Hi Canadoc,

Thank you for the in-depth research and input on the aforementioned issues. I took them into account and adjusted my treatment accordingly.

Recently, I received some possibly life-changing news. Upon the suspicion of one of my doctors, I had some more blood work done. My IGENEX blood work results back as POSITIVE for Lyme disease.

It makes sense to me that Lyme is a major contributing factor to the inflammation in my brain and a major cause of my headache, fatigue, brain fog, and vestibular issues. Apparently, the Lyme bacteria lives in different fatty tissues in the body (in the brain, lymph nodes, joints, etc.), and the body's autoimmune response to the bacteria causes inflammation wherever the bacteria happens to be located. Looking back at my re-occurrences of post-concussion symptoms, I realized that nearly all of them coincided with swelling and pain in my groin lymph nodes and testicles. I visited many urologists over the years who couldn't find anything wrong, and just described the swelling as chronic idiopathic prostatitis.

In addition to Lyme explaining the lymph node swelling, I am convinced that Lyme is a primary cause of my symptoms because since starting antibiotics, my symptoms have gotten much worse. The worsening of symptoms was predicted by my doctors and is called a Herxheimer reaction. Basically, as the antibiotics kill off the bacteria causing Lyme disease, my body has a difficult time ridding the body of the dead bacteria which causes the worsened symptoms. For example, the first night after taking antibiotics, I woke up sweating profusely. Apparently, this my body trying to get rid of the dead toxins of the bacteria. Also, I have noticed that half of my face is very tingling after taking antibiotics (possibly related to bacteria dying which caused previously unnoticed bells palsy).

Now I am taking antibiotics, probiotics, detox supplements/dieting, and doing HBOT five days a week. In addition to promoting the growth of capillaries to regenerate brain connections, the HBOT is supposed to magnify the effect of the antibiotics and force out the Lyme bacteria that is deeply rooted in the tissues in my brain. While many of my symptoms are worse than ever (I am so fatigued that I am sleeping 12-16 hours a day now), I am convinced that the worsening in symptoms has been caused by the "Herxing" effect, and that this is a good thing for the long term. I feel like I am finally on the right path to recovery.

I know that the medical community is divided on treatment for chronic Lyme, but I am seeing a specialist and trying to absorb as much information as I can about the disease. Lyme can manifest itself in all sorts of weird ways, so I would encourage anyone who has experienced anything like me to explore Lyme as a possible cause of your symptoms.

Best wishes,
Nimrod