Lyme Disease: A More Encompassing View

This article was featured as my Holistic Outlook column in The Times Herald Record.

Every spring, the spotlight on Lyme disease brightens for a bit. We’re warned to tuck in socks, check for ticks, use sprays, report rashes.

We’re told that if bitten, we’ll find a bulls-eye rash or an engorged tick. But many ticks are never detected, as they are tiny and often hidden in hair or skinfolds. They secrete an anasthetic when they bite, to decrease the chance of detection. Not everyone gets a rash.

For many, dealing with Lyme is not seasonal. It goes on and on, derailing once-healthy lives.

Like many practitioners who work extensively with Lyme, I see clients in my office who have struggled for years. Some have no diagnosis but know something is wrong; many have been misdiagnosed, or recover only partially.  Sadly, some have been told they’re fine, and should stop attention-seeking behaviors.

The conventional view of Lyme is of a spirochete infection, Borellia burgdorferii, from a tick that must embed for more than 24 hours; that Lyme is difficult to get, and easy to cure with a few weeks of Doxycyline.

That is not my experience, nor that of many top MDs who specialize in Lyme, such as Dr Richard Horowitz of our own Hudson Valley, and Dr Dietrich Klinghardt, with whom I have trained for many years, based in Seattle.

This view of Lyme is more encompassing, and much more frightening. Not an infection of a single microbe, but of multiple tick-borne pathogens, any of which can be transmitted within a few hours of a tick bite: bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi, often living together in a symbiotic community, protected by a “biofilm” wall, that hides and protects them from the immune system, and from antibiotics. Often these communities hide in areas of injured tissue, making it more difficult for injuries to fully heal. In part because the microbes are no longer in the bloodstream, but hidden and protected, false negative blood tests are very common.

Bartonella, Babesia and parasites are frequently part of Lyme disease, as are toxins such as heavy metals, mold, and mycotoxins. A lasting, effective approach takes all this into account, while providing detoxification, an anti-inflammatory diet, and immune system support.

Lyme can damage any organ or system of the body: heart, joints, lungs, nervous system, urinary tract, skin, and brain. It can cause pain, fatigue, disorientation, memory problems, anxiety and paranoia, digestive issues, night sweats, and more.

Perhaps the most common question I’m asked is: can you ever fully recover? If you mean can you annihilate every microbe in your system always and forever, perhaps not. But if you mean can you live a healthy, pain-free life with a well-functioning brain and body, absolutely! I’ve recovered myself, and I’ve helped so many others, as well. We are designed to heal.

No information I share is intended to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent any disease and is provided for informational purposes only.  It is not intended to serve as medical advice.