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.
Who Is Most At Risk
Your risk of Lyme disease may be higher if you:
- Spend time in heavily wooded areas where there are ticks
- Spend time outdoors in summer and fall
- Are young, children and young adults are more likely to get Lyme disease.
- Live in the coastal northeast, as well as in Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, and Oregon, where the majority of cases show up
How Exactly Is Lyme Connected To Diet
Were starting to realize that our modern lifestyles are not doing us any favors when it comes to Lyme.
You see, our genetics as humans havent changed in over 10,000 years, but the world around us has changed greatly. Factors like processed foods, soil nutrient depletion, and air and water pollution are all likely amplifying and perpetuating the impact that chronic infections caused by viruses, mold, protozoa, and bacteria have on the body. At first this might seem like bad news, but the truth is if certain environments and lifestyle factors can make us more vulnerable to Lyme, certain lifestyle factors and environments can also make us less vulnerable, too.
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Lyme Disease Symptoms And Causes
The Most Common Lyme Disease Symptoms:
Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria that is transmitted by the tick or insect can spread throughout the body and cause a series of autoimmune-like reactions. Research done by the Department of Rheumatology at University of Würzburg in Germany shows that symptoms of Lyme disease are far-reaching and commonly affect the skin, heart, joints and nervous system.
Symptoms and signs of Lyme disease include:
- A temporary butterfly skin rash that appears where the tick bite occurred . Many, but not all, develop a rash shaped like a bulls eye that appears as a red ring around a clear area with a red center. The CDC reports that around 70 percent of Lyme disease patients develop this rash
- Flu-like symptoms, especially shortly after being infected. These include a fever, trouble sleeping, neck pain, fatigue, chills, sweats and muscle aches
- Poor sleep, chronic fatigue and lethargy
- Digestive issues, including nausea and loss of appetite
- Achiness and joint pains. The CDC has found that around 30 percent of Lyme patients develop symptoms of arthritis
- Long-term many people experience mood changes, included increased depression and fatigue
- Cognitive changes are also a long-term symptom and include forgetfulness, headaches, brain fog, misplacing things and trouble concentrating
The REAL Cause of Lyme Disease:
Two Reset The Gut To Heal The Body
Read the article,Best Supplements To Kill Candida and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Fungal Infections. I know, youre just getting to the meat of this 5,000+ word article, and Im asking you to read another beast of an article, but youve got Lyme! A supposedly incurable disease means you have plenty of research to do. If you have Lyme, your real problem is a a leaky gut full of fungus thats overwhelming the immune system.
The aforementioned diet will go a long way to heal the gut, and given time, will typically heal the gut on its own, especially in cases where the body is not dealing with a heavy load or a systemic infection. Since were dealing with a systemic infection, the supplements below are highly recommended.
Do not underestimate the importance of this step. This is, in fact, more important than the proceeding steps that specifically address viruses. In fact, most people that find themselves with disease only make it through this step and then feel so much better that they tend to stop the protocol. This is probably fine if you spend the rest of your life eating extremely well, which you should do regardless, but even when the body feels better than it has since you can remember, that doesnt mean the infection is gone. It means the infection is at bay, but ready to bounce back at the first chance.
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A Natural Cure For Lyme Disease
- Read in app
Every year, at least 30,000 people and possibly 10 times that are infected with the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, most in the Northeast and upper Midwest. Symptoms can include fatigue, joint pain, memory problems and even temporary paralysis. In a small minority of cases, the malaise can persist for many months.
So its worrisome that in recent decades, Lyme cases have surged, nearly quadrupling in Michigan and increasing more than tenfold in Virginia. Its now the single greatest vector-borne disease in the United States, Danielle Buttke, an epidemiologist with the National Park Service in Fort Collins, Colo., told me, and its expanding on a really epic scale.
Whats behind the rise of Lyme? Many wildlife biologists suspect that it is partly driven by an out-of-whack ecosystem.
Lyme disease is transmitted by bites from ticks that carry the Lyme-causing bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi. Ticks get it from the animals they feed on, primarily mice and chipmunks. And rodents thrive in the fragmented, disturbed landscapes that, thanks to human activity, now characterize large sections of the Northeast.
If humans have inadvertently increased the chances of contracting Lyme disease, the good news is that theres a potential fix: allow large predators, particularly wolves and cougars, to return.
They would help keep down the number of deer, which, although they dont carry the Lyme-causing bacterium, probably encourage its transmission.
Seven Herbal Medicines Can Kill Lyme Disease Bacteria In Test Tube
Researchers have determined that seven herbal medicines are highly active in test tubes against B. burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, compared to the control antibiotics, doxycycline and cefuroxime.
Published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine, the laboratory study was funded by the Bay Area Lyme Foundation and supported in part by The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and colleagues at the California Center for Functional Medicine and FOCUS Health Group, Naturopathic collaborated on the study.
Since traditional antibiotic approaches fail to resolve symptoms in up to 25% of patients treated for Lyme disease and many suffer disabling effects of the disease, there is a need for novel treatment proven effective against B. burgdorferi, said the papers co-author Sunjya K. Schweig, MD, CEO and co-director, California Center for Functional Medicine and Scientific Advisory Board Member, Bay Area Lyme Foundation.
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Three Kill Lyme And Any Other Infection
Foundational supplements should be taken for months and could be taken indefinitely. They provide the body with a foundation of the minerals and vitamins and other nutrients needed so that, along with the right diet, the body remains at peak performance, able to fend off new invaders and rid itself of any current infection and toxins.
For those on a tight budget, looking for a stopping point, I recommend completing the first phase of the protocol and then always having on hand the activated charcoal and the SF722. If affordable, add the Total Nutrition Formula and the Fish oil as well, and take every day for a year. A lack of nutrition or an abundance of toxins at any time before the Lyme bacteria is completely eliminated will likely result in resurgence of infection along with renewed symptoms. For most people, a very strict diet and just a few supplements will eventually rid the body of any and all Lyme.
Foundational Supplements
Anti-microbial and Immune Boosting Supplements
How I’m Feeling Now
Now, about a year and a half after beginning this holistic road to recovery, I feel pretty damn good. Of course, I still have periods when I notice my aches and pains cropping up, but now I have the knowledge to begin addressing them quickly so they don’t spiral out of control.
One of the most valuable things I’ve learned from my holistic doctor is that healing from Lyme is an ongoing process, and it cannot happen with one isolated drug, supplement, or therapy. It requires tuning in to your body and adopting a variety of health-promoting strategies that, together, strengthen and protect the immune system so it can keep harmful pathogens in check.
But all that said, I actually don’t regret my initial antibiotic treatment. Because it was so effective for a period of time, it helped confirm that what I was dealing with was, in fact, Lyme disease. And although this theory isn’t science-backed, part of me feels like I needed the “big guns” to get over the initial hump since my symptoms were so all-consuming. All in all, they were a valuable first step in my personal healing journey, but everyone’s journey is different.
And no matter how hard things get, know that once-hopeless people like me have gotten better. It takes time, but it can happen, and it may not be the exact same protocol that worked for me. So keep tuning in to your body, prioritizing your needs, and being your own advocate until you find an approach that works for you.
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Banderol And Cats Claw
“These two herbs are commonly dosed together because they work synergistically with clinically proven action against Borrelia species,” Greenspan says. “The goals with any treatment with Lyme disease spirochetes, whether chronic or acute, is to have a combination of herbs to be effective with the shape-shifting behavior of this microbe.”
What Are The Risk Factors For Post Treatment Lyme Disease
Risk factors for Post Treatment Lyme Disease include:
- Delay in diagnosis
- Increased severity of initial illness
- Presence of neurologic symptoms
Increased severity of initial illness, the presence of neurologic symptoms, and initial misdiagnosis increase the risk of Post Treatment Lyme Disease. PTLD is especially common in people that have had neurologic involvement. The rates of Post Treatment Lyme Disease after neurologic involvement may be as high as 20% or even higher. Other risk factors being investigated are genetic predispositions and immunologic variables.
In addition to Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, there are several other tick-borne co-infections that may also contribute to more prolonged and complicated illness.
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My Long Road To A Lyme Diagnosis
I could write a freakin’ book about my pre-diagnosis Lyme experience. Not to sound dramatic, but it was basically a nightmare playing out in slow motion. For your own sanity, I’ll give you the condensed version.
Personally, I don’t remember a tick bite, and like many Lyme sufferers, I never got the bull’s-eye rash or flu-like symptoms so often touted as “classic” signs of Lyme disease. Instead, my whole ordeal began with a sharp, stinging sensation in my left ankle after a day of walking in New York City, where I’d just begun my first “big girl” job. It hurt, but I didn’t think much of it, and about a week later I was told I had tendinitis that would resolve relatively quickly. But then my other ankle started to hurt, and after a few months, the pain extended to the bottoms of my feet, my knees, and even my arms. Sometimes it would feel like electric currents were running through my toes when I stood up. After a while, I began to question my tendinitis diagnosis, but after about five “second opinions” and countless tests , doctors had no real explanation for what was going on. In the words of one of my least favorite doctors, “There’s nothing else I can do for you.”
Natural Remedies To Tame The Fires
Eating a healthy diet, living in a clean environment, learning to live around stress, and staying active are all very important for keeping cells in your body healthy. However, the chemical substances in plants defined as herbs can take that protection to the next level. Taking herbs can give you the advantage that you need to overcome chronic inflammation and return to a normal life.
Plants must protect their cells from a wide range of stress factors: damaging free radicals, physical stress from harsh weather, toxic substances, harmful radiation, insects, invasive fungi, parasites, and, last but not least, every variety of microbe.
Plants do this with their own natural chemistry. In fact, plants are the most sophisticated chemists on the planet. The chemical substances that plants use to solve problems and protect cells are called phytochemicals.
Mushrooms, which are technically fungi, also have to deal with similar stress factors as plant. They also produce a wide range of protective substances that mirror the protective properties of phytochemicals found in plants.
When we consume plant phytochemicals, the benefits are transferred to us. The three primary things that phytochemicals do for us:
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Tobacco To Turn Off Ticks
Birds get ticks, too. The house finch has developed a strategy to fight ticks. A study in the Avian Biology journal has shown that breeding house finches use cigarette stubs to proof their nests. The nicotine wards off parasites, but sadly the neurotoxin can also have negative effects on the chicks.
Ticks a plague for humans and animals alike
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The Health Wyze Report
These pictures are courtesy of the C.D.C., and the University of California at Irvine.
For the sake of brevity, most of the research that we have compiled about Lyme disease is being omitted from this edition. The omissions include how Lyme disease is a U.S. Military bio-weapon that was accidentally released from the U.S.D.A. facility on Plum Island, as was the West Nile Virus, bird flu, swine flu, and others. By the time that you read this, we may have a thorough report online, or an audio show at our site, HealthWyze.org. You may read about the illegal germ warfare program, which dates back to Operation Paperclip, in the book, Lab 257.
Finding useful and credible information about Lyme disease is exceedingly difficult, because those who have done research are usually afraid to talk about their findings. Our research causes us to conclude that weaponized Lyme disease employs a genetically-modified hybrid of syphilis, like the one that was used in the infamous Tuskegee Experiment. It lives in a symbiotic relationship with microscopic parasites that it nourishes. This explains why the disease is so difficult to eradicate. Attacking only the virus without attacking the microscopic worms can enable them to flourish, reproduce, and to breed more of the viral component. Therefore, a two-pronged approach is needed to effectively cure Lyme disease. The virus and the parasite must be attacked at the same time.
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Essential Oils From Garlic And Other Herbs Kill Lyme Disease Bacterium
Oils from garlic and several other common herbs and medicinal plants show strong activity against the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, according to a study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. These oils may be especially useful in alleviating Lyme symptoms that persist despite standard antibiotic treatment, the study also suggests.
The study, published October 16 in the journal Antibiotics, included lab-dish tests of 35 essential oils–oils that are pressed from plants or their fruits and contain the plant’s main fragrance, or “essence.” The Bloomberg School researchers found that 10 of these, including oils from garlic cloves, myrrh trees, thyme leaves, cinnamon bark, allspice berries and cumin seeds, showed strong killing activity against dormant and slow-growing “persister” forms of the Lyme disease bacterium.
“We found that these essential oils were even better at killing the ‘persister’ forms of Lyme bacteria than standard Lyme antibiotics,” says study senior author Ying Zhang, MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Bloomberg School.
Oils from thyme leaves, cumin seeds and amyris wood also performed well, as did cinnamaldehyde, the fragrant main ingredient of cinnamon bark oil.
“At this stage these essential oils look very promising as candidate treatments for persistent Lyme infection, but ultimately we need properly designed clinical trials,” he says.
Two Standards Of Care For Lyme Disease Treatment
There is significant controversy in science, medicine, and public policy regarding Lyme disease. Two medical societies hold widely divergent views on the best approach to diagnosing and treating Lyme disease. The conflict makes it difficult for patients to be properly diagnosed and receive treatment.
One medical society, the Infectious Diseases Society of America , regards Lyme disease as hard to catch and easy to cure with a short course of antibiotics. IDSA claims that spirochetal infection cannot persist in the body after a short course of antibiotics. The group also denies the existence of chronic Lyme disease.
In contrast, the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society , regards Lyme disease as often difficult to diagnose and treat, resulting in persistent infection in many patients. ILADS recommends individualized treatment based on the severity of symptoms, the presence of tick-borne coinfections and patient response to treatment.
LDo believes that patients and their doctors should make Lyme disease treatment decisions together. This requires that patients be given sufficient information about the risks and benefits of different treatment options. Then, patient and health care provider can collaborate to reach an informed decision, based on the patients circumstances, beliefs and preferences.
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