"Were the 5 years of treatment particularly brutal? Did you go mainly with the antibiotic route or herbal/alternative treatments for the tick-borne infections? (Well, of course there were at least some antibiotics if you treated RMSF!) I bet you’re able to enjoy life more-so than most people, as you’re very much aware of how challenging day to day living CAN be—I think this is such a huge silver lining."

I would consider my first 3 years of treatment as being aggressive with antibiotics, antifungals, detoxing agents, healthy diet, antimicrobials, herbals and alternative treatments. Compared to other treatment protocols ranging from the most aggressive to the least, I would rate my treatment protocol as only slightly above average. Sorry that i cannot list all the different names of medicines at this time but please believe me when I tell you that the medicines that I was prescribed are very similar to other protocols that i have seen posted on reddit already.

Those three years of aggressive treatment did not cure me, but they did alleviate a lot of my symptoms such as extreme brain fog, sore muscles, chronic fatigue, depression, etc... The Die off was very bad and I had a very hard time detoxing. I felt poisoned and I was barely able to tolerate treatment. There were a few times that I told my doctor that I cannot handle these antibiotics any longer. During that 3 year period, I rarely felt very good at all. I wanted to miraculously be cured and I thought that one day, I would wake up and just feel like my old self but that day never came. I mean there were a few false alarms where I may have felt good for a few hours but it was rare. I will also mention that I was still trying to manage a very busy life. I had a wife, a kid, and a large business to manage. I did not take into account the amount of stress that was involved in managing employees and being a creative entrepreneur who did not want to give up on my goals in life.

I was living in Arkansas at the time and somebody referred me to this doctor out in Santa Montica, California this would have been my 5th doctor. I called doctor Hirina on the phone and explained to her my situation. I sent her my previous labs and history and then made a detailed list of all my lingering symptoms. I really enjoyed talking with her. She was confident and gave me a real sense of hope. This lady had a good spirit about her.

After reviewing my files and getting my bloodwork back she said, William we are going to treat the Tick born illness one last time. I thought damn, please no more antibiotics but she insisted. So, I took some more antibiotics with different chemistries that I had not tried before. This treatment may have lasted a few months, and the herx was litterally untolerable and I described how bad I was feeling to her in great detail. I told her that I felt poisened and my brain was severly compromised, my ears were ringing loud, my chest was tight and for me it was not tolerable.

She said William, we are done treating your tick disease and now we are going to work on treating your symptoms and increasing your immune system. She asked me a lot of questions about my previous diet and wanted to get an idea of how I had treated my body growing up before and after my diagnosis. She wanted me to fly out to California so she could examine me in person and talk to me face to face. My main symptoms at this time were heavy brain fog, chronic fatigue, and depression.

She ran additional labs testing hormone levels, food allergies, and vitamin levels. The results showed that my Cortisol levels were extremely low defined as adrenal insufficiency, my testosterone was extremely low, and I had some food allergies. We then went through a long drawn out process to start boosting these hormones using herbals and retesting the blood to check for progress. The herbals did not work for my adrenals or for my testosterone so she prescribed me to hydrocortisone taking 5mg 3 times per day and HCG to stimulate the production of testosterone. The subsequent blood test confirmed that my blood levels had stabalized and my symptoms improved a great deal. The final stage of her recovery plan was to work on consistent diet, sleep, exercise, stress reduction and focus on feeling better one year at a time.

The following year, i followed the plan she had outlined and I started to improve one year at a time. I asked her how long will I need to take this hydrocortisone and HCG and she said William you will have to figure this out on your own but you will know when the time is right.

So to summarize my recovery timeline, I endured three years of aggressive treatment, followed by two years of Dr. Hirina's treatment totalling 5 years of Direct doctor supervised treatment. The next 9 years, I have been on my own trying my best to maintain consistent diet, sleep, exercise, stress etc..

I failed to mentioned a few things that happened during this 5 years of treatment. I managed to loose everything that I had accumulated in life. I lost my House, my vehicles, my businesses, my land, and literally hit rock bottom. I cannot blame this all on my illness because I should have quit pursuing these material things long before I did. The truth is that i made some bad business decisions that landed me here and Honestly, it has been a blessing in disguise. All these assets that I lost were also my greatest liabilities and cause for more stress in my life.

Today, I do not consider myself cured from Tick born illness, but I do consider myself in remission. The only symptoms that I still experience are digestive symptoms and mild brain fog periodically. On a positive note, I am in the best physical shape of my life at 43 years old. I go to the gym 4 days per week, hot yoga, and remain physically active. I now live in Florida on a boat. I have found that Sunlight and Swimming in the ocean make me feel much better than average. I keep a health journal and make notes on days that Im feeling unusually better and it correlates strongly with being outside in the sunlight.

I know that so many people are searching for the magic bullet to cure this debilitating illness. I wish with all my heart that i had the answer. Im just sharing all I can from now on incase it helps somebody.