From Incapacitated to Unstoppable
About four and a half years ago after leaving corporate America and a highly demanding position I experienced some unusual symptoms. I ignored them for a time but the body has a way of tapping you on the shoulder and then when you don’t pay attention it slams you over the head. I ignored the taps and straightaway went to the 2 x 4 over the head.
It was a feeling of dying I was experiencing. I would remark to my family and others that the exhaustion was so debilitating that it would force me to sleep every afternoon. It wasn’t the kind of sleep that you would think a nap would provide, waking up refreshed. No. It was the type of sleep that made you feel you had taken a sleeping pill and upon awaking you couldn’t shake off the fog, the remainder of the day, each and every day. In addition to the totally exhaustion I was feeling I had severe joint pain in just about every part of my body. Up to this period of total exhaustion I would occasionally experience severe dry eyes which occurred monthly right around the time of my cycle. So I ignored it because it would go away after a days. Over the years, I had seen other traditional medicine doctors about these symptoms and was told over and over that it is all in my head. None of the doctors helped me or could guide me to find a therapy that would explain my symptoms and provide me relief.
That’s how it began but it isn’t the whole of it. Since leaving my position I now have time in my schedule to spend with my adult children. Recently, I scheduled a vacation to our summer home in Tawas. I hoped it was going to be a bonding experience for us girls.
After spending the day in the sun on the beach of Lake Huron, I received major sunburn. The next morning I noticed my eyes were so dry that I couldn’t drive the car. I thought the remedy would be eye drops but after purchasing them and using them they quickly evaporated within minutes of putting them in each eye. Our plan was to drive to Mackinac Island and spend the night. However with my eyes so dry it was impossible to drive the car. With my oldest daughter agreeing to drive my car we went anyway. I thought like all the other times I had experienced the dry eyes issue it would go away within a day. This time it did not go away. I waited patiently for 2 weeks for the symptom to subside. After two weeks the problem was severe and long lasting enough to contact my family physician to see what they could find out. After taking blood work I was referred to a Rheumatologist. He summed up my symptoms and made a diagnosis of Sjogren’s disease. Sjogren’s, he explained, is an auto-immune disorder and a cousin of Lupus. He told me there wasn’t much he could do and that there was no cure. He claimed that I could take anti-malaria drugs because some people with Sjogrens got relief from their symptoms. He also told me to see an ophthalmologist to receive plugs in my tear ducts, so that possibly we could trick the eyes into getting more moisture in them. Stunned by this news and like many people whose lives were just turned upside down, I researched Sjogren’s disease on the internet. I found an organization called Sjogrens.org. a community of folks also receiving a similar diagnosis. As I read through the posts and participated in some discussions I became more and more despondent that my life would never be the same. The woe and misery of the people discussing this disorder threw me into a pity party. One of the members of the group contacted me and asked if we could chat via phone call instead of email. I agreed. She lived in New York and we became allies and friends very quickly. She too had been diagnosed with this syndrome and we shared stories and disbelief. She was not going to accept this diagnosis of “no cure” and was an avid researcher for both of us. She located obscure information about a protocol used successfully in other types of auto immune disorders and we began our quest to understand more about this odd disorder. Through her research and relentless quest she located a site called the roadback.org. On this site she and I discovered people being treated for the various conditions in the auto immune category with low dose antibiotics. There was also a discussion of how these antibiotics worked to alleviate and even put into remission many debilitating conditions including Lupus, scleroderma, fibromyalgia and others. There were no reports on Sjogren’s syndrome specifically but the mere fact that Lupus was included in the relief gave me hope. The thread among these people on the roadback.org was the discovery of mycoplasma or other bacteria in their blood tests. My friend and I felt this was the answer for both of us. The challenge was now to find a physician in the area that understood this root cause for autoimmune illness and who would actually be able to test to see if an infection was discovered.
One day my new friend from New York called and asked me, “Why aren’t you seeing this doctor in West Bloomfield? He prescribes the antibiotic protocol mentioned on the roadback.org site.” This doctor was Dr. Brownstein. I immediately contacted The Center for Holistic Medicine and asked the receptionist to check with the doctor to be certain that he knew of this protocol. I was told he did and scheduled an appointment with him. Six months later my appointment day arrived and little did I know that my new life had begun. I was very ill by the time my appointment had come around. I did not take the anti-malaria drugs the Rheumatologist had offered as there were serious side effects such as blindness associated with them. I did receive tear duct plugs from an ophthalmologist who performed a test to measure the amount of moisture in my eyes and the result was zero. Zero moisture in your eyes feels like someone threw sand in them and that was 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This doctor placed plugs in my tear ducts. The plugs placed in my eyes solved one problem but created a new one. I had the appearance of uncontrollable crying eyes. By the time I came to see Dr. Brownstein my joint pain was severe and new symptoms appeared such as swollen glands in my neck and armpits. Every time I bent over to retrieve something off the floor or to simply put on my shoes my glands in my neck felt as if they were going to explode.
I was desperate for relief. I didn’t expect a miracle; I just wanted to get some of my life back. I felt like a leper in a leper colony and begged for an antibiotic prescription. Doctor Brownstein said, “Let’s check your blood first to see what we are dealing with. It’s important to know if there is an infection and what strains of bacteria are present in order to prescribe the appropriate therapy. At my initial visit, Dr. Brownstein’s nurse took twenty vials of blood. Some were sent to a local lab and some were sent to a microbiology lab in Maryland. Also, he discovered a swollen thyroid gland after feeling it.
About a week or two later I received a call from Doctor Brownstein who upon reviewing my lab work discovered multiple strains of Mycoplasma bacteria including Mycoplasma Hominis and Mycoplasma Chlamydia as well as Mycoplasma Pneumonia. He also discovered that my vitamin D levels and my vitamin C levels were severely low. I was encouraged by this news as someone was finally giving me a diagnosis and a treatment plan for my symptoms.
I was placed on low dose of two antibiotics–Minocycline and Zithromax along with a plethora of vitamins. In addition I received a heavy metals test and was placed on bio-identical hormones. I also took acidophilus to balance the antibiotics effect. I was also prescribed a natural thyroid hormone, Naturethroid and iodine in the form of Iodoral.
It was instantaneous. After a day or two, I thought, “Wow”. My energy level improved dramatically and the enlarged and sore thyroid gland was no longer painful. It is now four years later I am no longer taking any antibiotics. I have a normal amount of moisture in my eyes. I have changed everything I eat to organic food. I drink enough water and I continue to take supplements but, more importantly, I feel am cured. Now, I feel better than I’ve ever felt in my life. I have a normal life, run a business and have written a self help book which includes this story of a healing. I am grateful to Dr. Brownstein and tell everyone my story about a Doctor in West Bloomfield Michigan who didn’t rely entirely on conventional testing. Furthermore, he understands the body works as a whole system he searches for an underlying cause to dis-ease in the body. He certainly did not tell me that there was “no cure” for my myriad of symptoms. I am grateful for this journey as it helps me tell others not to accept a bad diagnosis and how important it is to be an active participant in their own health care issues. I also tell people that traditional medicine generally treats the symptoms of the illness while ignoring the root cause. If everyone used their inner GPS system when they’ve been given bad health news and pursues and questions everything they are told, there would be a lot more healthy outcomes. Thank you Doctor Brownstein for giving me back my life. A life that is very full and very vibrant. I am truly grateful.
