Lizbeth Finn-Arnold

Tired of the Lyme Skeptics...

The ignorance around chronic Lyme continues. I'm so tired of articles about the skepticism around Yolanda's lyme diagnosis. Read latest here. 

When you have cancer or AIDS, people support you rather than question your health. When Pedro Zamora took part on The Real World, he was trying to raise awareness about HIV and nobody complained that he didn't "look sick" or "act sick." He was a young, vibrant-seeming man giving a human face to an ugly, terrible disease. A disease that took his life way too soon, and that many people ignored until they saw celebrities or reality stars dealing with it.

I have met so many people who have suffered exactly like Yolanda Hadid. Not one of us who has fought this fight has any doubt she is telling the truth about her sickness. WE HAVE FRICKING BEEN THERE!!! And we understand how hard it is to get the medical community and insurance companies to help us when the general population treats us like we have an imaginary illness. If they don't acknowledge it, there's no research. Without research there's no cure for millions of people currently infected and suffering.

Texting and Walking Zombies

In NJ, they are proposing a bill to make texting and walking illegal.

I think fining the "walk-and-texters" is a great idea because they drive me nuts, and it is actually dangerous. I cannot comprehend why people can't live without their phones for even one second. I see kids getting off buses, staring like zombies at their phones, unaware of the world around them. Cars whizzing by? They don't even register it. They literally can't wait two minutes to get inside their homes before they answer a text?

Also I hate shopping in stores, because people on their phones continuously walk into me (and then look at me like I'm an alien). I see people walking around in cities completely clueless to the world beyond their phones. Whatever happened to being street smart and aware of your environment? And why does every message need to be returned instantaneously?

 

Raising Lyme Awarness

As some of you may know I have been sick for almost two years with fibromyalgia, muscle pain, joint pain, migraine headaches, back pain, neck pain, and extreme fatigue, but have remained undiagnosed for Lyme. Two Elisa Lyme tests came back negative, but we now know those tests are not reliable and I am currently searching for a Lyme Literate MD who can help me get a proper diagnosis.

I became ill in June 2013 with the sudden onset of the flu, and that summer my health began to slowly decline. By September 2013, I found myself incapacitated by pain. Originally, I thought I was just rundown because of stress-- we were in the middle of buying/selling a house and my beloved dog Elvis had recently passed away. Also, I didn't remember getting bitten by a tick, so was not thinking Lyme. I have since learned that not everybody gets the bullseye rash and that my flu-like symptoms could have been a indicator of Lyme.

Year of the Warrior Goddess 2015

I look back on 2014 as the Year of the Zombie. Me, being the Zombie. With almost constant and chronic pain, I too cringed at first when I saw the self-generated "It's been a great year," facebook header, but then when I reviewed my photos I was reminded, that truth be told, it was a great year. If I only focused on one aspect of me, my physical self, I could have wallowed in self-pity and would have missed out on all the other wonderful aspects of my life. Family. Friends. Pups. Laughter. Love. Sunsets. Books. Food. Travel.

My life is pretty good when I focus on what I have, rather on what I don't have. As I look forward to 2015, and shed the Year of Zombie for good, I claim this new year as the Year of the Warrior Goddess. Stronger. Healthier. More balanced. And in harmony with my life. After all, Zombies are so last year, don't ya know?

Birthday Reflections

On my birthday, I sat and reflected over the last year, that was in many ways one of the toughest of my life. At least physically. Starting almost exactly a year ago I had been in pain almost every day.

Plus, it was a year of immense transitions. We moved into a new home. My daughter finished high school and started college. Our house was going through major renovations.

And I couldn't seem to get answers as to why pain seemed to be migrating through my body.

Yes, there was a back injury. Which likely inflamed my fibromyalgia. Which likely inflamed my Epstein Barr, which likely impacted my hormones, which were triggering tons of migraines, which all left my immune system depleted and exhausted.

This meant I felt like a Zombie who pushed through my days, and got things done that needed to get done but mostly I felt like I was just existing.