LYME DISEASE

Since the beginning or recorded history, humans have been afflicted by various pathogens that infect our bodies and make us ill. From sexually transmitted diseases (STD) with bacteria such as syphilis, to pneumonia, meningitis, bladder infections, to infected dog bites, bacterial diseases have been an ongoing challenge that have taken the lives of millions of people throughout history and that inspired the development of the pharmaceutical science of antibiotics.

In the past 30 years Lyme disease has emerged as a serious endemic threat to communities that live in environments, such as the NE USA, where ticks are found that carry the bacteria Borrelia Burgdorferi. The Borrelia infection causes Lyme disease, which has proven difficult to diagnose and treat though conventional medical treatments.

Tag Archive for: Lyme Disease

An Integrative Medical Approach to Lyme Disease Treatment

Watch the video : Lyme Disease Treatment – An Integrative Medical Approach

(The following is a transcription of the above video)

The topic of today is about Lyme Disease, which, specifically, needs to be addressed in an integrative fashion.

Those of you out there who have Lyme Disease or know people who do have Lyme Disease, know that the traditional, conventional way that medicine approaches this is truly ineffective unless you catch it very early in the infectious stage. If you can diagnose the condition in the first month or so, then antibiotics can take care of it.

After that, if it goes longer, you could be in trouble with chronic Lyme Disease and the integrative medical approach to chronic Lyme Disease is definitely the way to go.

Integrative Approach to Lyme Disease Treatment

The integrative approach to treatment of lyme disease includes high dose ozone therapy.

The integrative approach to treatment of lyme disease includes high dose ozone therapy.

The integrative approach to Lyme Disease treatment, which of course includes antibiotics, brings three additional components into the therapy that you need to learn about and that’s why we’re here today.

  1. Ozone Therapy
  2. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
  3. Different types of herbs that are very powerful and very effective

Watch the video : How I finally healed from Lyme disease – I tried everything!

Before we get into explaining precisely what the integrative approach is, it’s important to understand why the integrative approach is important to take.

About Lyme Disease

As you know, we get Lyme Disease through a tick bite. It used to be just in the Northeast, but now it’s spread all over the East and the West Coast.

It's usually the small nymph tick, that is so hard to detect, that bites you and you never know it.

It’s usually the small nymph tick, that is so hard to detect, that bites you and you never know it.

It’s very difficult to detect the tick when it bites you because mainly it’s the small nymph tick, which is a tiny little guy that’s so hard to detect, that it’ll bite you, infect you, and fall off before you even know it.

64% of the people who have verifiably the Lyme Disease never even knew they were ever bitten. The tick is so small. It bites them, infects them, feeds on them, and falls off before they even knew it.

The "bullseye" rash that some people get with lyme disease

The “bullseye” rash that some people get with lyme disease

50% of them never even get that rash that is characteristic of some people who get the Lyme Disease and they may carry the infection for years before suddenly all those horrible symptoms descend on them like an avalanche of bad news.

Symptoms of Lyme Disease

The symptoms that come with Lyme Disease are so varied that they can mimic a dozen different types of diseases.

A person that’s carrying that Lyme infection for a very long time, not knowing that they are infected, can develop a whole kind of a nasty club of what we call ‘co-infections’ – these are other microbes that get in on the party and make the person miserably sick with a whole variety, a wide spectrum of symptoms, that are truly devastating. 

The symptoms of Lyme Disease can mimic:

  • Multiple Sclerosis
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Lupus
  • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
  • Parkinson’s
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis
  • Heart problems
  • Joint pain
  • Nerve pain
  • Brain issues
  • Depression
  • Brain fog
  • Loss of memory
  • Loss of cognitive function
  • Reduced and horrible sleep

It’s so bad and it can mimic so many different symptoms or diseases that Lyme has earned the moniker of the ‘Great Imitator’.

Borrelia often lodge within the joints causing a variety of joint myalgia’s as well as other symptoms.

Borrelia often lodge within the joints causing a variety of joint myalgia’s as well as other symptoms.

The bottom line is… If you didn’t detect it early and you’ve now developed chronic Lyme Disease with all these multiple co-infections that give you this wide variety of symptoms, you’re in trouble and the conventional way that medicine approaches this is no longer going to be effective.

The disease and the infections are now so deeply ingrained in you that you need help beyond antibiotics.

Endotoxins, Biotoxins & Neurotoxins

One of the most important elements of the horrible symptoms that people get with chronic Lyme Disease, something that’s very important for you to understand, is it’s not the pathogens directly causing the symptoms, it’s the endotoxins that they release. These are biotoxins, endotoxins, neurotoxins that they release that wreak havoc in your body.

Most of the nervous symptoms, the peripheral neuropathy that you may be having, which could be, by the way, for those who don’t know, incredible pains in your legs and your arms and numbness and tingling in your feet and hands and things like that, are caused not by the pathogen directly but by the endotoxins that they release.

Even when you’ve successfully killed the pathogen, you may still have endotoxins cursing through your system that are causing the horrible symptoms that you are still dealing with. Therefore, part of the therapy necessary for curing chronic Lyme is the detoxification of all those endotoxins. 

Transmission of Lyme Disease

As most of us know, the primary way of getting Lyme disease is through a vector or through the bite of a tick. However, that’s not the only way. We are now finding out scientifically that there may be other ways of getting it.

The most common way of getting lyme disease is through the bite of a tick.

The most common way of getting lyme disease is through the bite of a tick.

First and foremost, there are indications that different kinds of insects do carry the Borrelia spirochaete. It doesn’t mean that they transmit it, but it’s possible, so stay tuned as that news unfolds over the next few years.

Contracting Lyme Disease Through Sex

The condition that I’m most concerned about is the fact that the Borrelia spirochaete has been found in human ejaculate and also in vaginal secretions. Now, that means of course that sexual contact could be a conduit for getting the disease. It has not been clinically verified that it could happen, but it’s a good thing to keep watch on that and checking with your partners whether or not that’s something you need to be concerned with.

I don’t want you to panic about this, but obviously, if it’s a possibility and you care for your partner, you love your partner, it’s something you need to be cognizant of.

We do have patients in our clinics who swear that that’s how they contracted the disease. Again, given that that little tiny nymph tick is the primary way that people get Lyme, it’s very likely that they got Lyme from a tick and didn’t know it.

Most importantly here is that you cannot get Lyme from casual contact with your friends and relatives and people you work with.

Why Lyme Disease is so Hard to Detect

Why is Lyme so hard to detect? Why does it even become a chronic Lyme Disease type of syndrome which is so devastating?

The lyme spirochaete has 10 major ways that it evades conventional medicine

The stealthy lyme spirochaete has 10 major ways that it evades conventional medicine.

There are a number of different things about this very stealthy spirochaete you need to know about.

There are 10 major ways that the spirochaete Borrelia have of evading conventional medicine. I’m not going to get into the details of those right now, but what’s important for you to understand is that ozone and hyperbaric oxygen can take up the slack where antibiotics don’t work.

Pleomorphism

For instance, the Borrelia spirochaete can change its structure of its cells so that your immune system can’t recognize it.

Well, guess what? The Borrelia is not immune to ozone. Ozone, that tiny little O3 molecule, can go wherever the Borrelia goes and can penetrate those cell membranes and kill that Borrelia where it is.

Hides in Deep Tissue

The Borrelia spirochaete looks like a corkscrew and can essentially drill into our tissues and bury itself where antibiotics have a hard time going.

The Borrelia spirochaete can drill into your tissue and hide from antibiotics.

The Borrelia spirochaete can drill into your tissue and hide from antibiotics.

Well, the ozone molecule is a tiny little O3 molecule and can penetrate every single tissue and every single cell in your body. It can find that Borrelia wherever it’s trying to hide and kill it.

Biofilm

Another one of those stealthy mechanisms that pathological bacteria like Borrelia can use is the creation of something called a biofilm. That’s a gelatinous kind of sludge that they create and hide in. Immune cells can’t penetrate this sludge, nor can antibiotics, so it protects the Borrelia.

The Borrelia spirochaete can create a biofilm to protect itself from your immune system and antibiotics.

The Borrelia spirochaete can create a biofilm to protect itself from your immune system and antibiotics.

On the other hand, ozone can penetrate the sludge and dissolve it away, making the Borrelia susceptible to antibiotics and immune cells and of course, the ozone also attacks the Borrelia directly.

Hides Inside Cells (Intra-Cellular Parasite)

Another thing that Borrelia can do is it can drill into our cells, actually hide within our cells and become what we call an intra-cellular parasite.

Well, guess what? Ozone can also penetrate right through the cell membranes and not only is it healthy for our normal cells, but it will kill the Borrelia inside our cells.

The Borrelia spirochaete can burrow itself into your central nervous system.

The Borrelia spirochaete can burrow itself into your central nervous system.

This is particularly important for those who are suffering from major brain fog. The Borrelia has managed to get into your brain tissues and the ozone can penetrate into your brain and not only is it incredibly healthy for our normal cells, it will kill the Borrelia wherever it hides. It’s like that old adage, it can run but it can’t hide from ozone.

Borrelia Doesn’t like Oxygen

In this regard, the hyperbaric oxygen therapy is also very important.

Inside a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. Borrelia doesn't like oxygen

Inside a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. Borrelia doesn’t like oxygen

You get into this chamber, you are pressurized with normal air and inside the chamber you are breathing, through a mask, pure oxygen. The pressure causes the oxygen to be infused throughout your entire body and every cell and every tissue and every nook and cranny of your body. Incredibly healthy for your body to be oxygenated that way. Every organ is going to dance with delight for all that oxygen.

Explore the photos below to get an in-depth view of the Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber.

Close-up of the Pressure Gauges on a Sechrist Hyperbaric Chamber
Side View of Two Sechrist Hyperbaric Oxygen Chambers
Looking Into a Hyperbaric Chamber
Close-up of the Controls on a Sechrist Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber

[Show slideshow]

But guess what? Borrelia doesn’t like oxygen. It’s an anaerobe, it prefers an environment with a lack of oxygen. So, the oxygen is not only incredibly healthy and supportive of all your systems and all your organs, it is in fact, a direct opponent to your Borrelia infection. It helps you to kill it.

Persister State

Now, as you may know, the Borrelia spirochaete can also hide in what’s called a ‘persister state’ or like a cyst where it becomes kind of impervious both to our immune system and to antibiotics.

Well, once again, guess what? Ozone isn’t constrained by its cyst state and can kill it even in this cyst state.

Integrative Treatment of Lyme Disease

A lot of you may be asking, well, why not antibiotics?

Long-term use of antibiotics is not healthy and is not very effective in killing Borrelia.

Long-term use of antibiotics is not healthy and is not very effective in killing Borrelia.

Well, as a matter of fact, many people who have been suffering from Lyme have been on long-term antibiotic therapies, sometimes for years. Trust me on this, long-term antibiotic use is not healthy, not good for you and doesn’t kill the Borrelia for all the reasons that I just mentioned previously.

A Different Approach to Antibiotics

What do you do about that? First of all, stop the long-term antibiotics.

First and foremost, you have to find a physician who is an integrative physician that understands this concept and can use antibiotics differently. In pulses, for instance, where they have antibiotics for a little bit of time and then no antibiotics for a while where they use other therapies and again antibiotics for a little bit of time – they alternate them back and forth.

The long-term use of antibiotics will not only kill bad bacteria in your body, it will kill all the good bacteria in your body.

Don’t Want to Kill the Good Bacteria

We have many strains of good bacteria in our body that are essential to the proper functioning of our physiology, especially in our GI system – in our gut. If you kill the good stuff, you won’t be able to digest properly.

70% of our immune function is located in our gut. Long-term antibiotics can mess that up.

70% of our immune function is located in our gut. Long-term antibiotics can mess that up.

Remember that 70% of our immune function is located in our gut. If you mess up that biome in there, if you mess up the landscape in there, then guess what? Your immune system isn’t going to be working properly and you need a strong immune system in order to deal with the infection.

That’s one of the reasons that chronic Lyme Disease is so devastating; it runs your immune system down with all those co-infections to the point where your immune system is no longer functioning right and the disease or the infection and all the co-infections basically have free reign to wreak havoc in your body.

Why Ozone is Important

Watch the video : Ozone therapy relieved me of my Lyme symptoms

Another reason that ozone is so important is because of the effect that antibiotics have on all of your healthy cells. Antibiotics hurt your mitochondria.

Mitochondria are the energy-generating powerhouse of every cell in your body. Your mitochondria are the little organelles that process the oxygen that you breathe in along with the food and create the ATP, the fuel, that every cell in your body needs.

Well, guess what? Long-term antibiotics definitely negatively affect and degrade your mitochondria.

Ozone Stimulates Your Mitochondria

Explore the photos below to get an in-depth view of the intravenous High Dose Ozone Therapy treatment.

Nurse Pressing Button on High Dose Ozone Device
A patient has an IV in arm during her ozone therapy treatment.
During ozone therapy the blood is run through a safety device called an air trap.
This is the "egg" the patient's blood is collected in, then ozonated during an ozone therapy treatment.

[Show slideshow]

On the other hand, ozone is the single most powerful natural stimulant of mitochondrial function and health.

Your mitochondria process the oxygen that you breathe in and create the ATP. Ozone is the single most powerful natural stimulant of mitochondrial function and health.

Your mitochondria process the oxygen that you breathe in and create the ATP. Ozone is the single most powerful natural stimulant of mitochondrial function and health.

Not only does ozone go after the Borrelia and kill it in all the places where antibiotics and your immune system can’t function, but the ozone increases the mitochondrial function of every cell in your body and, therefore, it really boosts your immune system.

Keeps you healthy, boosts your immune system, and goes after the Borrelia. That’s kind of a trifecta, it’s a good thing.

Ozone Increases Cellular Perfusion of Oxygen

Last but not least about ozone. Ozone has a direct effect on your red blood cells. It increases their metabolism and increases your red blood cells’ ability to carry oxygen and deliver it to all the tissues in your body.

Ozone increases your red blood cells ability to carry oxygen and deliver it to all the tissues in your body. Borrelia do not like oxygen.

Ozone increases your red blood cells ability to carry oxygen and deliver it to all the tissues in your body. Borrelia do not like oxygen.

Remember, none of your cells can work without oxygen and oxygen is one of those things that the Borrelia spirochaete and lots of other infections don’t like. You definitely want to be using the ozone to boost your oxygen capacity.

Detoxification of Endotoxins

By far, the best way to detox from those endotoxins are herbal remedies.

  • CBD
  • Banderol
  • Samento
  • Biofilm breakers
  • Isatis
  • DIM
  • Curcumin
  • Cat’s Claw
  • NAD
  • Poly-MVA

In addition to the endotoxins, your immune system’s response to the endotoxins is to release a whole cascade of different cytokines.

When you immune system is activated it releases a cascade of cytokines.

When you immune system is activated it releases a cascade of cytokines. This process can get messed up and out of balance with lyme disease and its many co-infections.

Cytokines are very important in your immune system’s ability to function, but when the immune system is messed up and out of balance and over-reactive to all those infections that you have, then they’ll produce too many cytokines and you need to deal with them as well.

The only healthy way to deal with an overproduction of cytokines is the up-regulation of your own genes that deal with cytotoxin toxicity and all the inflammation that, that causes.

By far, herbal remedies such as CBD, such as DIM and other ones that do up-regulate the genes that deal with that is the way to go.

We have another video on CBD (below) and how it works and how it activates your endocannabinoid system which will deal with those systemic inflammation symptoms.

Watch the video : The Inside Story of Cannabidiol

By the way, the best way to get herbal remedies and different nutritional remedies as well into your system is through sublingual liposome administration of those very important substances. You squirt them under your tongue and it gets directly into your bloodstream and through your body where you need them.

The Final Analysis

In conclusion, if you have chronic Lyme Disease don’t despair. There are ways of really taking care of you and taking care of your health and well-being through an integrative medical approach to Lyme disease treatment that really does work.

Find a good integrative doctor in your locale. Probably an MD that works with a naturopath, that’s the best combination we’ve ever found. Even if there isn’t one local to you, it’s worth traveling to find one.

I hope this has been helpful in getting you oriented to an integrative approach to healing your Lyme Disease and bringing your body back to its full strength and vitality.

If you have any questions, please email me, I will definitely address them and answer them as soon as I possibly can.

About the Authors

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References

  1. Steere, A., Strle, F., Wormser, G. et al. Lyme borreliosis. Nat Rev Dis Primers 2, 16090 (2016).
  2. Sharma B, Brown AV, Matluck NE, Hu LT and Lewis K. Borrelia burgdorferi, the Causative Agent of Lyme Disease, Forms Drug-Tolerant Persister Cells. 2015 Aug;59(8):4616-24.
  3. Plessis, Lissinda & Westhuizen, Francois & Kotze, Herculaas. (2007). The effect of blood ozonation on mitochondrial function and apoptosis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in the presence and absence of antioxidants. African Journal of Biotechnology (ISSN: 1684-5315) Vol 6 Num 15. 6.
  4. Kalghatgi S, Spina C, Costello J, Liesa M, Morones-Ramirez JR, Slomovic S, Molina A, Shirihai OS and Collins J. Bactericidal Antibiotics Induce Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Oxidative Damage in Mammalian Cells. 2013 Jul;5(192):192ra85.
  5. Rowen RJ. Ozone and oxidation therapies as a solution to the emerging crisis in infectious disease management: a review of current knowledge and experience. Med Gas Res. 2019 Oct-Dec;9(4):232-237.
  6. Rowen, Robert Jay. Ozone therapy as a primary and sole treatment for acute bacterial infection: case report. Medical gas research vol. 8,3 121-124. 25 Sep. 2018
  7. Smith A, Oertle J, Warren D and Prato D. Chronic Lyme Disease Complex and Its Commonly Undiagnosed Primary and Secondary Co-Infections. 2015 Sept; Vol.5 No.3
  8. C Huang, Y Chen, T Kao, H Kao, Y Lee, J Cheng, J Wang. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy as an effective adjunctive treatment for chronic Lyme disease. Journal of the Chinese Medical Association,Volume 77, Issue 5,2014, Pages 269-271
  9. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Lyme Disease Rashes and Look-alikes. 2018 Dec
  10. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What you Need to Know about Lyme Carditis. 2018 Dec
  11. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data and Surveillance. 2019 Feb
  12. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome. 2018 Dec
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Lyme Disease Prevention – Your Questions Answered


Lyme Disease Prevention : Staying Safe from Lyme Disease During Tick Season

 
A Nova Scotia nurse says her community is facing a Lyme disease epidemic in the form of an increased risk of Lyme disease. She is calling on Ottawa to act, even after it announced 4 million dollars in Lyme disease prevention last week. This time of the year, we’re seeing an increase in ticks and tick bites across the country.

In New Brunswick officials say they expect to see an increase in Lyme disease cases. The new Lyme disease strategy is expecting to raise public awareness of both the infectious disease and bring up case numbers called “vastly unreported in the past”.

Your Lyme Disease Prevention Questions Answered

We brought in Dr. Danielle Martin to give us some insight on Lyme disease prevention, how to protect yourself and also answer some questions about Lyme disease. Lets begin with the first question.

Why are We Seeing an Increase in Lyme Disease Cases?

Dr. Danielle Martin: It’s hard to know sometimes with this increase, whether we are seeing an actual increase in the number of Lyme disease cases or whether we’re just doing a better job of identifying cases and picking them up.

We are definitely seeing a shift in the geographic locations where Lyme disease is found and that’s because the disease is carried by ticks that attach themselves to birds. As bird migration patterns shift, we see the ticks being delivered to various places where we weren’t seeing them before.

We’ve Known About Deer Ticks. Are Bird Ticks Now Carrying Lyme Disease?

Not every tick bite will cause Lyme disease

Not every tick bite will cause Lyme disease.

Dr. Danielle Martin: Right,  these are tiny ticks that attach themselves to infected animals. Often rodents, could also be deer or birds. When the ticks attach themselves to birds they get carried to various other places. Having fed from those infected animals, they can then transmit the disease to humans.

It’s important that people understand that not every tick carries Lyme disease and not every tick bite means that you’re going to get Lyme disease. The issue is, has that tick previously fed on an infected animal and that’s how the transmission occurs.

Why is Lyme Disease Hard to Diagnose?

The classic Lyme disease rash

The classic Lyme disease bullseye rash.

Dr. Danielle Martin: Lyme disease is a difficult disease to diagnose because the symptoms are so vague and they can be attributed to so many different things. Fever, joint pains, headaches, these are things that can be caused by any number of diseases, not just Lyme disease. Lyme disease is by far the easiest to pick up when it’s diagnosed early. There is a classic rash that people can get around the area where the tick has bitten them.

Classically called the bullseye rash. It’s a big round rash that appears around the area where the tick has bitten. Usually a number of days after. The rash usually starts five to seven days after and grows over time. That’s much easier to identify. If people observe that they’re having a rash in a single location of their body that they don’t have an explanation for it they should definitely seek medical attention. Those are the basics.

I Got a Tick Bite Yesterday. The Bite Area has Some Redness and Itching. What Should I Do?

Dr. Danielle Martin: This is a classic story right? Golfing, hunting, camping, hiking in the woods, these are the kind of activities that will predispose people to tick bites. The first thing that people should know is Lyme disease prevention is paramount. The easiest way to prevent yourself from getting Lyme disease is to cover up when you’re going out in the woods. That’s the first thing.

If you find a tick on your body remove it ASAP!

If you find a tick on your body remove it ASAP!

If you have been bitten by a tick you can extract the tick whole with a pair of tweezers by pulling it directly out of the skin. You can seal it up in a bag and you can send it to a lab for analysis. If this person still has the tick, that’s an option and it is actually an important way that the Public Health Agency of Canada monitors the migration pattern. Where we see this infection across the country by a surveillance process where they actually do an analysis of the ticks.

The classic rash that people get from Lyme disease, comes later. You usually do not see it in the first 24 to 48 hours. That’s the short of the classic rash. It can look a variety of different ways but that’s the classic one. Usually a rash in the first 24 to 48 hours is not an indication of Lyme. It is more of an irritation from having been bitten. If you know you’ve been bitten by a tick and you’re not feeling well, you should seek medical attention.

Is Covering Up a Good Way to Prevent Lyme Disease?

Preventing Lyme disease starts with covering up you ankles and legs when out in the wilderness.

Preventing Lyme disease starts with covering up you ankles and legs when out in the wilderness.

Dr. Danielle Martin: To prevent lyme disease we’re not talking head to toe. The most important things to cover up are your ankles and legs. Sandals are out. Sandals are not the best for going hiking in the woods. Flip flops for hiking are probably not safe anyways. We should be wearing good footwear.

I think the other thing is that people should be aware if they’re in an area where Lyme is endemic. The Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada have great information on the web about the geographic distribution of Lyme. The short answer is, it depends on where you are. If the risk is significant, then you have to take precautions, take your chances and make your choices as we all do in life.

If you know that you’re in an area where there is Lyme disease and it’s spring or summer time, which is prime time for Lyme and there are cases being diagnosed, it is probably a good idea to cover up your ankles.

Are Vaccines Available Against Ticks? Do These Have Any Effect on Lyme Disease?

Dr. Danielle Martin: There is no effective vaccine for Lyme disease. It’s important to differentiate between trying to reduce tick bites in animals, or anyone, versus a vaccine against the disease which ticks carry.

Lyme disease doesn’t come from the tick itself. It’s being transferred from another animal carrying the disease to the human victim. The tick is just the vector. It’s the mechanism for transferring it and until now, present day, we do not have an effective vaccine against Lyme disease. This is why the most important way we can prevent people from getting infected is to prevent them from getting bitten by a tick.

What is the Government Doing to Prevent the Spread of Lyme Disease?

The government uses surveillance to find out where the Lyme carrying ticks are spreading.

The government uses surveillance to find out where the Lyme carrying ticks are spreading.

Dr. Danielle Martin: Last week the federal government announced an entire Lyme disease strategy which I think is appropriate.

It involves controlling the tick population, vaccines, quicker diagnosis and treatment for Lyme disease. Everything from research to try and look if there is a possibility for developing a vaccine. All the way through how do we control the tick population? How do we monitor the spread of Lyme?

Surveillance is very important to understand how the population of Lyme carrying ticks is shifting across the country. Where can we expect to see Lyme. That’s where we then need to do more public education about Lyme disease prevention for both for citizens and for health care providers. Then all the way through to treatment.

We are already seeing increase in the amount of conversation about this and as that strategy rolls out, we’ll see more.

How Do We Identify a Lyme Carrying Tick?

Oftentimes it's the tiny nymph ticks that bite people and they don't even know they've been bitten.

Oftentimes it’s the tiny nymph ticks that bite people and they don’t even know they’ve been bitten.

Dr. Danielle Martin: The first thing is that ticks are small. They are much smaller than most people realize. Sometimes when we see them on the video they sort of look like the size of a cockroach or something. Actually they’re tiny.

The stage when they are carrying Lyme and biting, they’re often quite small like the size of a poppy seed or maybe up to the size of a sesame seeds. You may not even realize it’s a tick. You might just look down at your skin and realize you’ve got a little bite of some kind and that you’ve got a little black dot. Use of a magnifying glass is not a bad way to try to determine what that little black dot is.

The second thing is, although there are some anatomic differences between the kind of ticks that carry Lyme and those that don’t, I don’t actually recommend you doing this at home. If you’ve got a tick in your skin, pull it out with a pair of tweezers, put it in a bag or sealed container and bring it in for analysis.

Is Bug Spray a Good Prevention Method? 

Bug spray works great to keep ticks off you and prevent Lyme disease.

Bug spray works great to keep ticks off you and prevent Lyme disease.

Dr. Danielle Martin: Yes it is. The CDC website recommends that people use a product that contain at least 20% DEET. That’s a pretty intense concentration of DEET.

There are also treatments that you can use on clothing. If you’re going for a serious hike in the woods for example, permethrin treated cloths can be purchased that are pretreated and that’s an effective way, in addition to covering up, to prevent getting bitten by a tick that can carry Lyme.

Is Bee Venom Therapy Effective as a Treatment for Lyme?

Dr. Danielle Martin: I don’t use the word hoax but I’m not aware of any scientific evidence to support the use of bee venom therapy. I wouldn’t recommend it.

If Bitten by a Tick is There a Topical Medication That Can Be Used?

Dr. Danielle Martin: There is nothing topical you can put on that can prevent the transmission of Lyme. If you believe that you have been bitten by tick and the skin is irritated or itchy, the most important thing is to wash with soap and water first. Immediately after you’re bitten. That’s just good infection prevention and control.

If there’s irritation locally, you can take an oral antihistamine. If there’s any skin reaction, I wouldn’t treat that with something topical, I would seek medical attention because you want to make sure that this isn’t the beginning of the development of the classic Lyme disease rash.

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The Lyme Disease Epidemic and Why the Government is Suppressing it


Watch the Video : Why is the Government suppressing the Lyme Disease Epidemic

According to the CDC, Lyme disease is the fastest growing insect borne infectious illness in the United States. In fact, in the time it takes you to watch the above video, or read this article, 17 people will be diagnosed with Lyme disease. These people affected by the Lyme disease epidemic will potentially face a lifetime of physical, psychological and economic suffering as a result.

Here to discuss the Lyme disease epidemic and why its largely ignored by the medical and scientific community is the CEO of Lymedisease.org, Lorraine Johnson. 

Lorraine Johnson:
Thank you for having me.

Statistics on the Lyme Disease Epidemic

Abby Martin:
For those that don’t know much about Lyme disease, can you first explain what it is, how its contracted and how many people we’re talking about here that have Lyme disease?

At least 300,000 people are infected with Lyme disease each year in the U.S.

At least 300,000 people are infected with Lyme disease each year in the U.S.

LJ:
Lyme disease is contracted through the bite of a tick. If you’re out hiking you may be exposed to ticks. Ticks can transmit Lyme disease and they can transmit a number of other diseases at the same time.

The CDC has until recently said 30,000 people a year contract Lyme disease. Just this year they’ve revised their original estimate to 300,000 people a year contracting Lyme disease. To put that in perspective, that’s six times the annual rate of HIV/AIDS. The Lyme disease epidemic is quite a crisis right now.

AM:
What caused that extreme disparity in their previous reporting?

LJ:
Well the surveillance methods are really barriers to counting cases of Lyme disease. They don’t count laboratory test straight out. They don’t count physician diagnoses straight out. They have a number of steps that you have to go through in order to become a surveillance case, and it simply misses 9 out of 10 cases.

Diagnosis & Treatment

AM:
Lets talk about the CDC and the Infectious Disease Society of America because according to them, Lyme disease treatment just takes a month of antibiotics, its not a chronic disease. What do you say about that assessment?

LJ:
A lot of people do take a short course term of their antibiotics and they’re well. But about 36% (the estimated range is between 20-36%) of people remain ill. The question, the controversy, is what do you do with those 36% of people who are still ill and unable to work? 25% of the people end up on disability and 42% have had to stop working. So Lyme disease is not a minor illness. It’s a very serious illness.

Lyme disease mimics many other diseases which is why it is so often mis-diagnosed.

Lyme disease mimics many other diseases which is why it is so often mis-diagnosed.

AM:
Let’s talk about the vast array of diseases that Lyme is actually misdiagnosed for and what it can mimic.

LJ:
Lyme disease can mimic a number of diseases. It can mimic fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, depression, Multiple Sclerosis and ALS to name a few. It’s not clear that all of these diseases are being misdiagnosed but they have similar symptoms so it’s easy to miss the diagnosis if you’re not looking for it.

AM:
The IDSA guidelines form an incredible amount of power in the medical community of how to treat Lyme. What can happen to doctors who choose to treat Lyme like it’s not that month solving illness, that it is indeed chronic?

LJ:
This is a real crisis. What happens is these guidelines are treated essentially as though they were regulations but there’s been no public input on them. What happens is, if a physician goes outside of the guidelines, they might find themselves before a medical board with the risk of losing their medical license. The IDSA has been very aggressive about enforcing its guidelines and if physicians step outside, they run the risk of losing their license.

AM:
Even though there is this huge differentiation between 30% of people that don’t get cured from antibiotics, then these guidelines have very specific parameters for doctors. What happens to that kind of grey area?

LJ:
That’s an interesting question, because ordinarily, what medical guidelines will do if there is a grey area is they will provide treatment options. In fact, the guidelines of the International Lyme and Associate Diseases Society does provide treatment options. It says, educate the patient, tell them what the risk is of continuing to treat, or to not treat, and then make determinations, based on the context of the individual patient.

Annual NIH Spending per Patient

Annual NIH Spending per Patient

AM:
Project Censored is one of the leading research organizations in the country. It has basically said that Lyme disease is one of the most censored stories of 2011 because there was such a lack of research data. Why do you think that is?

LJ:
There is not a lack of research data on Lyme disease. There’s actually a lot of research data but its just not at the treatment level. At the treatment level, there’s only two main funding sources. One is the government funded research and they’ve always said there were only 30,000 cases. So the government hasn’t funded much research. They’ve only funded 4 chronic Lyme disease treatment trials.

The other main source of funding you can get for this high level of trials is the pharmaceutical industry. They haven’t had any interest in Lyme disease treatment because treatment is with generic antibiotics. Treatment for Lyme disease not a money maker for them.

Annual cases of Lyme Disease in the U.S.

Annual cases of Lyme Disease in the U.S.

Research & Misinformation

AM:
You mentioned Lyme disease research and that there’s a lot of it that isn’t necessarily sponsored by the government. As we know, they were kind of lacking the full Lyme disease epidemic story here. Talk about your personal experience with the peer review process?

LJ:
We had an interesting experience with the peer review process. I have 40 publications that have been published in the peer reviewed medical journal. We’ve had troubles with a lot of publications but one of the publications I submitted with Dr. Stricker, it went through a very rigorous peer review process, was accepted for publication and then the editors told us they were going to send it over to the IDSA. They sent it over to the IDSA and the next thing we know, were being handed a completely revised manuscript. It doesn’t bare any resemblance to what we said, or what we would say, and we are told to take it or leave it. We left it and went to another medical journal where it was published. Those are the types of tactics that you see to sort of keep a lid on it and suppress people who hold opposing viewpoints.

AM:
What did they edit out?

LJ:
They edited out information on the number of Lyme disease cases that remain uncured. They edited out information about what the correct treatment guidelines should look like. How you ought to take into account patient preferences. How you should be providing people with Lyme disease treatment options like we do in breast cancer. We don’t know what’s best, is it a lumpectomy our a mastectomy. Its your life, you get to make some choices there. We pointed out things like that.

Reported cases of Lyme Disease in the U.S.

Reported cases of Lyme Disease in the U.S.

AM:
Interesting enough, we called the CDC and they actually said that you and your organization are spreading unscientific Lyme disease information here. How do you respond to this kind of smear campaign on behalf of this establishment.

LJ:
Those are like personal attacks and they are attempts to not engage in any issues. It’s interesting because I’ve been involved in evidence based medicine for the past 10 years. I’m with the Cochrane Association, I served on the panel with PACORI Patient Centered Outcome Research Institute, which was founded under the Affordable Care Act. I’m very involved in evidence based medicine. This dispute is not about evidence, this dispute is about eminence-based medicine. Opinions that are filling evidence gaps and a failure to look at a lot of new emerging evidence because it doesn’t fit set Lyme disease research theories.

AM:
I know someone who’s had Lyme disease that was misdiagnosed. I think everyone kind of has this shared experience. Obviously this experience led you to pioneer this issue. How can we make sure that we are getting the proper diagnosis, getting the proper Lyme disease treatment and what’s your advise to people and how they can properly diagnose themselves if they potentially have Lyme?

LJ:
If somebody has been out hiking, if they have been exposed to ticks. Sometimes they are in the backyard, if you have a dear in your backyard, you may be exposed to ticks. Those people ought to be very careful. They should be doing tick checks. If they find a tick, they should get the tick tested to see if it carries any infection such as Lyme. Ticks can carry up to seven different infections.

Then, if they go in and get treated, if there are not well, they need to start seeking solutions because Lyme disease is very severe for many people.

AM:
Thank you so much Lorraine Johnson, CEO of Lymedisease.org. I really appreciate your coming and talking to us about the Lyme disease epidemic.

LJ:
Thank you

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Lyme Disease Symptoms & How it Evades Treatment

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