Lyme Disease

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Lyme Disease

*The information on this website is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

WHAT IS LYME DISEASE?

Lyme Disease is one of the most complex, multi-faceted diseases there is.  It is difficult to diagnose and even more difficult to treat.  So often, individuals go years without a diagnosis, consumed by a myriad of strange symptoms, which continue to persist.

Lyme Disease is a tick bourne infection caused by the bacteria Borrelia Burgdorferi.  Lyme Disease is a very devastating, scary disease.  If this tick bites you, you will become infected, with a sometimes deadly, bacterial infection.  These ticks can carry a wide array of different bacteria inside of them.

These bacteria, or spirochetes, when they infect the host will spread throughout the body digging and moving everywhere and anywhere.  Some individuals get a bullseye rash when they are bitten by a tick, while others don’t, and others have no idea how or when they were infected.

On top of this, these ticks who have the Borrelia Bacteria in their body, most of the time, also have an array of co-infections they can give you.  These co-infections include: Bartonella, Babesia, and Ehrlichia, as well as a long list of others that wreck havoc on the body.

Lyme Disease is scary because it can manifest itself as any disease and can create any physical or mental symptom in your body. Lyme Disease is extremely hard to diagnose because of this.  When you have Lyme Disease, your body is literally taken over by bacteria and you are inhabited like the way zombies take over human beings.

COMMON SYMPTOMS

What makes Lyme Disease so complicated is that it can manifest anyway possible and therefore with Lyme Disease, you can have one of a thousand symptoms.  There is no uniform manifestation of Lyme Disease in each person.  Symptoms vary from person to the person and can include any of the following:

Joint Pain, flu Like symptoms, fatigue, digestive problems, psychiatric problems, bells palsy, depression, anxiety, hormonal imbalance, vision problems, neurological problems, burning feet, muscle weakness, brain fog, neuropathy, cognitive problems, memory loss, heart problems, shortness of breath, dizziness, rib pain, bladder dysfunction, shakiness, disorientation, vertigo and the list goes on and on.

Pretty much if you can imagine a symptom, you can get that symptom.

DIAGNOSIS

Diagnosis with Lyme Disease can be challenging because there is still not an accurate test that can give a proper Lyme Diagnosis.  Only about 50% of individuals will experience a bullseye rash after a tick bite.  Diagnosis is usually based on symptoms by an experienced Lyme Literate Doctor.

If you were to get any tests done, Igenix is going to be your best bet.  Though even their tests will not always give you a 100% Lyme positive reading if you have Lyme Disease or its’ co-infections, they are though more accurate then the Western Blot or Co-infection tests from Labcorp.

If you suspect Lyme Disease or have a strange manifestation of sudden symptoms, find an experienced Lyme Literate Doctor immediately.  A good resource to find a good Lyme Disease doctor, is ILADS.

TREATMENTS

Treatment for Lyme Disease can be pretty straight forward, if and only if it is caught right away.  If Lyme Disease is caught right away, Antibiotics are given and should be given for at least three months after somebody is symptom free.  Meaning if it takes two months to be symptom free on antibiotics, then you should take antibiotics for five months because the bugs have a life cycle and you don’t want them to come back.  Any experienced Lyme Literate Doctor will say you should be in treatment until you are symptom free for three months.

Unfortunately, the CDC and IDSA, state that a few weeks of antibiotic treatment will cure Lyme Disease.  This is not the case for a lot of Lyme patients and even after a few weeks of antibiotic treatment, symptoms will continue to persist.  This is why any experienced Lyme Literate doctor will not stop treatment until a patient is symptom free for three months.

Now, what happens if you are not diagnosed and treated right away.  Well, that is when treatment becomes much more complicated.

So often, because of misdiagnosis, individuals suffering from Lyme Disease will go 2, 3, 5, 10, even 20 or 30 years plus without a proper diagnosis.  Meanwhile, the infection in their body, grows more and more rampant.  Therefore treatment becomes complex.

Treatment usually comes down to three categories that you need to work on with what is known as “Chronic Lyme Disease”,  Killing the pathogens in your body, i.e. bacteria, parasites, candida, etc, detoxing all of these unwanted toxins out of your body, and boosting your immune system and body’s function in general so it’s healing powers take over.

The following are treatments that have been used for Lyme Disease:

Long Term Antibiotic Use, which can include:

Rifampin, Doxycycline, Tindimax, Mepron, Malarone, Azithromyacin, Plaquenil, Bicillin, Rocephin, Omnicef to name a few.

For more information on Long Term antibiotic protocols and what other antibiotic combinations are used, you can visit:  http://www.ilads.org/lyme/B_guidelines_12_17_08.pdf

Pharmaceutical Anti-Parasitics, which can include:  Ivermectin, Albendezole, Praziquantil, Mebendezole, Alinia, pyrantel pamote.

Here is a great parasite protocol to look at.

Anti-microbial herbs, which can include:

Sida Acuta, Japanese Knotweed, Cat’s Claw, Houttuniya Eleuthera Astragalus, Ashwagandha, Boneset, Red Root, Sarsaparilla, Stephania, Teasal Root, Oregano Oil, Artemisinin, Cryptolepis

For more information on commonly used herbs for Lyme Disease, visit Stephen Buhner’s website.

Other treatment modalities that have been used to treat Lyme Disease include the following, with a link to some information on the treatments:

There are also a number of clinics that specialize in Lyme Disease Treatment like:

DETOXING

Detoxing is just as important as killing when it comes to treating Lyme Disease.  A good rule of thumb is you should be detoxing as much as you are killing in your body.  Some good detox methods are as follows:

SWEATING – Sweating is one of the best ways for your body to release toxins and also helps the body stay cool, which can then create less stress on your body.  Some great ways to sweat are through exercise, detox bathes and an infrared sauna.

INFRARED SAUNAS –  “Infrared saunas use infrared heaters to emit infrared light experienced as radiant heat which is absorbed by the surface of the skin”.  Infrared saunas are great for individuals needing to release toxins from their body and for those suffering from Lyme Disease.  The one precaution is to ease into it if your body is very sensitive.  Infrared saunas and heating your body can not just release toxins but can also kill bacteria in your body and if you are overloading your body to much, it can create more harm then good.  So again, listen to your body and go slow.

DETOX BATHES  –  Detox bathes are great in helping the bacteria die off and overload in your body.   A great detox bath combination is epsom salts, baking soda and apple cider vinegar.  The addition of apple cider vinegar helps with joint pain and can ease any muscle pain.

COFFEE ENEMAS –  Coffee enemas help to stimulate glutathione in your body and essentially flush out bile and toxins from your small intestine and your liver.  (Scientific Basis of Coffee Enemas)  If you are killing a huge amount of pathogens, daily coffee enemas can help tremendously in relieving the pathogen load.  Ultimately, the more you clean your body out, the more likely you are able to kill more pathogens in your body and therefore heal faster.  For more information on coffee enemas you can visit, www.gerson.org.

COLONICS –  Colonics are great at cleaning out your colon and releasing all the toxins from your digestive system.  Colonics work by flushing water through your colon and then retaining the water and then releasing it.  This is another great tool for detoxing and flushing out toxins.

LYMPHATIC DRAINAGE – Lymphatic drainage can be a great way to release toxic buildup in the body but you need to go slow as it can release to many toxins at once and make you sick or create a “Herx Reaction”, or healing reaction.

DRY SKIN BRUSHING –   Dry skin brushing is another great way to help promote detoxing in the body as well.  Here is more information on dry skin brushing, and how to do it, and the benefits.

BINDERS –  Binders are a great way to pull toxins our of your body.  There are a number of different types of binders.  Some of the more popular ones are Zeolite, Bentonite Clay, Chlorella and Charcoal.  Work with your doctor and find out what binders are best for you.  The one important thing to remember about binders is to take them at least an two hours away from any medications, supplements or herbs as they can bind with those and not allow them to absorb in the body properly.

METHYLATION –   Methylation is extremely important in determining how your body detoxes and essentially how your body functions.  If you do not “Methylate” properly, then this can create so many problems in getting rid of the pathogens and toxins in your body and alter your gene expression.

To find out how you methylate or how your body is methylating, you can have a genetic test done here.

Ultimately, determining how you methylate and having your body methylate properly, can relieve so many symptoms in your body and help you heal faster and detox better and get rid of the Lyme Bacteria and any other pathogens that are looming in your body.

GREEN JUICES –   Juicing everyday with green juice can really help your body detox.   You can find some great recipes with juices that can help your body detox here.

CLEARING TOXIC EMOTIONAL ENERGY –  As important as it is to rid your body of physical toxins, it is equally important to rid your body of emotional toxins, which can create a toxic overload as well as create havoc in your body.  One of the biggest emotional burdens is stress.

Stress is one of the biggest factors that weighs against your health.  Stress opens the door for any disease to come into your body because it puts stress on your immune system and can slowly break down your body.  When you are dealing with Lyme Disease, it’s important to rid yourself of as much stress as possible because your tolerance to deal with stress is very very small.

Some great ways to relieve your body of stress are meditation, walking, putting yourself in a calm environment, not letting the outside world affect you, releasing control, not being hard on yourself, taking bathes, listening to your body, writing out your emotions and being conscious of all the decisions you make.  Doing all of these things will not only help you with stress but also help in your healing process.

EMOTIONAL/METAPHYSICAL SIDE OF LYME DISEASE

With any disease, their is an emotional and metaphysical side to the disease.  Lyme Disease is no different.  What those emotional and metaphysical reasons for why you came down with Lyme Disease can vary from person to person.  If you want to dig deeper, you can check out Amy Scher, who dealt with chronic Lyme Disease and does a lot on emotional healing.

So many factors go into treatment for Chronic Lyme Disease.  It is multi-faceted and very individualized depending on the person and their symptoms.  It is important to work with your doctor and figure out which treatments are best for you as some might work for one person and might not work for another.

PREVENTION

For the most part, Lyme Disease prevention starts with avoiding ticks as much as possible and doing tick checks.  lymedisease.org provides a great list of info on tips on how to prevent Lyme Disease.

Because it is thought now that ticks are not the only creatures that carry bacteria, but mosquitos, flies, birds and even cats can also carry different forms of bacteria that can create Lyme like symptoms in your body.  Be aware and careful of any bites from any creatures.

Another way to help you in prevention against Lyme Disease is to keep your immune system up as much as possible and your body as healthy possible.  This will not necessarily prevent you from getting bitten by a tick or other creature but if you do get bitten, the healthier you are, the less severe and lasting the symptoms could be.

CAUSE

Lyme Disease has been thought to be only caused from a bite from an infected Backlegged or Deer Tick, but research studies are starting to find Borrellia, the bacteria that causes Lyme Disease, and other bacterias like Bartonella or Babesia, and other co-infections that are in the Lyme Disease in other creatures.   Some creatures that are being found with Lyme like bacteria are cats, birds, flies and mosquitos, giving the cause for Lyme Disease not solely directed at ticks.

Besides transmission from ticks and other animals, it is now thought that Lyme Disease could possibly be sexually transmitted.  Whether this is 100% accurate or not, we are not sure, but there is current research and studies going on to gather more information about the validity of Lyme Disease being sexually transmissible.

LINKS TO ARTICLES, RESEARCH AND OTHER INFORMATION TO HELP YOU HEAL FROM LYME DISEASE

OTHER RESOURCES

Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks have a lot of great support groups and support channels for those needing to connect with others who have Lyme Disease.

REMEMBER WHERE THERE IS A WILL, THERE IS A WAY.

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