JASON RICE
California

I grew up in southern California.  I have always leaded an extremely active life.  I was a high level runner and cyclist whom at one time was ranked 14th in the nation at the expert level in mountain biking and could win most local 10k’s.  Later in life, I continued my athleticism throughout my career as a firefighter.  I was also a top level student.  I attained many degrees, often with a 4.0 GPA.  I was a businessman, athlete and family man.  However, after an injury in the fire department I was unable to recover.  I went for 3 years treating respiratory symptoms and vertigo with medications and doing exercises to control vertigo.  All the while only being able to do mild exercise as my fitness slipped from my grasp.  I became lethargic, sleepy and grumpy, my emotions started to control me, my thought process fogged, and I started to get concerned about how I would take care of my family.  Finally, after 6 months of chronic neck pain, tiredness, arthritic knuckle pain, knee pain and migraine eyeball aches, I came to a realization.  I was only 38 years old, and it didn’t matter what medications I was on for asthma, there is no way that all of these pains were normal.

As an endurance athlete we learn to suffer and push through pain.  This is most likely why I went so long just adapting to such painful symptoms that would have debilitated others much earlier.  However, the human body is not supposed to be in daily pain and the presence of such pain is evidence of infection or virus.  I was fortunate to have a good friend who bluntly stated to me that I was getting stupid.  He knew something was wrong and so did I.  The day that I first read about Lyme’s Disease, I felt certainty that this was it.  I also felt a sense of doom as it seemed that this is a disease from which there is no return.  Upon finding Sierra Integrative Medical Center and partaking in multiple tests I had confirmation of my status.  It was sad but relieving to know that I had a positive diagnosis when many live with no explanation for their ailments.  I went through treatment and throughout the course of 8 weeks I recovered to a level of health and wellness that I had long ago forgotten.

I am thankful to the wonderful doctors and staff at Sierra Integrative Medical Center for what they have given back to me and my family.  I will always be an advocate of wellness from Lyme’s Disease and Lyme’s Disease Research.  I only wish that more would open their eyes to how prevalent this horrible little bacterium is, and that our medical society would become more united in the combat of this pandemic.
Sierra Integrative, thank you for being there!