Chronic Illness: How Do We Heal?

Therapeutic Efforts
#1

If you’re like me, you’ve probably spent days/weeks/months reading posts and articles. Everyone wants to find a “cure” because we all live in a diagnosis + treatment world. But chronic illness doesn’t fit that mold…at all. And it leaves people like us, people with fibromyalgia, those with Lyme Disease, etc. in a guessing game. It’s sucks.

I think this article by Dr. Rawls is on point and worth reading by everyone on this site looking for hope. You’re not ‘crazy’ or imagining anything. PFS is 1000% real. My belief is that it falls in the family of chronic illnesses brought on by a vulnerable immune system. What that exact mechanism is…don’t know. And probably won’t know for a long time based on how slow research moves. Our bodies have evolved to heal themselves! As you read through his article you see that a lot of the success stories on this site draw from exactly what he outlines. Some people get lucky and their bodies realign quickly within days or weeks of stopping the whatever poison they were taking. Others live in a place of relief through stuff like TRT and the like. But the ones who I believe walk away from this shit storm long term are often the ones that adopt the baseline lifestyle changes needed to boost immunity…and sometimes the guys that undergo the “heroic” steps to clear their bodies of toxins.

Our bodies are sick but not broken. Some foods or supplements or practices help some but harm others. Why? Because we all exist somewhere on the illness spectrum. No two bodies are alike in wellness or in illness. I don’t believe you can trick your body into wellness by taking a magic supplement or whatever. You’ve got to build a strong, long term base for your immune system to reboot…and occasionally also do the steps beyond to give yourself a fighting chance.

Here’s the article: https://rawlsmd.com/health-articles/chronic-immune-dysfunction-lyme-disease

What do others think? Yes, I know Rawls is selling a book/product. I’m not saying buy his gospel. I’m asking opinions on this article and idea in comparison with your own experiences and others you’ve read about and legitimately believe.

By the way, I write this post as I lay in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber for two boring hours as I do every other day now. This illness SUCKS.

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#2

I wonder then if all these studies turn up nothing would we then begin to accept this is possibly an Autoimmune disorder as some have claimed here for years?

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#3

@holyhead I think that depends on if you believe it to be autoimmune (body attacking itself) vs. immunodeficiency (body failing to hold back attack). Personally, I tend to lean towards immunodeficiency where all of us (finasteride, saw p., SSRIs, etc.) had immune systems that were stressed/low/circling the toilet bowl and these medications we took were the straw that broke our immune system camel’s back = crash. What I’m not sure if we all share though is the same attacker (and we probably don’t). Some healthy individuals (myself included) experienced a shingles outbreak before our crash. Shingles is typically an invader that a young, healthy immune system holds in check. Others have stated they had toenail fungus emerge before their crash. Opportunistic fungi can absolutely be a cause of toenail fungus. Others had SIBO or IBS-like issues. Get your gut flora out of balance and that can absolutely happen. I would be my shorts that there are plenty of PFS comrades on here that have chronic Lyme or other issues that normally our bodies can keep in check. We become immunocompromised somehow…and these medications seem to share a common final dagger that pushes it to the edge for a crash.

And then post-crash, it seems as though some people are able to bounce right back. Their immune system reboots and puts the offender back in check…life goes on, they disappear from this forum forever and live in peace. Others, like myself, don’t seem to get so lucky though. Flood gates open, immune system crash…waiting…waiting…waiting. Very little to nothing changes. I don’t think that our bodies are attacking themselves (autoimmune) necessarily. I just think our immune systems, which includes our gut, our kidneys, our hormones/testes, just never takes control back for some damn reason I don’t understand. How do we calm, heal and kickstart our immune systems? That’s the pill I don’t believe science has yet created unfortunately.

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#4

There is a difference between a cure and healing. Cure is something like you take Antibiotic X for Bacteria Y and you no longer have that infection. Or you had a bad appendix and surgery removed it and cured appendicitis.

We may not have an exact cure like the above, but we can work on our healing.

Healing our bodies means learning and never using things drugs foods items that hurt our brains, testes, sexual functioning, body mass, etc.

Healing means we try to reduce excessive inflammation if we have it. I am trying low dose naltrexone, I am cutting way down on sugars and carbs and alcohol, I am getting more exercise, and I am keeping a positive attitude.

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#5

@Crossroads I agree with you. I don’t think a cure exists for what’s happened to our bodies. Unless medicine gets to a place where there is a magic reset all systems pill, I think healing is our only option.

How is your healing journey working for you? Are you experiencing improvement?

#6

I have had some improvement with clomid and topical testosterone and levitra. That helps me sexually but is not perfect. Cognitively I am not better, in fact I got worse 10 yrs ago. Psychologically I am happy and content and take each day as it comes—thanks to both CBT and Zen!