treatment
What’s missing in Lyme treatment?
// Filed in: Lyme Disease Treatment
Healing chronic Lyme means you have to think like a private investigator. Yep, even when your brain fog rolls as thick as on a San Francisco street.
Private investigators solve mysteries. You want to solve the mystery of good health. How should you start?
Ask questions.
Let’s say you’re in pain. You go to an MD. What happens?
After a physical exam, you may walk out of there with a prescription for pharmaceutical painkillers.
The drugs may ease the pain for awhile. However, locating the origin of pain can be tricky. And if the source hasn’t been diagnosed or addressed, pills can only hide it temporarily and it may come back. In some cases, pharmaceuticals can even make it worse.
What then?
You might look further afield. Pain is motivating — which may be its only merit, but it’s a goodie.
You might turn to alternative treatments, seeking out an acupuncturist, herbalist, or a traditional Chinese Medicine doctor.
The MD offered one choice: pharmaceuticals. The acupuncturist, herbalist, and TCMD offered three more choices and possibly some pain relief without drugs.
What are the missing keys in Lyme treatment?
Standard treatments for Lyme cover one dimension: Kill the bug with antibiotics. If that worked for everyone all the time, there would be no need for further discussion. But it doesn’t.
Lyme patients who still aren’t healthy and continue to suffer from symptoms after completing a course of antibiotics might want to ask their doctors lots of questions.
For starters, let’s ask what else besides antibiotic treatment might be helpful? Diet and exercise aren’t generally addressed.
Most MDs don’t study nutrition, so they don’t consider it a factor in healing. However you might land in the office of a doctor with nutritional expertise. There are exceptions, because of overwhelming evidence that what you eat does play a role — a big role, in health and healing.
Or you might find a more holistic doctor, with knowledge that movement and physical exercise—even if only one brief walk per day—helps detox your lymphatic system, which is critical to recovery.
In that case, you’ve got a doctor with a wider perspective on Lyme treatment. You are encouraged to become more proactive in your own recovery. And that could be the moment you turn the tide toward wellness.
What other dimensions are missing?
For further reading see the 4 Paths to Beating Lyme
Actively healing from Lyme
// Filed in: Lyme Disease Treatment
“The more you see, the more you care. The more you care, the more you participate.”
-- Diane Hamilton
As a supporter of a multi-faceted approach to healing chronic Lyme, I try to read widely and
consider many different types of advice from a wide range of teachers and experts. The quote
above is from one of my meditation teachers. She is referring to the benefit of developing
the ability to see more perspectives. To see is to acknowledge and recognize the value in a
perspective that may be different from one we normally take.
I think this is valuable advice, particularly in light of Lyme treatment where so much contention
divides doctors, limiting their points of view instead of expanding them. Does it have to come
down to “either/or” choices between Western medicine and natural or alternative therapies?
Or can we embrace a healthy “both/and” perspective to include whatever works best for each
individual?
What works for one of us may not work for another. Further, what works at one stage may
not be best for another stage. In my own case, it’s taken some careful experimenting to find
out what works. For example, I began treatment on what used to be known as an “antibiotic
cocktail,” which included several different strong antibiotics administered orally for at least six
months. But when I couldn’t afford to continue, I started the r Cowden's updated Lyme protocol">Cowden protocol. I stayed on that
for about three years. I switched to Teasel root extract after that. And now, I take a handful of
supplements every morning and remain stable and healthy.
But the key to my current state of good health, I’m convinced, is that multi-faceted approach. I
am devoted to strengthening my body as well as stretching it, so I do strength training exercises
as well as yoga. I cured a frozen shoulder using these exercises a few years ago, when most of
my Lyme symptoms were well on their way out. I knew another woman at the time who suffered
from the same painful condition in her shoulder. She was able to afford treatments administered
by a chiropractor, who used electricity to break up the adhesions. She regained use of her arm
about a year into treatment. My arms continue to get stronger and feel fine, all through simple
push-ups and yoga. We both got the treatment we needed. Hers was passive. Mine was active.
When we do whatever we can to help ourselves heal, we become stronger and more aware.
Our healing is not only in the hands of the doctors, although I thank god for good doctors
every day. It’s in our own hands as well. It isn’t an either/or situation. It’s a both/and. Trust your
instinct. Read tons. Use every approach you can think of, diet, exercise, meditation, study,
medicines -- prescription and/or complementary or alternative.
In the New Year, let’s continue to use all our awareness to develop a more comprehensive path
of healing from Lyme at any stage. Let’s see more perspectives, allow ourselves to care more
deeply, and participate more vigorously in our own healing.
-- Diane Hamilton
As a supporter of a multi-faceted approach to healing chronic Lyme, I try to read widely and
consider many different types of advice from a wide range of teachers and experts. The quote
above is from one of my meditation teachers. She is referring to the benefit of developing
the ability to see more perspectives. To see is to acknowledge and recognize the value in a
perspective that may be different from one we normally take.
I think this is valuable advice, particularly in light of Lyme treatment where so much contention
divides doctors, limiting their points of view instead of expanding them. Does it have to come
down to “either/or” choices between Western medicine and natural or alternative therapies?
Or can we embrace a healthy “both/and” perspective to include whatever works best for each
individual?
What works for one of us may not work for another. Further, what works at one stage may
not be best for another stage. In my own case, it’s taken some careful experimenting to find
out what works. For example, I began treatment on what used to be known as an “antibiotic
cocktail,” which included several different strong antibiotics administered orally for at least six
months. But when I couldn’t afford to continue, I started the r Cowden's updated Lyme protocol">Cowden protocol. I stayed on that
for about three years. I switched to Teasel root extract after that. And now, I take a handful of
supplements every morning and remain stable and healthy.
But the key to my current state of good health, I’m convinced, is that multi-faceted approach. I
am devoted to strengthening my body as well as stretching it, so I do strength training exercises
as well as yoga. I cured a frozen shoulder using these exercises a few years ago, when most of
my Lyme symptoms were well on their way out. I knew another woman at the time who suffered
from the same painful condition in her shoulder. She was able to afford treatments administered
by a chiropractor, who used electricity to break up the adhesions. She regained use of her arm
about a year into treatment. My arms continue to get stronger and feel fine, all through simple
push-ups and yoga. We both got the treatment we needed. Hers was passive. Mine was active.
When we do whatever we can to help ourselves heal, we become stronger and more aware.
Our healing is not only in the hands of the doctors, although I thank god for good doctors
every day. It’s in our own hands as well. It isn’t an either/or situation. It’s a both/and. Trust your
instinct. Read tons. Use every approach you can think of, diet, exercise, meditation, study,
medicines -- prescription and/or complementary or alternative.
In the New Year, let’s continue to use all our awareness to develop a more comprehensive path
of healing from Lyme at any stage. Let’s see more perspectives, allow ourselves to care more
deeply, and participate more vigorously in our own healing.
How much is too much exercise for Lyme patients?
// Filed in: Lyme Disease Treatment|Lyme Disease Symptoms|Lyme Disease Prevention|Lyme Disease Bacteria
We take a cross-training approach to healing from Lyme. This includes body, mind, spirit and shadow (psychological) exercises. Some Lyme patients are just too weak, especially in the first stage, to address the needed physical exercise. Indeed at times it is not wise, if you are dizzy or otherwise debilitated. But there comes a time when you really just have to move that body! I know from experience.
Anaerobic exercise, such as stretching, sprinting and weightlifting, can help you heal from Lyme disease. But don’t overdo the aerobics, according to Dr. Joseph Burrascano and other Lyme experts. They say that too much aerobic exercise, such as walking, jogging, jumping rope and skipping, can be detrimental.
One reason is that vigorous jogging or other aerobics open up the blood-brain barrier, allowing more Borrelia bacteria to enter the brain. Too much, too fast aerobic exercise can also deplete the adrenals and decrease the specialized cells that are part of the body’s immune system, the T-cells. T-cells are the highly skilled militia of the immune system. They hunt and destroy invading bacteria. They also alert other cells to do their jobs. The adrenals can be depleted by the low-grade, ongoing stress of chronic illness, by not getting enough sleep, and in many other ways.
Tai chi and gentle yoga, chi gong, and other Eastern body-mind-spirit exercises are very beneficial. Depending on the style of each of these practices, they are considered anaerobic. Mindful stretching as you get out of bed in the morning can warm up your muscles and make you feel a smidge better. If you’re not feeling up to snuff, but want to do something, simply take a few slow, deep breaths. Breathing from the diagram can relax and bring your body and mind into harmony.
I’ve gotten hooked on yoga this year, and finally made it a habit. I’m also a big fan of using the breath for relaxation, and finishing with a meditation.
What is your exercise routine? Have you ever overdone it?
Anaerobic exercise, such as stretching, sprinting and weightlifting, can help you heal from Lyme disease. But don’t overdo the aerobics, according to Dr. Joseph Burrascano and other Lyme experts. They say that too much aerobic exercise, such as walking, jogging, jumping rope and skipping, can be detrimental.
One reason is that vigorous jogging or other aerobics open up the blood-brain barrier, allowing more Borrelia bacteria to enter the brain. Too much, too fast aerobic exercise can also deplete the adrenals and decrease the specialized cells that are part of the body’s immune system, the T-cells. T-cells are the highly skilled militia of the immune system. They hunt and destroy invading bacteria. They also alert other cells to do their jobs. The adrenals can be depleted by the low-grade, ongoing stress of chronic illness, by not getting enough sleep, and in many other ways.
Tai chi and gentle yoga, chi gong, and other Eastern body-mind-spirit exercises are very beneficial. Depending on the style of each of these practices, they are considered anaerobic. Mindful stretching as you get out of bed in the morning can warm up your muscles and make you feel a smidge better. If you’re not feeling up to snuff, but want to do something, simply take a few slow, deep breaths. Breathing from the diagram can relax and bring your body and mind into harmony.
I’ve gotten hooked on yoga this year, and finally made it a habit. I’m also a big fan of using the breath for relaxation, and finishing with a meditation.
What is your exercise routine? Have you ever overdone it?
Rethinking Lyme disease treatments
Whenever somebody else talks about their battle with Lyme, whether it’s about the symptoms, diagnosis, or treatment itself, I get a deep sense of validation. It’s a mixture of relief that I’m not crazy and empathy for the person who went through a hell-realm that I know intimately. My dad’s generation called these foxhole tales, shared experiences while hiding from a hostile enemy.
Celebrities’ stories have a potent affect on our collective notions about disease. When someone famous for car racing or acting or novel writing, or when the President of the US (GW Bush) has fought and defeated the same powerful foe as we have, we want to know their stories. We may not be equal in status but we’re equally brought to our knees by the Lyme bacteria. Hearing their stories about dealing with Lyme might trigger an idea that works, or give us strength to try a new approach.
Parker Posey was diagnosed with Lyme disease in February 2009 and received the standard IDSA Lyme treatment of antibiotics. After completing the round of antibiotics and experiencing a return of her symptoms, she decided not to continue on a second round and instead turned to a holistic approach involving detoxification, diet and supplements. Her experience led to her involvement with a documentary film by rethinkingcancer.org, the story of five cancer patients and one person with Lyme disease who all made the decision to treat their diseases through alternative means, and who have all lived years beyond the time their doctors predicted.
Posey asks: “How can a natural approach to healing oneself be considered so unconventional? Why do we think we can't play an active role in getting healthy? Why do we give ourselves away so easily to pharmaceuticals that deplete our system and confuse the natural healing process?”
Lyme patient David Walant has been free of Lyme for 20 years. Listen to him in this brief clip from the webpage of rethinkingcancer.org.
Karen Allen, who played opposite Jeff Bridges in Starman, was interviewed in 2010 on the blog, Macrobiotic Adventures, about her difficult journey through Lyme disease and back to health. Her story is familiar to almost everyone with Lyme, it’s a series of tortuous misdiagnoses and failed cures, and then finally a way through the pain and confusion and back to a normal, creative life. The interview is fairly long, but very intriguing. Karen talks about her dynamic healing experience with the parasite zapper invented by Canadian Dr. Hulda Clark.
I hope you find these clips inspiring, as I have. Remember you are not alone and you’re not crazy. Change your diet if you think it will benefit you. Change your sedentary life and exercise every single day. Stay limber, stretch and relax daily, and surround yourself with loving friends. It’s your life and it’s worth every precious moment you have to get well.
Celebrities’ stories have a potent affect on our collective notions about disease. When someone famous for car racing or acting or novel writing, or when the President of the US (GW Bush) has fought and defeated the same powerful foe as we have, we want to know their stories. We may not be equal in status but we’re equally brought to our knees by the Lyme bacteria. Hearing their stories about dealing with Lyme might trigger an idea that works, or give us strength to try a new approach.
Parker Posey was diagnosed with Lyme disease in February 2009 and received the standard IDSA Lyme treatment of antibiotics. After completing the round of antibiotics and experiencing a return of her symptoms, she decided not to continue on a second round and instead turned to a holistic approach involving detoxification, diet and supplements. Her experience led to her involvement with a documentary film by rethinkingcancer.org, the story of five cancer patients and one person with Lyme disease who all made the decision to treat their diseases through alternative means, and who have all lived years beyond the time their doctors predicted.
Posey asks: “How can a natural approach to healing oneself be considered so unconventional? Why do we think we can't play an active role in getting healthy? Why do we give ourselves away so easily to pharmaceuticals that deplete our system and confuse the natural healing process?”
Lyme patient David Walant has been free of Lyme for 20 years. Listen to him in this brief clip from the webpage of rethinkingcancer.org.
Karen Allen, who played opposite Jeff Bridges in Starman, was interviewed in 2010 on the blog, Macrobiotic Adventures, about her difficult journey through Lyme disease and back to health. Her story is familiar to almost everyone with Lyme, it’s a series of tortuous misdiagnoses and failed cures, and then finally a way through the pain and confusion and back to a normal, creative life. The interview is fairly long, but very intriguing. Karen talks about her dynamic healing experience with the parasite zapper invented by Canadian Dr. Hulda Clark.
I hope you find these clips inspiring, as I have. Remember you are not alone and you’re not crazy. Change your diet if you think it will benefit you. Change your sedentary life and exercise every single day. Stay limber, stretch and relax daily, and surround yourself with loving friends. It’s your life and it’s worth every precious moment you have to get well.
Wanted: YOU to live a healthy post-Lyme life
// Filed in: Lyme Disease Treatment|Chronic Lyme Disease|Lyme Disease Diagnosis|Lyme Disease Symptoms
"You know you don't have chronic Lyme disease anymore when you're ready to plan a trip."
I honestly can't remember (Lyme-brain) who said it to me, but that casual remark has been rolling around in my head a lot lately. I'm not exactly planning a trip, but my professional workload has increased exponentially this fall, and I am multi-tasking like a brand-new BlackBerry. I feel I actually COULD plan a trip, and that is almost just as good, if you know what I'm saying.
Chronic Lyme disease has been a way of life for five years, however, I got a wake-up call yesterday when I caught myself saying out loud, "I could never have multi-tasked like this when I had Lyme."
When I had Lyme.
When I HAD Lyme.
Such a lovely phrase! I could sing.
Let me back up for a second though and tell you: I have no medical proof of this statement. In fact, in all the years I've been looking into the problem of Lyme disease treatment and diagnoses, what I have discovered is evidence to suggest that a healthy post-Lyme survivor will probably continue to play host to the Lyme bacterial complex throughout their life.
So the question is, why do some people, regardless of their duration or methods of Lyme disease treatment, develop into healthy post-Lyme survivors -- and why do some people develop symptoms of chronic Lyme disease? It's a maddening situation.
I talk to many people involved in the medical and healing professions. When I first began conducting these interviews five years ago, I observed that many doctors had differing opinions about every aspect of Lyme, particularly when it came to Lyme disease treatment. I assumed that I would soon begin to hear the same approach being used by the doctors I interviewed. But instead, over the years I have noticed that all the experts have their own perspectives, their own opinions, their own approaches to healing Lyme. And Lyme isn't simple. Nothing about it seems to be simple, though much about it has certainly been oversimplified.
The answer to that question, of why do some suffer from chronic Lyme symptoms, while others seem to drift back into a post-Lyme level of relatively good health, is a mystery to me. I will keep asking the questions, and knock on wood in the meantime.
I receive a lot of letters from readers of this blog, and you are all in my heart every single day. My wish is for all of you to experience that unique and buzzing wonder that is a healthy mind and body: ready, willing, and able, to work, love, and live a normal life again. To surprise yourself one day soon by hearing these words come out of your own mouth: When I HAD Lyme...
And maybe you'll plan a trip too!
I honestly can't remember (Lyme-brain) who said it to me, but that casual remark has been rolling around in my head a lot lately. I'm not exactly planning a trip, but my professional workload has increased exponentially this fall, and I am multi-tasking like a brand-new BlackBerry. I feel I actually COULD plan a trip, and that is almost just as good, if you know what I'm saying.
Chronic Lyme disease has been a way of life for five years, however, I got a wake-up call yesterday when I caught myself saying out loud, "I could never have multi-tasked like this when I had Lyme."
When I had Lyme.
When I HAD Lyme.
Such a lovely phrase! I could sing.
Let me back up for a second though and tell you: I have no medical proof of this statement. In fact, in all the years I've been looking into the problem of Lyme disease treatment and diagnoses, what I have discovered is evidence to suggest that a healthy post-Lyme survivor will probably continue to play host to the Lyme bacterial complex throughout their life.
So the question is, why do some people, regardless of their duration or methods of Lyme disease treatment, develop into healthy post-Lyme survivors -- and why do some people develop symptoms of chronic Lyme disease? It's a maddening situation.
I talk to many people involved in the medical and healing professions. When I first began conducting these interviews five years ago, I observed that many doctors had differing opinions about every aspect of Lyme, particularly when it came to Lyme disease treatment. I assumed that I would soon begin to hear the same approach being used by the doctors I interviewed. But instead, over the years I have noticed that all the experts have their own perspectives, their own opinions, their own approaches to healing Lyme. And Lyme isn't simple. Nothing about it seems to be simple, though much about it has certainly been oversimplified.
The answer to that question, of why do some suffer from chronic Lyme symptoms, while others seem to drift back into a post-Lyme level of relatively good health, is a mystery to me. I will keep asking the questions, and knock on wood in the meantime.
I receive a lot of letters from readers of this blog, and you are all in my heart every single day. My wish is for all of you to experience that unique and buzzing wonder that is a healthy mind and body: ready, willing, and able, to work, love, and live a normal life again. To surprise yourself one day soon by hearing these words come out of your own mouth: When I HAD Lyme...
And maybe you'll plan a trip too!