ABOUT

This site is from a patient | citizen-scientist perspective. OvercomingChronicIllness.com is not designed to diagnose or treat illness but rather provide information to discuss with a licensed medical practitioner trained in dealing with complex, chronic illness.

 For several years, I was exhausted, cognitively impaired (brain fog, memory loss, inability to absorb complex information), had a swollen lymph gland, heart palpitations and insomnia. I felt pretty crappy all the time. Not long before, I would ride a bike 100 miles, race in triathlons, play competitive tennis, practice yoga or even just enjoy casual laps in the pool. Gradually, I could no longer do any of these activities without feeling like I was going to collapse later. It was bewildering.

At the same time, a family member became increasingly debilitated with similar symptoms but also migratory joint pain, inability to concentrate, deadening fatigue and frighteningly, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), with heart rate jumping to 170 just from standing. Doctors labeled it Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS), myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and reactivated Epstein Barr virus (EBV) but said there was no cure. Fast forward a few years and we discovered exposure to toxic mold and multiple co-infections of Lyme. 

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Once the root causes were found and support for the immune system was provided, the healing progressed rapidly. My hope is that by sharing what we have learned on our healing journey that others can bring this information to their own physicians and discover that healing is possible.