Neurotoxin effectively means “nerve poison”. Neurotoxins act directly on neurons, or nerve cells, by interfering with membrane proteins and ion channels in the central nervous system.  Common external substances that cause neurotoxins in the body are: venom from poisonous insects or reptiles, carbon monoxide, mercury and other heavy metals, ethanol and various other chemical substances. Chemical weapons make use of neurotoxins to impair or kill their enemies.

The destruction of spirochetes also creates neurotoxins which flood the body causing all Lyme symptoms to flare up.  This event is known as a “Herxheimer reaction” or more commonly a “herx”.  The problem is easy to see…if you want to destroy Lyme disease and reclaim your life, it means you have to find the courage to actually feel worse before you can feel better.  And not all people handle neurotoxins the same way.  Some bodies eliminate neurotoxins more easily than others, but regardless of the relative “ease” with which we rid ourselves of these poisons; pain on top of pain equals more pain.  Killing Lyme is very different than getting rid of mucous after a bad cold.

The following is taken from: Cleansing Neurotoxin Overload by Victoria Bowmann, PhD

“In Lyme disease, the bacteria is a “smart” bug which wants to maintain its life within the person. It actually hides itself from the immune system. The Lyme bacteria is neurotoxic and, in order to survive, clogs up the lymphatic system and causes the blood to thicken. This leads to poor blood flow through the liver and a stickiness to the interstitial fluid.

The interstitial fluid is the fluid that bathes and nourishes the tissue cells. It also picks up microorganisms, foreign particles, enzymes, proteins, and hormones for processing through the lymphatic system. In addition to the lymphatic system, Lyme prefers to travel through the collagen more than the blood.

Lyme disease is a systemic infection and it can invade and damage any and all organs, glands, and systems of our body. Lyme patients are also challenged by other co-infections that are often overlooked.

The German  “Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Lyme borreliosis” is a far cry from the US standard written by IDSA (Infectious Disease Society of America).  In fact it reads more like Dr. Burrascano’s Guide and therefore deserves a careful read.

Not only does the guide define chronic Lyme disease but it clearly validates it.  Also noteworthy is the statement, “A negative serological finding does not rule out Lyme borreliosis.”

Colloidal silver is a powerful, natural antiviral, anti-fungal and antibiotic.

Acting as a catalyst, it disables the enzyme that one-celled bacteria, viruses and fungi need for their oxygen metabolism. The silver suffocates the germs without any harm to body chemistry.

Unlike pharmaceutical antibiotics, which destroy beneficial enzymes, colloidal silver leaves these tissue-cell enzymes intact, as they are radically different from the enzymes of primitive single-celled life. Thus colloidal silver is absolutely safe for humans, reptiles, plants and all multi-celled living matter.

Reports continue to grow of total recovery from chronic Lyme disease by taking four ounces of 10ppm colloidal silver three times per day until all symptoms are gone and then for at least three months thereafter. 

Dosage for Silvercillin is one teaspoon three to four times per day until all symptoms are gone and for 3 months after recovery.  Works best with very hot baths every night before bed.

SilvercillinTM is a superior silver and completely distinct from traditional colloidal (ionic) silvers of the past, with many important chemical, physical and vibrational differences separating it far beyond other forms available.

It is a highly effective antimicrobial and antibacterial composed of pure silver (complexed with purified water.) Silvercillin utilizes a technological breakthrough allowing for the production of a silver particle small enough to enter a single red blood cell, enabling the silver to travel through capillaries, the tiniest blood vessels in the body, and inactivate viruses at the cellular level.

Also, SilvercillinTM uses technology that permanently distributes the mineral into the structure of the water, so it will not fall out of solution or suspension.

As a result, the pure silver in SilvercillinTM has been shown to provide a whole host of health benefits, from killing drug- resistant bacterial strains to inhibiting viral replication as well as stimulating stem cell production. It can be safely used both orally and topically with no known side effects.

In fact, while no other liquid silver anti-microbial product had received a patent for over 80 years, a US patent was issued in 2006 for this silver composition.

In general, colloidal silver works by chemical action, requiring direct contact with microbes, where each colloidal silver molecule can only kill one bacteria . Also, colloidal silver is simply a suspension of a silver molecule and an oxygen molecule combined together. Particles in a suspension, while too small to be seen, are large enough to settle to the bottom over time.

Here, the silver components can fall out of solution, causing them to aggregate in such areas as the blood, fat, and the brain. Not surprisingly, silver suspensions contain up to 300,000 ppm of silver compared to Silvercillin which is effective at a much lower dosage of only 5–30 ppm.

Argyria (blue man syndrome, where silver aggregates in the body) has only been seen in cases of colloidal silver use after extended high dosing.

Benefits of Silvercillin™ may include:

• Broad-spectrum antimicrobial – capable of killing many pathogens, even those resistant to antibiotics
• Anti-inflammatory (inflammation is often caused by bacteria, virus, or mold)
• Does not encourage resistant microbial strains
• Does not interfere with antibiotics and may actually increase the effectiveness of specific antibiotics
• Spares good bacteria
• Can be used internally and topically – non- irritating to mucous membranes
• Faster healing via stem cell stimulation
• Non-toxic, even if used multiple times per day for weeks
• No known side effects or contraindications; safe for all individuals
• Immune system support

Click here for purchasing information.

Amy says, I am healthy and happy and continue to be asymptomatic.

My recovery, due primarily to stem cell therapy in India (with a little side credit going toward pre-stem cell antibiotic therapy, as stem cells only have the ability to repair the body but cannot kill bacteria), is still mine to keep.

I believe India is an extremely viable option for Lyme patients to consider pursuing, if traditional treatment has failed. I believe it saved my life. Nothing I had tried prior had come even close to restoring my health back to whole again.

I have disclaimers that always come with any talk of my improvement with stem cells. I give them genuinely, and not out of fear that something I say will send people in the wrong direction. They are just what I’ve come to know about this treatment.

1. I do not recommend this treatment for two categories of people: Anyone with ALS (this excludes those with ALS/Lyme disease whose physicians, or themselves, believe their symptoms may be primarily related to Lyme); and those with psychiatric disorders. 

For most with ALS, I simply think the disease is too fast progressing. I don’t think the stem cells can keep up, fighting the downhill battle of this disease. I think it’s too treacherous a trip and too costly financially and health-wise for those suffering with this delicate disease. In addition, I do believe it slows down the process just enough to make the natural disease process more difficult, but not enough to save the life of the suffering person. I have known many who have lost their battle with ALS after several trips to India. In fact, almost everyone I know who has gone. The one patient I know personally who is still living, is just doing that…living, but by no means engaging in life as most of us know it. Again, this statement this excludes those with ALS/Lyme disease whose physicians, or themselves, believe their symptoms may be primarily related to Lyme.

For psychiatric patients, I think it is downright dangerous. Culturally and medically, India (and its incredible doctors), do not have the same skills we have in other countries to safely handle these types of patients. The level of understanding from a human and medical perspective is not progressive enough yet, for me to feel this would be a good option. It is not for lack of being well meaning and compassionate. It is just a mix of Eastern culture, and limited experience.

The very skilled care needed in the case of a psychiatric emergency is not readily available and as advanced as most psychiatric patients are accustomed to. And above all that, this experimental treatment is far too experimental to even gauge what the effects on the brain chemistry could be in someone with a psychiatric condition.

With both of these conditions, my biggest concern is that once given stem cells, the effect (whatever that might be on an individual basis), cannot be undone.

2. This worked for me. But yes, I have known others who did not have the same results. There is a huge component of individuality when it comes to medical treatment of any type. Because it worked for me, does not mean it’s a cure-all for everyone suffering with Chronic Lyme disease.

On the flip side, because others may have not gotten miraculous results, means nothing against the treatment either. I learned this through my years of my own illness. For instance, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which I attended for nearly 100 treatments (far longer than the recommended treatment length), gave me very little improvement. In fact, after the treatment, I had slightly better cognitive functioning, but my pain was worse than I had ever experienced.

However, I met former Chronic Lyme patients at the hyperbaric clinic who came back year after year for maintenance doses as they believed that treatment was keeping them in remission, after having tried many other failed modalities.

The generalization of one person deciding whether stem cell treatment, or any treatment, is a reasonable solution to Chronic Lyme disease, is very dangerous. I will not do it here, or anywhere. Each person has the right to follow their own path, to find their own health, to be the anomaly.

In my own world, I have one condition that did not resolve with stem cell therapy. In fact, I believe it was exacerbated by it (probably due to hormonal fluctuations in the body post stem cells). I have endometriosis, which causes extremely painful and debilitating menstrual cycles.

However, through my exploration of energetic medicine in the last six months (including Emotional Freedom Technique, meridian therapy, Eden Energy Medicine and others), I have made huge strides. I still have a little ways to go, but not much at all now.

This, after 5 failed surgeries, years of hormone therapy and a host of other drastic attempts to gain control of it. I have, by working on myself, gotten completely off narcotic painkillers during my worst 1-2 days a month that I had to use them, and am unbelievably impressed with this work. I have gone back to school to become a practitioner myself, and have seen incredible results with those I’ve shared the techniques with, for both physical and psychological symptoms.

But as for Lyme, I bid it farewell a long time ago, and frankly, I never expect to see it again. It has taken much for me to stop peeking around corners every time something doesn’t feel 100% right in a very normal way (being tired after a long day, something I ate disagreeing with me, etc.). But I have done it. I am far more likely to think of 20 things it might be when I have a little headache, before Lyme ever crosses my mind.

When recovery happens quickly from a chronic condition, normalizing your life to meet it becomes a whole new ball game. One that takes time. Admittedly, sometimes I’m in it, even this many years later. But I can say without doubt, there is no game I’d rather be playing.”

I think that we can all relate to this!  A fellow Lyme-sufferer from a Lyme forum allowed me to reprint this very touching essay.

“Hi to all of my friends and family,

I am writing this e-mail because today is my birthday. I am very ill in bed today. It is okay. I am okay. I have my hard days with this illness. I want to tell a little bit of my story of my journey in the last 2 years.

I was super healthy April of 2005 and then on May 1, 2005 I woke up to what I thought was me dying. I had so many bizarre and scary symptoms. The scariest was my heart was skipping beats and then it would beat super fast. I went weeks without sleeping. I truly felt that I was going to die. No one could understand what I was going through. Many people in my family turned on me and believed what the doctors were all saying. They were saying it was all in my head. I was heartbroken. I knew in my core
being that it was something.

There was one person that stepped up to the plate.

My mom.

She held me while cried. She rubbed my back and told me every day that I would be okay. There were days that I would try to think of what I could do to take my life. I just couldn’t deal with the pain. My husband was there but just not. He in my heart was not that supportive. He was financially supportive in every sense of what money can buy. But what my heart craved was just a simple, ” Hang in there”, “It’ll all be okay” , “I am here for you no matter what” , “Is there anything I can do to help you out today?” He just couldn’t do this.

Going through this has truly been the biggest challenge of my life. I have a 3 year old and it is so hard to care for him when I feel this way but he makes me so happy so I just push through. My mom was amazing. I truly for the first time in my life realized what love was. Love is being there. I now understand that some people just aren’t ready to give up any of their time in their lives. They simply don’t get it. Work, cars, money, financial things are just more important. I was very angry with the people that I thought were my friends and family because they weren’t there for me but now I have forgiven them.

God has a plan for all of us and it is just in his time. God has a way of stopping us in our tracks and teaching the lesson we need to learn whether it is through illness or some other plan. I now realize that without my mom I would have died but I also realize that my husband served and still serves his purpose and that is to be there for me financially. My mom could not have done this. So, God put all the different people there to help me and without each one of them I would not be where I am today.

About 7 months ago I lost both of my parents within 2 months of each other. I was not that close to my Father but it still hurt. Then my Mother passed and I thought I was going to die of my heart hurting so badly. She was my rock. Who was going to tell me that I was going to be okay and help me through this illness. I needed her. I had friends and family but they just could not compare to the love of my Mother.

Two months after she died I decided to go to counseling and I was telling her my story and how I had lyme disease. She said, “Wow, that is so weird because I have been seeing a young gal for the last year and I just saw her this week and she told me that she had lyme disease when she was younger, do you want me to give her your number?” I was so excited to talk to this girl to see how she got through it and see what she used to get better.

A few days later she calls me. I could tell she was younger on the phone so we talked and decided to meet up. Her name was Bekka and she was 22 with a 7 month old baby.

My first impression of her was “Hippy” She was so cute. She dressed differently, she had a hippy aura about her, she wore no makeup, she smokes weed from time to time. Her hair was short and curly. Almost messy. She was shorter than me and on the skinny side. She had a energy about her that was infectious. She was just really excited. She told me her story of how her mom took her to Canada and she did an alternative treatment of ozone insufflations and that is what cured her. She was so wise. When I was 22 I was drinking beer, shopping, concerned about money. And here is this 22 year old, Mommy, doesn’t drink, and just so happy and I could just feel her excitement for life and love.

We then developed a friendship. She would come over and help me with Kaden, do my dishes, clean my house, drive me around to do errands, and most of all she always tells me how I am going to get better and she will help me get there. So sweet. I couldn’t believe how caring she was. I asked her why she wanted to do all of this for me. She told me that when she was really sick and wanted to die she asked God that if someday he healed her she wanted to find someone that she could help because she was so lonely going through her illness. She said, “Jamie, I understand how lonely you feel, I have been there and that is why I want to help you. God sent me to you.”

I went to sleep one night and had this dream. It was very powerful and very real. In my dream I was on the couch( my usual spot). Bekka was reading me something standing in the kitchen. She laughed. By the way she has this huge funny laugh. In my dream I looked over at her as she was looking down at the paper and reading and laughing and I thought to myself of how much her laugh reminded me of my mother’s laugh. Then I looked at her hair. It is the same color and length as my Mothers. Her hair started transforming into my Mother’s hair. I was like how weird, What is this? As she was reading she looked up. It was Bekka but my Mother’s eyes looked me straight at me and said, ” It is okay Jamie, I am here” I woke up in a sweat. It was 3 am. I laid in bed for an hour and thought about how powerful this was. This cute little hippy girl was sent to me from God and my mother.

I called Bekka and told her about my dream the next day. She was like, “Wow, that is cool”. She then said, ” Jamie, I want you to know that if you ever get too sick and you want me to come over and stay the night I will.” I burst into tears. My mom constantly would offer to come stay the night with me. The morning after my dream Bekka tells me this. I knew for sure then that this was the work of God.

I feel so blessed by this disease. I was angry for a long time about it but now I see the blessings. I have learned to be empathetic towards all humans. I think twice about the bum on the side of the road. Maybe he or she has gone through of is going through what I am going through. I see the goodness in people. I see the selfishness of people. I have met such caring and wonderful people through this disease. I see the balance of the world. We need selfish people to see the giving people. Vice Versa. We need successful money making people just as much as we need the poor giving people. It is the balance of life. It is an amazing spiritual path that I am on. This disease is horrific but there is a beautiful silver lining.

So, I want to thank my Mother, Bekka, my friends and family and especially all of the wonderful people I have met with Lyme for listening to me complain daily about how bad I feel. Thankyou for encouraging me along the way. Thankyou to my husband. I have needed you just as much as the Bekka’s of the world.

So, I wrote this for my birthday. Today I am too sick to really enjoy it so my birthday wish is that you please do something caring for someone. Do someone’s dishes, give them a ride to the grocery store, tell them that you are there to help them. Just those words mean more than any amount of money or possessions. This is what I want for my birthday is for you to pay it forward. It doesn’t have to be right now but sometime in your life please do this for me. One caring gesture can change a life. I now know this. And remember, “You can’t know what you don’t know.” Life is a fun, bumpy, scary ride and we all need each other for the balance. “

If you had the time to listen to the fascinating interview presented on this blog last week between Dr. Mercola, Dr. Klinghardt and chronic Lyme disease, you may have heard Dr. Klinghardt’s assessment of the ultimate havoc that radioactive EMF (Electro-Magnetic Fields) have on our health.

Today, every person on the planet is enveloped in radioactive electromagnetic field (EMF) pollution or “electro-smog.”

Dr. Andrew Weil states that“Electromagnetic pollution (EMF) may be the most significant form of pollution human activity has produced in this century, all the more dangerous because it is invisible and insensible.”

Where does it come from?

For starters, let’s look at your home.

The wiring in your walls and outlets create an ever-present electromagnetic field in the room. Nearby power lines radiate even more EMF exposure into your home.

Household appliances and lighting, especially “energy-saving” computers, refrigerators, plasma TVs, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and dimmer switches produce a particularly harmful dose of EMFs.

When these energy-efficient electronics and appliances tamp down the electrical current, they create a wildly fluctuating and potentially dangerous electromagnetic field.

High-frequency voltage transients, or “dirty electricity,” results and radiates into your home.

These EMFs can also back up along your wiring all the way to the utility, infecting every energy customer in between.

Add in all the everyday things you use – alarm clock, electric razor, hair dryer, electric toothbrush – and you’re literally cluttering your living environment with toxic doses of EMFs.

In addition to all of that we have wi-fi and mobile phones.

The electrosmog created from all sources, including electronics, cell and cordless phones, wireless technology (especially Blue Tooth and WiFi), certain alarm systems, and radio and TV transmissions are now conclusively proven in over 2,000 studies to be hazardous to your health.

In fact just recently, on May 31, 2011, the World Health Organization reversed previous statements and declared that cell phones very possibly cause cancer.

But don’t wait for your cell phone carrier or Internet provider to deliver the bad news. Wireless Internet technology, some home alarm systems, cell phones, digital cordless phones, and blue tooth all use dangerous microwave radiation.

Cell phone radiation comes into all homes from nearby cell phone panels. So whether you are at home or away from home – there is no place “safe” anymore unless you make it that way.

And then you add wireless technology. Even if you don’t have WiFi, the EMFs from your neighbors’ wireless technology extends into your living space as well.

As you might already realize, cell phones, especially when used without a safe headset, are very problematic when it comes to EMFs — for both the user and others. Of all the cell phones, the iPhone presents an exceptional hazard.

Even when switched off, the iPhone acts as a transmitter from other cell phone users. In other words… if you happen to be the closest person to a cell phone tower, you and your iPhone serve as a transmitter station for possibly thousands of other cell phone users further away!

This is not just a theoretical threat.  This is a reality that is currently detriorating the lealth of millions of people around the world – especially those who are already sick with cancer or chronic Lyme disease.

Every cell in your body undergoes more than 100,000 biochemical reactions per second. And to ensure things run smoothly, every cell, tissue, and organ need to talk to each other and share information about those reactions.

This critical information travels as light signals via the autonomic nervous system throughout your body. These light signals connect to a biophysical field of light that your body creates outside of itself. This outer biophoton field, or “biofield,” is sensitive to magnetic and pulsating light fields.

The frequencies used by your body to communicate its information are in the range of a couple of billion Hertz. And that is the problem.

The cell phone industry is now using this very same frequency band for cell phone-to-cell phone communication.

We now have strong scientific evidence that these cell phone microwaves are significantly interfering with the healthy communications between your physical body and your external “biofield” of light.

In other words, they’re causing “static” and breaking down your body’s essential communications. Your cells can’t properly respond to signals from your brain, nervous system and immune system.

According to the Journal of Biochemistry, just living in a community with cell phone reception destroys crucial central signaling pathways in your cells.

Poor cellular communication and the dysfunctional autonomic nervous system that results are known precursors to cancer and other types of chronic illnesses.

A German study very clearly demonstrates these effects from cell phone radiation. For the first five years of exposure to a community cell phone tower, there is no increased cancer risk.

After five years, there is a sharp rise. At the end of ten years, there is a three to five-fold increase in cancer rates.

If you want to know your exposure, check http://antennasearch.com.  Just enter your address and get a free report listing all existing towers and antennas (even those planned for the future); of every type and even raw power and frequency data for that location.

I guarantee you will be alarmed, or at least you should be.  You can have the best diet with the highest quality organic foods and top shelf supplements, exercise and low stress…but the radioactive EMFs will be eating away at your health.

What can you do?

There are products galore that advertise their protective power against this electro-pollution – from canopies that cover your bed while you sleep to headbands, hats, and just about anything you can conceive of.  Don’t let the hype confuse you.  In my opinion there are two products that are important for you and each member of your family.

First, assuming you use a cell phone (if you don’t great – skip down to the next section) you don’t want to fry your brain (See “Are You Frying Your Brain With Your Cell Phone?”)  Green 8 USA has what you need with all of the science and testimonials you need to feel confident about the quality and safety of this product – not to mention the economy! You must check this out:

Green 8 USA

Now, what about the rest of the radioactive EMFs pounding at your body day and night.  Do you really think that turning off your wi-fi at night is going to help?  Perhaps…marginally…but there is a fantastic new product on the market now that can protect you and your family all the day and night – its called a BioElectric Shield.

Using applied physics, the living energy BioElectric Shield provides a lifetime of EMF protection, stress reduction, and energy enhancement. The Shield, uses “Earth Resonance Technology” developed from Nobel Prize winning physics – specifically the scientifically activated matrix of quartz and other living crystals which:

• PROTECTS you from cell phones, computers and other electromagnetic radiation by deflecting and redirecting this unhealthy energy;
• STRENGTHENS your own natural healthy energy field, amplifying your abilities to handle stressful situations and people more easily;
• ENHANCES your natural energy, improving focus, performance and goal achievement.
• BALANCES your system to the level of your DNA and helps to keep your immune system strong.

BioElectric Shield

Increase your chances of recovering completely from chronic Lyme disease.  Protect yourself from radioactive electromagnetic fields with a Green 8 USA for your cell phone, and a BioElectric Shield to block electro-smog and radioactive EMFs.

At the end of another busy day in the office I leaned back in my chair and propped my weary feet on the corner of my desk, the only flat space not otherwise occupied by charts, forms, and the remnants of lunch.

Gary, my office partner, and I were sharing “war stories.” A couple of our patients that day had been particularly challenging. “You know what?” he grinned. “Medicine is a humbling profession!” Oh, how true!

Medicine is humbling in many ways. Not only is the human body infinitely complex and prone to all sorts of pestilence and manifold frailties, it seems like the rules keep changing! Is margarine better for you than butter, or not?

For those with diverticulitis, should your diet be free of seeds, nuts, and skins? Or does that extra fiber actually do you good? Should ladies in their menopausal years be on estrogen to prevent osteoporosis … or … not?

As new information is available, we sometimes have to rethink the old standard recommendations. On more than one occasion I have offered authoritative advice, and later been forced to “eat crow”!

Never has the crow been more difficult to swallow nor had more profound implications for my patients than on the topic of Lyme disease.

I used to believe (and most of my fellow family physicians continue to believe) that Lyme disease is hard to get and easy to treat. In fact, I as much as stated this in previous articles I wrote on the subject (See “Ticked Off”). For years I reassured my patients with tick bites that their chances for contracting Lyme disease were slim. I gave them a list of symptoms to watch for and adopted a “wait and see” approach. For those suffering from Lyme-like symptoms, but with no clear history of tick bite and rash, I rarely did blood work.

But I am now convinced that, at least in my neck of the woods (northeastern Pennsylvania), Lyme is easy to get and hard to treat!

What changed my mind? Personal experience. A family member began to suffer a wide variety of strange symptoms 12 years ago, including facial numbness, slurred speech, problems with balance, abdominal pain, and headache. After a few baseline studies, her physician informed her that she was depressed and offered antidepressants.

She told the physician she had read about Lyme disease and requested testing. He refused, stating (as I had to several of my patients) that her lack of history of tick bite and the classic rash disqualified her from any consideration of Lyme disease. But she worked and lived on a farm, had pets in the house, cut her own firewood, and spent much of her day outdoors. Deer (carriers of the primary Lyme disease vector, the black-legged deer tick) were as plentiful as cows on the farm. The ingredients were all there …

She changed doctors and her new physician agreed to order an ELISA antibody screening study for Lyme disease. It was negative, she was reassured, and further workup was deferred. But the symptoms persisted, gradually worsening with time. She developed heart rhythm disturbances, migratory joint and muscle aches, and increasing weakness. The Lyme studies were repeated, this time including the Lyme Western Blot. Again, she failed to meet Centers for Disease Control criteria for Lyme disease.

Multiple specialists, including neurologists, rheumatologists, and cardiologists, saw her; no one could figure out what was wrong. I kept thinking, “This seems to fit Lyme disease, but the tests are negative … Hey, what do I know, these guys are specialists; I’d best keep my mouth shut.”

Finally she was seen by a Lyme specialist. He initiated aggressive therapy for what he recognized clinically, and what was shown on repeat testing, to be a raging untreated case of Lyme disease. After years of misery and tens of thousands of dollars in medical costs, she is gradually getting better.

This same scenario has been experienced at the HSLDA headquarters in Northern Virginia. Multiple coworkers are suffering with Lyme disease, but struggling to find adequate treatment in a skeptical and woefully uninformed medical system. The impact on HSLDA cannot be overstated!

How is it that so many competent, caring practitioners are blinded to the truth of this epidemic? The answer is simple, actually. Like me, they followed the rules as established by the powers that be at the Centers for Disease Control, unaware that there was even controversy regarding the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease.

In reality, however, a battle rages between the governmental healthcare policymakers in their well-insulated ivory towers and many front-line clinicians, for whom personal experience clashes with the so-called “standard of care.”

The true victims of this war are innocent Americans: hardworking, upright, and honest individuals like my family member and my HSLDA co laborers, suffering mightily with this brutal disease but with precious few viable options for treatment.

In a role outside his usual job as HSLDA chairman, Michael Farris was appointed by the governor of Virginia to head a task force to explore the issue of the Lyme epidemic in Virginia. The goal of the task force is to discover better ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat Lyme.

Surrounded by those in the throes of the illness, Mike is a motivated man! As he volunteers his time, energy, and intellect to this monumental project, I hope and pray that his efforts will shine new light into the murky waters of the Lyme controversy. Please join me in those prayers, and if Lyme disease becomes a topic in your state’s legislature, get informed and get involved!

David Leggett used to love the outdoors. He was a healthy, active, family man who enjoyed camping trips with his wife and two daughters. His job as a high school principal came with a long summer vacation — the perfect time to enjoy Canada’s vast stretches of wilderness.

That all changed in July 2004, after camping in a provincial park near Sudbury, Ont. “We were out hiking and then one day I couldn’t hike anymore and my knee ballooned up. I felt really, really strange. I had no energy,” Leggett recalled.

By October, Leggett was too ill to work. After doing some research on his own he suspected he might have Lyme disease — but his doctors told him that was impossible because it was too rare in Ontario and it didn’t exist where he had been camping. They were wrong.

These days Leggett spends his time lying in bed, unable to get up to eat or even bathe himself. Most of his Canadian doctors continue to insist he is not suffering from Lyme disease, even though a blood test from an American lab came back positive for Lyme.

The chameleon disease

Lyme disease is often called “the great imitator” because it presents like a variety of different diseases or neurological disorders. As a result, Lyme patients are commonly misdiagnosed with a number of other conditions, everything from multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease to autism and even schizophrenia.

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s transmitted to humans by the bite of a tick infected with the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi.

Early symptoms may include fever, headache, fatigue, muscle and joint pains as well as a characteristic ‘bulls eye’ rash. Generally, if the illness is treated early the infection and its symptoms can be eliminated by antibiotics. If left untreated, however, the bacteria can move through the bloodstream and more serious symptoms can develop, which can be disabling and increasingly difficult to treat.

Professor George Chaconas a University of Calgary researcher, has spent the last 10 years studying the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria that causes Lyme disease. According to Chaconas, it’s the bacteria’s ability to change the proteins on its coat that makes it so elusive to the immune system.

“The organism is like a strange visitor from another planet,” Chaconas told W5 reporters. “It’s in a perpetual masquerade party and each time you start recognizing it, it puts on a new disguise and escapes your immune system,” he said.

This may be one of the reasons why Canadian doctors often misdiagnose the disease, or simply don’t test for it.

Medical ignorance

Jim Wilson, who founded the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation after contracting the disease himself, insists Canadian doctors need to do a better job educating themselves. “The enemy here is ignorance, it’s arrogance and it’s the lack of impetus of our present system to get off its heiny and go do the research that we need to do,” said Wilson.

He maintains that the medical establishment’s ignorance about Lyme disease is forcing many Canadians to seek expensive treatment outside the country. “We know families in just about every province now who’ve lost their homes trying to get treatment,” said Wilson.

In 2007, only 109 patients were officially diagnosed with Lyme disease in Canada. During that same year, there were nearly 13,000 confirmed Lyme cases in the American states bordering Canada.

“Ticks don’t carry passports. They don’t stop at the border, so to think that we don’t have Lyme disease in Canada, I think is not realistic,” Chaconas said.

Ontario has the highest number of reported cases in the country, with 411 documented cases since 2000, when the province first started tracking them.

In an interview with W5, Dr. David Williams, Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health for Ontario, acknowledges that his fellow physicians have been slow to realize that Lyme is a serious problem.

“Some were saying a few years back it doesn’t exist in Canada, it’s a Northeast State thing. Now we said it is in Ontario. We’ve been pushing our Canadian partners saying this is something in Canada we have to be aware of,” said Williams.

For David Leggett, any greater awareness of the danger of Lyme disease comes too late. His disease has progressed so far, he worries it may no longer be curable. “I do want to get well. Do I think I’m going to get there? I don’t know. To be honest, it doesn’t appear that way,” he said.

For more info watch (check links on the right side of page:

Chronic Lyme Disease in Canada Part One

Chronic Lyme Disease in Canada Part Two

Three Harmonies in Ashland, Oregon has opened their practice to include hard to treat and controversial diseases such as chronic Lyme disease, celiac disease,  and Alzheimer’s.  The clinic brings eastern and western medicine together using antibiotics and chinese herbs along with acupuncture, massage and stress reduction training.

Lyme disease is the result of a spirochetal infection (Boerrelia burgdorferi) transmitted to humans by deer ticks (mainly Ixodes scapularis, though a relative, I. pacificus is the carrier in the Western U.S.). The infection sometimes results in a serious disease pattern, most often characterized by progressively worsening arthralgia, though a central nervous system disorder or even a heart disorder may arise (1, 2, 3, 10). The disease is named for the town (Old Lyme, Connecticut) where, in 1975, a number of children presenting  symptoms similar to juvenile rheumatoid arthritis were eventually found to have acquired this Boerrelia infection.

The occurrence of Lyme disease is regional, being dependent on:

1. the distribution of the ticks that carry the bacteria (prevalent in forested areas in temperate climates, such as northern U.S. and northern Europe);

2. the presence of this particular bacteria in the ticks. The bacteria is carried by animals, particularly mice and deer, that are bitten by the tick; in the endemic area, only about 15–30% of ticks are infected; and

3. exposure of the human population to the ticks, which generally requires living in or venturing into areas where the ticks can be directly encountered.

Contact with a tick does not necessarily mean the disease will be experienced. In fact, it is estimated that only 1–3% of tick bites result in Lyme disease. While the region where infection is a somewhat likely possibility is expanding, the primary distribution still remains limited. As of 1995, it was reported that Boerrelia infections in the U.S. occurred mainly in 8 states of the northeastern U.S. and one midwest state (Wisconsin). Retrospective studies indicate that there were probably a few cases of this disease many decades earlier, with cases appearing in Massachusetts and Wisconsin in the 1960’s, and in northern Europe as early as the 1920’s. There is some evidence to suggest cases of this or a very similar disease in Germany— a country that was heavily forested and full of deer—in the 1880’s. The reason for the sudden epidemic of the disease during the past 25 years has been the change in land use and lifestyle that occurred, such as new growth of forests in abandoned farm land and movement of city dwellers into the forested countryside, either for recreation or for a new place to live. For those who are at risk for acquiring the infection, a vaccine against Boerrelia burgdorferi has been approved by the FDA and is now readily available.

There is no reference to Lyme disease in the Chinese literature and there may be none for some time, as most of China’s forests have been eliminated. There are other spirochetal infections that have been addressed by Chinese physicians and by Chinese researchers conducting clinical trials or laboratory tests of infection inhibiting properties. The relevant organism most often studied in China is Leptospira, which causes the disease called leptospirosis. This organism is carried by a wide range of animals, and is not uncommon in animals raised for food. In China, it has long been common practice for each family to keep animals, such as pigs and chickens, in and around their homes, so exposure has been possible for a large portion of the population. The bacterium can enter the body through the skin, usually from contact with animal urine. A small outbreak occurred at Fort Bragg in the U.S. in 1942, and the disease was nicknamed Fort Bragg Fever.

Its cause was traced to swimming in ponds and streams that had been contaminated by livestock urine. Fewer than 200 cases occur in the U.S. each year, mostly in the warm southeastern states.

TRADITIONAL AND MODERN VIEWS OF LEPTOSPIROSIS AND ITS TREATMENT

The Leptospira infection causes fever and chills, headache, and muscle ache (especially in the shoulders). These symptoms match the Shang Han disease described in the ancient text Shang Han Lun. In fact, the  initial course of leptospirosis follows a pattern, over a period of several days, that is somewhat like that described in the ancient text. In the advanced stage, leptospirosis can cause liver disease (with jaundice) or a severe form of meningitis; the symptoms of some cases of advanced Shang Han disease are similar. According to proponents of the general application of the Shang Han Lun as a guide to treatment of disease, the formulas recommended in that text could be used for modern diseases with similar symptom presentation. Accordingly, early stage of spirochetal infection, such as Lyme disease and Fort Bragg fever, might be treated by the same formulas used in the Shang Han Lun (see: A modern view of the Shang Han Lun). Modern understanding of these infectious diseases may help reflect on the development of Chinese concepts of disease causation and treatment. Shang Han disease occurred most frequently in winter, the time of year when animals were brought into the house, thereby increasing opportunity for exposure to pathogens; thus, exposure of people to cold may not have been the reason that some diseases were observed to occur during the cold season.

Similarly, the summer heat syndrome, which often produces digestive system disturbances, may not be the direct result of exposures of humans to the damp, hot climate, but exposure to pathogens that grow in that climate and infect the food and water supplies (see the articles: The six qi and six yin and Pill Curing and Huoxiang Zhengqi Pian).

The book Modern Study and Application of Materia Medica (4) provides information about herbs reputed to inhibit Leptospira based on laboratory testing (herb extract applied to cultured bacteria causing them to die) and, in some cases, clinical evaluation (herbs administered to infected patients resulting in clearance of symptoms). The following list of leptospira-inhibiting herbs was culled from the Chinese medical literature:

Isatis leaf Smilax

Isatis root Gardenia

Andrographis Hu-chang

Coptis Chien-li-kuang

Scute Verbena

Phellodendron Sanguisorba

Forsythia Ching-hao

Most of these herbs treat a condition described as damp-heat; many of the herbs have broad-spectrum antibiotic and antiviral properties. The book Thousand Formulas and Thousand Herbs of Traditional Chinese Medicine (5), no doubt relying on the same source material, listed the first nine ingredients of the above list as inhibitors of Leptospira; this text also presents five traditional formulas suggested for treating leptospirosis, divided by syndrome:

· Exogenous pathogen invading the qi phase (this corresponds to the initial disease symptoms, which may include a flu-like pattern):Yin Qiao San (Lonicera and Forsythia Formula).

· Summer heat and damp heat misting the three burners (for treatment of skin manifestations of the disease, such as rashes): Sanshi San (Three Stone Powder, made with calamine, gypsum, and red kaolin; this is applied topically).

· Acute jaundice (this is the manifestation of leptospirosis as liver disease): Ermiao San (Red Atractylodes and Phellodendron Powder; this is a general formula for damp-heat).

· Summer heat injuring the lung: Xin Jia Xiangru Yin (Modification of Elsholtzia Combination; the base formula contains elscholtzia, dolichos, and magnolia bark; a common addition is coptis).

· Heat invading the pericardium with liver wind moving internally (this is the manifestation of leptospirosis as meningitis): Zhengan Xifeng Tang plus Angong Niuhuang Wan (Decoction to Subdue Internal Wind plus Pill of Ox Gallstone to Pacify the Palace).

All of the recommended formulas treat a heat syndrome, and include herbs that alleviate damp-heat, though they include few herbs from the list of those that have thus far been shown to inhibit the subject organism in laboratory and clinical tests. The herbal therapies may alleviate symptoms without curing the spirochetal infection, while it is the cure of the disease, defined by freedom from the bacteria, that is the goal of most Western patients and their physicians.

CLINICAL EVALUATIONS

There was considerable clinical research into treatment of leptospirosis in China during the early 1970’s (9).

It was reported that tablets prepared from equal amounts of the extracts of scute, lonicera, and forsythia, administered three times daily in large amounts were useful for treating mild and moderate cases of the disease. Andrographis extract, in the form of an injection or tablets of the crude extract or of the isolated lactones, was reported to effectively treat leptospirosis. In one evaluation, 31 of 35 cases were said to be cured by the andrographis lactones (mainly diterpene lactones, which are also found in the anticancer herb rabdosia).

More recently, Deng Shifa reported on efforts at prevention and treatment of leptospirosis (6, 7). He administered a decoction prepared from fresh, rather than dried, herbs, using ching-hao, houttuynia, eclipta, imperata, mentha, lonicera stem, humulus (lucao), and rhubarb. This formula only includes one herb, chinghao, from the list of individual herbs above. The drink was consumed 4–6 times per day (that is, at intervals of 2–4 hours), and it was reported that recovery from symptoms occurred, on average, in about 11 days. The results obtained with the Chinese herbs were similar to those obtained with penicillin, based on cure rate, which was 97%. The same herb formula, with rhubarb deleted, was said to help prevent leptospirosis.

Another spirochete, Treponema, gives rise to two diseases, syphilis (from T. pallidum) and yaws (from T. pertenue). Since these diseases are easily controlled by modern antibiotic therapy, there is little mention of herbal remedies in the literature. Smilax (tufuling), an herb for damp-heat that is included in the list of  antileptospira herbs, is still prominently mentioned for this application (4, 8). In Western herbal practice, a species of Smilax, known popularly as sarsaparilla, was used for treatment of syphilis. This repeated reference to the herb in clinical use supports the idea that smilax may have a reliable inhibitory effect for spirochetal infections. Treponemes have been isolated from the blood of patients with Lyme disease, suggesting that the ticks may harbor both types of spirochetes.

TCM ANALYSIS OF LYME DISEASE

The traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) analysis of a new disease, such as Lyme disease, depends on the disease manifestations and the analysis of other  diseases that have some characteristics in common with it. The salient features are these:

1. the tick introduces the pathogen into the blood stream directly;

2. the infection typically yields a blotchy red rash, often in a “bull’s eye” pattern of red skin coloration and swelling, about 3–20 days after the tick bite;

3. there may be flu-like symptoms, including fever, headache, sore throat, nausea, fatigue, swollen glands, stiff neck, aching muscles; and

4. if unresolved there may be recurrences of fever and, usually after several months, arthralgia, usually in the knees, with swelling and hot feeling.

It is estimated that 25–50% of those infected do not get the rash or flu-like symptoms, and that about half of those who experience the rash go on to experience arthralgia. The disease may be interpreted in TCM terms most simply as a heat pathogen entering the blood, which can reside as a “hidden toxin” in some individuals, manifesting disease symptoms later, after some factor activates it.

As an example of traditional prescribing that might be appropriate to Lyme disease, a formula recommended for a heat toxin entering the blood and producing eruption of macules (11) is Lonicera and Gypsum Combination (Liangxue Baidu Tang; Cool Blood and Defeat Toxin Decoction). It contains forsythia, gardenia, scute, and coptis, which are included in the list of anti-leptispirosa herbs, along with gypsum, talc, lonicera, anemarrhena, carthamus, moutan, raw rehmannia, scrophularia, and imperata (the original formula also included horns of antelope and rhino).

TREATMENT OPTIONS IN THE WEST

Medical studies suggest that if the Boerrelia infection can be treated soon after it occurs with antibiotics, there is strong likelihood of it being eliminated quickly and completely. The current medical treatment for Lyme disease is a course of therapy using doxycycline, amoxicillin, penicillin, or erythromycin. These are taken orally except in severe cases in which they may be administered intravenously instead. Many of those who become infected spontaneously recover within days or months even without antibiotics (no doubt, the bacteria eventually succumbs to the immune system). For those who have the infection for months prior to treatment without improvement, antibiotics may need to be administered for several months before the infection finally resolves, and some cases may  entirely escape cure with this therapy due to the characteristics of the bacteria (ability to avoid the immune system by antigenic changes on its surface and    ability to avoid antibiotic inhibition by infiltrating areas of the body, such as the joints, that have lower levels of exposure to the drug).

The absence of direct clinical evaluation of Chinese herbs in relation to Lyme disease means that there is some difficulty recommending that this method be used in lieu of the currently accepted course of antibiotics.

Some individuals may wish to attempt to increase the chances of success with antibiotics or even shorten the duration of treatment with antibiotics by combining a Chinese herbal treatment, and a few individuals may wish to try using Chinese herbs alone, saving the antibiotic therapy as a back-up. One would apply herbs that are reputed to inhibit other spirochetes (since these should have an excellent chance of inhibiting this one), as well as any herbs that might treat the specific symptoms or the patient’s constitution.

The Seven Forests herb formula tablet Isatis 6 provides isatis leaf, hu-chang, and andrographis from the list of herbs given above, and the Seven Forests formula Forsythia 18 provides forsythia, gardenia, scute, phellodendron, and coptis, which are also on that list. Together, these formulas may provide the bacterial inhibition that is sought from Chinese herbs in a convenient form of administration (suggested dosage would be 3–5 tablets of each formula, three times daily). As with treatment of any infection, the intended application is a high dosage for a few days or weeks. Since the formulas fall into the category of clearing heat, persons with symptoms and signs indicating a constitutional cold syndrome would probably do better to have a personalized formula made (e.g., extract  granules), combining the desired anti-bacterial ingredients (which have a cold nature) with herbs for addressing the constitutional imbalance.

The single herb ching-hao may be of interest in treating this disease. This is an herb for damp-heat that is one of the most effective herbal agents for treating malaria, another parasitic disease (though a very different pathogen) introduced directly into the blood stream by an insect (mosquito). It was included in the formula recommended by Deng Shifa for treatment and prevention of leptospirosis. Aside from being listed as an antispirochete based on laboratory evaluation, this herb also helps regulate the immune system in cases of autoimmune disorders. For example, it is found useful in treating the autoimmune attack against connective tissue (mainly skin and joints) in patients with lupus (9). The arthralgia experienced by persons with advanced Lyme disease may involve some autoimmune component (at this time, it is unclear whether persistence of the bacteria is solely responsible for persisting symptoms or if there is an induced  autoimmune process that contributes to the symptoms).

Further, if the symptoms of arthralgia have already developed, then herbs traditionally used for that purpose would also be administered (selection of ingredients would depend on symptom presentation and constitutional factors). Lonicera stem, included in the treatment for leptospirosis described by Deng Shifen, may be of interest, as it is used like lonicera flower as an anti-toxin agent, but is considered a specific treatment for arthralgia.

Based on the analysis that has been presented here, for patients willing to take a decoction or dried decoction, the following is proposed as a base formula that may be modified, if deemed necessary, for individual needs:

Anti-Spirochete Mixture: (equal parts)

• Smilax
• Ching-hao
• Forsythia
• Hu-chang
• Andrographis
• Lonicera stem

When using a decoction, the dosage of individual herbs should be 12–15 grams for a one day dose. Using dried decoctions, a daily dosage of 15–18 grams of the mixture would be appropriate. Three times per day dosing is a usual recommendation for the treatment of infections.

REFERENCES

1. Biddle W, A Field Guide to the Germs, 1995 Henry Holt and Co., Inc., New York.

2. Karlen A, Man and Microbes, 1995 G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York.

3. Lane K (executive editor), Merck Manual of Medical Information, Merck & Co., Inc., West Point, PA.

4. Dong Zhi Lin and Yu Shu Fang, Modern Study and Application of Materia Medica, 1990 China Ocean Press, Beijing.

5. Huang Bingshan and Wang Yuxia, Thousand Formulas and Thousand Herbs of Traditional Chinese Medicine, vol. 1, 1993 Heilongjiang Education Press, Harbin.

6. Deng Shifa, Preliminary study on the prevention and treatment of leptospirosis with traditional Chinese medicine, Lianing Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 1985; 9(5): 15–17.

7. Deng Shifa and Sheng Rixin, Treatment of leptospirosis with Qixian Drink, Zhejiang Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 1991; 26(7): 293–294.

8. Hong-Yen Hsu, et al., Oriental Materia Medica: A Concise Guide, 1986 Oriental Healing Arts Institute, Long Beach, CA.

9. Hson-Mou Chang and Paul Pui-Hay But (eds.), Pharmacology and Applications of Chinese Materia Medica, (2 vols.), 1986 World Scientific, Singapore.

10. Robbins SL, Cotran RS, and Kumar V, Pathologic Basis of Disease, Third Edition, 1984 W.B.

Saunders Company, Philadelphia, PA.

11. Hsu HY and Wang SY, The Theory of Feverish Diseases and Its Clinical Applications, 1985 Oriental Healing Arts Institute, Long Beach, CA.

June 1999

Hi everyone. My name is David Rodgers, and it is my pleasure to be posting in Jenna’s Lyme Disease blog, as she has done a great job keeping everyone updated on a regular basis about many different types of Lyme protocols, including diet, supplements, drugs, IV treatment, and more. She has truly been a great help to many in the community and I want to thank her for that.

Jenna has allowed me to let you know about an upcoming event I have planned, which I think will be of great benefit to many of you. For background information, I have had Lyme Disease for at least 10 years (although diagnosed about 4.5 years ago). Over these 10 years, I kept my head in the books, so to speak, and researched everything I could about all-natural ways to treat Lyme and similar conditions.

During these 10 years of research, I have also completed a Masters of Science in Nutrition at the University of Bridgeport, and I now practice as a nutritionist in the Detroit suburbs, as well as via phone or online video conferencing for anyone throughout the world.

As Jenna mentioned in one of her posts not too long ago, it seems like the Lyme patients who are disciplined regarding diet and lifestyle do the best with their treatments. The problem I’ve found is that people have differing views on what foods are healthy or not, and they are also unclear about which supplements are truly the best for optimizing health and avoiding deficiencies.

For these reasons, I am putting on a webinar called “Chronic Lyme Disease: 7 Natural, Proven Steps to Reduce Symptoms.” This will take place on Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 8:30EST (5:30PST). All that you need to view it is an Internet connection and speakers. This webinar is thoroughly backed by the latest research and by my clinical experience.

Sometimes webinars are mainly a way to sell people some product. This is not the case here. I will be briefly letting folks know that I am open for new clients, but otherwise, I have nothing to sell – it is simply meant to help as many people as possible know about the latest research for diet, supplements, and lifestyle, and their connection to Lyme Disease. I don’t even sell supplements, but I’ll let you know which ones are worth your money.

You may want a little more background about my health protocols, so I also have a free e-report that I have made available called “Diet Soda Makes You Fatter Than Regular and 10 More Shocking Health Truths.” This is available at my website – http://www.nutrientbalance.com – and more information is available there as well.

To sign up for the free webinar, click this link.

Thanks, and if anyone has a question, you may email me at david@nutrientbalance.com – you may also send me questions via this email to be answered at the webinar. Also, please share this via Facebook, etc. or email the info to people you know with Lyme or similar conditions (chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia). Looking forward to seeing everyone there…