Let’s check in with our (least) favorite borrelia, shall we? Back in January, I received my positive Lyme test results. It was a big bummer. Around the same time, we noticed Brad’s symptoms were getting worse and some newer symptoms that were previously intermittent (left jaw pain and stiffness and incredible muscle soreness, mainly) were becoming permanent. Overall, it just felt like things were getting real and we needed a more aggressive approach again.

We brought in the big guns and called our super-smart, super-supportive nutrition and fitness team, Tim and Terry. I cannot overstate how compassionate, caring, and knowledgeable these two are. On the phone, Brad and I spilled out our latest test results, our fears, our symptoms, and our hopes for living a Lyme-free existence. They listened to every word and then walked us through a plan. Food-wise, we went back on a strict protocol (shout out to kale!). Activity-wise, they gave me some great suggestions for tweaking my workouts to help oxygenate my blood more, among other things. Then they prayed for us, which made me cry. I’m so grateful for them.

(I have to pause here and say if you have any type of chronic illness, mystery symptoms, or other nagging health problems, you really should contact Life Fitness Academy. They are on your side! And the nicest guys you’ll ever meet.)

Brad and I decided to follow the plan for three months and see what happened. We’re about at the end point now. Here’s how we’re doing:

Me: I’m still not experiencing any symptoms that I can tell. I’m really tired, especially lately, but it’s more likely due to the stress I’m under at work right now and the relatively low amount of calories I’m taking in than Lyme. (Sometimes you get to 3:30 p.m. and you just can’t eat one more salad or drink another smoothie, you know?) Truthfully, my case is boring. We won’t know how I’m doing until I test again, probably toward the end of the year.

Brad: Despite our efforts, Brad’s symptoms are getting worse. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t learned anything in the last few months. This is the longest amount of time we’ve spent completely grain-free, so it seems fairly clear that grains aren’t a trigger for Brad. (Does that mean it’s OK for him to eat a lot of them? Probably not, and we’ll continue to limit them whenever we reintroduce them, but it’s nice to know.) We also found out that Brad’s Lyme has werewolf tendencies. He feels much worse during full moons. Isn’t that bizarre? I have no idea why, but I assume it’s something to do with barometric pressure.

And next: A few weeks ago, Brad and I felt pretty hopeless: Our protocol diet felt like torture and didn’t seem to be getting us anywhere, some test results we were counting on didn’t come through, Brad started noticing stiffness and pain in joints that he’s never had problems with before, and there was nothing on the horizon to turn to next. We even briefly considered trying conventional antibiotic treatment, but still didn’t feel any peace about that.

In this moment, God quietly proved His faithfulness. While we were in the valley, another plan slowly started coming together. Brad’s been researching the Salt/C Plus Protocol for Lyme and it started to make sense to us. More than that, we both felt confident in trying it. I’m catching up with Brad on the details, but the basics are ingesting large amounts of Himalayan salt and Vitamin C, detoxing aggressively, and observing your body’s herx reactions to judge how effective your dosage is. (There’s more to it and if you all are curious, I’ll see if I can talk Brad into guest posting.) This protocol also strongly recommends a 75 percent vegetable diet (free of chemicals and pesticides), which is almost exactly what we’re doing now. That’s good news for us because we believe it’s the best way to support our immune systems. If it works how it’s supposed to and if the Lord wills, hopefully Brad will start seeing some relief within a year. I’m so excited! Cautious, but so excited!