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- [00:00]
A
I think that it was a compounding of everything that I did to my body and how I was taking care of my body, and it was just the straw that broke the camel's back of putting my immune system over the edge. And then everything that was in there that had been in there. We have so much in our bodies right now that our immune systems are keeping at bay. And I just took my immune system too far. Right. With probably lack of sleep, Adderall addiction, alcohol, overwork. Yeah. Stress. Needless stress in my mind, just like crushing your CNS Xanax to go to sleep because I took Adderall all day long to work. Yeah. Just completely crushing it. Yeah. To the point where I think if that didn't happen to me, everybody thinks they're victimized. Right. By Lyme disease. Lyme disease is one of the greatest things that ever happened to me in my life.
- [00:58]
B
I'm Michael Chernow, and this is the Creatures of Habit podcast. Our habits will make us or break us. It's just that simple. I've lived on both sides of the tracks and have learned that the decisions we make on a consistent basis truly define who we are as human beings. On this show, I will be interviewing some of the most inspiring, motivating, and high performing humans I've encountered to share their daily habits, routines, and rituals that help them stay on top of their game and ultimately happy. So sit back, relax, and pay attention, because what you hear over the next 30 to 45 minutes could potentially change your life.
- [01:40]
C
Let's go. Angela. You and I have so much in common. It's like, to list the things that you and I have in common would be. It's just kind of weird. We're kind of the same person in two different bodies. From Lyme disease to battling addiction, to entrepreneurship, to raising money for good causes that you believe in. You've had a lot of crazy things happen in your life, but I want to. I just kind of want to kick it off with Lyme disease because that's how we were initially introduced. Right. Like, I've been able to keep Lyme disease sort of. It's in my life. It shows up. I feel it right now. This morning on the train ride over, I was, like, feeling kind of funky. I'm like, oh, man, what's going on? And then I always know. I'm like, whatever I'm dealing with, it probably is from the Lyme of some at some capacity. So you've kind of beaten Lyme disease. Yeah, that's like. And you had chronic Lyme like debilitating chronic Lyme disease.
- [02:44]
A
Like, there was a couple of specific times where I thought, I'm going to die and. Or my husband needs to take me to the hospital right now. But having Lyme disease, you know, that's worthless. A hospital is not a place for a Lyme patient, and no one there can help you. So it was a real mind fuck, if you will, to be laying there thinking, I need medical attention, but there's no medical attention that can help me. So I feel like people with Lyme disease understand what that means. Going to the hospital or going to the ER allows no reprieve and no answers for anybody that's suffering with symptoms of Lyme disease. And I had been too many times to know that or to think I was going to get help by going this time. So it's a lonely place to be. I was told I would never kick Lyme disease. I had Lyme, Babesia, Bartonella, relapsing fever, borrelia, mold toxicity, and Morgellons disease.
- [03:44]
C
What is Morgellons disease?
- [03:45]
A
Morgellons disease is a super like. Well, I don't even know if it's still controversial, because it's not controversial to me. But it's this weird disease where they actually diagnose it as clinically as delusions of parasitosis. But then the crazy part is the treatment is they give you an antiparasitic and an antipsychotic if it's delusion, why are they writing you an antiparasitic if it's delusional of parasites?
- [04:12]
C
So the disease is that you believe you have parasites.
- [04:16]
A
If you look that up right now and you say, what is Morgellon's disease? It's gonna tell you that it's a delusional disease with a manifest. But, I mean, I can show you what I had right there. My entire body was covered in sores from head to toe. I had handfuls of hair falling out at each shower. I would have fibers shooting that would come out. They were like collagen fibers or something super gnarly. I can show you they're wild and just weird things come out of my skin. A lot of fibers, different color fibers. White, orange, yellow. My acupuncturist would be cupping my back, and she would. Because acupuncture is one of the main modalities that I use for healing even to this day. And I used it through Lyme disease for the meridian healing and getting your energy to flow. I find it just as important as chiropractic. Care just for daily maintaining. And you go take your car to get aligned. Why in the hell would you not go align your body? So I align my body every week and I do acupuncture weekly as well. And she was just doing an acupuncture treatment session. And the fibers would come up like.
- [05:18]
C
What kind of like fibers? When you say fibers, like what is that?
- [05:21]
A
Like I'm talking like fibers like pieces of string. Like it looks like fibers in there, they come out, out of the skin, they manifest out and it's just all sorts of gnarly stuff. They don't know. There's a guy at, there's a research scientist. I don't know if he still. I haven't looked. I've been clear of this for a while, which people don't really get clear of this. But it's not on my radar anymore because it's just not something in my everyday. But when I it. I was obsessed with finding a way to get out of it. And so back then there was a scientist that was at Oklahoma State University at the Tulsa campus. And he was one of the only people really researching this at the time. And they tested every plant and natural material on planet earth that they had access to in a lab. And it didn't come up as any thing.
- [06:20]
C
Like the fiber itself. Itself?
- [06:22]
A
Yeah.
- [06:23]
C
So the fiber, your body makes these fibers.
- [06:25]
A
So it's just like. Yeah, it's just like they don't material. They have no, they really. They have no idea. It's just this super gnarly disease where people will manifest these like massive sores and they're covered in biofilm. They seem to be encased in biofilm. The fibers, the actual sores, they'll encase themselves like in biofilm and they can't get through. Well, I found a way to get through it and it was a salsylic acid. So I'd literally take. Before they made those like super convenient.
- [06:54]
C
So you had these all over your body?
- [06:56]
A
All over my body, from my face to my feet.
- [06:59]
C
And no one could diagnose it really.
- [07:02]
A
I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and I was told I had a piriformis nerve impingement I needed. And two fully.
- [07:09]
C
Why would piriformis impingement have anything to do with it?
- [07:12]
A
I had like my full body breaking down all once. So they were just kind of like spot diagnosing me. One doctor, I'd go to orthopedist and he would say like, you need back surgery and hip surgery. And I'd Say, my pelvis hurts. Is it gonna get fixed when you do that? And they would say, no. And I would say, well, then you can't operate on me. So I actually ended up scheduling a surgery for my hip, a reconstruction, reconstructive hip surgery, because I had a labral tear from CrossFit. I've just been super active my whole life. And so I'd go too hard in the gym and not take rest days. You. You know how that goes, addict behavior. So, yeah, that just built up over time. And then that allowed the doctors to give me, like, a reason. I call them reasonable excuses for pain. Like, we go into a doctor's office, and if someone gives you a reasonable excuse, you'll accept it rather than, like, really digging in and finding out the root cause of something. Because a reasonable excuse is just easier for your brain to handle, and it gives you, like, something to focus on. Like, the doctor will say, take this pill or whatever, if it flares up, or go get an injection or something. And then your mind just starts saying, okay, that will work, or whatever.
- [08:21]
C
You remember when, like, you started feeling symptomatic, like, with stuff?
- [08:27]
A
Yeah, I was probably, like, 11.
- [08:30]
C
Oh, so you've been. So this is a lifelong thing for you?
- [08:32]
A
I didn't really know that. I. I kept having knee pain in my right knee, specifically, which they call it, like, Montauk knee.
- [08:40]
D
Basically.
- [08:41]
C
Tick.
- [08:41]
A
Tick thing with Lyme disease. Yeah. And it's just pain, inflammation, right side knee specific. I had it to the T. I'd been bit with by ticks. You know, I grew up in Oklahoma. I was in the woods all the time outside at the lake. We'd have ticks on us and just flick them back in the woods. You know, it was no big deal.
- [08:56]
C
Right.
- [08:57]
A
Go in and get a match. You know, who gets to burn the tick off. Everybody was excited. So we didn't know what we know now about this. And then so I, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, 11 years old, I become lactose intolerant. Just, boom. Cannot eat any lactose. Nobody has any kind of explanation for it. It's just, yeah, don't eat that anymore for the rest of your life, you know, that's unacceptable. I love cheese. So we had to work through that. But I think that, too, was.
- [09:24]
C
So wait, at 11, you were told lactose intolerant or.
- [09:26]
A
Yes. One day, out of nowhere, I remember the moment it happened. I remember what I was eating. I was eating those croissants, those Pillsbury croissants that come in the rolling Pan. They're so good. Right. And they were filled. I would put like just a slice of American cheese and roll that up and put it in for my after snack, take a plate of those and. Yeah. And I remember right now I can visually see myself, like hurt, like crouched over, like in pain on the ground, moaning and holding my stomach.
- [09:55]
C
Wow.
- [09:55]
A
And that was the moment I was lactose intolerant. And then that was it. You're lactose intolerant. Out of nowhere. Boom. No one in my family was, you know, there was no explanation. I was 11 years old, so it was.
- [10:06]
C
But I'm just curious, do you think this all started from a tick bite?
- [10:09]
A
And I don't personally.
- [10:11]
C
Okay, so you. Do you think that this was something that you've been predisposed to this kind of.
- [10:15]
A
My personal belief is that the bacteria enters via the tick bite. Right. So whatever. We all. If I, if I tested anyone in this building, they're going to come back with Lyme bacteria in them. They will come back with a strain of Lyme. Most likely.
- [10:29]
C
All people.
- [10:30]
A
All people. There's like, it's been around for. I mean.
- [10:33]
C
And what's the very, very, very specific Lyme test?
- [10:36]
A
Well, it depends on if you. Oh, very specific Lyme test that show.
- [10:40]
C
That that typically will pick up Lyme that most Lyme tests don't.
- [10:44]
A
None of the tests that your doctor is going to give you. If you say, I think I have Lyme disease and go to the doctor.
- [10:49]
C
Right.
- [10:49]
A
You would have to go get. For me personally, I use the Igenics. Igenics, yeah.
- [10:55]
C
And it's super expensive too. Right?
- [10:57]
A
Super expensive. I think, like I took it in 2019, 2018, and it was, I believe, like $1500. Right.
- [11:04]
C
That's what I paid in 27, 2018.
- [11:07]
A
Yeah. So I'm sure it's gone up, but yeah, that's where you're at. And I had to fly to California to take the test because I couldn't do my blood draw. Well, first of all, the doctor was in California, but I couldn't. I would have had to leave the state of New York. I would have had to go to Jersey, for instance, to do the blood draw because there are certain co infections from ticks that New York state at the time. I don't know if the testing regulations have changed since then, but you couldn't get tested for it as a New York state.
- [11:36]
C
So the doctor that I went to that said you have Lyme disease clearly described that like, there is no test that your, your traditional, you know, General practitioner will. Will be able to prescribe to you that will. That will show Lyme disease. So I'm gonna send you to this, like, super small lab that does this test for me in the city, But New York doesn't do these tests.
- [12:02]
A
Yeah. So, I mean, that. You got a really good doctor. You got super lucky.
- [12:07]
C
I got very lucky. Yeah. Because sure enough, for whatever it was six days later. Whatever, whatever. Whenever the test came back, I had four band Lyme disease, co infections, everything.
- [12:18]
A
Yeah. So.
- [12:19]
C
So. Okay. So. So we. We. I asked you if you thought that this was, like, from a Lyme. From a tick.
- [12:27]
A
So I do not. My personal belief. This is just my personal belief. I do not believe that what happened to me was a result of a tick. Maybe a tick bite could have allowed the bacteria to enter my body. Like I said, we went over. Everybody's gonna have Lyme disease, probably specifically band 57. But I think that it was a compounding of everything that I did to my body and how I was taking care of my body. And it was just the straw that broke the camel's back of putting my immune system over the edge. And then everything that was in there, that had been in there. We have so much in our bodies right now that our immune systems are keeping at bay. And I just took my immune system too far with probably lack of sleep, Adderall addiction, alcohol, overwork. Yeah. Stress. Needless stress.
- [13:31]
C
In my mind, just like crushing your.
- [13:33]
A
CNS Xanax to go to sleep. Because I took Adderall all day long to work. Yeah. Just completely crushing it. Yeah. To the point where I think if that didn't happen to me, everybody thinks they're victimized. Right. By Lyme disease. Lyme disease is one of the greatest things that ever happened to me in my life. If I had not gotten Lyme disease, I would probably not be sitting in this chair talking to you, because I had a severe Adderall addiction, like, to the point where I was. You know, my kid had adhd, so I could go get his pills, too, and just all day long. And to be honest with you, I think that that's, like, probably the Adderall and then the lack of sleep and the Xanax and alcohol on the weekends and just this cycle. And then my age, you know, I wasn't 20 anymore, so I was 38 years old when the straw broke the camel's back. It was Memorial Day. The Tuesday after Memorial Day in 2018, I was playing lacrosse with my son on a field. Even though I took terrible care of my body. I was super functioning, just high functioning, able to keep going. So no one really knew. And including myself, I stepped in a gopher hole or in the middle school yard, and I tore every ligament on the top of my left ankle. And that was a straw that broke the camel's back from my immune system. And that started just a waterfall of symptoms for me that started with the deterioration of my gums and my teeth. I could like, feel the bacteria eating my gums, and my gums were just like completely being destroyed by this. And my dentist was actually the first person that said something to me. She pulled me into a room and she's like, what's going on with you? Because, like, in a matter of two weeks, I just went from looking normal to, like, looking like death, Death, like. And like, not like death, but like, are you on drugs? You know what I mean? That kind of like, you don't look great. And I'd lost a bunch of weight just out of nowhere, and I said, I don't really know what's going on with my body. And she said, your gums are receding. I just saw you like three weeks ago. You were fine. You're one of my best patients. And your teeth don't look like your teeth today, which. That's a huge indicator of your immune system. What's going on in your mouth? Well, I ended up losing seven teeth from that, from Lyme disease. I got a jawbone infection. And then after I learned about what happens when you put metal in your mouth, I had my root canals removed. I just had the teeth pulled so that I didn't have any more metal in my mouth.
- [16:11]
C
Like the mercury and stuff? Yeah, the mercury from the fillings and.
- [16:15]
A
Well, the root canal. What's. It's root canals or. I mean, I'm. We're not here to talk about root canals, but, like, give them a Google. They're not great for your immune system at all. And nobody should ever get a root canal, in my opinion. But I am not a dentist. And yeah, I'm someone that decided to pull the teeth out that were root canaled. That was a better choice for me. And so you just got implants, zirconia implants. And yeah, that was incredibly expensive process and a long process. I went a year with seven teeth gone, but I was covered in sores. What are seven teeth missing? You know what I mean? So, yeah, it wasn't my best time, but I. It really made a huge difference. So I got that metal out of my mouth and then the Next thing to go, I had breast implants. And those were the next thing to go. I was having these, like, crazy histamine reactions in my body. Actually just mast cell activation, where, like, my whole face would swell out of nowhere. And it looked like I got stung by something. And that was happening in my body pretty regularly. But people always freak out with mast cell activation. They're like, oh, my God, I need Benadryl. Mast cell activation is, like, one of the greatest things. Your gifts that your immune system gives to your body. So it's a real chance for repair. And we stop all these systems in our western medicine culture, we stop the mast cell activation. I remember as part of the Lyme healing, I started doing bee venom therapy. And there was this huge protocol for bee venom therapy that had this massive detox protocol right after you did the venom. So I just started looking into that. Why am I detoxing so hard after I put this into my body? Don't I want this in my. And then I did it regular style for about a year, the bee venom therapy. Then I hired a scientist to come actually teach me what I was doing, because I was literally just some girl on TikTok was doing bee venom therapy. And this is how desperate I am. I'm looking. Did it work? It worked. So to an extent, it took bee venom and more. But, yeah, I did it for a year, just kind of the 10 stings of standard bee venom protocol. Protocol. Bee venom therapy protocol. This lady named Ellie Lobel got stung by a bunch of bees, and she was basically, like, dying, and her aide was taking her on a walk, and she got, you know, when she came to from getting stung by all these bees, she felt a whole lot better. So she discovered. She's, like, credited for this discovery, although she. In today's society, she's credited. The ancient Egyptians were using bee venom therapy, like, out the gate. So we're talking about, like, ancient modalities here. And then after I hired the scientist, he explained to me that I wasn't. We went over all my symptoms, and he said, I hate to break it to you, but 10 stings is going to do nothing for you. You need to completely eliminate your detox protocol, and you need to do 19 to 26 stings per session, and you need to do it from head to toe because you're rampant with disease from head to toe, and there's no way it's going to hit your meridian and get you unless you do that.
- [19:25]
C
And so this guy was like a holistic kind of scientist kind of guy.
- [19:28]
A
This guy was a scientist, and he was. No, not holistic at all. He had rheumatoid arthritis, and he had gone on a journey to heal his rheumatoid arthritis. So the weirdest thing about him and the most holistic thing about him was bee venom. He was just a regular dude. It was a scientist that found this bee venom. If he stung himself with bees, he didn't have arthritis symptoms. So he was doing it as a maintenance protocol when I met him still. So I said to him, so, wait.
- [20:01]
C
Did he beat ra?
- [20:04]
A
If he has flare ups, he uses beaver. And I'm like, to this day, just, I don't know. I don't have ra, so I don't know. I don't know if you can beat.
- [20:12]
C
Does it hurt, the bee venom when you sting yourself?
- [20:14]
A
Yeah. Have you ever been stung by a bee?
- [20:16]
C
I mean, I haven't. I mean, I've actually only been stung by a be one time.
- [20:20]
A
Well, did it hurt?
- [20:21]
C
It did. It did. So it hurts.
- [20:24]
A
It hurts. Yeah.
- [20:26]
C
And how often are you doing it?
- [20:27]
A
So I was doing. Mine was every. The standard protocol is every three days, ten. Okay. When I. I did that for a. Like I said, a year. And then I started doing. For three months solid, I started doing 19 to 26 every four days. Completely eliminated the detox portion of it and just let the venom ride in me and sit. And it rebuilt. Like, it was, like, so fast. Like, how fast my body regenerated. So I was doing that in conjunction with this stuff called Kombo K A M B O, which is illegal in the United States. It's probably legal in the United States because, like, it's terrible.
- [21:08]
C
I know all about it.
- [21:09]
A
Yeah.
- [21:09]
C
I'm hosting a men's retreat on my property in a week, and we're doing combo.
- [21:13]
A
Okay. Right on. I. It's my favorite medicine. Yeah.
- [21:18]
C
Okay.
- [21:19]
A
It's the hardest, which is probably why it's my favorite.
- [21:22]
C
Is it hard?
- [21:22]
A
It is. Have you ever done it?
- [21:24]
C
No.
- [21:24]
A
Are you gonna do it?
- [21:25]
C
I mean, are you thinking about it? I mean, it's not, man. You know, I'm hosting this retreat. They're bringing Combo, Ananga and Sananga. Sananga.
- [21:36]
A
Yeah.
- [21:37]
C
And Happy.
- [21:37]
A
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's like. That's pretty standard. Yeah. So have you ever done Sananga?
- [21:44]
C
No.
- [21:44]
A
Oh, God. Do. Do all those things and call me in the morning.
- [21:50]
C
So they're not psychoactive though, right?
- [21:52]
A
No, they're not psychoactive. None of those. The things that you mentioned are. They're all from two. Are from plants. And the, the first one you mentioned combo is from the giant green monkey frog that resides in the Amazon. And the waxy secretion from it, it's actually when it has a stress response, it secretes this wax and that is what they take off of it. And they put it on a stick and it dries on a stick and they wrap it in a plantain leaf and in our case, you know, they send it to the white people and.
- [22:32]
C
Then you put it on like a burn.
- [22:33]
A
Burn? Yeah, a little root. It's super small. I wish. I don't know, I've got some burn marks on me right here. Yeah, they're just like little dots. Four is like what I would say the standard dose would be, but I've ridden with it anywhere from. I mean, I've done 11 dots at once. And just for my training. Because you just have to like get a feel for the medicine. I would not recommend that. It's not necessary. But what is it? What's on this stick? Right? Peptides. Isn't that all the rage right now?
- [23:10]
C
Is that what it is?
- [23:11]
A
It's Peptides. So isn't that cool interrupting this episode.
- [23:17]
E
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- [24:40]
C
Back to the pod. Okay, so, so, so you're doing bee venom, you're doing combo, and then. And then what?
- [24:49]
A
Oh, and then I'm like, all right, I'm getting some traction here. Now up. And before this, I spent $150,000. I did every western medicine protocol that they offer me and, and more. And most of it was off label use. Nothing was covered. I did like IV therapy for five months. I did HBOT treatment in conjunction with the IV therapy. Sauna, infrared sauna. A complete change of diet. I started eating ayurvedically for my dosha. Go look it up. There's free dosha tests online, folks. But if you're ill and you need to. And you need to eat for your health, Ayurvedic is the way to go. It's ancient and it will create a alkaline environment in your body, which disease cannot grow in there. So that's the main part of why the diet portion is so important. The reason why I'm saying I did all this stuff is because people, whenever we have conversations like this, they'll grab one thing that I'm talking about and be like, oh, if I just do that, I'm going to get better. And unfortunately, like, eliminating disease out of your body the way that I did requires like a complete lifestyle change and then. And dedication to it for long time. Over a year, you know, I don't want to say years, because that sounds scary. I did it in two, two years, but.
- [26:15]
C
And now you're living now you're kind of. You eat what you want and, yeah.
- [26:19]
A
Whatever I want, whenever I want.
- [26:20]
C
Not lactose intolerant anymore.
- [26:22]
A
I'm not lactose intolerant anymore at all. I don't have addiction issues at all alcohol anymore. I could go get like, I could have a drink. I had a drink with my son on his birthday and one drink, I've never had one drink in my life, you know, I don't want anymore, you know, and I might not even finish a drink. I never left an alcoholic beverage on the table back in the day. That didn't come from this stuff, though. The freedom from my addictions and the power over them to just be like, oh, I. I literally don't have a problem with that anymore. Came from psychedelics, so we'll get there.
- [26:59]
C
I want to finish up this kind of Lyme disease. The way you kind of walked through this, empowered through this.
- [27:07]
A
So psychedelics were a big part of getting through the Lyme disease, too. Yeah, it was. I sat with this. It just. I wasn't trying to get free of any of my addictions. I wasn't trying to not take Adderall ever again at all. It just happen for me because I didn't want it anymore. It just was simple as that. Like, something shut off inside of me that didn't want it anymore. So I was doing combo. How do you. How do you find that? You know, it's kind of a weird thing to find. I think it's easier to find now, but back then, it wasn't in 2020. It wasn't easy to find. And I was. This kid at the yoga studio was serving Combo. So I was like 25 years old and super rad kid, and he served me convo. And then he's like, you're super sick with this Lyme disease. Have you ever heard of the stuff iboga? And I was like, no, I've never heard of that. And he's like, well, it comes from Africa. It's this root bark. It helps people a lot with. When they can't, like, heal from things or whatever. It's pretty vague, you know, it was just like, oh. I didn't know exactly what it did, and I don't know. And I didn't even know why I was gravitating towards it at the time at all. But I said, I am totally miserable. I have massive suicidal ideations right now. I'm a burden on my family, and I have nothing to lose. It's either I'm gonna go to Germany and try this experimental thing from the inside out.
- [28:35]
C
Yeah, I remember hearing about that.
- [28:37]
A
For 80 grand, or I'm gonna try this for $1,500 in my living room. So I was given one order by my husband when he was still alive, and I was fighting with us, and he said, or fighting Lyme disease. And he said, I don't care what you do. I cannot. I need you to be here. Find a way to come back to me, and I will support whatever you want to try.
- [28:59]
C
Because you were. This had taken you just out of everything.
- [29:01]
A
Oh, my God. Yeah, I was. I laid in bed every day, like, just. And I couldn't. I lost the ability to speak and say words at times. Like, my cognitive function was gone. I had a heart condition. I had. And they suspected I had endometriosis because I was just bleeding vaginally like everybody, every day for 15 months. It's crazy. Yeah. The sores all over my body, just mass cell activation constantly. Like, oh, just. I don't think I had a solid bowel movement for two years straight. Like, two years of just diarrhea and just start puking, too. Just.
- [29:36]
C
Oh, my God.
- [29:37]
A
Vomiting. Like, just like. Like in the troves of.
- [29:41]
C
Like, you had it really bad.
- [29:42]
A
So bad. Actually, the doctor that diagnosed me said, this is the worst case I've ever seen. Like, you have so many things, and, you know, that's a great thing when you go to that.
- [29:55]
C
See, you know, it's so interesting. And I'm just gonna pause for a second because, you know, people that suffer from Lyme disease, like, every time I talk about Lyme disease, I get a swath of people that email me or tell me or DM me saying, oh, my gosh, I have Lyme disease. And they, like. A lot of people that have Lyme disease have other things, too. Mercury or heavy metals, mold, other autoimmune things that spark up. And a lot of those people also have, like, a real story, you know, like, not. There's things that have happened in their childhood.
- [30:36]
A
Are you saying you think maybe Lyme comes from compartmentalized trauma?
- [30:41]
C
Yes. Oh, there's a piece of it there.
- [30:43]
A
I believe I agree with you. Yeah.
- [30:45]
C
And. And obviously, you know, there's so much controversy on Lyme disease. Some people say it's not even a real. Not even a real thing. And, you know, some. You know, like, I can't tell you the amount of times from people that I love dearly that when I was going through Lyme before I got diagnosed, like, ended up telling me that it was that, you know, end doctors, like, this is psychosomatic. Like, you have. You have a psycho. You have a. This is a mental issue more than it is a physical issue. So you may have some things. And I, like, show my hands, and I'd be like, look at my hands. There's. There's. There's. There's nodes all over my knuckles. Like, there are large bumps and sores on my. My hands, like, they're swollen. I can't make a fist like you can. And they would then respond with. Well, when you're extremely stressed out, your body will respond in different ways. And swelling and skin irritation could be one of those ways. And I'd be like, look, I'm just. I don't know what you want me to say. I don't know, like, why you're forcing me to feel like I'm crazy. I'm telling you that, like, I could be standing in the train station. And then all of a sudden feel like I'm gonna pass out, just fall flat on my face. Like, all of a sudden, everything just goes. And, like, I'm like, whoa. Like, I gotta go stand on a wall, like, to catch my balance. Because, you know, like, that's not normal. No, I don't. You know, like, all of a sudden, like, you know, things like that. And. And I, like, you would have to get. I got to, you know, a certain point with it where it was like. Like, I can't talk to anybody about this anymore. Like, I am a burden on everybody's life. I. I don't want to complain about my problems to anyone anymore, so I'm just gonna keep it.
- [32:43]
A
And everyone's sick of you.
- [32:45]
C
Everyone's.
- [32:45]
A
Yeah, like, sick of hearing about you.
- [32:47]
C
Sick of hearing about the like. And I know there are people listening to this podcast right now who identify with this. And it's. And it's hard, right, because for people that don't have experience with this. God bless you all. Like. Like, it sucks to be in a spot where, you know, shit's going down inside your body, outside of your body, affects, like, head to toe. But, like, you. You don't have a diagnosis. Like, no doctor was like, oh, this is what you have, you know? And so you. So when you're like, I don't know what's going on with me? And people are like, well, go to the doctor. And you're like, I've been to the doctor. And they're like, well, what does doctors say? And the doctor said, well, based on my blood work, I'm okay. And they're like, well, then you're okay.
- [33:26]
A
Drink more water. Crazy.
- [33:28]
C
You. Like, you're, you know, ever. And it was 2017 for me, when I was. That was the. The year of a nightmare, right? And they were like, you know, you. You're. You've opened up seven restaurants in the last five years. Like, slow it down, dude. Like, that's obviously a part of this, and they're probably right. Like, there was definitely a lot of stress in my life, you know? But at the end of the day, like, I finally getting my diagnosis was like, thank you. Thank you for telling me that I'm not totally out of my mind. And you know what I did? I went. Because I was. My wife was like, you need to go see a psychiatrist. You just gotta go. And after a year of this, and I was like, okay, I'll go. Psychiatrist is like, oh, you are hypochondriac. Like, you this is a real thing. Like, you need to be on antipsychotics.
- [34:23]
A
I mean, I'm over here laughing, but. Because the story you're telling is horrific, but it happens. I mean, yes, this is everybody's story that has this. They're just gas lit. Totally. And I wonder how many. And you know, the number one cause of death from Lyme disease isn't something that happened from Lyme disease, It's suicide.
- [34:46]
C
Mm, I can see that.
- [34:48]
A
So come on.
- [34:50]
C
Yeah. So I mean, I just think it's so, like, it's. It's. If I know that. Had I heard this podcast in 2017 when I was going through this, and I knew that there was something wrong, but I just couldn't put a finger on it. No one could tell me. My symptoms were all across the board. From physical symptoms to emotional symptoms, to feeling like I was going to pass out, to unbelievable exhaustion beyond. Like, yeah, could not. You know, And I still get that. I still get that.
- [35:16]
A
You know, we got to get you out of this.
- [35:18]
C
I know. So, so I want to hear. I want it like, so now that we've talked about, like a few of the things that you've done. Like, if you had to. If you had. If someone that was in the thick of it, if you had to say, okay, here's what we're gonna do. This is. This is. I can't tell you, I can't guarantee this, but I can tell you what I know has worked for me. This is it.
- [35:40]
A
The first thing you gotta do is you gotta think about every single thing that you ingest in your body. I don't like to say this to people on just a regular basis because it leads to a lot of mental things if you're constantly thinking about everything that you're putting in your body. But when you're in this, you gotta think about everything. And everything has got to be, you know, for your greater good that you're putting in. So as I mentioned, the Ayurvedic diet, keeping your body alkaline so that disease can't breed, this would be for anything. This wouldn't even be for Lyme disease. This would be for.
- [36:12]
C
So like, walk us through like, like a typical. Like the, The Ayurvedic is like what?
- [36:18]
A
Ayurvedic is like kitchery. And like, for people that don't understand kitchen, it's like, it's like Indian style food, but it's. It's more bland. It's going to be on the. The bland.
- [36:29]
C
What would a lunch look like?
- [36:30]
A
For you basis it would be like root vegetables and T and cumin and there would be ginger involved. And just like eating no meat. No meat.
- [36:48]
C
I down with root vegetables and turmeric and cumin.
- [36:51]
A
That's what I am, I ate vegan during this time. I am not a vegan. I love meat. But when I was healing, I was a vegan because that's how I could keep my body alkaline easiest and it's how I could get what I needed to get into my body. The other thing is a supplement protocol. You're gonna have to start supplementing for your body because the Lyme's eating so many of the things that you need so that you have to go to a nutritionist for to get a supplement protocol. You just, you kind of, you have to know what you're dealing with. There's so many co infections with Lyme disease. You have to know what co infections that you have so that you can properly treat them. And then there's an order to it so you have to remove one before you can get to the next. And you've got to do it in a specific order. So.
- [37:43]
C
And do you have people that you recommend for all this?
- [37:46]
A
I mean the best thing that you, that you would need to do is like I used a doctor in San Francisco. Would I, would I recommend him? No. Is he one of the top Lyme specialists in the world? Yes.
- [37:59]
C
Why wouldn't you recommend him?
- [38:01]
A
He only exhausted me with a western medicine protocol and he had nowhere for me to go past a western medicine protocol. And that wasn't the protocol that helped me, help me heal.
- [38:09]
C
So was it a lot of antibiotics that you were doing?
- [38:12]
A
Yeah, anti antibiotics, like tons of ivermectin mempron, like anti parasitics and. Yeah, heavy, heavy antibiotic protocol. And he told me that it was going to be five to nine years before I would get, get it under control. So. Yeah. So back to our discussion though. Diet change like major. You just gotta do it and you have to do it for like a year. Like it's not just like a quick thing. The other thing is what you're drinking, what's coming into your body. We actually started going to. We didn't have the money to put a high end water filter. It's like 10 grand on the house that we needed to hydronate the water and everything. So we went to out on Long island. There's these places called fountain water ph fountain. And we got a subscription service and my husband went and got the water every week. Gallons of water. And that's what we did while I was healing. I've since saved up the money for that water filter and it's on my house now. I also put that water filter on my business and I have three water. If you're drinking a coffee from my coffee shop in Long Beach, New York, it is triple filtered. So anything you're getting is. Yeah, I, I mean, I wouldn't even serve my dog tap water. So you've got to start worrying about what you put in. And again, why, why the tap water? Because the alkalinity, you need your body to stay alkaline and you can't do that if you, if you're drinking city tap water. It's just, it's, it's not going to be alkaline. So that's the important part.
- [39:52]
C
Okay, so you get your, your nutrition, your supplementation and your, your water intake or any kind of like beverage intake under control.
- [40:01]
A
Yeah.
- [40:01]
C
Then what?
- [40:03]
D
And there you have it, folks. I hope we delivered some valuable content for you to implement into your life on a daily basis. Please remember that our habits have the power to make us or break us. Replacing bad habits with great ones is the answer to living a life of happiness, optimism and high performance. We are capable of achieving anything. We all have what it takes to give it all we've got. Commit to one great habit each day and truly commit and watch how everything in your life starts evolving from good to great. If you enjoyed this podcast, please follow us. Wherever you listen to your podcast, give us a five star rating and a nice review that will help us grow this podcast, bring on more amazing guests, and continue to deliver invaluable content on a weekly basis. Lastly, please share this podcast with any friends or family that you think might appreciate it. And always remember, want do equals have. Until the next one.
- [41:07]
C
Fam. Peace.