It looks like you are doing just the right thing. You are achieving aerobic exercise without damaging your joints. You are aerating you lungs and bringing in more oxygen (which the spirochetes hate), raising levels of serotonin in your brain to combat depression and building muscle which will give you increased stamina. Good for you. Just listen to your body and increase your protocol as you feel manageable. Keep me posted! Cynthia

I’ve recently been diagnosed with Lyme disease. It is uncertain at this point whether it is new, or whether I’ve had it for close to 10 years, as I had no rash or fever recently. I’m going through the process of finding an LLMD (which is difficult as most don’t accept insurance, and I can’t afford it out of pocket). I’ve read the information on the Turn the Corner Foundation website, and done a ton of reading online. I am still confused over the exercise thing. I am not a weightlifting or gym girl by any means. And I have a knee injury plus joint swelling and pain from the Lyme, so any impact is not possible with me. However, I found that I can use the Cybex Arc-trainer (thanks to my PT) which has no impact on joints, but allows you to do full body strengthening as well as cardio exercise with some weight bearing. Is this okay while being treated with Lyme? It gets my heart rate up, but it uses total body muscle combinations. It’s the only thing, realistically I can do. Being that I recently spent the mnoey to buy it (before I knew I had Lyme), I can’t afford yoga or joining a gym, etc….. I feel like I desperately need to exercise, but I don’t want to hinder my progress either. Any help you can offer would be appreciated.

I read “Lyme Disease Rehabilitation – Last installment” and wanted to thank you for writing this out so well. There isn’t enough information out there to help people understand what to do after treatment or even for those of us who used to be athletes who were thrown off of our own courses due to this disease.

Personally, its the most difficult thing for me to get myself moving again and prior to my illness I was a triathlete. The healing has been slower then the decent into sickness was and at times… it’s hard to remain positive.

It helps me dramatically to read about exercise and how much it really can help me. It gives me that boost that I need to keep pushing forward.

Thank you

While reading what you have been through, the word “mycoplasma” jumped out at me. This little bugger can really muddy the waters. I know you say your daughter has been tested, but this can be a tricky thing in itself. I have included a few websites below that will tell you more about mycoplasma in general (including the proper testing for various types), and more importantly labortatories (one in the UK too!) that will properly test for mycoplasma and lyme. You also mention hydrotherapy for your daughter. What is involved with this? Sitting in warm water or actively swimming? Swimming is a wonderful weapon against lyme disease. These bugs do not like heat which is why warm showers can bring about some temporary relief. Swimming (gently or vigorously) also allows the body to regain lost strength in a safe and gradual manner. It is never too late to start fighting these bugs! The best defense is a healthy body. Most people jump to antibiotics as the first line of defense. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, efforts to improve health and immune systems can be much more effective. My family and I started with the antibiotics, but really didn’t see the level of improvement that we did when we started to focus on diet (fresh foods) and supplements.

Don’t give up Anne-Marie. I can tell you from personal experience that perseverance is key in your daughter’s health. It took years to get this sick and it may take as long to get better. Nothing feels so good as those small steps forward in your child’s health.

The site below has a long article–read to bottom:

http://www.prohealth.com/library/showarticle.cfm?id=3066&t=CFIDS_FM

Site below has reccommended labs. In the US I reccommend Igenex. Any questions, don’t hesitate to call them. They are some of the nicest people I have talked to. UK lab toward bottom.

http://www.thepowerhour.com/news/mycoplasma_testing.htm