Welcome to the Trail To Health. My name is Erika Schlick, and I am a Health Coach, Blogger, and Cookbook Author of Wandering Palate.
I healed without antibiotics from Lyme disease, multiple autoimmune conditions including Hashimoto’s, Celiac Disease, Psoriasis, and Alopecia as well as a myriad of other conditions including food allergies, gut issues, heavy metals, toxic mold and more.
In 2012 I went on my 3rd camping trip to Yosemite, and little did I know that trip would change my life forever. After the trip, I came down with a weird flu that would come and go. It was not uncommon for me to get colds/flus often, so I just assumed I was sick from being out in the elements. What was different with this flu, was that it never really went away. I just kept getting sicker, more exhausted and felt really out of it.
For 2 years, I went from doctor to doctor, getting various diagnoses and trying multiple treatments for food allergies, gut issues like candida/SIBO, Hashimoto's, Celiac Disease and so many other diagnosis. Nothing was working. I continued decaying before my doctor's eyes and they could not figure out what was wrong.
I remember one day I had a doctor's appointment, and I could tell my doctor was running out of ideas of what could be wrong with me. I broke down and cried in his office and asked him what we had not checked for yet. He said the only things he had not tested me for was Lyme disease or Chronic Fatigue Viruses (Epstien Barr etc.) I remember telling him I doubt it's Lyme since I am the least outdoorsy person in the world, but to test me anyways. I was desperate for answers.
He tested me with Igenex Labs, and in 2014, I was diagnosed with Lyme disease and Co-Infections with a CDC positive test. I was shocked. How could this happen? I am 100% a city girl and never go hiking and had only gone camping three times, but it was that 3rd camping trip to Yosemite that forever changed my life.
I had so many emotions when I found out. Part of me was thankful I had a diagnosis, but the other part of me was furious. For 2 years, I sat in this doctor's office, begging to figure out what was wrong with me. Why did they wait two years to test me! I was actually one of the lucky ones that got diagnosed within a few years of being bitten, but at this point, the Lyme disease was chronic in my body and had spread to my brain and nervous system and the 30-day course of doxycycline was not going to work anymore.
The more I learn about Lyme, this is a common story. Some people go 10, 15, 20 years before finding out their root cause is Lyme disease due to untrained doctors and inaccurate testing. Lyme disease is a huge epidemic facing our world. There are more over 300,000 new cases of Lyme each year. That is 2x as many cases as Breast Cancer and 6x as many cases as HIV/AIDS per year! It is estimated that more than 2 million people will be affected by Lyme disease by 2020.
I thought having a diagnosis was the beginning to the end of the nightmare I was living in, but it was just the beginning of an even longer journey. Lyme is an incurable disease, and with it comes a host of co-infections and other issues so you are really battling up to 30 potential diseases at once! I had over a dozen co-infections in addition to Lyme disease, which were just as debilitating and came with their own host of symptoms and treatment methods.
A lot of friends never saw the most difficult phase of symptoms. For months I was too exhausted to get out of bed. I had to stop driving, stop working, and forget about exercising and socializing. Taking a shower would exhaust me for hours. I lived in a loft in San Francisco, and there were a few times my boyfriend had to carry me up the stairs because it was too painful and exhausting to climb them on my own. Other days lights and sounds were so intense, all I could do was hide with a pillow over my head and noise-canceling headphones to try and block the world out. I could not even watch Netflix because everything was so overwhelming due to Lyme. I wrote my “coming out” post in 2015 where I shared my struggles with the world in my post, Why I Have Not Made It To Your Social Events Or Project Meetings For The Past 3 Years and began to document my journey publicly on my blog in hopes of helping others on a similar path.
I went from a high functioning member of society with so many achievements to a shell in such a short amount of time. I was a Licensed Architect, owned my own design agency (which I still own today), did yoga everyday, and loved traveling the world. I was always out and about doing things and socializing, and my energy had no end.
I started treating Lyme and Co-infections in 2014 and slowly, my treatments started to help and bring me out of this darkness I was existing in. After 2.5 years, I got to about 60% better but could not pass that point. I made the decision to get stem cell therapy, using my own stem cells and that is what magically got me into remission in early 2017.
Today I am able to live a symptom-free life in remission from all of my conditions. I eat clean, have a healthy lifestyle, manage my stress, I can exercise again and I am enjoying my life and health.
With my healing journey, comes a tremendous amount of new-found knowledge about health and healing. In addition to my personal knowledge, I graduated from the Institute For Integrative Nutrition (IIN) as a Certified Health Coach in 2015 and started Health Coaching Practice to help those also trying to heal from chronic conditions or optimize their health so they don’t ever find themselves in my shoes.
These two things combined enable me to really help people on their healing path. Please check out some of the conditions and healing modalities I have experienced. I can provide information on what I learned on my trail to health. I have chosen a very unpaved path for my healing journey and am hoping to help and inspire anyone else out there that is willing to step off the main trail and really explore different ways to heal and recover. I also explored several alternative healing modalities that have been very helpful in my healing, especially stem cells.
There are plenty of ways to heal from chronic illness and I encourage you to not be afraid by how “out there” or “unconventional” a treatment is. You never know what will really resonate with your body and work. Being open to various treatments and modalities can make the journey a bit more fun and interesting along the way too. There is light at the end of the tunnel and we will all get there. It is just a windy unpaved path we have to take.
Today I focus on living a healthy and fulfilling life. I enjoy working with clients through my health coaching practice, creating healthy recipes, writing for my blog on how to stay healthy and traveling with world on a restricted diet and documenting amazing eateries catering to gluten-free dining around the world. I love spending time with my friends and family and especially my two amazing French Bulldogs, Falkor and Pixel.
I enjoy doing press for my story and my cookbook, Wandering Palate, and also work closely with Global Lyme Alliance to help find a cure for Lyme and host education and fundraising events.
You can follow my adventures on Instagram.
How I Healed From Lyme Disease
How I Stay In Remission From Lyme Disease
8 Puzzle Pieces To Heal From Lyme
Why I Have Not Made It To Your Social Events Or Project Meetings For The Past 3 Years
What Were My Lyme Symptoms
My Healing Modalities & Diagnosis
My Stem Cell Journey
10 Things You Need To Know About Lyme
