Tag: Lyme

Lyme Disease Facts You Should Know

This is an excerpt from the extensive article Best Supplements To Kill Lyme and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Lyme Disease.

Current diagnostics miss up to 60% of acute cases. This is what’s so infuriating for those trying to figure out what’s going on with their bodies: Testing for Lyme is inaccurate, but especially so in the beginning. By the time the tests are likely to show positive for someone with Lyme, antibiotic treatments are typically no longer effective. In other words, people would go to their doctor and ask if they have Lyme, the doctors would say how rare it is (fortunately doctors are getting much better about this lately), but would reluctantly perform the tests, only to find no trace of Lyme. So the person would assume some other autoimmune disease while the Lyme slowly proliferates. Then the person would eventually seek another opinion, get another round of tests, and maybe (but often not) find out they do in fact have Lyme. Or, they often find out that one can have Lyme and still test negative indefinitely, but at this stage, the person is showing enough symptoms that the new more knowledgeable doctor can easily conclude that it’s Lyme.

But now the antibiotics will no longer be effective. It’s too late. Many people try anyways, wrecking their immune system in the process.

I suspect that often times a heavy round of antibiotics works to kill the bacteria, but the body is left so badly damaged that new infection (often Candida being the first) takes over, and all of the symptoms remain.

Borrelia does not seem to circulate in the blood. This is the main reason it is so difficult to detect. The bacteria also have a very slow replication rate, so the number of bacteria found in a host remains small, at least for a long time.

There are multiple tests for Lyme. The CDC recommends screening with the ELISA test and then confirming the results with the Western blot test. As mentioned, these tests are completely unreliable during the first 4-6 weeks of infection. The tests only measure the patient’s antibody response to the infection, not the presence of the bacteria itself.

Lyme disease is notoriously difficult to diagnose using conventional tests. And there’s great variation in the presentation of the disease as well, depending on where you contracted it, and whether or not you have any other coexisting infections. There is a group of seven or eight microbes that are the most common. The worst ones are Babesia microti and the different forms of Bartonella.

It is said that an initial course of antibiotics given in stage one cures the disease most of the time, but why not all the time? Is the course of antibiotics too short? Should more be given? Should they be given long term, especially for those who have stage 3 symptoms? What if blood tests no longer show spirochetes? If the antibiotics don’t work, the patient now has to combat Lyme with a very depleted immune system.” – Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, MD, PhD

Why Antibiotics May Not Work for Lyme Disease

These days, early treatment is typically successful, according to the latest science, but most patients go undiagnosed for years. At least 20% of those who are said to be successfully treated for Lyme will experience the same symptoms after treatment, which as mentioned, can easily be attributed to a depleted immune system leading to Candida overgrowth or other fungal pathogens, opening the door for many other infections as well.

Antibiotic resistance occurs at a high rate with spirochete bacteria. Borrelia (and also its co-infections), will respond slowly to antibiotics. They will develop resistance. The bacteria that survive antibiotics can become completely antibiotic resistant. This is why doctors are starting to use multiple antibiotics at once seems, and this does lead to better chance of defeating Lyme, and depleting the immune system. If the medication fails, the bacteria that have survived will not only become resistant, but it will also become much more entrenched in the host.

The Lyme Timeline

Phase One – 3 to 30 Days

Also called early localized infection

Some say less than 50%, others say up to 70-75% develop the bullseye rash, starting at the site of the tick bite. It is not itchy or painful but they are usually warm to the touch. Sometimes flu-like symptoms develop soon after, including fever, chills, swollen lymph glands, headaches, muscle pain, and joint pain.

Phase Two – Days to Weeks After Bite

Also called early disseminated infection

  • Rash spreads
  • Large joints may become swollen and painful
  • Stiff neck in some cases
  • Meningitis may develop
  • Dizziness
  • Heart palpitations

Phase Three – Later Months to Years

Also called late disseminated infection

Many infectious disease specialists believe that “chronic Lyme disease” does not exist, and that Lyme disease from a tick bite can be cured with a short course of antibiotics. It is possible that those who have undergone antibiotic treatments are suffering from the side effects of antibiotics, but more and more experts are coming around to the idea that Lyme disease can survive and cause long-term autoimmune symptoms when antibiotics don’t work. We all know (or at least, we all should know) that antibiotics do not always work and can cause more problems.

  • Arthritis symptoms – swollen, painful joints (fluid-filled joints)
  • Neurological symptoms – numbness, tingling, shooting pains
  • Cognitive symptoms – brain fog, short-term memory deficits, confusion
  • Mood disturbance – depression
  • Fatigue
  • Abnormal heart rhythms and heart failure

Facial paralysis sometimes occurs in this stage or stage two.

Scary Lyme Facts You Should Know

How does Lyme make us sick, and why is it so damn resilient?!?!

  • Spiders, mosquitoes, fleas, and mites may also be spreading the same or similar bacterial infections.
  • Tests are unreliable because they measure the patient’s antibody response to the infection, not the bacteria itself.
  • There’s great variation in the presentation of the disease, depending on where it’s contracted, and whether there are other coexisting infections. At least eight other microbes make up the most common co-infections., including Babesia microti and different forms of Bartonella.
  • Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, has a corkscrew shape that allows it to bore deep into tissues and cartilage (including the brain and nervous system), safely out of reach of most antibiotics.
  • Borrelia burgdorferi can give up its corkscrew shape and convert to a form that is able to live inside cells (“intracellular”) where again, antibiotics have less reach.
  • Borrelia burgdorferi, along with other similar microbes, can form dormant cysts that are completely resistant to antibiotics; the harder you hit it, the more resistant it becomes.
  • Most ticks carry multiple disease-causing pathogens called co-infections. Borrelia burgdorferi is usually accompanied and aided by co-infections of other stealth microbes.
  • Lyme disease has been reported in all 50 states.
  • Lyme disease has been found on every continent except Antarctica.
  • Ticks carrying Lyme can be smaller than the period at the end of this sentence.
  • Many, perhaps most, do not get the bull’s eye rash. Some develop flu-like symptoms a week or so after becoming infected, however, many people are asymptomatic but can develop Lyme symptoms months, years or decades later.
  • It is called the great imitator; looking like many other health problems (Fibromyalgia, Arthritis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Bells Palsy, ADD, MS, and Lupus).
  • People with other chronic disease are much more susceptible to Lyme disease, making Lyme even more likely to go undetectedcted.
  • The medical community is divided over the diagnosis and treatment guidelines.
  • Health insurance still often won’t cover the treatment for Chronic Lyme disease.
  • Lyme Disease transmission may be possible through intercourse, and can likely be passed down through the womb.
  • There are 12 strains of Borrelia that are known to cause Lyme Disease, and standard testing only tests for one.
  • Lyme Disease is more epidemic than Aids, West Nile and Avian Flu combined.
  • Lyme Disease can cause more than 300 different symptoms.
  • The average Lyme patient takes 2-3 years to get diagnosed correctly.
  • 25% of the reported cases are children.

Lyme Disease Cofactors

Leaky Gut and Lyme

In response to pathogenic toxins leaking from the intestines, the immune system produces multiple inflammatory compounds: Transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGF Beta-1), Matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP-9), Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), and Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1). These inflammatory compounds affect multiple systems of the body. Because of the inflammatory compounds that become elevated in people with Lyme disease or co-infections, they are at greater risk of leaky gut. In a study on Lyme disease patients, Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and Interleukin-13 (IL-13) were found to be elevated in different phases of infection. TNFα has also been found to be elevated in Bartonella infections, mice infected with Babesia, mice receiving Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever antigens, Ehrlichia infections, and in Brucellosis patients. Both TNFα and IL-13 have a direct effect on increasing intestinal lining leakage. Unfortunately, western medicine lacks a way to accurately diagnose and to treat leaky gut syndrome.” – Plugging the Holes in Lyme Disease Leaky Gut

I am of the opinion that a leaky gut is the root of most chronic disease. True or not, a leaky gut always exacerbates every ailment, every disease, every single health issue. You cannot cure any chronic disease without a healthy gut.

Lyme Disease and Co-infections

Ticks can carry many bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoans within them, and transmit these pathogens with a single bite.

The most common tick-borne diseases in the United States include Lyme disease, babesiosis, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, relapsing fever, tularemia, Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF). Diseases acquired together like this are called co-infections. Click below to learn more about specific Lyme disease co-infections. – About Lyme Disease Co-Infections

We also borrowed their chart:

image-21896

Lyme and Candida Overgrowth

Yeast overgrowth is a common concern for Lyme patients who undergo antibiotic therapy. Whether or not the Lyme or other bacterial pathogens are killed, the immune system is depleted, the body;’s beneficial bacteria is eradicated, and the body is almost guaranteed to be overrun with fungal pathogens. If one is cured of Lyme disease they will then have to rebuild their immune system (along with healthy gut flora). Most people don’t know how to do this. If they did, they most likely would not have been susceptible to Lyme in the first place. But for those who do the Lyme treatment without successful elimination of Lyme now have to deal with a body that soon inundated with fungi.

Lyme Disease and Amalgam Fillings, Vaccines, and Other Toxic Compounds

Mercury toxicity has been linked to chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, panic attacks, insomnia, cognitive decline (Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, and more), chronic headaches including migraines, joint pain, Candida overgrowth, and much more. The body cannot fend off Lyme under such conditions. People with a history or poor diet, antibiotic use, mercury fillings, or immunizations, are extremely susceptible to Lyme disease and the many co-infections the come with it.

This is an excerpt from the extensive article Best Supplements To Kill Lyme and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Lyme Disease.

Lyme Disease Now Found in All US States

(By Dr. Mercola) It’s now well-recognized that chronic infection is an underlying factor in many if not most chronic illnesses. Diseases such as Parkinson, multiple sclerosis, cardiomyopathy, gastritis and chronic fatigue are all turning out to be expressions of chronic infections, and Lyme disease appears to be a major, yet oftentimes hidden, player.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics released in 2013,1,2 an estimated 300,000 new cases of Lyme disease are diagnosed in the U.S. each year. That’s about 10 times higher than the officially reported number of cases, and is indicative of severe underreporting.

Related: Best Supplements To Kill Lyme and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Lyme Disease

Lyme Disease Now Found in All 50 States

Lyme disease used to be confined to the area of New England. The disease is actually named after the East Coast town of Lyme, Connecticut, where the disease was first identified in1975.3

Now, a Quest Diagnostics health trend report4 warns the tick-borne disease has spread and is being diagnosed in every state in the U.S.5,6 Last year, 10,001 cases of Lyme were diagnosed through Quest Diagnostics’ testing in Pennsylvania alone, the state with the highest prevalence.

New England states (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont) accounted for the vast majority — 60 percent — of the cases diagnosed through Quest, numbering 11,549 in total. Between 2016 and 2017, prevalence rose by 50 percent in New England and 78 percent in Pennsylvania.

However, positive tests also rose in areas where Lyme has previously been absent, including Florida and California. Overall, over the past seven years the greatest uptick in positive tests occurred between 2016 and 2017. According to Harvey W. Kaufman, senior medical director for Quest Diagnostics:7

“Lyme disease is a bigger risk to more people in the United States than ever before. We hypothesize that these significant rates of increase may reinforce other research suggesting changing climate conditions that allow ticks to live longer and in more regions may factor into disease risk.”

Lyme Disease 101

Lyme disease refers to illnesses transferred by insects. Although some still attribute transmission exclusively to ticks, the bacteria can also be spread by other insects, including mosquitoes, spiders, fleas and mites. Ticks are blood suckers, and prefer dark crevices such as your armpit, behind your ear or on your scalp.

Related: Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

Once it attaches itself and starts feeding on your blood, it will at some point “spit” its bacterial load into your blood stream. If it carries an infectious organism, the infection spreads to you via this salivary emission. The black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis, also known as the deer tick) was linked to transmission of the disease in 1977.

In 1982, Willy Burgdorfer, Ph.D., identified the bacterium responsible for the infection: Borrelia burgdorferi8 — a cousin to the spirochete bacterium that causes syphilis. Since then, five subspecies and 300 strains of B. burgdorferi have been identified, many of which have developed resistance to our various antibiotics.

B. burgdorferi is capable of taking different forms in your body (cystic, granular and cell wall deficient forms) depending on the conditions it’s trying to survive in. This clever maneuvering helps it hide and survive. Its corkscrew-shaped form also allows it to burrow into and hide in a variety of your body’s tissues, which is why it causes such wide-ranging multisystem involvement.

The organisms may also live in biofilm communities — basically a colony of germs surrounded by a slimy glue-like substance that is hard to unravel. All of these different morphologies explain why treatment is so difficult, and why recurrence of symptoms occurs after standard antibiotic protocols.

Ticks can also simultaneously infect you with other disease-causing organisms, such as Bartonella, Rickettsia, Ehrlichia and Babesia. Any or all of these organisms can travel with B. burgdorferi (the causative agent of Lyme) and add their own set of symptoms. Many Lyme patients have one or more of these coinfections, which may or may not respond to any given treatment.

Signs and Symptoms of Lyme

Common side effects of tick bites include:

  • An itchy “bull’s-eye” rash (however, while this is the only distinctive hallmark unique to Lyme, this mark is absent in nearly half of those infected, and only 15 to 50 percent of Lyme patients recall a tick bite)
  • Pain
  • Fever
  • Inflammation

A 2014 paper published in the journal Frontiers in Zoology9,10 has argued that ticks should be reclassified as venomous, noting that many of its salivary proteins and their known functions are similar to those found in scorpion, spider, snake, platypus and bee venoms. An estimated 8 percent of tick species are in fact capable of causing paralysis with a single bite.

Symptoms of Lyme disease typically start with unrelenting fatigue, recurring fever, headaches and achy muscles or joints, which may progress to muscle spasms, loss of motor coordination and/or intermittent paralysis, meningitis or heart problems. For a more complete list of symptoms, refer to the Tick-Borne Disease Alliance.11 Lymedisease.org has also created a printable symptom checklist.12

The simplest presentation is the orthopedic form of Lyme disease, which is typically more superficial, affecting the larger joints. When the microbes and associated immune reactions are situated in your connective tissue, the infection presents as a “vague, dispersed pain,” which oftentimes ends up being misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia.

Related: Best Supplements To Kill Candida and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Fungal Infections

Lyme disease, just as syphilis was, is also known as “the great imitator,”13 as it mimics many other disorders, including multiple sclerosis, arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, ALS, ADHDand Alzheimer’s disease. Interestingly enough, despite debilitating symptoms, many Lyme patients outwardly appear quite healthy, which is why Lyme disease has also been called “the invisible illness.”

What’s Causing the Rapid Spread of Lyme Disease?

Over the years, a number of theories have been presented to explain the rapid increase of Lyme, and its geographical spread. According to the CDC, climate change may be part of the equation. The migration of hosts such as deer and rodents due to changes in land use is another. As reported by the Center for Public Integrity:14

“The link between Lyme disease and climate change isn’t as direct as with other vector-borne diseases. Unlike mosquitoes, which live for a season and fly everywhere, deer ticks have a two-year life cycle and rely on animals for transport. That makes their hosts key drivers of disease.

Young ticks feed on mice, squirrels and birds, yet adults need deer … to sustain a population. Rebecca Eisen, a federal CDC biologist who has studied climate’s influence on Lyme, notes that deer ticks dominated the East Coast until the 1800s, when forests gave way to fields.

The transition nearly wiped out the tick, which thrives in the leaf litter of oaks and maples. The spread of the deer tick since federal Lyme data collection began in the 1990s can be traced in part to a decline in agriculture that has brought back forests while suburbia has sprawled to the woods’ edges, creating the perfect habitat for tick hosts.

Eisen suspects this changing land-use pattern is behind Lyme’s spread in mid-Atlantic states like Pennsylvania, where the incidence rate has more than tripled since 2010. ‘It hasn’t gotten much warmer there,’ she says.

But climate is playing a role. Ben Beard, deputy director of the federal CDC’s climate and health program, says warming is the prime culprit in Lyme’s movement north.

The CDC’s research suggests the deer tick, sensitive to temperature and humidity, is moving farther into arctic latitudes as warm months grow hotter and longer. Rising temperatures affect tick activity, pushing the Lyme season beyond its summer onset.”

Rodents Are a Greater Threat Than Deer, and Declining Fox Population May Be a Driving Force

Other research pins the spread of Lyme to rodents, more so than deer. The main predators of mice and rats are fox, birds of prey such as hawks, falcons and owls, and snakes and cats. Agricultural and urban sprawl is killing off habitats for all kinds of animals, including these natural predators.

The red fox, for example, feeds on rodents, but urban and agricultural sprawl, and the competition with coyotes for habitat has caused the fox population to diminish. Hunting cannot be blamed for killing of the fox population today. Fox were overhunted in the early 1900s, but today fox hunting and trapping has either been restricted or banned for decades.

Instead, the vanishing fox population appears to be primarily caused by an increase in coyotes.15 The coyote population is thriving in almost every state now, and is killing off the only predators of rodents left — fox and cats. As a result, Lyme disease is becoming more widespread and prevalent.

Indeed, one study16 confirmed that increases in Lyme disease in the Northeast and Midwest in the past three decades consistently correlated to rangewide declines in red fox. It also found that as fox decrease, rodents increase. Coyotes do not help control small rodents because they prefer larger prey.

Diagnosing and Treating Lyme Disease

Download Interview Transcript

For reasons mentioned above, diagnosing Lyme is tricky business. Patience and persistence is required. For more in-depth information, I recommend listening to my previous interview with Lyme expert Dr. Dietrick Klinghardt. Negative test results are common when you have Lyme, as the spirochete has the ability to infect your white blood cells.

Lab tests rely on the normal function of these cells, but when the white blood cells are infected with Lyme, they actually lose the ability to produce antibodies. Hence, nothing shows up on the test. This is known as the “Lyme paradox,” and necessitates putting treatment before diagnosis.

The idea is that by treating the infection, your white blood cells will regain their ability to mount a normal immune response, which can then be picked up by blood tests. According to Klinghardt, the IGeneX Lab in Palo Alto is the gold standard for Lyme testing, as they use two different antigens in their testing.

There’s also a useful indirect test called the CD57 test. “CD-57” is a specific group of natural killer cells that are particularly damaged by the Lyme spirochetes. Therefore, if your numbers drop to a certain level, it is an indirect indicator that you may have Lyme disease, because the only known infection to suppress CD57 is that of B. burgdorferi.

Addressing Electromagnetic Field Exposure Is Crucial if You Have Lyme

As for treatment, Klinghardt is adamant about patients addressing exposure to electromagnetic fields(EMFs) during treatment. In fact, he will not treat you unless you take steps to minimize your EMF exposure, as it can have a truly profound impact on the disease.

He’s convinced the increased virulence we’re now seeing is related to the dramatic increase in EMFs and microwave radiation from cellphones, cell towers, and all manner of wireless technologies. He also believes heavy metal toxicity exacerbates the problem.

“One of my primary treatments for Lyme disease is to put people in protective clothing that shields them from incoming microwaves. We shield the bedside. We turn off the wireless internet at home. We put shielding paint on the houses.

That has been a more successful strategy to treating Lyme disease and to get people neurologically well than any of the antibiotics or any of the antimicrobial compounds,” he says.

For a summarized outline of Klinghardt’s treatment protocol, please see my previous interview with him, hyperlinked above. I’ve also included the video for your convenience, in which his protocol is discussed. You can also learn more about Lyme disease from the International Lyme and Associated Disease Society on ILADS.org.17

A list of nutritional supplements that can be helpful against Lyme can be found in “Lumbrokinase for Lyme.” As suggested by that title, the supplement lumbrokinase is one of them.

Lumbrokinase Helps Break Down Biofilms Associated With Lyme

As mentioned earlier, B. burgdorferi can live and thrive in biofilms inside your body. While conventional treatment typically involves long-term antibiotic use, I encourage you to investigate the natural solutions available, including lumbrokinase, which has been shown to help break down these infected biofilms.

Lumbrokinase is the name of a group of six proteolytic (protein digesting) enzymes derived from earthworms. When pathogenic bacteria hide within biofilms, they can feed and replicate out of the reach of your immune system.

As such, they remain strong and unaffected by any antimicrobial medications such as antibiotics and herbs that you may be taking. The fact that lumbrokinase breaks down fibrinogen is an important aspect of Lyme treatment because the pathogenic bacteria use fibrinogen, which they convert to fibrin, to strengthen their network.

Researchers studying the effects of lumbrokinase18 say earthworms have been used for thousands of years within traditional medicine in countries such as China, Japan and Korea. Dry earthworm powder taken orally has been shown to promote healthy blood circulation.

The group of enzymes in lumbrokinase acts as fibrinolytic agents, meaning they break down clots, making them useful to treat conditions associated with thrombosis. According to the study authors:19

“Earthworms contain many compounds with potential medicinal properties and have been administrated to treat inflammatory, hematological, oxidative and nerve disease. Earthworms also have antimicrobial, antiviral and anticancer properties. Among many properties, earthworms also exhibit fibrinolytic activity. The pharyngeal region, crop, gizzard, clitellum and intestine secret an enzyme that plays a role in dissolving fibrin.”

Lumbrokinase in the Treatment of Lyme

Dr. Miguel Gonzalez, a functional, integrative and holistic medicine specialist from Thousand Oaks, California, and creator of the Lyme People website, suggests lumbrokinase “appears to assist in dissolving the excess fibrin that covers and hides the bacteria, is involved in the regulation of blood clotting and also eliminates the abnormal proteins that are released as a result of the bacteria’s activity.”20

Lyme expert Dr. Marty Ross, integrative medicine specialist and founder of The Healing Arts Partnership in Seattle, also uses lumbrokinase, both alongside antibiotics, and for patients in whom antibiotics fail.21 Describing his treatment, Ross says:22

“… [S]ome of my patients prefer not to use conventional pharmaceuticals or just can’t tolerate them. In that case, I use one or more of four herbal antimicrobials: cumanda, andrographis, teasel and cat’s claw.

I prescribe one 20 milligram (mg) pill of lumbrokinase two times a day. I recommend this for patients who have been stalled for a while on more straightforward treatment and are not improving. I generally start to see improvement once I add in the lumbrokinase.”

If you and your doctor determine lumbrokinase is right for you, be sure to buy a high-quality, reputable brand. Certain brands are available in capsule form at a dose of 600,000 IU (international unit), or 40 mg, which are recommended for Lyme sufferers in the form of a daily dose of 1 to 2 capsules taken in the morning, afternoon and at bedtime.

Generally, lumbrokinase should be taken only under the advisement of your doctor and can be dangerous if taken with blood-thinning medication. In addition, it’s contraindicated in all medical conditions associated with an increased risk of bleeding.

Lyme Prevention Basics

Considering the difficulty of diagnosing and treating Lyme disease, you’d be wise to take preventive measures whenever venturing outdoors. And remember, it really doesn’t matter where you live anymore, since no region of the U.S. is exempt these days. Commonsense prevention strategies include:23

  • Avoid tick-infested areas such as leaf piles around trees. Walk in the middle of trails and avoid brushing against long grasses on path edgings. Don’t sit on logs or wooden stumps, and avoid setting up camp or pitching a tent in areas covered with leaves
  • Wear light-colored long pants and long sleeves to make it easier to see the ticks
  • Tuck your pants into socks and wear closed shoes and a hat, especially if venturing out into wooded areas. Also tuck your shirt into your pants, and wear gardening gloves when gardening or working in the brush
  • Ticks, especially nymphal ticks, are very tiny. You want to find and remove them before they bite, so do a thorough tick check upon returning inside, and keep checking for several days following exposure. Also check your bedding for several days following exposure
  • Your pets can become a host for ticks and may also become infected with Lyme disease, so be sure to check their fur and collars

As for using chemical repellents, I do not recommend using them directly on your skin as this will introduce toxins directly into your body. If you use them, spray them on the outside of your clothes, taking care to avoid inhaling the spray fumes. I recommend avoiding insect repellant containing N,N-Diethyl-m-toluamide, also known as DEET, as it is a known neurotoxin.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a list24 indicating the hourly protection limits for various repellents. If you find that a tick has latched onto you, it’s very important to remove it properly. For detailed instructions, please see Lymedisease.org’s Tick Removal page.25 Once removed, make sure you save the tick so that it can be tested for presence of pathogenic organisms.

Lyme and Candida – Why Both Must Be Addressed To Heal

Why and How the Two Go Together

(Organic Lifestyle Magazine) The human body is colonized by an unfathomable number of different microbial species including bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Candida is a normal member of human gut flora. Virtually all of us have it. When beneficial bacteria is not present Candida can become virulent. Lyme patients often undergo long-term antibiotic therapy. Antibiotics destroy beneficial intestinal bacteria which then allows candida, other fungi, and other pathogens to flourish.

Most pathogens, including candida and Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme bacteria), need carbohydrates to survive. How they get their carbohydrates differs, but a diet high in sugars and starches literally feed Candida and Lyme as well as other living pathogens both directly and indirectly.

Since virtually all of us have Candida, those with Lyme are especially susceptible. Even without antibiotic treatments, a weak immune system allows Candida to flourish, grow hyphae, and colonize all around the body.

Some people are not susceptible to Lyme disease. Scientists think that genes and overall health determine susceptibility, but the presence of virulent Candida is probably one of the best measures of the health of a person. As mentioned, we all (or nearly all) have candida, but healthy bodies do not have virulent candida. Candida overgrowth is what happens in a compromised immune system. In other words, even if someone has not been treated with antibiotics, it stands to reason that virulent candida, and many other pathogens are present in the body of someone who is susceptible to Lyme.

Why Lyme Is Becoming More Prevalent

Ticks can’t survive in very cold climates. Warmer climates help ticks reproduce and survive longer, proliferate earlier, and live farther north. And yes, our climate is warming. We can argue that this is caused by man-made pollution or the reversal of our polarity, or the ebb and flow of the planet’s ecosystem, or even intentional geoengineering, but the climate is, without a doubt, getting warmer. Even a minor adjustment in average temperatures can have massive effects on the ecosystem. Warmer winters are also expanding the geographic range of animals associated with Lyme, helping to explain the spread of the disease in northern climates like Canada.

In addition, we have more deer. Deer were nearly extinct at the turn of the 20th century. Hunters deci­mated deer populations and Lyme disease is believed to be most often contracted by deer ticks. Over the last century, deer have obviously made a comeback.

It’s not just the deer, forty to 90 percent of white-footed mice carry Borrelia burgdorferi, and these mice are also proliferating and expanding their territories lately. There are other creatures that carry the ticks, and other parasites that carry the disease as well.

Some researchers estimate that global warming has doubled tick populations in the US, and increased populations by up to five fold in Canada.

Why Candida Is So Common

Our modern world’s continued fervor for irradicating germs, mostly bacteria, live us to deal with antibiotic-resistant bacteria and fungi. Our sugar and starch consumption is also increasing while our diet diversity is decreasing, and consequently, our gut’s ecosystem diversity is also decreasing. Fungal infections are becoming increasingly prevalent in the human population. Candida albicans incredibly opportunistic and is the most common fungal pathogen found in humans worldwide.

Even the fruit we consume has far more sugar than what our ancestors were accustomed too. Check out the difference between our modern hybridized bananas and the wild ones:

Try looking into other fruit as well and you’ll see that we used to have to work a lot harder for that sugar.

Why You Have To Address Address Both Lyme and Candida

Candida overgrowth opens up the gut. There little tiny holes that are only supposed to allow digested, completely broken down foods. When Candida becomes virulent it makes the gut much too permeable, consequently, pathogens including parasites, undigested proteins, and sugars get into the bloodstream radically overwhelming the immune system. The body is not capable of handling Lyme under such stress. The immune system already has its work cut out for itself under healthy conditions. And, in case you haven’t heard yet, your immune system is only as good as your gut health.

Have you ever heard the phrase “feed a cold, starve a fever?” There is some truth to it, but its incomplete. The phrase should be, “feed a virus, starve bacteria and fungal infections.” But Lyme and Candida take a long time to get rid of, and fasting for months is not a good idea. But we can still starve them by restricting sugars and starches, and we can speed up their demise with supplements.

For more information on Candida, along with a protocol including recommended supplements and diet, check out my article Best Supplements To Kill Candida and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Fungal Infections.

I also wrote, Best Supplements To Kill Lyme and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Lyme Disease, but I recommend starting with Candida.

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