Help me get my life back!

      It’s my Birthday in a few days and yesterday I got some VERY unfortunate news; not exactly the birthday present I wanted... In order of events, I was diagnosed with severe Crohns and Ulcerative Colitis 16yrs ago, and since had been on steroids, immune suppressants and chemo drugs that may have ultimately doomed me. Unfortunately that’s what the hospital system does for those patients instead of acknowledging the root issue and treating it. I had tried self healing many times throughout the years. In September 2018, my symptoms came back while being on lots of strong medication, which indicates I had become immune again. Within a few weeks, I couldn’t drive or work anymore due to my stomach being such a problem and being lightheaded. I 100% dedicated my time to trying to naturally heal myself, trying every crohns healing program and studying all day not seeing success. By January I was skin & bones, and in really bad shape. All awhile it was mentally killing me not being able to work a single job or have a life. I am a very motivated and driven person who loves to work & be orderly with everything in my life. January-March I was so weak that showering had become too difficult. But my Crohns & UC started to get better with all my efforts, and I managed to get back to a healthy weight. Recently, I had really turned my Crohns & Colitis around a lot. If I didn’t have other gut bacterial issues right now and the stress of this all, I know my gut would be all better.

     By the end of February I was hit with new symptoms while I still had Crohns symptoms not knowing it was something new or multiple new issues. My very WORST symptom is 24/7 brain fog and sometimes head pressure, which is a crippling symptom in of itself & makes my every day extremely difficult with an inflamed toxic brain. Testing revealed lots of bad overgrowth bacteria (SIBO), many h.pylori strains, very low immune function, high gut inflammation & a lot of antibiotic resistant genes which are due to overuse of pharmaceutical antibiotics. Unfortunately after tirelessly working as hard as I could every day researching, networking and doing health stuff, trying everything I could for these new issues, I still haven’t gotten ride of them. With an immune system (sigma iGa) as low as mine, you can’t get better. I still notice my h.pylori & SIBO symptoms daily. And that’s largely a result of my immune system being extremely taxed & too low to fight invaders. The 4th photo is what I look like as a result of SIBO waking up without eating a thing. Since March, I have always looked 4 months pregnant at best. My mom even swore I was pregnant when she came to visit, but I’m not.

    I’m in so many healing communities and I couldn’t believe I wasn’t completely better with how insanely hard I tried every day. I started seeing a recommended Functional naturopathic Dr who did boat loads more testing on me. And several functional Dr.’s that’s I spoke to had confirmed that I was doing all the right stuff prior to the new testings.

    Yesterday I was hit with some hard news to swallow as I received my results... 5 more issues and some quit serious: Chronic Lyme Disease with co-infections Bartonella & Babesia as well as high level of Toxic Mold, high level of lead, thyroid imbalance, and a 0.0 Progesterone level. After 3 daunting hours with my Dr & then a health counselor, I was overwhelmed by how many immune and blood cleaning therapies I would need to start doing in order to even have a chance at fighting all these serious issues. I will also need my apartment inspected & possibly move if it’s the source of the toxic mold I carry. There are specific strategies for dealing with all these new issues, and my brain-fogged head was bombarded with all of them at once as I heard my results. But the BIGGEST thing that will help all my health issues is lots of immune boosting, something I had already been working on hard at for awhile. But now I’ll have to treat myself with all the strongest therapies there are! There’s no cure for Chronic Lyme but it can be treated and although it may be one of the most challenging conditions one can face, you can get your life back. If I can get into remission and get the rest of my issues at bay or corrected, I can be healthy and feel free!

       I need to start these therapy’s & new peptides ASAP because I REALLY want to get better as soon as I can!  It been far too long not being able to work/drive, feel normal or look normal or have the life I wish & work towards every day. Our healthcare system is not set up for complex conditions. If you don’t fit in a little box, you will get terrible care. I have unfortunately experienced terrible care and a complete lack of caring from all the traditional Dr.’s I have seen over the last 16yrs. They are only about treatment of symptoms & put you on medications. I need to work with Functional Doctors that work on treating the causes to heal you. One of the most difficult challenges of all of this is I have to pay for everything out of pocket. The only thing covered by my Insurance is labs (I have LA Care). I still meet with many Dr.’s at my traditional hospital, but they are always of little to no help. I even went through my list of therapy’s I need with my primary Dr yesterday and None of them were approved.  Nore are my main therapy’s even available at regular hospitals. With the immune therapy’s, future Dr appointments, Chelation therapy, healing peptides that I have already spent thousands on in the last 1.5 months, future gut testing and supplements/medications...I will need a lot of money to keep up with any of this. Im still researching it, but Stem cell therapy would be so helpful but would be $5-25 thousand. I didn’t want to have to make a gofundme page, but after my appointment yesterday and the additional news I received, I have no choice. I have drained my savings and still have a ways to go. I HATED burning through my hard earned savings I spent years building. Looking back I was proud of myself. I was usually the type to be smart with money, and even though I tried to be so careful, I have now nearly went through it all. I always stay focused on my goal of getting better as quick as I can & haven’t bought a thing online or in person for myself that wasn’t health oriented or my obligatory bills like rent, other than some small birthday presents for others. 
     
      Chronic Lyme and Toxic mold can be long recoveries. I was already aware of this when I was given the news. In just the last 1.5 months I spend over $4k on healing peptides, oxygen machine, Dr appointments and supplements. Not including all the standard bills (rent/bills/etc). It would relieve so much stress off my back if any one of you who can help me out. Having financial help is the most important thing I need right now! Money has been a huge concern and stress of mine this whole time and I want to instead focus more on what I need to do what I need to GET BETTER!!! You have no idea how badly I want to feel normal again and be free from these symptoms and some of these health diagnoses. And I KNOW I CAN GET THERE! I want to celebrate when I am better and show my gratitude with everyone who has helped me out during my health crisis. I need all the LOVE AND SUPPORT I can get right now. Thank you so much to anyone who can share this as well. 

Helping one person might not change the world, but it can change the world for one person.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story!

-Ashley Caple