Lyme Disease Acknowledgement, I'm Melting, and Memory Issues

Lyme Disease Acknowledgement: I've seen Lyme disease mentioned a lot in the news recently. It looks like this disease will finally start to get the recognition it deserves. I can only speak for myself and my family about this disease, but I believe I've had it the majority of my life, and it was kept in check by my immune system, which is what is supposed to happen. I've read several articles about the remains of ancient humans being found infected with Borrelia spirochaete, indicating that we evolved alongside this disease, but then I'm also seeing articles about it being a bioweapon. I'm relatively new to learning about this disease, so I thought I would share what I learn each week to help spread awareness. I started listening to the audiobook Bitten today, and two thoughts came to mind: this is an absolute nightmare that Stephen King couldn't even top, and yeah, that's just my life. I've decided to further educate myself on these conditions as I feel that I've healed enough and have the bandwidth to retain and understand them. Before, I was always intimidated by the immense and complex pool of knowledge on the topic. There are also a couple of documentaries I'll be watching, "The Quiet Epidemic" and "Under Our Skin."

I feel pretty awful and have been dealing with some crippling fatigue and exhaustion. I'm currently filming this after three cups of coffee and 10 hours of solid sleep, but am still exhausted. My memory is also extremely bad, which I thought was from needing my BHRT pellets, but after listening to Bitten today, I learned that it's most likely related to Lyme. I may need to do another round of treatment, and if I do, I'll definitely be sharing updates on here as it makes me extremely sick. I believe more awareness about the seriousness of this cluster of diseases is needed.

Memory Issues: I didn't realize how bad my memory had gotten until I started working on one of my reviews. It took me three days of writing out what I wanted to say over and over for me to finally commit all my talking points to memory, and the review is only 10 minutes long. I spent three to four days handwriting out my talking points to help me remember, but when I sat down to film, I went blank repeatedly. I'm hoping that with repetition, this will improve, as I know I haven't used my brain in this capacity in a long time, and my memory was damaged from my head injuries. Time will tell. Because of this, I've decided to start tapering off the Amitriptyline and then the Gabapentin. Both cause memory issues, and I don't need them in the same capacity as I did before. I've started the Amitriptyline taper first, and I'll be decreasing by 10% every four weeks.

I'm Melting: I've been on BHRT since 2017 and can confidently say that it saved my life by replacing depleted testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone. I'm a little over four months out from my last implant, and I'm really starting to feel it. I'm exhausted and feel like I weigh 300 lbs. The brain fog, confusion, lack of motivation, trouble focusing and retaining information, inflammation issues, insomnia, and feeling generally awful are becoming unbearable. I'm exhausted, can't seem to get enough sleep, and exist on caffeine. It seems to get a little worse every day.