Lisa's Journey: Theory of My Disease

While looking for help with and explanation for my first experience with iodine, I kept finding references to words like, 'L-forms, vectors, spirochettes, die-off, and Herxheimer reactions.' I heard of Herxheimer reactions before, but in small ways, like rashes... Nothing as severe as what I experienced, with joint pain, debilitating fatigue, and depletion of cortisol.

Looking for answers as to how to deal with detox-Herxheimer symptoms, I kept landing on pages for Lyme disease patients, and finding references to theories of microbial genesis in autoimmune conditions like Rheumatoid Arthritis , Muscular Sclerosis, ALS, and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Lynne's book mentioned a viral origin for Hashi's, as did an article by Suzy Cohen about MTHFR and methylation; and Doc B, when I first consulted with her.

I read brief references to MTHFR before but didn't want it to be my problem; I wanted my health to be restored through proper hormone-replacement balancing. After reading Suzy's article I was convinced that my severe 'herx' symptoms were due to persistent systemic infection of something/things like Lyme, and that supporting the methylation pathway would be the key to recovery.

I was disappointed that my LLP (Doc A) was not as adept at balancing hormones as her business card lead me to believe. It became apparent that part of the reason she failed to see my symptoms of adrenal insufficiency was because she was seeing all of my symptoms through iodine-colored glasses. I am grateful to her for introducing me to iodine, but I think she just started learning about Iodine herself because she didn't mention anything about Herxheimer and doesn't seem to have read Dr Brownstein's "Overcoming Thyroid Disorders" book, in which he states that thyroid HRT should be accompanied by HRT for adrenal insufficiency. I once mentioned MTHFR to her, but she only saw Iodine deficiency and bromine toxicity even though my bromine test did not support that theory.

While following my LLP's recommendations worsened my fatigue, I have made progress by pursuing my theory... I probably inherited two copies of the MTHFR defect that make me a poor detoxifier. Add childhood vaccines, Iodine deficiency (maybe even a NIS defect), gluten intolerance, and exposure to the toxic halides, and you create inflammation with an acidic environment that makes my body an ideal home for the proliferation of insidious microbes.