Lyme Disease

Also known as the great imposter, Lyme bacteria is a spiral shaped pathogen that can reak havoc in the body.

How Lyme Disease Happens

Lyme Disease can be transmitted from an infected tick carrying the bacteria, a mosquito and possibly even sexually through semen. For this reason Lyme Disease is considered an unrealized epidemic. While it is true that many people can be carriers without having symptoms, a Lyme infection can tip the scales within any healthy immune system at any time through the course of a lifetime.

What does the Lyme bacteria do in the body

Once the bacteria is in the body it multiplies by incubating cists within the cells and hatching into adult form migrating into deeper tissues. Depending on where the migration occurs a Lyme infection can produce a variety of symptoms and complex problems.

Symptoms of Lyme Disease

Symptoms of Lyme Disease can vary from pain, muscular weakness, digestive problems or nerve damage. In fact, the symptoms are so varied that it is often called "the great imposter." With such a variety of symptoms it is no wonder that Lyme Disease is overlooked or misdiagnosed.

However, this does not make it innocuous. If we leave our health in the hands of the medical community that may not have our best interest at heart, then we become victims of both the system and the disease.

Lyme Disease misdiagnosed

Lyme Disease in Canada is under-reported and misdiagnosed probably more than 90% of the cases. Because our diagnostic techniques are insufficient and inferior it can be misdiagnosed as dozens of other illnesses such as arthritis, fibromyalgia, MS, chronic fatigue, ALS, and so on.

When an illness is misdiagnosed it is impossible to treat effectively or efficiently. If it is not diagnosed it will not get better on its own even though treatment for Lyme Disease does exist.

Lyme Disease is often misdiagnosed as fibromialgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, MS, ALS, arthritis, and a host of other debilitating maladies causing pain, hearing loss, vision loss skin disorders and a variety of neurologial symptoms.

Because the testing for the Lyme bacteria is rarely done, and even when it is it is rarely done accurately, it is difficult to diagnose the problem and Lyme can go undetected or misdiagnosed for years or even a lifetime. With Lyme bacteria in the body the immune system begins to work overtime in trying to control and eradicate it from the body. Because it hides out within the cells however it becomes impossible over time for the immune system to detect let alone kill the infection.

When free floating in the system, the immune system can not attempt to maintain the upper hand although over time the number of bacteria in the body increases and the volume of bacteria begins to migrate deeper and deeper into the bodily tissues. Once in the nervous system and the brain, Lyme begins to overtake the neuronal cells severly impairing and killing there function.

Within the brain and spinal cord Lyme is essentially impossible to detect. On this level killing the infection becomes a near impossible feat. There are several approaches to controlling and killing the infection but once at this level a strong arsenal is required to keep the infection at bay.

How to treat Lyme Disease

Early on Lyme can be killed with antibiotics or alternate methods such as a rife machine, herbal medicine and homeopathics but these methods become less effective the longer the infection remains in the body.

Some doctors who specialize in Lyme disease claim the only effective way to eradicating the bacteria after a long period of time is with long term megadose antibiotics. Very few doctors will prescribe this protocol however and finding a doctor who knows what they are doing is one of the bigger hurdles in overcoming Lyme disease.

Within Canada it is against the law to prescribe long term high dose antibiotics although some are beginning to consider that a longer term low dose protocol may be an effective legal alternative option. Because Lyme bacteria are extremely virilent and adaptive, changing up the protocol is necessary over several years if you are to have a successful eradication.

When extreme measures such as this are necessary in a typical chronic diagnosis, the cure can often be more challenging and difficult than the disease itself. Riding through the Herkximer reactions and bacterial die-off can amplify the original symptoms and frighten people into backing off of their pursuit. Supporting the body through the process is an integral part of healing so knowing what to do, how to do it and when to do it must be researched and understood.

Currently the best and most accurate testing is done through Igenix a medical lab in the state of California. Through their method they can detect even a shadow of Lyme giving some indication of the severity of the infection. Although false positives are possible it is more likely that false negatives will be given. Even if your test comes back negative, if there is any hint of antibody detected it is wise to begin a course of treatment which will then trigger a Lyme reaction allowing it to be more easily detected during the next test.

Because the current mindset around Lyme disease is so narrow and restricted, and because the testing is rarely suggested or effective even when it is suggested, anyone with a chronic disfunction in the body would be wise to take matters into their own hands and contact a doctor who does testing through the Igenix labratory.

Choosing a course of action at that point should be individualized. If the infection is early, quite possibly alternate methods can be effective. Once chronic however, alternative methods may only offer up to 65% effectiveness and should be coupled with some form of long term antibiotic therapy. Monitoring your progress along the way can be done by blood tests or even with dark field analysis. A proper microscope is required for this however and the blood must be analyzed while still live, freshly pricked from a finger.

Noticing a diminishing number of bacteria in the live blood however is only an indication of where the disease process is at. Killing Lyme from the blood occurs first and if infection is in the deeper tissue, treatment must continue long after any signs of Lyme in the blood are seen.

Pulling Lyme from the deeper tissue is a long and difficult process and must be pursued patiently and with care. Overwhelming the body is a distinct possibility that must be monitored and avoided. Feeding the body without feeding the Lyme and killing the Lyme without killing the body is a delicate balance.

Understanding that heavy metal poisoning is often concurrent with Lyme disease is a key piece to the Lyme disease puzzle. Managing Lyme disease with the co- infections that often accompany it must be synchronized with heavy metal detoxification if these are indeed detected in the body. Correct timing and procedure are necessary to avoid undue stress on an already overburdened body.

Lyme and ALS

It is important to remember that no one really knows what causes ALS or even what it is beyond the basic mechanics of the motor nerves failing, so there is a lot of grey area when it comes to its diagnosis. Furthermore, because medical systems and doctors are both imperfect, mistakes can be made. It is important to look more closely at what is going on in the body and not get lost in the bigger picture of a diagnosis.

Both Lyme Disease and heavy metal poisoning are sometimes mistakenly called ALS and lumped into a mysterious illness without treatment or a cure when in fact both are treatable and curable. Jumping to conclusions before analyzing all possible data can end a persons life prematurely.

Unfortunately, within the medical system and particularly the Canadian medical system where both Lyme Disease and heavy metal poisoning are not recognized and almost never diagnosed this tragic reality occurs more often than people realize.

Taking our health into our own hands is critical to ensure we are not lumped into a box, and set aside as terminal when the complexity of our illness falls outside the scope of allopathic medicine.

 

coming soon....

What To Do When It Happens

More about heavy metal poisoning

More on how lyme works with metal to destroy and hijack the body.

Links for doctors that deal with Lyme in Vancouver and Missouri