Dr. Jaison Golojuh, D.C.  

My story starts on June 10th 2011.  It is a little bit of a longer read, but if you have ever been exposed to borrelia, I promise it will be worth the read. I was in Chicago taking my board test for my naturopathic degree. My wife and I drove out to Chicago the day before. I was packed for a quick turnaround. The bag that I used was sitting in the basement for a year. It happened to be the backpack I took to Ethiopia the previous summer (my youngest daughter is from Ethiopia). I threw some clothes in the bag and did not think much of it. We arrived in Chicago in the afternoon and had dinner, (after checking into the hotel) went back to the room, and were in for the evening. I did the last minute studying anyone would for a board exam. I woke up the next morning, had breakfast and got ready for the exam. My wife is from Milwaukee so the plan was the she would take the train to Milwaukee to see her sister and fly back home a few days later. I would drive home after the exam. 

I reported to the examination. It was 4 parts 100 questions each. We were allowed to take a 10 minute break between tests. It was done with paper and pencil at that time. None of this online Pearson Testing Center stuff. I completed the first and second parts of the exam. In between the second and third test I started to feel sick. I was just off. I can’t explain it much better than that. I took the third test and my symptoms seemed to accelerate. I actually thought I had food poisoning. I had to decided my next step. I was in Chicago alone, I had to take the fourth part of the exam and I was feeling pretty awful. I went in to take part 4 and I somehow completed it. I remember not caring one bit (for the first time in my life) if I passed that part. I did pass, just to keep the record straight. Though it is still a mystery to me how I passed a test I cannot remember taking. 

After returning to the hotel room in the early afternoon, I was getting the chills, I was staring to feel body aches, I was shaking, the fatigue was heavy. I started to panic. I did not know what to do so I changed and got in the car to drive home. If anyone reading this has ever driven through Chicago, you know exactly the kind of stress I was about to subject myself too. I will admit that I was not thinking clearly at all. I got in the car and somehow got out of Chicago. The drive home takes over 8 hours. I had my first full blown panic attack. I called my wife in tears. I was shaking, and I was afraid because I was so cold and I was in so much pain. 

I walked into my house and my Mom who was babysitting my kids took one look at me and knew something was wrong. Her exact words were, ‘oh Jaison you are not doing well at all.’  I said no Mom I am not doing well. I took a shower and went to bed. I woke up the next day and I was somewhat stable. I was not good but I was not where I was while driving. I had two kids to take care of and I had to trench a foundation for a chicken coop. I woke up, I was not good but I was not dying at that point.  My parents came over to help me and I went and rented the trencher. My office manager Tori, and her husband Tim, helped too. I promise all of this matters to the story. I worked all day. I returned the trencher to the rental place (Kenmac, Butler PA) and I got back home. There was not a person in that house who was not worried about me. Of course, I told them I was fine and I made them go home. It was Ella (5), Zari (2 ) and me. I remember laying down on Ella’s bed and I thought I could just sleep forever. Instead I made banana smoothies and popcorn for dinner. I put the kids to bed and I crashed. 

I woke up the next day in horrible pain. It was pain that I never knew existed. I could barely walk. My Dad showed up at my house and wanted to take me to the Emergency Room. I had not idea what was wrong but I knew that was not the answer. He decided to take the kids to his house so my Mom could watch them. Before he left, he noticed something on my right thigh. I will admit that I was in a robe and boxer shorts. I was way behind the point of caring about what I looked like. There was a lesion on my right thigh, exactly where your pocket is on pants. It was the size of a silver dollar with two small dots next to each other in the middle.  This was clearly a spider bite. It had to have occurred when I put my undergarment on that was in the bag I grabbed from the basement. 

At this point I thought the bite was simply coincidental and the symptoms were a bad flu. We are now 3 days into symptoms and they were progressing. I spent the day in bed. I had to work the next day.  I actually made the decision to reschedule patients. Now, you don’t know me but if you did you would understand what that means. I simply do not do things like that. It is simply not done. That being said, I called my office manager (Tori) and asked her to reschedule patients that Monday, then had her go to the office and get me a bunch of herbal supplements.  
I started to take a bunch of herbal and nutritional products. I missed both Monday and Tuesday of that week. I was able to get to the office and see patients on Wednesday and Thursday. I do not work in the office on Fridays so I was able to crash. Saturday I started to notice my face especially the right side of my mouth was not working so well. I also noticed my hearing was way off. Every noise became very loud, almost excruciating. Within hours of waking up I had Bells Palsy on my right side. At this point I was 8 days post exposure. None of the symptoms were better and now I had facial paralysis. 

I was very, very afraid at this point. The next two weeks I would make it to work. Speaking was virtually impossible, so I wrote a letter for my staff to hand to my patients. I also stopped scheduling new patients because honestly how would I ever explain this to a person who did not know me. I would get to the office and close my door. I would open the door to treat and then close it again. I would lay my head on my desk and try to recover enough energy to treat the next person. I would nap at lunch. That was noon to 3 pm. I would wake up and treat patients until 6 pm. I would drive home in tears due to the pain (and fear), get in the shower at home then go to bed. I would wake up the next day and do it over again. 

Over this time, I did contact many practitioners, I went to see several in Pittsburgh who where ‘experts’ in infections. During that 2 week time period I ran blood work. I gathered all of the general data and I tested for Lyme (because my Dad was adamant that I had been exposed to borrelia). I thought it was some horrible viral issue. The lab data came back in parts. I got the CMP, CBC with diff, liver, lipid, thyroid, iron back before the Lyme data.  I was a metabolic mess. My iron, TSH, T4, T3, potassium, sodium, Cholesterol were extremely low. Like way too low. My WBCs, RBCS, HCT, AST, ALT, LDH, platelets, neutrophils were very, very high. This scared me more than I can put into words. Lab data isn’t just numbers on paper that we glance at for pathological understanding. Lab data is the representation of the metabolic and physiological function. It is the chemical representation of organ and cell function. My system was clearly under attack. A few days later (on a Thursday) I received the Lyme data. I remember pulling the paperwork off of the fax machine (yes it was all faxed even in 2011). There is was as plain as day. A very positive borrelia case. I was relieved but then I was frightened because I had no idea what I was going to do with this information. 

Please remember at this point, I was very sick, My mind was not working correctly, and what I knew at the time of this kind of infection did not fit my current reality. I believed (because I was taught) that Lyme Disease was a relatively minor inconvenience.  That only a tick could transmit it, and some simple antimicrobial care (allopathic or alternative) would do the trick. I had no idea that this infection could be transmitted by a spider (and there are people reading this now who will say I am wrong), that it could wreak havoc on the metabolic function of the body, and quite literally alter your life so much that you feel as if you are going insane. 

My list of symptoms were: extreme fatigue, anxiety, pain (10/10) in all of my joints, lymph swelling in the neck, (which caused a different kind of pain), facial pain, bilateral Bell’s Palsy, weight loss, (in total about 55 pounds), my hearing was off, I suffered with vertigo.  I had a feeling of being disconnected from my body kind of like my head was floating next to me. I was extremely depressed, I was angry, I was short tempered.  I lost my personality, I did not laugh or joke. I could not move my right shoulder at all. It was like the joint was frozen without ever having an injury. My ankles felt like glass. My hip and my pelvis were sore, just so very sore. My upper back was really tight, it felt like there was a fist in my mid back and the spine was being twisted. 

I am now about a month into my illness. The reality finally hit me that no one had answers, at least not anything that was complete and were going to help me heal. After a visit with a very nice, well intentioned doctor in Pittsburgh, my wife said, ‘you have to figure this out yourself’.  She was right – no one was going to save me but me.  I had the training. I started researching. I sent an email to the head of DESBIO’s medical department Dr. Bruce Sheldon. He emailed me back, and we started a digital correspondence. I should note that out of anyone who I talked to he was the most knowledgeable. He passed away a few years ago, I will be forever grateful. Dr. Sheldon provided me with a foundation of data on infections.

My training as a DC, ND, and Functional Medicine provided me with a deep understanding of the neurological, metabolic and physiological aspects involved in this infection. I started to add homeopathic, nutritional and botanical products that would allow my body to process the infection, trigger the immune system to continue to address the infection, allow for proper detoxification through the organs of detoxification and drainage pathways, calm the inflammatory response and protect physiology. This was as much an art as it was science at this point in my healing. I knew what my body was doing from the physiological perspective, and I knew what I was feeling. At this point my diet was bone broth, eggs and green vegetables. I was not hungry, but I knew that I needed deep nutritional value in whatever I did eat. I also upped my use of cranial work and chiropractic care. I was lucky enough to be treating a doctor at the time who was willing to work on me twice a week. 

July of 2011 was a very bad month with very dark nights. My symptoms would not abate.  In fact they only seemed to get worse. However, deep down I knew that I was getting better because the functional data was improving.  I knew I was slowly restoring that function. I have faith in the healing process that is unshakable. Even when I questioned healing on the emotional side, I knew healing was occurring due to the academic aspect of the data changes. 

The first breakthrough in my symptoms occurred on August 10th 2011.  I was able to move my right nostril. This sounds like the smallest thing but I assure you that in bilateral Bells Palsy (with a 1% recovery rate staring at you in the mirror everyday) this was a big win. I started to notice subtle  changes from that point on. I measured my symptomatic progress in 30 day increments. So in September I was definitely better than August.  I had less pain, my brain fog was better, I could use my right shoulder again. October there was more progress. I was starting to feel like a human again. I was starting to laugh again.

November and December brought more improvements. At Christmas my Mom said to me, ‘you are not quite there yet are you’. She was right. I was still not near 100% but I was so much better than June. January, February, March of 2012 saw most of my residual symptoms resolve. I had my energy back, the pain was gone, there was no anxiety. There was still a significant amount of pain in my face. It was on the right side at the level of the cheek bone. It was a hot, piercing pain and it was relentless. Finally there was a point in mid-April that I noticed that the pain was gone. You know when you get so used to something that it’s absence surprises you. 

My symptoms lasted 10 months. The truest ‘classroom’ I have ever been in was that 10 month period. learned more about this infection than I ever could have hoped. I am not going to list all of the products that I took. It would be far too long and it does not apply to my process nearly a decade later. My process and protocols have been refined. Testing and treatment are unique to each patient. 

The message to take home from my story is that I have been in your shoes. I know what it is like to suffer. I have been symptom free since April of 2012. At this point I have treated hundreds of individual patients with Lyme disease, co-infections, and opportunistic infections. These patients translate into thousands of visits, treatments and conversations. It is very difficult to match my level of experience in the field. 

Your life isn’t over, it is just beginning.