of life is quite good because I get to talk to my children and I get to eat food, and I get to walk up and down my stairs, and I get to sleep.

I'm not saying it's perfect. But I consider level three pain or level two pain to be really good."