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How To Overcome Lyme Disease

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What Causes Lyme Disease

How to Overcome Chronic Lyme Disease

Lyme disease is caused by infection with the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. In regions of the U.S. where Lyme disease is common, risk factors for getting bitten by a tick include:

  • Spending a lot of time outdoors
  • Proximity to areas between forest land and lawns, particularly if the area contains low-lying grasses or shrubs

Ticks can also attach to pets who may bring them into the home. The pet may become infected with Lyme disease. If the tick does not attach to the pet, it can attach to a human and transmit the infection.

Lyme Disease: Resolving The Lyme Wars

  • By , Contributor

Its finally getting warm here in New England, and most of us have plans to enjoy the beautiful weather. And thats why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released a report raising awareness about how to prevent the tickborne infections that typically occur during this time of the year. Lyme disease is probably the most well-known, and the one for which diagnosis and treatment are most controversial.

Customization And Precautions When Treating Lyme Disease

Remember that every person with Lyme disease is different not all will show all the common Lyme disease symptoms described above, suffer from deficiencies or deal with high amounts of stress. Thats why customization, patience and being open-minded are important. Different things for Lyme disease treatment work for different people, so dont lose hope.

If youre feeling overwhelmed by your Lyme disease symptoms. heres what I recommend:

  • Focus first on changing your diet. Reduce nutrient deficiencies, improve gut health and lower your intake of harmful ingredients that are found in processed/packaged foods.
  • Make sure to take it easy on yourself. Give yourself rest, sleep nine hours a night, reduce stress and address emotional issues. Remember that stress, guilt, anger and frustration only make things worse.
  • Then try different supplements. Listen to your body and try to pay close attention to what works bet.
  • Naturally overcoming Lyme disease can take time, so remember to not just treat Lyme but instead focus on getting your body into a healing state for good.

Read Also: Could I Have Lyme Disease

Can Lyme Disease Be Prevented

There’s no sure way to avoid getting Lyme disease. But you can minimize your risk. Be aware of ticks when you’re in high-risk areas. If you work outdoors or spend time gardening, fishing, hunting, or camping, take precautions:

  • Wear closed shoes or boots, long-sleeved shirts, and long pants. Tuck your pant legs into your shoes or boots to prevent ticks from crawling up your legs.
  • Use an insect repellent containing 10% to 30% DEET .
  • Wear light-colored clothing to help you see ticks more easily.
  • Keep long hair pulled back or wear a hat for protection.
  • Don’t sit on the ground outside.
  • Check yourself for ticks regularly both indoors and outdoors. Wash your clothes and hair after leaving tick-infested areas.

If you use an insect repellent containing DEET, follow the directions on the product’s label and don’t overapply it. Place DEET on shirt collars and sleeves and pant cuffs, and only use it directly on exposed areas of skin. Be sure to wash it off when you go back indoors.

No vaccine for Lyme disease is currently on the market in the United States.

Can A Keto Diet Support Your Ability To Heal From Lyme

19 best images about Prevent Lyme Disease on Pinterest

In my practice, dietary recommendations for Lyme often takes the form of a mostly plant-based ketogenic diet, which I call the Ketotarian diet. The Ketotarian diet avoids the common downsides and risks of the conventional keto diet , while still allowing you to take advantage of the benefits of nutritional ketosis to fend off Lyme disease and get you back to optimal health.

Want more details? Youve come to the right place. Heres how you can use a Ketotarian diet to cure lyme naturally. This method can be a game-changer in healing from chronic Lyme disease:

  • It supports healthy methylation pathways
  • Many people dont know this, but there are certain genetic factors that can make you more vulnerable to falling ill from Lyme disease. One of these is the MTHFR gene mutation, which affects more than a third of the population and impairs a process called methylation. This is a problem because methylation helps control the health of your hormones, inflammatory pathways, and detox pathwayswhich all help you manage Lyme. The Ketotarian diet is a great way to support healthy methylation. Certain foods like leafy greens and cruciferous veggies acts as extra credit since they are rich in folate and sulfur compounds that directly support methylation. Talk about food as medicine at its best!

  • It helps boost mitochondrial health
  • It combats chronic inflammation
  • It restores the microbiome to its former glory
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    Recovering From Lyme Disease Why Is It So Difficult

    March 28, 2017 by Tricia

    Have you ever wondered why its so hard to recover from Lyme disease?

    This is not an easy question to answer! There are many complicated reasons why it may be difficult to overcome a Lyme infection, like what was your health like before infection, did you have preexisting illnesses, what co-infections are involved, what is your stress level, lifestyle habits, nutrition and the list goes on.

    The other day my jewelry tree fell over, my necklaces fell off and became an intertwined, tangled mess. It caught me by surprise! How did these necklaces get so easily messed up? It may be far-reaching but as I attempted to untangle those necklaces I began to think about how Lyme disease is so much like those tangled necklaces.

    DISCLAIMER: Im not a doctor and the information here is not intended to diagnose, prescribe or treat any illness or condition. Please seek the advice of a knowledgeable physician. I prefer Integrative or Naturopathic Physicians.

    Now, I understand Lyme is much more serious than a tangled bunch of jewelry, after all, Ive lived the nightmare but I thought it might be a good word picture. Lets discuss a few of the complications that make recovering from Lyme very difficult.

    Why Are Herbs The Perfect Medicine For Lyme

    Herbs in their natural environment have the same issues human do. They have to protect themselves against microbes.

    Herbs produce a wide spectrum of antimicrobial substances protect themselves against many different microbes and insects. Furthermore, humans have been exposed to herbs for millions of years so they are not toxic to us and our bodies can break them down. For this reason, we can take herbs for a long time, for months and even years.

    As well as reducing the bacterial load herbs also help reduce inflammation and normalising the immune system. Balancing your immune system is crucial as it is what you have to achieve for overcoming chronic Lyme disease.

    Recommended Reading: Foods To Avoid With Lyme Disease

    Living With Lyme Disease

    Once antibiotics resolve the infection, you can support your recovery from Lyme disease as you would with any kind of arthritis or nerve injury. It is recommended that you:

    • Eata healthy diet and limit your sugar intake.
    • Getplenty of rest.
    • Exerciseat least three times a week for at least 30 minutes each day.
    • Reducestress.
    • Useanti-inflammatory medication when necessary.

    The damageLyme disease causes to your nerves or muscles would heal over a course ofmonths, Dr. Sullivan says. Identifying the infection and treating itappropriately so that the infection is cleared is the first step. And then thebody can start to heal.

    When Inflammation Becomes Chronic

    How to prevent Lyme Disease

    Imagine if the acute inflammatory process was going on in tissues throughout your body and it never resolved. Thats exactly what happens with the chronic inflammation associated with chronic Lyme disease.

    The driving force is bacteria invading cells. Its not an all-out invasion like you would find with an acute infection, such as pneumonia, however. Its an insidious migration of bacteria into tissues throughout the body in the brain, heart, joints, muscles, kidneys, intestines, everywhere.

    When Lyme bacteria enter the bloodstream from a tick bite, WBCs gobble up the bacteria in an attempt to get rid of them. The bacteria, however, have sophisticated ways of staying alive inside the WBCs. Instead of eradicating the bacteria, the WBCs unintentionally become transport vehicles to distribute bacteria to tissues throughout the body.

    On arrival, the bacteria surface and infect other cells. Its not as much a deluge of invasion as it is a random sprinkling. Tissues throughout the body become peppered with cells that have been infected with bacteria.

    The Lyme bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, are intracellular, which means they infect and live inside cells. The cells provide nutrients to make new bacteria as well as protection from the immune system. Once the bacteria have used up the resources a cell has to offer, they surface and infect other cells.

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    Lyme Disease Treatment And Prevention Tips

    By Leah Zerbe, MS, NASM-CPT, NASM-CES

    Lyme disease is a complicated infection that is caused by bacteria thats transmitted from a tick or insect bite. The majority of cases of Lyme are due to a bite from a type of deer tick known as the black-legged tick, which can carry and pass on bacteria known as borrelia burgdorferi.

    According to the Michigan Lyme Disease Association, more recently its also been found that other insects can also spread Lyme disease or cause similar infections including other types of ticks, mosquitoes, and possibly spiders or fleas.

    Overall, up to 300,000 Americans are diagnosed with Lyme disease every year, according to new research from the Centers of Disease Control , and many seek Lyme disease treatment. Lyme disease cases are largely concentrated in the Northeast and upper Midwest, with 14 states accounting for over 96 percent of cases reported to CDC.

    Lyme disease symptoms can start with flulike symptoms, headaches, muscle and joint pain. Over time, the symptoms can continue to worsen and turn into a long-lived inflammatory response that is similar to an autoimmune illness.

    Borrelia The Misunderstood Microbe

    Retrospectively, I may have harbored Borrelia burgdorferi for years before I actually developed symptoms. Im an outdoor person tick bites have always been a common affair.

    Its not uncommon for people to harbor Borrelia and not know it stealth is this microbes middle name.

    Lyme disease is mostly transmitted by nymphal ticks, which are about the size of the pin. They bite, transmit the microbe, and then drop off most people arent even aware of being bitten. Because symptoms of the initial infection are so mild , its not uncommon for people to be completely unaware of being infected.

    And Borrelia isnt the only microbe to worry about. Ticks carry many microbes that have similar characteristics to Borrelia. What they all have in common is stealthy characteristics that make them hard to find and even harder to get rid of.

    If immune system function is robust, a person can harbor these types of microbes indefinitely, keeping them in check without ever having symptoms. When illness does occur, its typically chronic and debilitating, but not life-threatening. Additionally, the degree of chronic illness is highly variable. Some people are severely debilitated, while others are only marginally miserable.

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    Clean Up Your Body And Environment

    Many of my clients ask me about doing various detox programs. These programs only get rid of harmful bacteria from your colon and do not reduce the toxic load in your body. Rather than using cleanses you need to look first at cleaning up your environment including the air you breathe, the food you eat and the chemicals you put on your skin. A simple strategy you can try to help your body detox is spending more time in the clean air of nature.

    What’s The Best Way To Prevent A Tick Bite

    Prevent Lyme Disease

    Ticks can’t fly or jump. But they live in shrubs and bushes and can grab onto you when you pass by. To avoid getting bitten:

    • Wear pants and socks in areas with lots of trees and when you touch fallen leaves.
    • Wear a tick repellent on your skin and clothing that has DEET, lemon oil, or eucalyptus.
    • For even more protection, use the chemical permethrin on clothing and camping gear.
    • Shower within 2 hours after coming inside. Look for ticks on your skin, and wash ticks out of your hair.
    • Put your clothing and any exposed gear into a hot dryer to kill whatever pests might be on them.

    How do you know if you’ve been bitten?

    Since ticks are so small, you’ve got to have pretty good eyes to see them.

    If you have a small, red bump on your skin that looks like a mosquito bite, it could be a tick bite. If it goes away in a few days, itâs not a problem. Remember, a tick bite doesnât necessarily mean you have Lyme disease.

    If you notice a rash in the shape of a bull’s-eye, you might have a tick bite. Talk to your doctor about treatment.

    If you have an allergic reaction to ticks, you’ll notice a bite right away.

    Read Also: Stage 2 Lyme Disease Treatment

    How Do You Live Your Life When You Feel So Sick

    If caught early and treated properly, Lyme disease can be a relatively simple bacterial infection to treat. However, if the infection goes untreated for a period of time, it can become a debilitating illness. Also, not everyone necessarily responds to treatment completely.

    These factors can contribute to longer-term symptoms that require considerable medical and psychological management. Below are some tips for coping with complicated presentations of Lyme disease.

    1. Notice your thoughts, but dont let them rule the day. We tend just to believe everything that runs through our minds, but we need to pay more attention to what we tell ourselves and notice what we are really thinking. You dont have to agree or disagree just say, I notice Im having the thought I will never feel well again. This simple change creates room to respond to the thought rather than just getting stuck with an automatic reaction.

    2. If a thought isnt useful, disengage. Rather than arguing about whether or not a particular thought is true or false, just ask yourself if engaging in that thought at this time is useful in moving you forward in a valued direction. Again, if you think, Ill never get well, arguing whether or not this is true isnt really helpful. Let that thought go and engage with more functional thinking about more meaningful things in the present moment.

    Treatment For Neurologic Lyme Disease

    Facial palsy is treated with oral antibiotics and Lyme meningitis/radiculoneuritis can either be treated with oral or intravenous antibiotics, depending on severity . Most patients respond well to antibiotics and fully recover.

    Varying degrees of permanent nervous system damage may develop in people who do not receive treatment in the early stages and develop late-stage Lyme disease.

    The following regimens may need to be adjusted depending on a patients age, medical history, underlying health conditions, pregnancy status, or allergies. Consult an infectious disease specialist regarding individual patient treatment decisions.

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    How These Five Strategies Help You To Overcome Lyme Disease Insomnia

    Greg

    For people that have difficulty sleeping due to Lyme disease and co-infectionsby Greg Lee

    When I was growing up, we had an old tea kettle that we used for making hot water. When the water boiled, the whistle on the spout would make a really shrill noise you could hear throughout the house. Each time it whistled, our collection of over a dozen guinea pigs would squeak loudly with the teapot. The noise was so loud, it was impossible to hear oneself think.

    How is a loud whistling tea pot similar to insomnia from Lyme disease?

    Similar to a boiling teapot, people with Lyme disease can have too much mental noise or agitation which prevents them from sleepingJust like a whistling tea kettle, Janeys mind at night would bounce from one loud thought to the next about dealing with her Lyme disease and co-infections. Sometimes aches, pains, or buzzing in her legs would get in the way of finding a comfortable sleeping position. At some late hour, she would eventually doze off and get a few hours of restless sleep. The next morning, shed wake up and feel like she had never slept. She tried lots of medication and supplements to get her mind and body to doze off.

    What strategies can help to clear toxins, reduce inflammation, and deepen sleep?

    Azlocillin Comes Out On Top

    5 Tips to Prevent Tick Bites and Getting Lyme Disease | Johns Hopkins Medicine

    The drug, which is not on the market, was tested in mouse models of Lyme disease at seven-day, 14-day and 21-day intervals and found to eliminate the infection. For the first time, azlocillin was also shown to be effective in killing drug-tolerant forms of B. burgdorferi in lab dishes, indicating that it may work as a therapy for lingering symptoms of Lyme disease.

    Pothineni and Rajadas have patented the compound for the treatment of Lyme disease and are working with a company to develop an oral form of the drug. Researchers plan to conduct a clinical trial.

    Rajadas is also a professor of bioengineering and therapeutic sciences at the University of California-San Francisco.

    Other Stanford co-authors are Hari-Hara S. K. Potula, PhD, senior research scientist postdoctoral scholars Aditya Ambati, PhD, and Venkata Mallajosyula, PhD senior research scientist Mohammed Inayathullah, PhD and intern Mohamed Sohail Ahmed.

    A researcher at Loyola College in India also contributed to the work.

    The study was funded by the Bay Area Lyme Foundation and Laurel STEM Fund.

    • Tracie White

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    What Is The Staging For Lyme Disease

    Lyme disease is categorized into three stages:

    • Localized: Occurs within several days of the tick bite. Symptoms include redness and irritation at the site of the tick bite, along with flu-like symptoms such as fever, chills, and muscle aches.
    • Disseminated: Occurs within weeks of a tick bite. If untreated, the infection spreads to other parts of the body and new symptoms occur.
    • Persistent: Late infection, may occur within months to years after the initial tick bite. Arthritis and neurological symptoms are common in this stage.

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