...one and one half steps back.
Quick summary: About 10 days after my last post, I had to discontinue the antimicrobials. The side effects surprisingly became just too severe and set me back almost 'two steps', which was really discouraging after such a good start. The good news is we've made some readjustments and after a couple of rough months things are starting to look up again.
In Depth: As noted in my last post, things seemed to be going quite well. That is, until March 5th, when I went up to the full dose of the prescribed herbal antimicrobials.
And then BAM! My sinuses dried out so severely, it was like my nose was full of cement. So while they may have killed the infection, it wasn't going anywhere because it couldn't. Even with the use of diluted saline sprays, it took several weeks to consistently feel a decent amount of moisture in my sinuses, and get things draining again. I still have problems from time to time -- I've always been on the dry side -- but it's definitely better.
But there were other factors in my downturn as well, and these took longer to decipher. In this post we talked about how the doc wanted me to basically start over from scratch, figuring since I was in such bad shape prior to consulting with him that the things I was taking couldn't have been helping very much.
In hindsight, that was a mistake.
As noted on the first page of this blog, ME/CFS is a very complex, complicated 'puzzle', and while it's very important to look at the big picture, it's also wise to try to keep track of what might be helping and what isn't, which can be difficult.
But as I became weaker and weaker, I went back and looked at notes on my calendar from earlier this year and last year...and BINGO...there it was.
I had stopped the two different and equally critical forms of B12 that I was taking several times a week -- methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin. I also increased the folinic acid which he suggested I cut way back on. Within 2 days of restarting those, the severe cramping and muscle twitching in my legs diminished, and continues to improve on a daily basis.
I apologize for not posting sooner, but wanted to make sure these improvements were holding. Thanks again for your support and for taking the time out of your day to read this post!