From Dr. Lee…

A Surprising Origin

In addition to ticks, any insect that bites and carries the bacteria for Lyme has the potential to transmit the disease, especially mosquitoes and spiders.

The Bull’s Eye Rash

A bite from a tick carrying Lyme disease does not always form a bull’s eye. Some Lyme disease patients never suffer a rash at all.

Why Some Get Bites, Some Get Lyme, and Some Get Chronic Lyme disease

Some believe that nearly every person may have been exposed to Lyme. Many infected people may be stuck in the incubation phase and never express classic symptoms.

All disease, like Lyme, starts with a shock, trauma, or surprise, then it goes into a two-step pattern. The first is the Conflict (or incubation) period. During this time there are absolutely no signs or symptoms.

The body will only move forward into the second or healing phase of the disease, when it perceives the shock, trauma or surprise is no longer in control. When the Healing phase begins, symptoms appear and are expressed.

Everyone may think, oh my goodness, that person’s sick and needs a doctor, while his or her body is actually saying: “I’m ready to push the bad out now.”

The longer the body stays in the Conflict (incubation) phase; the bigger and tougher the Healing phase may be. Treating symptoms alone may lead to stopping the Healing and return the patient to the conflict phase over and over again; making matters worse in the long run.

How to Identify Lyme

The symptoms of Lyme disease can be confusing and differ among infected persons both in nature and severity. Unless a person suffers from the Babesia bacteria, it’s not likely to show up in a blood test. Some people may have no symptoms at all, even though a blood test might indicate Lyme disease.

Also, whether or not someone gets Lyme disease could depend on the capacity of his or her immune system. Say a person must cope with many adversities, physical, emotional and chemical. At some point a person’s immune system may not be able to endure any more. Like water running into a bucket, it will only hold so much before the water spills out.

The disease progresses through different stages with varying and sometimes overlapping indicators.

Initial Symptoms

These typically occur within 3-32 days of a tick or other insect bite. Many infected people first notice a red rash, known as erythema migrans (EM). Typically, the rash goes away within four weeks. Remember, not all infected persons develop a rash, or they may have one without the bull’s eye pattern. It’s also possible for one to develop in a place a person doesn’t usually see. If a person has other symptoms that might be due to Lyme disease, he or she should see a doctor and not wait for a rash to appear.

From Five to Twenty-One Days

Muscle and joint aches, headache, fever (100°-103°), stiff neck, swollen glands, and fatigue may occur with or without the rash.

Secondary Symptoms

Multiple EM lesions may appear in several places on the body. An EM lesion is an uncommon rash precipitated by an infection or in some cases a drug.

Arthritis – sometimes joint pain is the first symptom noticed. Other joint problems include stiffness and swelling, particularly in the large joints, such as the knee, elbow, and shoulder.

Nervous system problems – the bacteria can affect the brain, spinal cord, and other nerves of the body. Symptoms of this include:

Weakness and drooping of the face and eyelid on one side (may mimic Bell’s palsy) – it may also occur on both sides of the face.

Wide-spread numbness, tingling, and burning

Impaired motor coordination

Persistent headache

Stiff neck

Mood changes

Difficulty concentrating or sleeping

Generalized weakness

Eye problems – redness and inflammation

Other body systems – affected areas may include the heart, liver, lymph nodes, testes, and eyes.

Note: All symptoms of early manifestation usually occur with the first rash or within about six weeks of it. They may go away on their own within a few weeks or months.

Chronic Symptoms

Joint pain – painful inflammation of the joints, as well as intermittent or chronic arthritis

Chronic nervous system problems – these may include:

Memory problems, including dementia

Depression or other emotional problems

Sleep disorder

Nerve pain or problems

Chronic skin problems – can include thinning, thickening, or discoloration of the skin, usually of the hands and feet

It’s now been fairly well-established that chronic infection is an underlying factor in many prolonged illnesses. Diseases such as Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and chronic fatigue may all turn out to be expressions of chronic infections.

Diagnosing Lyme Disease

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 a person contracted it, and whether or not he or she has any other coexisting infections.

The Culprits

There is a group of seven or eight microbes that are the most common. The worst ones are Babesia microti. At least three species of bacteria belonging to the genus borrelia cause the infectious disease. Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto is the main cause of Lyme in North America and Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii are more prevalent in European cases. The type of bacteria involved are called spirochetes, known by their long, helically-coiled shape. Most spirochetes are free-living and anaerobic.

When the microbes and the associated immune reactions are situated in the connective tissue, the infection presents as a “vague, dispersed pain,” which oftentimes ends up being labeled as fibromyalgia by conventional doctors. The immunological expression of Lyme covers a wide variety of immune system disorders, typically with some aspect of autoimmunity.

A Controversial Disease

The essence of the controversy of autoimmune vs chronic infection is cause for debate. The gastroenterological presentation, where you have constant stomach problems, constipation, recurring stomach ulcers and/or indigestion, is very common, especially with the Babesia infection. This is sometimes the direct outcome of pancreatitis or hepatitis, but it can also be due to parasites acquired after contracting Lyme disease. In these cases, aggressive treatment of the parasites typically resolves the problem.

Insomnia is one of the key symptoms in many cases of Lyme disease, along with neurological symptoms such as headaches and a wide variety of pain syndromes. But you cannot diagnose Lyme disease on symptoms alone, because they’re so varied.

Most commercial tests designed to detect chronic infections are based on measuring your immune reaction—the presence of antibodies—to the invading microbe. However, the white blood cells themselves get infected with Lyme spirochetes, and this is a bit of a game-changer… because if your white blood cells are infected, they lose the ability to produce antibodies.

Also, the Flourescence in Situ Hybridisation, or FISH test, which looks at the genetic material of the cells, is done on blood for Babesia. But Babesia lives in the central nervous system, joints, and connective tissue. It doesn’t live in the blood stream, at least not in significant amounts, so it can easily be missed when analyzing blood. Since Lyme is bacteria transmitted via an insect/tick bite it is not thought to be contagious from person to person. Varied symptoms and presentations may be as varied as the victims.

How to Cure or Control Lyme Disease

The healing is correlated with the building blocks of the body. Humans are made of three types of cells: Endoderm, Mesoderm, and Ectoderm. All cells have their origin from one of these original types. We may divide them into: Structure, Emotion, and Chemistry. Structure is defined as your DNA; what traits are from your ancestors? Emotion is your subconscious thoughts while you are sleeping, downloaded from your hard-drive brain based on all of your life experiences. Chemistry is based on what you eat, drink and breathe.

The Christian perspective may be based on the same “three sided” model. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Taking note that scripturally it is impossible to separate the three parts of the Christian faith; it is a true trinity. So I have concluded that it is impossible to separate the three sides of the human body; Structure, Emotion, and Chemistry. Each third is an equal part of both health and disease.

The diaphragm of the body is like the equator of the earth. Everything below the diaphragm has a matching scientific set above it. For example, there are four valves in the heart and four valves in the colon. Two sides to the brain and two kidneys. Each of the body parts has a Structure, Emotion, and Chemistry. If we do not heal the emotional and chemical problems as well as the structural, we do not have complete healing.

Why so Many Different Symptoms and Treatments

The characteristics that define the disease must include the Structural, Emotional, and Chemical issues for each victim at the time of exposure. They must also incorporate future internal and external environmental problems that occur during both the Conflict (incubation) and Healing phases.

Traditional medicine usually includes long term antibiotic therapy with a primary goal of reducing the symptoms. But there are alternatives out there. I encourage people to find and work with an expert in the field. In my case, I have found that a combination of natural approaches produces a better long term result. This integrative approach includes the Three R’s principle.

Re-Fuel the body

A.Kangen Water® – a brand of water with correctly sized alkalized particles for optimum health. It contains beneficial minerals and hydrates more efficiently because the water molecules are small enough to enter our cells rather than just wash them from the outside.

B. Food that is patient specific for efficiency

C. Supplements to re-build from the cellular level upward, based on comparing blood labs to a healthy person (not the average person)

Re-Charge the body

A. Hour-long sessions three times a week for one-hundred twenty days on the P.E.M.F. (Pulsed Eletro Magnetic Field). This therapy delivers radiation-free, non-thermal, magnetic pulses into the body’s cells allowing healing energy to safely pass through them. Damaged cells are rebuilt and dead tissue released into the body. This therapy re-charges every cell completely, so our bodies function properly like our re-charged cell phones.

B. Combinations of detox, or getting toxic substances out of the body. These include sound therapy and infrared light therapy that empowers the body to heal itself. I also use the cold laser (LLLT) to promote healing along with footbaths, which use ions to rid the body of toxins. In addition I use a low-impact exercise machine.

Re-Store the body

A. Body work, Exercise/Chiropractic/Cranial Sacral (adjustments)

B. Balancing the body’s nutritional needs by using biofeedback balancing to discover them then prescribing homeopathics to supplement them

C. Emotional Clearings. Using computerized biofeedback one can find the connection between a particular emotion and the organ it’s affecting adversely. Then by implementing scientifically programmed music combined with a patient’s thoughts, the process eliminates the cause of that specific trauma from the sub-conscious.

The natural/integrative approaches may actually create more awareness of symptoms for short periods; since they are enhancing the Healing phase much more than a traditional medical approach which may be returning the patient back into the Conflict phase by fighting symptoms only. An example of a natural/integrative approach: It is ugly to vomit, but it may be exactly what it takes to rid the body of bad food.

The best Lyme patient is the educated Lyme patient.

Most Lyme patients seeking integrative healing find their help through word of mouth. Most holistic doctors do not advertise themselves as treating Lyme or any disease. Our office moto is to “spread the good news with such abundance, that any bad has no place to survive.” In other words, we do not treat disease or even diagnose. We treat the whole body for people that used to have a medical diagnosis of some disease process. The traditional medicine will do all the “killing” of things, while we will focus on supporting the good healthy cells with abundance.

The first thirty-one years of practice have humbled me to say: “I don’t know” most of the time. But I have learned that if we do not heal all three parts (Structural, Emotional, and Chemical) of the body together, we do not heal that body.

David G. Lee, D.C., Ph.D, C.Ad