It’s Been A While!

Hello everyone…it’s been quite some time since I have written and many things have changed. Some of those things include moving, buying our first house, and finishing my masters; but I think the biggest change of all is giving birth to our daughter.

I will be the first to say being a mom, despite everything I have experienced during my Lyme journey, has been the most challenging thing I have ever experienced, but also the most rewarding. My pregnancy, delivery, and newborn experience have all come with their own unexpected challenges, but I won’t go into too much detail regarding that as this page was created to focus more on my journey as I navigate Lyme disease.

Before I get into my experience related to my pregnancy (during a pandemic I might add) I will recap a little of what I was doing in the time between now and when I last shared. I started seeing a Lyme doctor in Scarborough, Maine by the name of Dr. Jill Mahoney. She also ended up being my PCP, which I love because it just makes coordination of care a lot easier. I was on various different supplements and had tried a few different things (forgive me I cannot really remember all of what we tried thanks to mom brain), but the one thing I do remember is treatment through peptides. 

I did both t alpha 1 and t beta 4 through daily injections. This, like most Lyme treatments, was not covered by insurance and very expensive. 

Do I feel they helped?

…hmm maybe a little, but for me I do not think it was enough to keep spending the money on. 

I was also on low dose naltrexone which I think I saw improvement on but still was not a “magic pill.” However, once my husband and I decided we wanted to try to get pregnant all of these treatments were put on hold. I stayed on a few supplements in addition to a prenatal and a pregnancy safe muscle relaxer (for when pain was severe), but other than that I had to manage because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t on anything that could harm my future little one.

Prior to getting pregnant I was extremely concerned about how Lyme and being on various forms of birth control for many years would impact our ability to conceive. To my surprise we were able to conceive my daughter on the first “try.” Throughout my entire pregnancy part of me was waiting for some crazy thing to happen that would put me in the high risk category as I have struggled with so many health related issues over the last few years.

….somehow, I almost got off scot free….until the very end. 

I ended up being diagnosed with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and low amniotic fluid. On the same day I was diagnosed I was sent for an emergency induction and delivered our daughter a little over 3 weeks early and due to the IUGR she was quite a little peanut. Whether or not these complications could have been attributed to Lyme is something we really have no way of knowing.

The other thing I do want to point out is that while I was pregnant most of my Lyme symptoms improved. Both my Lyme doctor and midwife told me this was more than likely going to happen as my pregnancy hormones increased. They explained that while pregnant your immune system is suppressed so as to not attack the fetus that is half you and half someone else; without this your body would view the baby as a foreign object and do what is needed to get rid of it. And so, because Lyme disease is similar to that of an autoimmune disorder (sufferers of which also tend to see improvement during pregnancy) it suppresses the immune systems constant need to fight off the Lyme and other infections, resulting in symptom improvement. 

Part of me had hoped that after delivering Elliana my symptoms would be kept at bay, but sadly that was not the case. It took about two months after her birth for the symptoms to come back swinging. Although I had heard that the symptoms would come back worse, this was not the case for me. However, I could see why many would feel this way because on top of normal new mom challenges (sleep deprivation, your body healing, etc.) you are now dealing with symptoms that were remarkably improved for almost a year. I forgot (only a little) how terrible some of them were until they came back.

Since having our daughter 5 months ago, my Lyme disease has taken a back seat to all things baby and mommy related. However, I do know it’s time to make it a priority again because allowing my symptoms to get worse will only empty my cup and in no way will I be able to fill my daughter’s cup up if my cup is empty.

It has taken me a lot longer than I want to admit to make an appointment to come up with a plan and next steps for managing my symptoms post pregnancy, but the appointment has been made and the plan will be in the works in the near future.

So with that I will leave you! As always thank you for reading and stay safe.