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May, Mold, My, My

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It's been a long time.  As much as things have changed, things have remained the same.  But, I thought it was time for a little update, so here goes.  We'll see how organized my thoughts are tonight. My last post was late March.  April included Easter, and finishing up our school year at co-op by the first week of May.  Then immediately, we went off to Florida on a trip to the beach for a month.  It was supposed to be great because John normally feels great at the beach.  I booked AirBNBs in Bradenton and St. Augustine to get a nice blend of gulf side vs. ocean side.  The day before we left, though, I received the results from a spore test for mold in our home from Mycometrics (it involves using an overpriced Swiffer dust cloth to collect samples from ceiling fan blades and tops of windows).  The LLMD claims if you are not getting better, you need to check for mold.  Houston, we have a problem!  We had several well known species of mycotoxins and molds that needed to be addre
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What Not to Say..

I've been thinking about the life we are living, and there are a few things that impact daily lives beyond what you might imagine.  Chronic illness and constant stress from it is hard to live with, but it is also hard to watch.  Sometimes people who believe they are helpful wish to contribute unsolicited opinions.  The devil's advocate in me believes they probably mean well, but the mama bear in me sometimes goes on the offensive. A little preface here.  My husband is a genius.  Literally.  And while I'm not a genius, I am very well educated.  I'm also fairly OCD.  I pour over major life decisions.  I research thoroughly.  I talk to my circle of health-oriented friends.  My husband and I discuss our parenting decisions together and we often include our sons in many of these discussions.  While we ask their input, we are in charge of raising them and our viewpoint weighs more.  Luckily, though, they typically agree with what we are thinking as adults. Today's blo
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Groundhog Day

Do you remember the Bill Murray classic movie, "Groundhog Day"?  The premise of the story is, Bill's character, Phil, kept reliving the same day, Groundhog Day, until he stopped making mistakes.  He replayed the same scene over and over and over again until he got everything just right.  Our medical life is starting to have this same feel, as our oldest son just got the same Lyme diagnosis that our younger son has.  While we remember a wood tick on our younger son, we do not remember an attached tick on our older son.  But, living in an endemic area, you just never know. So what does this mean?  Well, I suppose since Lyme can be transmitted mother to baby, perhaps I need to get tested.  Do I have symptoms?  Well, some but not all, and not nearly all the ones my kids have.  I didn't think Patrick had it because he presents differently than John, but here we are with the diagnosis. How do you know the diagnosis is right?  Patrick's doctor has been treating Lyme
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Ferritin Issues, Dirty Genes and Fermented Wheat Germ Extract

I think last time I blogged, we were going to push detox using Desbio Metal Detox and Mineral Rebalancing system.  We had 3 great days, and boom.  Crash.  John wasn't feeling all that great again, and reported pressure behind his eyeballs, dizziness, and weakness.  Eyeball pressure and migraines behind the eyeballs translates to one and only thing for me:  IRON, particularly the storage iron form of ferritin. My father had low ferritin the month before he passed away.  I have had low ferritin for at least 8 years.  My oldest son, Patrick, has had low ferritin at least for 3 years.  John has had low ferritin for at least 5 years.  It's a thing with us.  The only thing that has made my levels move in any significant fashion has been consuming betaine, acid pills that help the breakdown of foods in the stomach.  Problem is, I have to remember to take it with each meal, and when everyone else is sick and I'm juggling their numerous supplements, I forget to take my own. I me
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Heavy Metals

I've been having a feeling that we have a heavy metal issue.  Call it mom's intuition.  Detoxamin was what we were using, but the last time, he was hit so hard by it with side effects... lethargy, moody, a hot mess.  I started looking into ACC (Andy Cutler Chelation), which is a way to detox heavy metals very slowly.  But, then I remembered that 2 years ago, I bought these expensive detox  and metals and rebalancing kits  from Desbio on our MN LLMD's recommendation.  Shortly after we bought that, we moved, and it has been "out of sight out of mind."  Until yesterday. I told John what I was thinking about metals, and he agreed that Detoxamin was too harsh.  He was willing to give these kits a go.  It has a 60-day schedule that includes the homeopathic detox drops, liposomal vitamin C, liposomal ALA, and liposomal magnesium.  Each day is laid out with what we need to do.  It's day 2.  And something's happening. Who. Is. This. Boy? John:  Hey mom,
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Biopterin Pathway

I realized it has been a while since I've blogged.  Got caught up in the lack of schedule over the last month.  Things are fully back to normal for us Friday, as we go back to our homeschool co-op.  It is a God-sent for us, as it gives the kids a different offering of classes from what we do at home, and it also gives them a social outlet too.  For me, it has given me a change to get back to teaching, as I teach Algebra 1, 2 and Chemistry. So, what have we been up to?  John and I were off to the western coast of Florida for the last 10 days.  We were hoping to reboot him a bit in his healing.  I've come to the realization that the more time he spends in the sunshine, the better.  We discovered kayaking through mangrove tunnels - what a blast that is.  There used to be a freshwater lake off the coast of Lido Key.  Residents there had realized that this lake was a breeding ground for mosquitoes.  The Army Corps of Engineers came in and dredged these tunnels to link the freshwat
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Eureka Moment.. Mycoplasma.

We've been toying with doing the DNA Connexions Lyme panel on John in order to see what co-infections are there with his Lyme.  I ordered the kit, and managed to get him to do the 1 hour of exercise needed to complete the test.  We collected on Thursday night, and thankfully I had read the paperwork that urine shouldn't go out with Thursday-Saturday's mail.  They want samples mailed Monday-Wednesday to ensure that it doesn't warm up in a mail warehouse over the weekend.  While I had time to wait to send it in, I was having a nagging sensation in my gut that this wasn't the best use of money.  It's a $525 test, but it doesn't get all the co-infections.  Yes, I realize that no test gets them all, but all I've been researching has led me to believe he has Mycoplasma.  This test does not test mycoplasma. I have 2 weeks to refrigerate the urine before I have to send it in if I want to use it.  I decided to order Raintree's Myco supplement, and see how J
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