Lyme Disease–my healing story

This is my story on how I healed from Lyme Disease.

**Before you read this post, I want to say that I am not a doctor and I do not diagnose or treat illnesses.  Everything that I write here is free information about what I have done to help my body to heal.

 

This one post could be worth $1000 to you.  I’m not kidding.  Most doctors will make you pay hundreds of dollars and take a battery of expensive tests before they tell you any of the information that I write here.

End of 2018/Early 2019 UPDATE:

Have been on Lyme-N and am experiencing a retracing of my Lyme symptoms, (mostly severe fatigue and liver pain but the retracing is mild just needing to sleep more and pain around liver just happened twice). Have met multiple people and families ill for years cured after taking Lyme-N.  There are about 10 doctors right now who offer it, my life partner www.DrJosh.com offers it (although there’s nothing currently on his website about it). Lyme-N is a mineral Generall Recognized as Safe (GRAS) that is nebulized for 60 days, other than some minor throat irritation there’s nothing negative that I can say about taking it. So I suggest starting with Lyme-N, then trying whatever resonates for you with what I tried below.

2016 UPDATE:

Many years and more nutrition research later, I am on a whole food, plant-based diet (see “How Not to Die“).  Most people do not realize the toxins in animal products like mercury, lead, tributyltin, glyphosate, mammal estrogens, dioxins, persistent organic polluntants (POPs) and other issues like parasites (sushi). (For more information click here.)

 

One thing that I have learned is if you have had Lyme Disease for many years, there can be a biofilm and other co-factors in the infection which require specialized treatment FAR BEYOND what I write below in my healing journey.  My partner, Dr. Josh, has worked at times at the Sponaugle Wellness Center where people who have seen dozens (hundreds) of doctors finally become healed from Lyme. They use PET scans and many other diagnostic techniques.  Healing in the case of a long-term and complicated Lyme diagnosis often requires busting the biofilm which Dr. Josh has told me cannot be done with standard “do-it-yourself” techniques. (So the Lyme-N treatment will help but if there are remaining toxins, other things will probably need to be done besides just Lyme-N.)

 

All that being said, I had very little money and found a way to recover from Lyme, so don’t lose hope if you can’t afford the 3-5k+ per week Sponaugle center.

 

How I Healed from Lyme Disease

By Heidi Crockett, written in 2006

I am writing this article in hopes of educating people further about Lyme and to explain what I did to heal from the disease. I obtained Lyme Disease from a tick bite when I was a camp counselor in Minnesota in the summer of 2004. I did not realize it was Lyme until three months into being sick. When I first looked up symptoms of Lyme online at the six week marker, major symptoms that I found included things like migraines and a specific bull’s-eye rash.  I did not have these, so I assumed it wasn’t Lyme.  Not until I revisited the possibility based on my symptoms did I realize that I had it.  My symptoms included swollen glands at my neck, extreme fatigue, liver pain, and joint pain in my wrists, although I initially thought I had sprained my wrists and later realized it was joint pain. Some people have Lyme for years before it is diagnosed; they experience general fatigue and joint pain but never any rash or acute symptoms. For me, I had noticed a light red, round rash on my ankle that lasted approximately a month but thought nothing of it. Apparently, “the bull’s-eye EM rash that is characteristic of Lyme Disease appears in only 30% to 40% of infected adults and in only 10% of children. (Quote from p.393 of Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, and Lyme Disease second edition by Burton Goldberg and Larry Trivieri, Jr.)

Besides learning the facts about the bull’s-eye EM rash, other important facts are that Lyme testing is unreliable and antibiotics frequently do not work as a cure. Initially, I paid for a Western Blot test that is, (at most!) 60% accurate in detecting Lyme and my test came back negative. (Also, there is controversy about how many “bars” mean the test is “positive”.  Conventional doctors say that all 5 bars have to be filled while doctors who practice integrative medicine say fewer bars still equal a positive test.)  The only tests that I think are worth obtaining if you suspect you have Lyme is either the “Q-RIBb” test with the Bowen Institute (www.bowen.org) or the “RIBb” test with Nelson Medical Research Institute.

(UPDATE: See the bottom of this post for a Lyme test comment from another person who has had/is healing from Lyme.)

As for antibiotics, I took Doxycycline for three months as antibiotics are the “recommended” treatment for healing from Lyme. While on the antibiotics many of my symptoms abated; I was at 70% energy level and able to work some. My liver pain decreased significantly. When I went off them in April, I became very ill again. From what I’ve researched about Lyme, if caught within the first few weeks, antibiotics work as a cure. At later stages, antibiotics might work in some cases but it is important to know that they weaken the immune system at the same time they’re supposed to be healing the body.

For those who want scientific data, I’ve read “the reason Lyme is resistant to detection and therapy is that it is pleomorphic, meaning it can radically change form. In its classic spirochete form, the Bb bacteria can contract like a large muscle and twist to propel itself forward…it can actually swim better in tissue than blood… and can travel through blood vessel walls and connective tissue”.(Quote from p.393 of Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, and Lyme Disease)

In fact, the Bb bacteria (Lyme disease is caused from the Bb bacteria) has been found in many places in the body, including urine, teeth, shoulder fluid, blood, tonsils, etc. This is why any one antibiotic has problems eradicating it.

After going off the oral antibiotics and becoming sick again, I reached a crossroads in my illness. Traditionally, I would pursue IV antibiotics, but in my research, I discovered IV antibiotics were frequently not successful in
treating Lyme. At this point, I used a guided meditation titled “Choosing Between Medical Treatments” from the book, Meditations on Everything Under The Sun by Margo Adair. I envisioned myself receiving IV antibiotics and felt myself becoming poisoned. I envisioned two treatments that a woman at the healthfood store had told me about, IV vitamins and phototherapy, and sighed in relief. That day, I made an appointment at the Gainesville Holistic Center to pursue phototherapy.

I work at a hospital and none of my coworkers has ever heard of phototherapy (also known as UV blood therapy, photo-oxidation therapy, and other names). It is more popular in Europe and I believe it is a repressed therapy in the US; check out the book “Into The Light – Tomorrow’s Medicine Today!” by William Campbell Douglass II, MD, for more scientific information. In my opinion, phototherapy is like IV antibiotics without any negative side effects. A 1/2 cup of my blood is taken through an IV, oxygenated, exposed to UV light, and reinserted. The UV light has antiviral and antibacterial properties and helps with general detoxification. I completed twelve phototherapy sessions and did five IV vitamin treatments to boost my immune system when I was at my sickest. Dr. Talmor at the Gainesville Holistic Center, 352-377-0015, does these two treatments. I also saw Shauna Duran, ARNP, LM, at Alachua Integrated Medicine, 386-418-1234, for IV vitamins (cheaper and she adds more vitamins).

In addition to these two treatments, I had a phone consult with a doctor who specializes in Lyme and chronically fatigued patients, Dr. Campbell with Specialized Nutritional Support, 864-833-4372. From his recommendation, I did a tissue-mineral analysis with a hair clipping that indicated where I had vitamin and mineral deficiencies; based on the results of the test, I began five supplements including calcium, B-vitamin, a multivitamin and mineral pill, an adrenal support pill, and a time-release Vitamin C. The test also demonstrated my body was having problems digesting carbs and simple sugars, so I cut out all carbs and sugars from my diet. This one diet change made a huge difference in my energy level. In addition to the new supplements as recommended by the test, I also took two herbal tinctures from herbsoflight.com, one called “Lyme’s Defense” and a Liver/Gallbladder tincture to cleanse my liver. I took a number of herbs to boost my immune system including CoQ10 200mg daily, cordyceps mushroom 2 gms daily, Vit C powder 6-8 gms daily, and glyconutrient “advanced ambrotose powder”. (This glyconutrient powder is very powerful and proven effective from many people I’ve known who tried it.) I also took spirulina in fresh vegetable juice, evening primrose oil 1300mg twice daily, a handful of licorice bark chewed up in the morning to help the adrenal glands, Enzymedica’s “virastop,” 120mg ginkgo biloba to increase mental clarity, 400mg Activated Selenium, 400mg magnesium daily, 2 tablespoon of Cod Liver Oil, (the cod liver oil capsules are heated and lose some of their nutritional potency,) and 100mg 5-HTP at night to help with depression. Also, I drank 2 quarts of colloidal silver daily for seven weeks; I made it myself with distilled water and a colloidal silver generator. (Whether or not this helped I cannot say, I’m typing out everything I did.)  I choose to see an acupuncturist regularly to help with the fatigue and liver pain.

Besides supplements, the IV vitamins, and the phototherapy, changing my diet (cutting out all carbs and sugars) was the most drastic change for me.

 

After ten weeks of doing the phototherapy, IV vitamins, taking the supplements, and changing my diet, I became 90% better.  Some lingering fatigue remained in the months following. Next, using a Rife machine was the final and very important part of my healing process. I did two, thirty minute treatments (mostly on the lower frequencies that more help with inflammation) each week for a good three months. (Here is the Rife machine that I bought after my research.) (I think they give the machines weird names to put people off from realizing how valuable they are.)  Finally, my fatigue was gone! What a gift to be healthy and active in life.  My friends are familiar with my quote that “if you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything.”

I also wish to briefly address the internal, emotional aspect of my healing process. I sang healing affirmations.  I have a CD titled “Heidi’s Healing Harmonies” if anyone wants this ask me. Here are the words to one song:

Sometimes I’m afraid my health is out of my control,

that’s when I close my eyes and say, “I am healed and whole,

I trust my body to heal. I am healed. I trust my body to heal.”

 

Sometimes I’m afraid that I don’t have a freaking clue,

that’s when I close my eyes and I know just what I need to do.

I say, “everything I need to heal is with me right here now.

I am healed.  I trust my body to heal.”

 

I developed a daily prayer routine, and saw a counselor to assist my internal process.  I communicated regularly with friends and family about what was happening and felt supported and loved, as much as I was able to receive the support of others. On one level, being sick is a solitary experience because of the divide between describing physical suffering and mental anguish to someone and one’s direct experience of these. If nurtured, this solitude, while seemingly forced upon the sick person, can nevertheless, provide needed space for profound life changes. Neale Walsch, in his book Conversations with God Book 1, writes,

“The purpose of every relationship is who you become as a result of the other person.” I feel this same way about any life circumstance: it is not so much the event itself, but who you become as a result of it.

Ps. An excellent book I strongly recommend is

Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, and Lyme Disease

second edition published in 2004 by Goldberg and Trivieri,Jr. It is a gold mine of a whole range of alternative treatments for anyone suffering from an illness that Western medicine has failed to heal. Many things that I did for Lyme are in this book.

 

**If nothing above is helpful for you, check out other people’s advice at this forum here.

————-

From another Lyme survivor:

“My notes on the Lyme:
Western Blot Test:  there is the IgM (identifies a current infection) and the IgG tests (identifies past infection or current one or exposure to lyme).  The test is considered negative or positive based on the number of bands which the patient’s antibodies react to.  The CDC and the testing company IgeneX (and many of Lyme doctors) differ on their interpretation of the results.  The CDC requires the IgM to have two positive bands to be positive and the IgG to have five.  The other perspective is that having two bands positive on each constitutes a  positive.  As already mentioned the test is not very accurate to begin with.

Lyme Immune Panel ID is a test measuring how the immune system is fighting Lyme disease.  It can give info on whether an infection is active, initial or waning which can help to know how treatment is working.  You may also know how treatment is working by how you feel!

My feeling is that the tests don’t matter as much as effective treatment which is about increasing immunity and health. My effective treatments were doing the Pangu Shengong form of qi gong, acupuncture and a diet that eliminated grains, sweeteners, fruit, dairy and consisted of only grass-fed or organic meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds and limited amounts of beans.”