Lyme Disease Treatments – Part 2

Part 1 covered the basics about Lyme disease treatments and the complexities that exist with it.  In part 2 I want to go over some of the natural and comprehensive lyme disease treatments that may be required in order to properly treat Lyme disease.

Antimicrobials

I briefly addressed antibiotics above, but for the majority of patients I use herbal antimicrobials such as Golden Thread, Melia supreme, Morinda Supreme, BFB-1 and BFB-2. (All of which you can purchase in my office.) The BFBs are often needed to fight biofilms that develop and protect the Lyme infection from being treated. Also, certain forms of Lyme infections can create their own biofilms.

The need to treat co-infections with antimicrobials (natural antibiotics) is more common than not when it comes to effectively treating Lyme disease. Applied Kinesiology (manual muscle testing) in my opinion is the best way to make sure that you are finding all co-infections that can be impacting your health and making it difficult to overcome Lyme disease.

Nutrition and Lifestyle Factors

As my practice is primarily patients that have tried and failed care elsewhere, almost all cases require dietary intervention. The intervention may be temporary, but nevertheless it is critical for any difficult condition. The diet is specific to whether you have a virus, bacteria, parasite or fungal infection.

With Lyme disease in order to address the root causes of infection, you have to eliminate the stressors you put on yourself, specifically diet. Also when dealing with a fungal co-infection, sugars in the diet actually feed the fungi allowing them to live and grow.

For any infection or “bug”, avoidance of sugar can speed the process.   A proper diet of unprocessed meats, fruits, vegetables and healthy fats is important. In addition to providing the most nutrition for healing following a strict diet will decrease inflammation and reduce if not eliminate many symptoms associated with Lyme disease.

Diet is the largest stressor in most people’s life and next comes stress from home or work and then sleep. We don’t just go and take a pill to decrease stress or make us sleep but rather its important to look for root causes that are causing symptoms.

Detoxification

Heavy metal detoxification can be important for those that have contracted Lyme disease. I feel that the real reason why you see such a surge in Lyme disease has little to do with its prevalence in ticks but rather the health of our nation as individuals. I don’t like to call people unhealthy, but for example if you were fighting off a minor cold and then got bit by a tick, you would be more likely to contract Lyme disease. The same could be said about training too hard or having too much stress, it makes us susceptible to other conditions. Thus, assessing a predisposing metal toxicity situation is important to check for.

Liver detoxification is critical for treating toxins we ingest as well as toxins created by infection. In addition most prescription and OTC medications stress the liver. As the liver gets more and more stressed, the body is unable to detoxify properly and even more symptoms arise.   I use specific nutrients to support the major pathways of sulfation, methylation and glucuronidation to support proper liver detoxification.

Immune Support

The recent surge in autoimmune conditions is largely a reflection of our immune systems health. Making sure the immune defense system isn’t overactive or underactive is important to ensure a proper immune response. The TH1 and TH2 systems need to be supported and more often balanced, in order to allow the immune system to properly fight off infection.

Inflammation & Pain

Inflammation is at the root of almost all conditions. In Lyme disease, decreasing inflammation is associated with relief of multiple systemic symptoms. Cytokines are inflammatory chemicals that can get into the brain and cause symptoms like anxiety or depression. A healthy diet is the first way to address inflammation. An unhealthy diet promotes inflammation while a healthy diet can decrease inflammation. This is why things like fish oil, cod liver oil and other healthy fats provide relief or benefit in so many people.

There are a number of herbs and remedies that can be used to decrease inflammation, but a healthy diet combined with high dose sesame seed oil is usually what I find people need in my office. This year, high quality butter has proven to be very beneficial for many patients also.

**Sometimes probiotics can be contraindicated with certain individuals. This is because the byproducts of the “good” bacteria can actually feed the “bad” bacteria. Probiotics in general have been considered to be beneficial for everyone, but in certain circumstances they can actually hinder the process you are trying to achieve.

Digestive Complaints

Digestive complaints in patients with Lyme disease can stem from borrelia itself or from a co-infection. Dysbiosis is one of my most common findings in all of my patients and with Lyme disease it is no exception.

Once Lyme is contracted many opportunistic infections can start to find a new home also. Things like intestinal parasites, Yeast and H. pylori can take hold once the immune system is down and the opportunity presents itself.

Most infections that affect the digestive tract also decrease stomach acid, leading to acid reflux or difficulty digesting food.

Mold Toxicity

Mold and fungus can release dangerous neurotoxins. These toxins can affect your immune system and your nervous system function. Mold toxins or mycotoxins can contribute to symptoms in combination with Lyme disease or they can create problems without Lyme disease.

If a patient thinks they are being exposed to these toxins we have patients bring in a mason jar with air from their home or office where they might be getting exposed.

Hormone Imbalances

Chronic illness will frequently lead to adrenal stress. The adrenal glands play a large role in maintaining hormonal balance and when they are under additional stress they are unable to maintain all of their varying tasks.

One of the primary symptoms of Lyme disease is extreme fatigue. Often times thyroid function may be blamed, but treating the thyroid without first looking at root causes and the adrenals is less effective.

Night sweats often caused by both low progesterone and Lyme disease can be confusing in females as it can be due to either. You can have low progesterone due to Lyme disease, low progesterone not due to Lyme or regular levels of progesterone and have night sweats due to Lyme disease.

Conclusion

In conclusion, you can see how complicated Lyme disease can get. If you are trying to treat it at home it can turn into a giant guessing game and if you go the traditional route, you are likely only looking at one piece of the treatment pie.

A truly holistic approach addresses the digestive, detoxification, hormonal and immune systems and more importantly, how they are working or not working together.