You can find an article with information about Lyme disease at this link: “Chronic Lyme can look like a lot of illnesses.”
Once I first heard this phrase from Dr. Klinghardt: Lyme doesn’t create specific problems on its own, Lyme simply opens the doors to all other issues. These can include toxins, various infections, allergic reactions, and other problems. Now, I often repeat this phrase myself. This article is dedicated to describing the approach to treating chronic Lyme disease.
How is Lyme Disease Tested?
Lyme disease can be confirmed through blood tests, and several different tests are commonly used to diagnose it. These tests include:
- ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay): ELISA is often the initial screening test for Lyme disease. It detects antibodies produced by the immune system in response to the Lyme bacteria (Borrelia burgdorferi). However, ELISA can sometimes produce false-positive or false-negative results.
- Western Blot: If the ELISA test is positive or if there is clinical suspicion of Lyme disease, a Western blot test is usually performed. Western blot is more specific and can help confirm the diagnosis. It detects antibodies against specific proteins of the Lyme bacteria.
- Immunoblot: Immunoblot is essentially another term for a Western blot test. It’s the same type of test used to detect antibodies against specific proteins of Borrelia burgdorferi.
- PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) Test: PCR is a molecular test that directly detects the DNA of the Lyme bacteria in a patient’s blood, joint fluid, or tissue. PCR is most effective in the early stages of infection when the bacteria are actively multiplying. However, it may not be as reliable in later stages when the bacteria are less abundant in the bloodstream.
Challenges with Lyme Disease Testing
It is important to note that diagnosing Lyme disease can be challenging due to the potential for false results, especially in the early stages of infection. Clinical symptoms, exposure to tick-infested areas, and the patient’s medical history are also considered when making a diagnosis. In some cases, doctors may rely more on clinical symptoms if test results are inconclusive.
There are several issues associated with Lyme disease testing. One of them is that if the infection occurred recently, the test may return a negative result. At a later stage (more than 1 month after infection), the test can also come back negative. This is because Lyme disease suppresses the immune system at the level of white blood cells. In such cases, provoking the infection may be necessary to detect it. Various methods are used for this, including medications, herbs, and ozone therapy. Some people mention the effectiveness of electromagnetic therapies, but unfortunately, this approach remains understudied, and we do not know how effective it is.
The existing test in Canada is so specific that it almost always returns a negative result. For this reason, Canadian specialists usually use American or European laboratories such as Igenex or Armin Labs.
Even if the test comes back negative but there are symptoms present, and the medical history confirms the possibility of Borreliosis infection, a series of therapies may be needed to obtain a positive test result.
But remember, we talked about Lyme being confused with other diseases? Therefore, it’s important not to exclude the possibility of other issues that can present similar symptoms.
Indirect Signs that May Suggest Lyme Disease
The patient’s medical history is crucial. Even if the patient does not recall a tick bite but has Lyme disease symptoms and frequents parks or enjoys camping in areas where Lyme disease cases have been reported, this is sufficient to include Lyme disease as a potential health issue.
A tick bite may have occurred a long time ago, and the immune system might have been able to suppress the infection for many years. Then, some stressor can occur, which disrupts the immune system’s function, and at that moment, Lyme disease becomes symptomatic. This stressor could be an illness, an accident, the loss of a loved one, essentially any significant stressor can transition asymptomatic Lyme into a serious illness.
Furthermore, even by examining CBC and WBC tests, liver enzymes, markers of inflammation, and total antibody levels, Lyme disease can be suspected. These tests are referred to as sensitive but not specific because they can also indicate other health issues.
“It’s not Lyme, it’s Mold.”
I want to emphasize right away that self-diagnosing a disease can be erroneous. This especially applies to Lyme disease because Lyme disease can mimic over 300 other diseases. Even specialists often mistake other problems for Lyme disease.
Among those specialists is Dr. Andrew Heyman, MD, a renowned expert in the treatment of mold-related illness (CIRS). Nowadays, he often begins his presentations with the words, “It’s not Lyme, it’s mold.”
According to him, a group of scientists discovered differences in brain damage between Lyme disease patients and those with CIRS, despite having identical symptoms. The brain damage looked different, which allowed specialists to identify the primary issue. The test used is called NeuroQuant, and it’s available in many MRI centers worldwide. Essentially, it’s an analysis of MRI results, but interpreting the results requires a specialist familiar with this type of research. However, NeuroQuant is not a diagnostic test for Lyme disease.
Is a Positive Lyme Test Required to Start Treatment?
In principle, the absence of a positive Lyme disease test doesn’t prevent starting treatment. If the immune system is unable to react to Borrelia (the bacteria causing Lyme disease), it’s still too early to proceed with antimicrobial therapies. The body needs to be prepared first; otherwise, you might exacerbate health issues. The same preparation is necessary for other problems that can have similar symptoms to Lyme disease.
Even if it turns out that the primary problem is mold toxin intoxication, heavy metal poisoning, nutrient deficiency due to gastrointestinal issues, or some other problem, the initial stage of treatment begins with the same set of basic tests to assess overall health.
What is the Herxheimer Reaction?
The Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction, or “Herx,” is the body’s response to neurotoxins released as a result of the death of harmful microorganisms when antimicrobial agents are used. Antimicrobial therapies lead to the destruction of bacterial membranes and the release of their toxins into the bloodstream, triggering a systemic inflammatory response.
Usually, this reaction starts within 1-3 hours after taking antimicrobial drugs. Symptoms may include fever, chills, sweating, headache, rapid heartbeat, hyperventilation, vasodilation with reddening of the skin, muscle aches, exacerbation of skin problems, and anxiety.
The intensity of the reaction indicates the degree of inflammation. Often, these symptoms are limited in time and resolve on their own. However, the use of medications that help bind neurotoxins and eliminate them from the body may be necessary. This occurs if the body’s resources are insufficient to deal with these toxins on its own. If the treatment is carried out correctly, this reaction can be practically avoided.
Common Preparatory Measures You Can Start Yourself
These are steps that can be taken before working with a specialist:
- Reducing Immune System Load: It’s advisable to eliminate substances such as alcohol and tobacco that can burden the immune system.
- Healthier Diet: Generally, a Mediterranean diet is recommended, but this can vary depending on individual characteristics.
- Hydration: Maintain optimal hydration by drinking an adequate amount of clean water.
- Healthy Sleep: Normal sleep duration and quality are of great importance for the immune system. The required number of hours of sleep depends on your age.
- Physical Activity: Regular physical exercise can strengthen the immune system. Moderate exercises like walking, swimming, or yoga can be beneficial. Muscle activity is also needed for the functioning of the lymphatic system.
- Stress Management: High-stress levels can weaken the immune system. Use relaxation methods such as meditation, breathing exercises, or yoga to cope with stress.
Starting Work with a Specialist
Since there is a whole complex of diseases that can resemble Lyme disease, it’s better if the specialist is familiar with the entire spectrum of these issues: Lyme disease and its co-infections, mold toxin intoxication, heavy metal poisoning.
Furthermore, it’s important to remember that Lyme disease usually occurs against the backdrop of many other problems. These problems can be related to both the environment and the overall condition of the body. Here are just a few examples:
- Environmental issues: If there is mold in the patient’s living environment, Lyme disease will be more severe. In this case, even if there is no Lyme disease, mold can cause many health problems that are often confused with Lyme disease. I have already written a series of articles about mold, which you can find here.
- Genetic factors: The ability to detoxify toxins is genetically encoded in each of us. If, from a purely genetic standpoint, you have a weaker ability to detoxify toxins, your risk of not only developing a severe form of Lyme disease but also many other chronic illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s disease, may increase.
- Individual health issues: Fungal, viral, and parasitic infections, as well as heavy metal intoxication, increase the burden on the immune system. Many of these conditions have symptoms similar to Lyme disease.
- Inflammatory and autoimmune processes in the body: Some of these processes may be related to Lyme disease, while others may have different origins. These processes interfere with treatment and the body’s recovery.
Treatment for Lyme disease should always be comprehensive, and all these problems need to be identified and addressed.
What to Expect from Working with a Specialist?
First and foremost, tests will be conducted to assess your body’s condition and identify basic nutritional deficiencies. Here are some examples of such tests:
- If your vitamin D levels are low, your immune system won’t function optimally.
- Low vitamin A levels can affect mucous membrane protection.
- A deficiency in vitamin B12 can lead to problems with cell division, affecting both the immune system and causing neurological symptoms.
- Iron deficiency anemia can limit tissue oxygen supply, which is advantageous for Lyme disease as it prefers lower oxygen levels.
You should be cautious if a specialist immediately starts antimicrobial therapy without assessing your overall health. This is typically done only if you’ve recently been bitten by a tick, not for the treatment of chronic infection.
First Stage of Treatment. Creating the Foundation for Organ Recovery:
Firstly, it is necessary to assess and support the body’s ability to detoxify toxins such as mold and heavy metals. Reducing toxic load is vital for the proper functioning of the immune system.
- The environment should be checked and cleaned if toxins are being removed, as it would be extremely challenging to make progress if the body continues to receive toxins from the environment.
- At this stage, efforts should also be made to provide the body with essential nutrients, without which the immune system’s function and tissue recovery would be impossible.
- Toxins from mold and/or heavy metals must be eliminated as they overload the immune system and can even block its function.
All nutritional deficiencies and other individual problems that may hinder this process should be addressed during this stage of treatment.
Second Stage of Treatment. Improving the Immune System:
Inflammatory and autoimmune processes can also overload and distract the immune system from fighting infections. This is why chronic infections often become a problem.
Lyme disease can trigger autoimmune reactions in the body against joint tissues, leading to conditions like arthritis, and against nerve cells, contributing to diseases like multiple sclerosis.
At this stage, it is essential to try to reduce the level of inflammation while simultaneously gaining control over genetic and autoimmune issues in the body.
Third Stage of Treatment. Anti-Infective Therapies:
Since Lyme disease opens the door to many infections, it is usually referred to as the treatment of Lyme and associated infections. Treatment should start with larger microorganisms. In each case, the list of these problems will be individual.
As mentioned earlier, the body may not cope with the toxic load if treatment begins with anti-infective therapies at the first stage of treatment.
It is also important not to forget that all these microorganisms tend to form biofilm. Even when using pharmaceutical drugs, success may not be achieved without using an agent that destroys biofilm during treatment.
So, in general, an antimicrobial protocol should always include four components:
- Agent to break down the protective biofilm (enzymes, EDTA, etc.);
- Antimicrobial agent (medications, herbs, ozone, etc.);
- Binding agent to remove toxins (activated charcoal, chitosan, etc.);
- Probiotic to populate the microbiota with beneficial bacteria (lacto, bifido, beneficial e.coli, soil-based probiotics, etc.).
All four components are extremely important, and missing any of these points can lead to serious problems, such as infection resistance or a strong Herxheimer reaction.
Fourth Stage of Treatment. Organ Recovery:
After completing the first three stages of treatment and when the patient feels well, it is important to prevent the recurrence of problems.
If the main cause was in the environment, it is necessary to help the patient understand how they should change their lifestyle to remain in remission for as long as possible.
For patients with identified genetic characteristics during treatment, it is necessary to help them understand which medications and diet would be best for maintaining a good quality of life.
If a patient still experiences autoimmune reactions even after Lyme disease treatment, they may require some form of immune-modulating therapy, such as Low Dose Immunotherapy (LDA), for example.
Can Lyme disease be cured?
Many Lyme disease specialists agree that, as of today, there is no therapy that can completely eliminate this infectious problem once it has transitioned to the chronic form. However, achieving stable and long-lasting remission is possible.
Specialists are constantly searching for new therapies that can help eliminate the chronic form of Lyme disease permanently. One of these new therapies is called Supporting Oligonucleotide Therapy.
What is Supporting Oligonucleotide Therapy (SOT)?
SOT is used to treat Lyme disease, associated infections, and viruses such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), herpes simplex virus (HSV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), chickenpox, and others. This therapy uses short segments of DNA or RNA to block the expression of critical segments of genes necessary for the survival and replication of Lyme disease, associated infections, or viruses.
In essence, SOT creates a “key” that precisely matches the selected “lock” part of the pathogen. The “lock” is a specific RNA sequence that normally controls an important pathogen function. The “key” binds to the “lock” and blocks its function, thereby eliminating the pathogen. Afterward, the SOT compound is released and moves on to the next target, thus combating the infection 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 3-6 months.
Most experts in the field of Lyme disease treatment believe that it is still too early to definitively comment on the effectiveness of SOT (Supportive Oligonucleotide Therapy). In any case, this therapy is not recommended for use until all preparatory measures have been taken. This is because there is a real possibility of experiencing a persistent Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction within 6 months if the body is not adequately prepared to handle a significant influx of neurotoxins. Once SOT has been administered, it cannot be stopped.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is worth emphasizing that the battle against chronic Lyme disease and related infections requires a comprehensive and individualized approach. Preparatory measures, including strengthening the immune system, creating optimal conditions for organ recovery, and eliminating factors that contribute to toxic load, play a crucial role in this process.
Patients suspecting Lyme disease or similar conditions should consult qualified specialists and follow their recommendations to achieve the best results.
Treating Lyme disease can be a complex task, but with the right approach, support, and information, patients can achieve long-term remission and improve their quality of life. It is important to remember that each case is unique, and therefore, treatment should be tailored to the specific needs and characteristics of each patient.