The Infection
as has been established, thing were certanily improving.
not perfect, but improving.
Diet, Sleep and Exercise were all doing their bit, enabled initially by the profound impact of the correct medication.
but not everything can go right all the time, can it?
It started with a slight pain on the exterior of my left ear, which worsened over coming days.
Eventually it was some ungodly hour of the morning and I was writhing about in bed consumed by an exquisite agony.
The first round of antibiotics seemed to do the trick, and after a just over a week I surmised that I was healed, and this had just been a minor hiccup.
Then…my right ear developed a similar pain.
Terrified of a repeat of the suffering I’d just endured, I immediately returned to the doctor, and another course of antibiotics was started.
and sure enough, -just- before it started to get as bad as the last time, it began to subside and clear up.
it’d been nearly a month now that I’d been knocked around with infections and antibiotics, I’d lost ground with my progress, all 3 pillars of progress, diet, sleep & exercise had been negatively impacted, and I was determined to get back to the progress I had been making.
In fact, I was -terrified- that this disruption may halt my progress entirely, that if I didn’t push forward NOW I may end up trapped again, locked in that bed staring at that ceiling, begging whatever deity would care to listen for an escape from my misery, for the sweet embrace of the abyss.
And so I pushed forward, hard, I grit my teeth and tried to regain all lost ground.
Walking every single day, eating whole foods, every single day, sleeping 9 hours, every single day, stacking one day after another, after another.
But it didn’t last long.
The Infection returned with a furious vengeance, this time in both ears.
Hesitant to put me back on antibiotics but with little choice, as I sat clutching at my skull like it were breaking open, close to tears in her office, my doctor prescribed another script.
The first day passed…then the second and the third….but there was no improvement, in fact, it was somehow getting worse.
The infection had become resistant to the antibiotics….
Like some kind of hateful parasite it had evolved, and was determined to kill me.
I’d barely slept for days, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t rest even a moment for the agony constantly screaming through my head like a powerful engine fuelled entirely by hate.
So my doctor, concerned that the infection had become or would very soon become osteomyelitis, and was eating away the delicate bones in my ear…prescribed 2 dangerously powerful antibiotics.
Fluoroquinolones.
There is currently a class-action lawsuit in the US regarding their side effects, them being
linked to severe musculoskeletal side effects, including disabling tendonitis and Achilles tendon ruptures affecting the limbs.
For 2 weeks, every 4 hours I would rise and take a combination of these various pills before collapsing back into an exhausted, struggling heap beneath my blankets.
I could barely eat during this time, and wasn’t permitted even milk or coffee whilst taking them, lest their impact be lessened.
This regime of medications absolutely wiped me out, in more ways than one.
In fact, they weren’t just wiping me out in a metaphorical sense, they were also wiping out my Micro-Biome, in a biological sense.
The tiny yet crucial gut-bacteria which have a surprisingly profound impact on the rest of the body were being completely irradicated.
it was a tummy holocaust.
And it was here, and this complete annihilation of my existing gut biome, that I discovered something so crucial as to be life-altering.
Not just it’s profound importance on wellbeing – but the deep, all-encompassing impact that my micro-biome had been having on my life.