Thursday, March 31, 2011

What is Lyme Disease? For those who want to know.

Lyme Disease is caused by the bacteria "borreliosis". The infection comes from a tick bite. I was infected when I was 22 years old. It was not until I was in my early 30's that the infection took over and my nine year battle with Lyme Disease began. The information below is from the website of a Dr. Crist, a Lyme Specialist I hope to see in the coming months. The process is extremely expensive but my church family has rallied around me and is trying to ensure that the funds are available for me to finally win a victory over this disease. I could not wish for a more loving supportive church family.

So, if you've ever wondered what is wrong with me (alright, leave that one alone!) :-), read on! I experience most of the symptoms below. In fact, the description below is a pretty fair description of my everyday life. It is a living hell.


borreliosis

In many ways, borreliosis is like syphilis. Both of the germs that cause syphilis and borreliosis are called spirochetes (spiral-shaped bacteria). Before penicillin was discovered, doctors called syphilis “a great imitator” because syphilis can imitate or mimic virtually any disease. Likewise, borreliosis often mimics other diseases. This is one of the key points of this website. Borreliosis can cause any symptom and any disease. People who have not been healthy need to consider this infection as a possibility if they are trying to find the cause of their medical problems.

When the initial bacterial infection occurs after a tick bite, people may develop a rash and experience a flu-like illness. Often the rash is a red ring resembling a bulls-eye, but occasionally the rash may be red all the way across. The key is whether the rash enlarges or gets bigger, not if it is a red ring or solid red. The proper name of the borreliosis rash is erythema migrans, erythema meaning red and migrans meaning the rash migrates or enlarges. In my opinion, a tick bite followed by a rash that enlarges and/or a flu-like illness is borreliosis until proven otherwise.

Borreliosis patients with a chronic infection most commonly have pain, tiredness, brain or thinking problems, blurry vision and neurological (nerve) problems. Remember, the borreliosis bacteria may cause virtually any symptom or disease. In addition to other symptoms, borreliosis patients usually also have hypercoagulation (thrombophilia), endocrinopathies (hormone deficiencies), toxic metal elevations, deficiencies of essential amino acids and essential fatty acids, and also vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Borreliosis patients are usually low in iodine, have allergies, dead infected bone (osteonecrosis) in the jaw, have neurotransmitter deficiencies, and may have chenical sensitivities. (These topics are addressed in other sections of this website.)

Pain is far and away the number one problem for those with borreliosis. Not all patients have pain, but most do. Any part of the body can hurt, including the head, neck, eyes, ears, jaw, arms, hands, chest, abdomen, back, legs, feet, muscles and joints. This pain is sometimes worse than pain caused by surgery! Morphine may not help.

Tiredness or fatigue is the second most common symptom of borreliosis. If you divided the pain symptoms into specific categories such as headache or joint pain, then fatigue would become the number one symptom. This tiredness has often been misdiagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome. It can be so severe that the fatigue is described as complete exhaustion. Many are so tired that they lose their jobs and cannot help at home. They may also attempt a minor physical activity like walking to the mailbox or taking out the trash and become so tired that they have to go to bed.

The third most common symptom is brain or cognitive problems. Common symptoms or diseases include memory loss, decreased mental concentration, mood swings, irritability, depression, anxiety, panic disorder, manic-depressive illness (bipolar), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), paranoia, schizophrenia, and “brain fog”.

Blurry vision is the fourth most common symptom in borreliosis, but that is with combining all of the various pains together and all of the brain or thinking problems together. The bacteria can inflame any part of the eye (causing conjunctivitis, iritis, uveitis, retinitis and optic neuritis), so having blurry vision as a common symptom is not surprising.

Finally, there are the neurological symptoms. Neurological borreliosis is also known as neuroborreliosis. Patients may experience numbness, tingling, burning, twitching, jerking, and muscle weakness. In addition, they may have seizures, and multiple sclerosis, Parkinsons, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig disease) encephalitis, meningitis, stroke and dementia. As one neurologist who specializes in borreliosis put it, “The chapter on neurological Lyme disease is still being written.” As I stated earlier, borreliosis is like syphilis and may imitate or mimic any disease, including neurological disorders.

In addition to the above symptoms, there are “red flags” that I highly associate with borreliosis. These include memory loss, twitching around the eyes, Bell’s palsy (in which half of the face droops), tinnitus (which is ringing or buzzing in the ears), symptoms that affect one side of the body more than the other, symptoms that are worse when a patient first gets out of bed or that are worse in the winter, when patients use words like “strange” or “weird” in describing their illness, and finally, when patients have been to a good doctor (or many doctors) and yet the cause of the symptoms or disease is still unknown.

Borreliosis patients are often misdiagnosed as being hypochondriacs. They are told that they are just getting older, or that they are lazy, crazy or simply overstressed. They are often referred for counseling when actually what they really need are antibiotics. Because the symptoms can be so varied and are often so vague, borreliosis is typically not even considered for testing or treatment.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Prayer Request

Good Afternoon to all our Dear Friends,

I hope this finds you all well.

As most of you know these last few weeks have been brutal for me physically. I have battled constant seizures, muscle pain, and weakness. Many times I can offer some idea of why I'm experiencing a downturn or flare up but there seems to be no rhyme or reason. I'm experiencing one of the most difficult times I've ever gone through.

With that, as most of you know I've been forced to miss far more of our services than I'd ever want to miss. I don't ever want to miss if the truth be known! I want all of you to know that I don't take any of that lightly. Each and every absence grieves me and weighs on my heart like an anvil. I desire nothing but the best and greatest for our sweet church. I still hold great dreams and desires for us and want nothing more but to be a part of all that God is doing and going to do.

I don't begin to understand why I have to go through what I am experiencing. I do not possess God's understanding or the knowledge of all that He is trying to do in our lives. I do trust that He is firmly seated on His throne and I possess an unshakable knowledge that He loves each of us and that all of this will work to the furtherance of His will and our ultimate good.

I write this to ask you selfishly for your very special prayer. I covet them like I've rarely coveted them before. I am physically beyond what I can take. The near constant seizures have left me broken, the pain has left me shaken, and the weakness has simply left me exhausted. My heart and firm faith tells me that I am where I am supposed to be, doing what I am supposed to be doing. I am forced to wonder in my mind though, how long is too long if I cannot be the pastor that our church needs. I have always promised and I reiterate again that I will never make a hasty decision to step down or resign. I do not intend to now. However, I must make a decision in the long term as to what is best for our church. If I am a hindrance than I don't want to be. If the church will be stronger and better able to fulfill her mission without me as her pastor than I must come to that decision.

I need your prayers for a few things. First and foremost, I continue to ask your prayers for healing. I accept God's plan for my life but it does not mean that I or we cannot ask Him for a miracle. I am desperate for just that. Nine years I have fought this disease. Three years we've known its identity, Lyme Disease. I simply don't know how my body can take much more. I am weary and physically broken. I beg you for your prayers like never before.

Second, I ask you to pray for wisdom for me and our church family. I don't believe that I am forced to make any hasty decision. Not a single church member has been anything but supportive. I do believe that decisions must eventually be made regarding what is best for the church and we will all need His wisdom to make those choices wisely.

Lastly, I selfishly ask your prayers for my family. The unknown of the future and the constant state of them living through and watching me suffer takes its toll. Carrie and Zachary see my pain and suffering and I know it weighs on them. They like so many of you do not fully understand what God is doing sometimes but trust that somehow He is in all of this. Little Samuel is so in tune and picks up the littlest signs of how I feel. He has learned far too soon and all too well to see the signs that "Daddy don't feel good". Sometimes when the seizures leave me in the floor, he is afraid and scared for his Daddy. He doesn't understand. If the time comes that we decide to step down, we are faced with a huge burden of lost income and though our trust in God is absolute, in our flesh and human weakness we carry the fear of the unknown and it isn't easy.

I hope and pray that I will be with my beloved church family in the morning. As always if it is within my power, I will be with you and serve you to the utmost of my ability. My love, my heart, and my prayers are always with you. I love you all. I pray nothing but God's continued grace and blessings on the New Beginnings Baptist Church of Texarkana. I love you. Thank you for your love, support, and prayers.

In His Service,

Micah

* On a final note, I will be with First Baptist Church of Kildare, Texas tomorrow evening. My dear friend Virgil Ragland is their pastor and I will be his guest speaker. Please pray for that service and pray that I will be physically able to give God my best. Thanks again for all of your love and prayers.

--
Pastor Micah J. Mauldin
New Beginnings Baptist Church
Texarkana, USA

www.nbbctexarkana.blogspot.com