Nov 2008
Dr. Oz interviews Under Our Skin filmmaker
// Filed in: Lyme Disease in the news
We received a flood of comments about Oprah's interest in Lyme disease. She's listening! And now there's someone you'll want to listen to as well.
You can hear Oprah's Dr. Oz this week on XM Radio as he interviews filmmaker Andy Abrahams Wilson, whose Lyme documentary Under Our Skin is helping turn the tide of attention toward this controversial and misunderstood disease.
The show airs Wednesday, November 26th at 1 a.m. 7 a.m. and 6 pm EST. Oprah and Friends producers say people who don’t subscribe to the satellite radio can also listen by going to https://www.oprah.com/radio and clicking on the “Free 30 Day XM Radio Trial.” Register and you can listen online.
You can hear Oprah's Dr. Oz this week on XM Radio as he interviews filmmaker Andy Abrahams Wilson, whose Lyme documentary Under Our Skin is helping turn the tide of attention toward this controversial and misunderstood disease.
The show airs Wednesday, November 26th at 1 a.m. 7 a.m. and 6 pm EST. Oprah and Friends producers say people who don’t subscribe to the satellite radio can also listen by going to https://www.oprah.com/radio and clicking on the “Free 30 Day XM Radio Trial.” Register and you can listen online.
HBOT for Lyme
// Filed in: Lyme Disease Treatment
Like many serious diseases, Lyme disease causes an oxygen deficiency. One very distressing symptom is often called "air hunger," and it can make you feel like a fish out of water. No matter how deeply you breathe, you just can't seem to get enough air.
Increasing the available oxygen is a must for healing. Any sort of exercise that increases your oxygen intake seems to be invaluable for beating Lyme, and most of the people I've interviewed who are healing or healed from Lyme engage regularly in physical exercise, activities ranging from brisk walking, running to swimming and vigorous biking.
Some people use Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy as an adjunctive Lyme treatment. HBOT administers oxygen at high atmospheric pressure, saturating the body with oxygen and increasing the total available amount. To receive a treatment, you climb into a chamber where pure oxygen is delivered at three times the normal atmospheric pressure.
Among US doctors, HBOT is controversial, although it has been commonly used for many years to treat burns, injuries from car accidents, carbon monoxide poisoning, smoke inhalation and other sorts of trauma. It has also proven valuable in treating people with AIDS and HIV, and others who suffer from opportunistic infections resulting from immuno-suppression.
HBOT is widely used in Europe and other countries to treat people suffering with multiple sclerosis, those who are recovering from strokes, and people suffering from drug and alcohol addiction. Although HBOT is still controversial in the US, it is gaining acceptance and used by conventional and alternative doctors.
Have you used HBOT as an adjunctive Lyme treatment? If so, I'd love to hear about your results. Please drop me a line.
Increasing the available oxygen is a must for healing. Any sort of exercise that increases your oxygen intake seems to be invaluable for beating Lyme, and most of the people I've interviewed who are healing or healed from Lyme engage regularly in physical exercise, activities ranging from brisk walking, running to swimming and vigorous biking.
Some people use Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy as an adjunctive Lyme treatment. HBOT administers oxygen at high atmospheric pressure, saturating the body with oxygen and increasing the total available amount. To receive a treatment, you climb into a chamber where pure oxygen is delivered at three times the normal atmospheric pressure.
Among US doctors, HBOT is controversial, although it has been commonly used for many years to treat burns, injuries from car accidents, carbon monoxide poisoning, smoke inhalation and other sorts of trauma. It has also proven valuable in treating people with AIDS and HIV, and others who suffer from opportunistic infections resulting from immuno-suppression.
HBOT is widely used in Europe and other countries to treat people suffering with multiple sclerosis, those who are recovering from strokes, and people suffering from drug and alcohol addiction. Although HBOT is still controversial in the US, it is gaining acceptance and used by conventional and alternative doctors.
Have you used HBOT as an adjunctive Lyme treatment? If so, I'd love to hear about your results. Please drop me a line.
Lyme documentary filmmaker's speech
// Filed in: Lyme Disease in the news
When filmmaker Andy Abrahams Wilson began making his Lyme documentary, Under Our Skin, he was driven by compassion and curiosity, two potent characteristics that led him to uncover the stories of many people who were struggling in silence. By winning the Vision of Hope Award from the prestigious Turn the Corner Foundation, Andy hopes the film will lend its weight to the collective tipping point needed to bring Lyme disease to the forefront of public awareness.
"My being was changed irrevocably by what I witnessed: suffering, injustice, and deafening silence. And above all: the courage of so many to persevere, to fight for life amidst the eclipse of light: the pain, fear, loneliness, and the mantra ‘It’s all in your head,’ " he says.
Read the full text of Andy Abrahams Wilson's acceptance speech for his Vision of Hope award on the Under Our Skin blog.
"My being was changed irrevocably by what I witnessed: suffering, injustice, and deafening silence. And above all: the courage of so many to persevere, to fight for life amidst the eclipse of light: the pain, fear, loneliness, and the mantra ‘It’s all in your head,’ " he says.
Read the full text of Andy Abrahams Wilson's acceptance speech for his Vision of Hope award on the Under Our Skin blog.
Joe's Lyme success story
// Filed in: Lyme Success Story
"I beat Lyme. I'd like to share my story," wrote Joe. To someone hurting with Lyme symptoms, could there be any sweeter words than those?
Joe's story filled me with inspiration. "Don't give up hope," he says, and he should know.
Although he now resides in Europe, he grew up in a region of the US where ticks are a part of everyday life, especially for a kid with a dog. Sick during his childhood with mysterious symptoms that he was eventually told he had outgrown, he struggled with chronic pain many years later. After a vacation in Barcelona, he became very ill and dragged himself from doctor to doctor, as one after another refused to treat him for Lyme. He was desperate and suicidal during the roughest period, which lasted six years. At the end of that time he discovered a newly established Lyme treatment clinic in Germany, the Borreliose Centrum Augsburg, and his life took a dramatic turn for the better.
At the clinic, his recovery from Lyme officially began. He was placed on three months of IV antibiotics, but not a "cocktail" blend that some US Lyme doctors use. Immediately, he began feeling better. In addition to antibiotics, doctors at the clinic engaged him in several types of the supporting therapies, including infrared and oxygen treatments. He also uses the powerful herbal therapies from Stephen Buhner's book, Healing Lyme.
Today, Joe has returned to the working world. The terrible six year period now seems surreal to him. "It's an intense pain that doesn't go away, and nobody can understand it," he says. "It's confusing for the person who has it, trying to explain it to their friends and their employers."
Joe feels strongly that people who heal from Lyme should follow up with their doctors, so medical professionals can better track which Lyme treatments are working, and which are not. He has talked to doctors who tell him that often patients leave their care and never update the doctors about their condition. Unfortunately, it's easy to find stories of people suffering from Lyme disease, yet less common to hear about those who are healing and engaged in vital and productive lives again. There's plenty of bad news on the web. This is why we collect and share success stories.
LDRD members, listen to Joe tell his success story here. And please keep your eye out for an upcoming interview with Joe's doctors at the Borreliose Centrum Augsburg.
LDRD members can listen to the interview with Joe by logging in. Learn more about becoming a member.
Joe's story filled me with inspiration. "Don't give up hope," he says, and he should know.
Although he now resides in Europe, he grew up in a region of the US where ticks are a part of everyday life, especially for a kid with a dog. Sick during his childhood with mysterious symptoms that he was eventually told he had outgrown, he struggled with chronic pain many years later. After a vacation in Barcelona, he became very ill and dragged himself from doctor to doctor, as one after another refused to treat him for Lyme. He was desperate and suicidal during the roughest period, which lasted six years. At the end of that time he discovered a newly established Lyme treatment clinic in Germany, the Borreliose Centrum Augsburg, and his life took a dramatic turn for the better.
At the clinic, his recovery from Lyme officially began. He was placed on three months of IV antibiotics, but not a "cocktail" blend that some US Lyme doctors use. Immediately, he began feeling better. In addition to antibiotics, doctors at the clinic engaged him in several types of the supporting therapies, including infrared and oxygen treatments. He also uses the powerful herbal therapies from Stephen Buhner's book, Healing Lyme.
Today, Joe has returned to the working world. The terrible six year period now seems surreal to him. "It's an intense pain that doesn't go away, and nobody can understand it," he says. "It's confusing for the person who has it, trying to explain it to their friends and their employers."
Joe feels strongly that people who heal from Lyme should follow up with their doctors, so medical professionals can better track which Lyme treatments are working, and which are not. He has talked to doctors who tell him that often patients leave their care and never update the doctors about their condition. Unfortunately, it's easy to find stories of people suffering from Lyme disease, yet less common to hear about those who are healing and engaged in vital and productive lives again. There's plenty of bad news on the web. This is why we collect and share success stories.
LDRD members, listen to Joe tell his success story here. And please keep your eye out for an upcoming interview with Joe's doctors at the Borreliose Centrum Augsburg.
LDRD members can listen to the interview with Joe by logging in. Learn more about becoming a member.
Under Our Skin filmmaker honored
// Filed in: Lyme Disease in the news
Congratulations to filmmaker Andy Abrahams Wilson, who is being honored this week at a Turn the Corner Foundation event in New York City. Andy's heartwrenching and eye-opening documentary film, Under Our Skin, exposes the medical establishment's frequent dismissal of people suffering with Lyme.
From the press release: Turn the Corner will present the Vision of Hope Award to Andy Abrahams Wilson, Producer/Director of Under Our Skin, a film that investigates the shocking human, medical and political dimensions of Lyme disease, for his efforts to raise awareness for chronic Lyme disease. Leading Lyme-literate physician, Bernard D. Raxlen, MD, will receive the Humanitarian Award for his dedication to treating patients with tick-borne diseases, including Lyme.
"TTC is doing important work for the Lyme community, and has been a great force behind Under Our Skin," said Andy Abrahams Wilson. "Thanks to our joint efforts, the mainstream medical establishment can no longer ignore or marginalize chronic Lyme disease and its sufferers."
Andy is a featured expert in the LDRD's interview series.