by Wendi Lindenmuth
In July of 2015, I hosted a cycling ride in my community that connected two of our most popular gravel trails in Polk County, Wisconsin.
We decided to ride about 80 miles total, to our destination and then back to the trailhead where we parked. Many of us had never ridden both trails consecutively in one day and it was a great way to experience this event with old and new friends.
About a week leading up to the ride, I noticed my energy level was lower, my legs were really cramping up and I was not recovering from my rides as usual. When I woke up the morning of the ride, I was not feeling well at all, but since I was the host of the event, I had to show up and lead the group.
I Had Never Experienced Anything Like This
The entire ride, I felt nauseous and my legs were screaming with pain with every pedal stroke. I kept pushing it off as overtraining and told myself I would be mindful to rest and take some time off for a couple of days when I got home.
The entire bike ride was a blur.
With the encouragement of my friends in the group, we finally made it back to our cars. Someone loaded up my bike in my car and I made it back home where I took a shower, changed, and crawled into bed.
I had always been an active and competitive cyclist and athlete, but I had never experienced anything like what I was feeling.
This Was to Be My Life for Almost an Entire Year
I woke up about 24 hours later with my entire body in pain and unable to move. I was not even sure if I had a body. Logically, I knew I was lying in my bed, but I felt like a host within my own body. My body was not responding to commands to move at all. It all felt very surreal.
I forced my eyes open and attempted to raise my head. The excruciating pain that radiated through me forced me to remain there and go back to sleep.
This was to be my life for almost an entire year before I started feeling better.
After resting some more, I slowly got out of bed and tried to walk. My legs could not support me, and I collapsed to the floor. As I crawled to the bathroom, it felt like my nervous system was being electrocuted and every cell of my body was on fire!
Instead of getting better, my health continued a downward spiral fast.
I Realized I Had Shingles…and Lyme Disease
About a week later, the right side of my face was in tremendous pain and my nerves felt like they were on fire too. I had the worst headache in my entire life. The pressure in the back of my head was so intense, I thought it was going to explode.
It hurt so bad that it made me nauseous to even move my head. When I could finally look in the mirror, I noticed little blisters on the right side of my face and realized that I had shingles!
By now I had had enough and decided to see a doctor. He confirmed that I had shingles and chronic Lyme disease.
But I never had a bulls-eye rash.
Medical literature states that it is one of the first signs, but most people never get this. The doctor concluded from my symptoms that I had had Lyme disease for a while. He then ordered a variety of lab work to be taken to get more information about what was causing all my symptoms.
Even the Smallest Task Left Me Feeling Way Too Fatigued
I returned home to continue resting and waiting on my lab results. During this time, my youngest daughter who had recently graduated from high school was home for the summer. She drove me to all my appointments since I could not drive and would check on me during the day to see if I was still breathing. She would get me whatever I needed. My husband was working full-time and had long days, so I heavily relied on her.
The lab work came back showing that I was deficient in almost every vitamin and mineral. My thyroid was over 500 which was the highest level the doctor had ever seen. The test was re-run multiple times to make sure it was not a mistake. Since the Lyme disease was attacking my thyroid and had rendered it non-functioning it also contributed to my muscle fatigue/atrophy.
As time went on, I got worse. With all the sleeping I was doing, I hoped my body would improve, but every ounce of my body simply hurt too much to do anything. I would stare at my arms and hands like they were foreign appendages attached to me.
Brushing my teeth, hair, and even writing felt like I just did 1,000 pushups. My muscles constantly blazed with fire. Even the smallest tasks made me way too fatigued. If I needed to get back to my bedroom, I had to crawl up the stairs and stop at each step to rest, as if I were running a marathon.
I Wanted to Crawl Into a Quiet, Dark Space
I recall one hot summer day, sitting on the kitchen floor with my daughters who thought it would be funny to film me on their phone because I was acting and talking like I was on drugs and hallucinating. Once they understood what was really going on, they felt bad and deleted the video.
I was never prone to headaches, so this was a new experience for me. I do not even really know how to describe it, but as I sat on the floor, it felt like my head was going to explode with all the pressure building inside.
All my senses were heightened. The lights, sounds, and touch were too much to handle. I could not understand what anyone was saying. The best way I can explain it is that it felt like I was in an alien listening to another language. If you have ever seen a Charlie Brown cartoon, everyone sounded just like how the adults talk. I wanted to crawl in a quiet dark space, but I could not move.
My daughter drove me to my doctor’s office in town. My symptoms alarmed the doctor, so she sent me to the emergency room for a lumbar puncture procedure that would test for infections and meningitis. The results came back positive for viral meningitis—most likely caused by my shingles that were triggered by Lyme disease.
The shingles had become infected with a staph infection, which led to contracting a Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection that originates from a type of staph bacteria that’s become resistant to many of the antibiotics used to treat ordinary staph infections. Meningitis is serious and caused traumatic brain injury symptoms that I am still recovering from.
Since 2015, I have had viral meningitis three times and have endured six lumbar punctures.
From the lab work the doctor initially took in 2015, I was diagnosed with multiple chronic illnesses; meningitis, shingles, MRSA, and Lyme’s disease.
How Energy Healing Medicine Transformed My Life
As time went by, I explored a variety of pain management and health care modalities and was introduced to Energy Healing Medicine. This is when I began to witness my health really transform. It had such a profound impact on healing me physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually that I became a nationally certified as a Healing Touch Practitioner so that I could help others who were also experiencing chronic pain and illness.
After facing the reality of my own mortality and empowering myself with a new mindset and new tools to heal, it showed me the strength I never knew I had.
If you would have told me that living with chronic illness would have brought me more freedom, and opportunities, I would have said you were crazy. But much to my surprise, the freedom came from living my life more intentionally than ever before.
I Wanted and Needed to Take Back Some Control
During my healing, I was always searching and asking questions about what I could personally do at home for self-care and to understand how to feel better in-between medical appointments. No one offered any suggestions and I was told to make another appointment if I still was not feeling well.
I often felt helpless and very dependent on others. I wanted and needed to take back some of that control, so I could feel that I had an important role in the quality of my own health. I wished I had a book or guide to access information and resources so I would not have felt so alone, powerless and lost.
I decided to write my book to share my story and message with others so they can have support and a survival/ healing guide beside them to help them on their healing journey.
Why I Wrote a Book About My Experiences
I chose writing a book so I could reach more people around the world with my personal story, my message and tools they could use to help them heal at home.
I was coaching for a while, but it was too expensive for a lot of people, especially my clients who live with chronic pain and Lyme disease. They already have spent so much money and they do not have any more to spend.
I had self-doubt throughout the whole process, though. I could not remember a lot of what happened due to my meningitis, so I had to rely on my family a lot to share what they remembered.
It took a year to write off and on when I felt well. It was like putting together a puzzle with all these random pieces that finally were able to fit together to create a full story.
It was very healing and painful at the same time to recall and live through what I went through again. My mom encouraged me during the whole process and reminded me to do the best I could, rest when I needed and it would be done when it was done.
After I Became a Published Author, I Felt An Energetic Shift
I felt an energetic shift after I became a published author.
I feel more confident and empowered and an authority on alternative healing with chronic pain. I also feel empowered to help others share their story as well.
Changes that have happened through writing and publishing this book:
- doing interviews
- more people contacting me about their stories—I am going to publish a book called from Wounds to Wisdom—a collection of stories transforming pain into strength by different authors
- I joined Twitter!
Meanwhile, the book is having an impact on others, as I’ve seen via my book reviews and others messaging me their stories. The readers do not feel like they are all alone anymore. I do not feel that surprised, as I was truly hoping for this.
My Advice to Others Battling a Serious Illness
1. Remember to be kind to yourself. Love yourself and practice a lot of self-care.
2. Have hope. Hope offers us something to believe in that is greater than ourselves. It motivates us when we become discouraged. It energizes us when our bodies, minds, and hearts are tired. Hope believes in us when we feel limited and reaches for answers when no one else does. Hope endures the hardship with us. Hope presses for victory and gives us courage when we need that inner cheerleader. Hope is our lifeline.
3. Find support because you can not do it alone. Find a local group, an on-line group, a counselor, a coach, a friend, a pet.
What I Hope Readers Will Take Away from This Book
I hope that readers, after reading my book, will understand that they can start taking control of their health and live their lives with purpose and intention. I hope they will find their “new normal” and learn to have new, healthy relationships with their bodies, minds and spirits.
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Wendi M. Lindenmuth BS, MPH, is an Author, Writer, and Alternative Healing Specialist. With over 25 years of experience in teaching, medical and public health, and alternative healing, she helps people suffering from Lyme Disease, chronic illness and pain find relief from their symptoms and limitations and start creating a life of hope, strength, and purpose again.
Wendi lives in Dresser, Wisconsin with her husband and two dogs surrounded in the tranquility of Wisconsin Interstate park.
For more on Wendi and her work, please see her website, or connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.
Dear Lyme Disease: In 2015, Wendi’s life drastically changed when she was diagnosed with Lyme disease and other life-threatening infections. She was once a competitive athlete, enjoyed the flexibility and freedom of her life to being bedridden. She shares her struggles along with her celebrations of living with Lyme disease and chronic pain.
As you read this book, Wendi guides you through each chapter of alternative healing tools to explore. She then presents an activity in each week’s chapter for you to do so you can experience your own health shift and healing. Each chapter takes you from theory to practice learning alternative healing tools and engaging in experiential exercises to start implementing a new way of thinking, living and finding your “new normal” and hope again. This book is a great reminder that it is ok to let go of the life you thought you would have had and start living the life in front of you.
If you are struggling with Lyme Disease, chronic illness and pain, you will learn to forge a new relationship with your body, mind and soul and learn new tools to optimize your life despite your limitations.
Available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.