December seemed to completely fly by. Maybe it was all the distraction from the festive movies on the box and decorating the tree! I have always been a huge Christmas fan, maybe I was an elf in my past life who knows?! In an ideal world I would have been joining in with all the fun in the build up to Xmas, but for the second year running I really just didn’t have the energy for it.

I continued to suffer from an array of symptoms and there just didn’t seem to be any signs of relief from these. I was back on the antibiotics, now that the toxic load had decreased, and was starting back on the meds slow, and steady by building doses up little by little. I know that some of my symptoms were increasing due to the herxheimer reaction (die-off) and others were infections which were still determined to thrive in my body, finding me an ideal host! Really not very idea for me at all! This was a difficult time and I was spending increasing amounts of time lying horizontal and feeling generally weak and nauseous. When I am experiencing such exhaustion and pain, even showering becomes a mammoth task and sometimes that might be all I achieve in a day. Other days I am more able and can walk round the block and cook a meal, it is all just a lottery. I never really know form day to day how I am going to feel.

My Lyme Doctor and her team had put their heads together and came up with the next plan of action. It seemed out of all the infections I have it was currently the Lyme Borrelia bacteria and its partner in crime Babesiosis (Babesia) that were causing me the most problems. Babesia is a protozoan parasite that infects the red blood cells and it is extremely persistent. As it enters the red blood cells it matures and divides and within 1-2 weeks of incubation it starts to cause havoc. One of my first noticeable symptoms of this illness was night sweats, which started sporadically, until eventually occurring up to 4 times a night and were drenching in nature. This then escalated to myalgia, nausea, loss of appetite, air hunger and pressure headaches. Last year the GP also discovered I had developed low Iron levels, yet another common symptom of this co-infection and another daily pill to add to the pile! I sometimes still struggle to comprehend that this tiny tick has transmitted such aggressive infections into my body.  It has definitely been a shock to my system both physically and mentally!

On a more positive note, over Christmas I made it back to Cornwall to see my Family and some friends too. I was happy to be there in person even if the brain fog was making it difficult to be there in full focus. I spent most of my time in the house but made sure I I was wore my novelty santa jumber. I was able to live through the excitement of the festive period through the eyes of my little Nephew which was magical. I also won’t deny that a hug from my Mum and Dad, sometimes can make things feel a whole lot more bearable, even at the age of 30! I also tried to remember that although I am still stick, This Christmas I was in a slightly better place than the year before and finally in treatment and for that I am grateful.