My first Rifing session using the ESP101 was way back in February 2018. I was going back over my diary entries and realised that I’m now approaching the 6 month mark. Remaining committed to providing regular updates of my rifing progress has kept me focused and alert. I’m amazed at the progress I’ve made and how the journey itself has changed. At times it’s been hard to see the positives, because I’d be lying if I said it’s been easy. I’ve tried to focus on change instead.
Lyme Disease treatment can be described as peeling layers of an onion. When you successfully treat one part of the infection, another comes to the fore. This is why treatment will often bring up symptoms you haven’t experienced in a while, as well completely new symptoms too. Change is an excellent indicator that you’re moving in the right direction, even when it doesn’t seem like it.
I often hear people saying they’ve been using some variation of a rife machine for 5, 10+ years and their herxes are all the same. They continue using the machine, believing that it will heal them, but all they’re doing is playing tug of war by killing a small amount of bacteria which is then replaced easily. Using a proper coil machine gets people well within two years, on average. Doug Maclean has gone on to live a life free of treatment and antibiotics since kicking Lyme with a coil machine in the 90’s. Change is an important factor in determining the success of your treatment protocol. If there’s no change, you’re standing still.
Rifing Time
The biggest change has been in how long I’m managing to rife. 6 months ago I was able to manage 10-20 seconds at most, and the herx would last over a week at times. Now, I’m rifing for around 1.5 minutes. It doesn’t seem like a huge difference, but given how powerful the magnetic field is, that’s quite significant! This is a good indicator that the bacterial load is decreasing.
Herx Length
The length of my herxes have decreased from over a week (up to three in some cases) to 3-4 days in most cases. This is due in part to the focus I’ve been placing on detox and is a great sign that my body is becoming stronger. As you know, any good treatment approach includes much more than just killing bacteria.
My Abilities
Six months ago, I was pretty much bed & sofa bound. The amount of energy I had at my disposal was virtually non-existent. After I began rifing I entered into 5-6 months of what felt like one long herx. I’m not going to sugar coat it – it’s been tough. There have been many times that I’ve lost sight of the light at the end of the tunnel. From my limited perspective, it seemed like I was getting worse and not better. I considered giving up.
I’m six months in now and the amount that I’m able to accomplish has dramatically increased. Last Thursday I went into the office for a whole day (I almost exclusively work from home, due to my mobility issues). That alone would have floored me for a week at least. But the next day I went to the pub for a few hours in the evening too. Now, I know that doesn’t seem like much. Many a healthy person just wouldn’t be able to see the victory here, but for those of you battling Lyme – I know you do.
On Saturday, the day after the pub, I expected to crash… except I didn’t. I was seriously low on spoons and had quite a bit of muscle and joint pain, but no crash. The crash did come the following day though, but let’s talk about that for a second:
Crashes
Six months ago, a crash meant at least two weeks being completely bed bound. Sometimes it was less, sometimes it was more, but the defining characteristic was that I would be unable to anything. Some days that meant no showering, no brushing teeth, and if I didn’t have any easy food in the house then I didn’t eat (or if I did, it was toast). I would simply lay in bed or on the sofa.
The crash I had last Sunday consisted of one day being bed bound. One day. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (today) have been a steady upwards progression. Do I feel as if I could do another day in the office tomorrow? Probably not. Could I go and see my sister for coffee? Yes! I’m actually doing a happy dance as I write this – six months ago I genuinely believed I was doomed to live the rest of my life in bed.
Overall Symptom Picture
I’ve started to experience some of the early neurological symptoms once again. In the first year of having Lyme I experienced a lot of numbness, prickling and crawling sensations, visual disturbances and brain fog. These have all been popping back out, and it’d be easy to panic, but Lyme is treated in layers. Our bodies prioritise what our brains perceive to be the biggest problem. For example, three months ago I underwent surgery on my foot due to arthritic Lyme complications. Now that I’m healing up from that, I’m having a lot of knee pain again. This is very common – where we are almost unaware of a problem because there’s a bigger, more pressing one. It’s the same with Lyme.
I’ve been experiencing intense Bartonella flares too. I hadn’t seen that rash for a long while, but I seem to have entered into a semi-regular flare pattern with the Bart rash, leg/calf pain, sore throat, swollen glands, fever, intense pain and nausea. Even though these are pretty horrifying, it’s a sign of change. Change is good. My body has switched its attention to the next biggest issue.
Change is Progress
All in all, the last six months have been exceptionally hard. But almost all at once, I’m seeing some huge improvements. At some points, I’ve only managed to rife once every few weeks, simply because I couldn’t afford a two-week herx. We all have commitments and responsibilities, after all. Now that my herxes are a manageable few days, I plan on rifing more frequently.
If you’re in the early days of treating Lyme, please, stick with it! You will get your upswing. It’s coming. I’d love to hear from you – are you in the early stages of treating Lyme? Have you experienced the ‘onion effect’ yet? Let me know in the comments below!
