Ruth's battle with Lyme Disease
Donation protected
April 2014...30 months have passed...
I never imagined I would be here on October 1st, 2016, sitting at my dining room table, creating a gofundme account asking for your help to send me across the country to The West Clinic in Pocatello, Idaho to receive intensive one-on-one treatment over the course of 4 weeks to try and relieve my body of the chronic Lyme disease that has been crippling me since April 2014.
Some of you that are unaware of my illness may be thinking...
"What!? I had no idea...Adam seems fine...he doesn't look or act sick...he's been hiding and suffering from Lyme disease for 30 months? How could he be suffering so badly yet continue to teach the past 2 school years?"
A simple answer to those questions is yes, I have been silently suffering from Lyme disease for a very long time. I have trained myself when I'm around others to put on a facade that everything is fine and there is nothing wrong with me. However, this debilitating disease has completely destroyed my body, my mind, and my life. The past few months I've been getting worse. My life can now be categorized as before Lyme and after Lyme. My days of running marathons, playing hockey, attending concerts, hiking, socializing with my friends, and even daily walks with my dogs are a distant memory; a different person who lived a different life.
My symptoms are endless; It is hard to write in words what it feels like to have Lyme disease, but I will try. I wake up every morning in agony. My entire body, muscles, and joints are in pain and my legs and feet burn. I have debilitating fatigue, even if I sleep 12 hours in a row. My shoulders, neck, mouth, throat, and my eyes are constantly puffy, red, and irritated. I have bad light sensitivity. As a result, I haven't worn my glasses or contacts in a year and half. All my joints from neck to my toes crack, pop and ache. It has been getting difficult for me to walk the past few months, especially after a day of teaching. Overall, I am in a constant state of lethargy, pain, and overwhelming fatigue.
I am trying my hardest to be a good husband to my amazing wife Amanda, and a good father to my baby boy Henrik, but like all chronic illnesses, the disease doesn't just effect the patient. Simply put, my wife has been living with the disease as much as I have since this all started. I do not want my son to remember his father this way.
I am desperately clinging onto one of the last components of my life before Lyme, and that is my joy, love, and passion of being a teacher. I almost did not come back to school this year. These opening weeks of the school year have been grueling. I struggle desperately to get through the day. Bottom-line, if my Lyme disease continues to worsen as it has been, I will have to stop teaching.
It would take me pages and pages to give you a detailed reflection of all my experiences that I went through since April 2014 to receive a proper diagnosis of Lyme disease, as well as what I have been doing to try and get better since receiving my diagnosis. I will try to summarize...
First, it took me 18 months to finally receive a diagnosis of Lyme disease. During those 18 months of trying to figure out why I felt so sick every day, I went back to my former doctor numerous times. I visited my former doctor 12 times between April 2014 and June 2015. I was told by him and others it was sinus infections, mono, Epstein Barr, allergies, fibromyalgia, and on my then last visit in June 2015 he told me it is depression. Not once did he ever mention the possibility of Lyme disease during my 12 appointments, even though I had so many of the symptoms. Also, in March 2015, I was referred to an ENT who told me I "qualified" for sinus surgery due to having a slightly deviated septum. I knew deep down it wasn't going to fix me, yet I went ahead with the surgery. The surgery made me worse and I continued to wake up day after day living in pain.
Finally, in the fall of 2015 I found a new doctor (Thanks to my very dear friend Michele Cross for recommending him!). He looked at me and said, "Have you been tested for Lyme disease since this all started?" Upon which I said, "Yes, I believe 2 times." Lyme was never on my radar, mainly due to the fact that I was tested 2 times and both times it came back negative. Little did I know, as many of you reading this probably do not know, the basic Lyme disease test (ELISA test), which is used in every hospital in the country, is a generic, superficial, and simply put, a piece of crap test. The test comes back negative 60% of the time even if you do indeed have Lyme disease. My new doctor told me I needed to send my blood to a lab in California called Igenex, due to their cutting edge testing for the disease. I did the test, which cost $400 (not covered by insurance).
On October 6th, 2015 I received an e-mail from my doctor. He wrote, "Adam, you have Lyme disease. Stop in and see me after school today." I was sad, happy, elated, frustrated, excited, angry, relieved. Little did I know that I had only conquered the first journey for a Lyme disease patient: getting a diagnosis (it can take Lyme patients up to 2+ years to receive a diagnosis). The second journey was just beginning: receiving proper treatment. In short, chronic Lyme is extremely complex and complicated to treat; every patient is different. In some cases, it can take years to treat and get it under control.
You may be wondering why I can't just simply go to a local hospital, or even a hospital in Rochester, Buffalo, New York City, take some pills, and get better. Unfortunately, Lyme is a misunderstood and dismissed disease by our medical community, as well as our government. Needless to say, I have been my own advocate and trying everything possible in our local area since October 2015. I have seen a Lyme doctor in PA., a naturopathic doctor in Ithaca, and I have been receiving feedback and guidance from the owner of a local pharmacy. I have ample amount of bloodwork that shows what the disease has done to my systems, especially my endocrine/hormone system.
I will not get into specifics, but I have accepted the reality that I will never get better and return to a normal healthy life unless I go to a clinic that truly understands how to treat and get inside my body to flush out and fix the damage Lyme has done to my body. Lyme hospitals do not exist. I could not, for instance, simply walk into Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester and get proper treatment.
So, last spring I heard about a clinic in Idaho called The West Clinic. They have been helping Lyme disease patients, along with those with many other diseases and ailments, for many years. The clinic has a small group of physicians who all work together and give each patient one-on-one treatment during their stay. They take a comprehensive and thorough approach to treating chronic Lyme disease patients by offering an intensive 4-week treatment plan with numerous effective therapies that have been proven to put chronic Lyme patients on the path to recovery.
(I posted a link to their website at the bottom)
After communicating with the clinic for the past few weeks, I have made the decision to take a significant step towards recovery by heading to The West Clinic. I will be attending the clinic for the first 2 weeks of treatment from Nov. 5th through Nov. 19th. I will be at the clinic 5 days a week receiving therapies, some days for up to 8-9 hours. Dr. West will evaluate me on my last day to decide when I will return for my second 2 weeks of treatment and the supplements I will need to continue my recovery at home.
The West Clinic does not claim that you will come home after 2 weeks and be completely cured, but they do their absolute best through their therapies to heal the body from the complex devastation Lyme does to one's body. As stated, this disease is no easy fix. There is absolutely no guarantee my stay at The West Clinic will cure me, but I feel strongly it's a step in the right direction. Lyme will always will be apart of my life and I may have to take a variety of supplements for life to maintain a healthy life, but my first goal is to get to the finish line.
My insurance does not cover my treatment at the clinic. My wife and I have already had to pay out-of-pocket for most of my treatments since I started to officially battle Lyme last October, all of which has totaled over $3,000. Chronic Lyme patients must pay out-of-pocket for most, if not all expenses.
The cost for 4 full weeks of treatment, expenses, and the supplements Dr. West will send me home with to continue treatment will be around $18,000. There is no way to tell a chronic Lyme patient when they will get better. I may have to treat it for years to come.
I was hesitant and in some ways embarrassed to set up this page, yet I have no choice to ask for your help in sending me on my way to a place that I believe may begin to restore my body, my mind, my life, and not continue this life of silent, isolating, and chronic suffering. I may not be dying, but this disease is truly killing my life and my soul.
I want to be and feel myself again... I want to be an active and good father and husband...I want to continue teaching...I want to be known again as the "the bearded Forrest Gump running guy of West Elmira".
The West Clinic may be the place that can make this miracle happen for me. Any donations in any amount will be greatly appreciated and help make this possible for me and my family. Words will not express our gratitude for any donation. I love you all.
Thank you very much.
Love,
Adam M. Ruth
link to The West Clinic website:
http://www.westcliniconline.com/
I never imagined I would be here on October 1st, 2016, sitting at my dining room table, creating a gofundme account asking for your help to send me across the country to The West Clinic in Pocatello, Idaho to receive intensive one-on-one treatment over the course of 4 weeks to try and relieve my body of the chronic Lyme disease that has been crippling me since April 2014.
Some of you that are unaware of my illness may be thinking...
"What!? I had no idea...Adam seems fine...he doesn't look or act sick...he's been hiding and suffering from Lyme disease for 30 months? How could he be suffering so badly yet continue to teach the past 2 school years?"
A simple answer to those questions is yes, I have been silently suffering from Lyme disease for a very long time. I have trained myself when I'm around others to put on a facade that everything is fine and there is nothing wrong with me. However, this debilitating disease has completely destroyed my body, my mind, and my life. The past few months I've been getting worse. My life can now be categorized as before Lyme and after Lyme. My days of running marathons, playing hockey, attending concerts, hiking, socializing with my friends, and even daily walks with my dogs are a distant memory; a different person who lived a different life.
My symptoms are endless; It is hard to write in words what it feels like to have Lyme disease, but I will try. I wake up every morning in agony. My entire body, muscles, and joints are in pain and my legs and feet burn. I have debilitating fatigue, even if I sleep 12 hours in a row. My shoulders, neck, mouth, throat, and my eyes are constantly puffy, red, and irritated. I have bad light sensitivity. As a result, I haven't worn my glasses or contacts in a year and half. All my joints from neck to my toes crack, pop and ache. It has been getting difficult for me to walk the past few months, especially after a day of teaching. Overall, I am in a constant state of lethargy, pain, and overwhelming fatigue.
I am trying my hardest to be a good husband to my amazing wife Amanda, and a good father to my baby boy Henrik, but like all chronic illnesses, the disease doesn't just effect the patient. Simply put, my wife has been living with the disease as much as I have since this all started. I do not want my son to remember his father this way.
I am desperately clinging onto one of the last components of my life before Lyme, and that is my joy, love, and passion of being a teacher. I almost did not come back to school this year. These opening weeks of the school year have been grueling. I struggle desperately to get through the day. Bottom-line, if my Lyme disease continues to worsen as it has been, I will have to stop teaching.
It would take me pages and pages to give you a detailed reflection of all my experiences that I went through since April 2014 to receive a proper diagnosis of Lyme disease, as well as what I have been doing to try and get better since receiving my diagnosis. I will try to summarize...
First, it took me 18 months to finally receive a diagnosis of Lyme disease. During those 18 months of trying to figure out why I felt so sick every day, I went back to my former doctor numerous times. I visited my former doctor 12 times between April 2014 and June 2015. I was told by him and others it was sinus infections, mono, Epstein Barr, allergies, fibromyalgia, and on my then last visit in June 2015 he told me it is depression. Not once did he ever mention the possibility of Lyme disease during my 12 appointments, even though I had so many of the symptoms. Also, in March 2015, I was referred to an ENT who told me I "qualified" for sinus surgery due to having a slightly deviated septum. I knew deep down it wasn't going to fix me, yet I went ahead with the surgery. The surgery made me worse and I continued to wake up day after day living in pain.
Finally, in the fall of 2015 I found a new doctor (Thanks to my very dear friend Michele Cross for recommending him!). He looked at me and said, "Have you been tested for Lyme disease since this all started?" Upon which I said, "Yes, I believe 2 times." Lyme was never on my radar, mainly due to the fact that I was tested 2 times and both times it came back negative. Little did I know, as many of you reading this probably do not know, the basic Lyme disease test (ELISA test), which is used in every hospital in the country, is a generic, superficial, and simply put, a piece of crap test. The test comes back negative 60% of the time even if you do indeed have Lyme disease. My new doctor told me I needed to send my blood to a lab in California called Igenex, due to their cutting edge testing for the disease. I did the test, which cost $400 (not covered by insurance).
On October 6th, 2015 I received an e-mail from my doctor. He wrote, "Adam, you have Lyme disease. Stop in and see me after school today." I was sad, happy, elated, frustrated, excited, angry, relieved. Little did I know that I had only conquered the first journey for a Lyme disease patient: getting a diagnosis (it can take Lyme patients up to 2+ years to receive a diagnosis). The second journey was just beginning: receiving proper treatment. In short, chronic Lyme is extremely complex and complicated to treat; every patient is different. In some cases, it can take years to treat and get it under control.
You may be wondering why I can't just simply go to a local hospital, or even a hospital in Rochester, Buffalo, New York City, take some pills, and get better. Unfortunately, Lyme is a misunderstood and dismissed disease by our medical community, as well as our government. Needless to say, I have been my own advocate and trying everything possible in our local area since October 2015. I have seen a Lyme doctor in PA., a naturopathic doctor in Ithaca, and I have been receiving feedback and guidance from the owner of a local pharmacy. I have ample amount of bloodwork that shows what the disease has done to my systems, especially my endocrine/hormone system.
I will not get into specifics, but I have accepted the reality that I will never get better and return to a normal healthy life unless I go to a clinic that truly understands how to treat and get inside my body to flush out and fix the damage Lyme has done to my body. Lyme hospitals do not exist. I could not, for instance, simply walk into Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester and get proper treatment.
So, last spring I heard about a clinic in Idaho called The West Clinic. They have been helping Lyme disease patients, along with those with many other diseases and ailments, for many years. The clinic has a small group of physicians who all work together and give each patient one-on-one treatment during their stay. They take a comprehensive and thorough approach to treating chronic Lyme disease patients by offering an intensive 4-week treatment plan with numerous effective therapies that have been proven to put chronic Lyme patients on the path to recovery.
(I posted a link to their website at the bottom)
After communicating with the clinic for the past few weeks, I have made the decision to take a significant step towards recovery by heading to The West Clinic. I will be attending the clinic for the first 2 weeks of treatment from Nov. 5th through Nov. 19th. I will be at the clinic 5 days a week receiving therapies, some days for up to 8-9 hours. Dr. West will evaluate me on my last day to decide when I will return for my second 2 weeks of treatment and the supplements I will need to continue my recovery at home.
The West Clinic does not claim that you will come home after 2 weeks and be completely cured, but they do their absolute best through their therapies to heal the body from the complex devastation Lyme does to one's body. As stated, this disease is no easy fix. There is absolutely no guarantee my stay at The West Clinic will cure me, but I feel strongly it's a step in the right direction. Lyme will always will be apart of my life and I may have to take a variety of supplements for life to maintain a healthy life, but my first goal is to get to the finish line.
My insurance does not cover my treatment at the clinic. My wife and I have already had to pay out-of-pocket for most of my treatments since I started to officially battle Lyme last October, all of which has totaled over $3,000. Chronic Lyme patients must pay out-of-pocket for most, if not all expenses.
The cost for 4 full weeks of treatment, expenses, and the supplements Dr. West will send me home with to continue treatment will be around $18,000. There is no way to tell a chronic Lyme patient when they will get better. I may have to treat it for years to come.
I was hesitant and in some ways embarrassed to set up this page, yet I have no choice to ask for your help in sending me on my way to a place that I believe may begin to restore my body, my mind, my life, and not continue this life of silent, isolating, and chronic suffering. I may not be dying, but this disease is truly killing my life and my soul.
I want to be and feel myself again... I want to be an active and good father and husband...I want to continue teaching...I want to be known again as the "the bearded Forrest Gump running guy of West Elmira".
The West Clinic may be the place that can make this miracle happen for me. Any donations in any amount will be greatly appreciated and help make this possible for me and my family. Words will not express our gratitude for any donation. I love you all.
Thank you very much.
Love,
Adam M. Ruth
link to The West Clinic website:
http://www.westcliniconline.com/
Organizer
Adam Ruth
Organizer
Elmira, NY
