Archive for January, 2018

Depression Not Caused by Chemical Imbalance

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/01/18/chemical-imbalance-theory-for-depression.aspx?

Depression Not Caused by Chemical Imbalance  

depression

January 18, 2018

Story at-a-glance

  • Many people believe depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain; this chemical imbalance theory has been widely promoted by drug companies and psychiatrists alike — without evidence to back it up
  • Pharmaceutical companies were instrumental in bringing the chemical imbalance theory to the mainstream, heavily promoting it as a marketing gimmick to sell antidepressant drugs
  • Studies have repeatedly shown antidepressants work no better than placebo for mild to moderate depression, yet carry a significant risk of side effects
  • Depression is likely the result of multiple environmental and biological factors, including faulty mood regulation by the brain, genetic vulnerability, stressful life events, nutrition, medications and medical problems, among others

By Dr. Mercola

Do you know what causes depression? Many people would respond that it’s due to a chemical imbalance in the brain. This chemical imbalance theory has been widely promoted by drug companies and psychiatrists alike, to the extent that it’s accepted as fact. The glaring problem is that the chemical imbalance theory is just that — a theory — and worse still, it’s a theory that has been largely discredited.

The theory was first proposed by scientists in the 1960s after it appeared certain antidepressant drugs worked by altering brain chemicals, but it was stated that “the findings are inconclusive.”1 Yet, the theory was proposed at a time when treating mental illness via psychoanalysis was falling out of favor while viewing it as tied to a physical or biological mechanism was in vogue.

The idea quickly spread, becoming the medical dogma for depression, despite concrete evidence proving its worth. “The fact that practicing physicians and leaders of science bought that idea, to me, is so disturbing,” Steve Hyman, director of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, told Quartz.2 The news outlet continued:

“It’s not hard to see why the theory caught on: It suited psychiatrists’ newfound attempt to create a system of mental health that mirrored diagnostic models used in other fields of medicine. The focus on a clear biological cause for depression gave practicing physicians an easily understandable theory to tell patients about how their disease was being treated.”3

Prozac, Zoloft Bring Chemical Imbalance Theory for Depression to the Mainstream

The release of the antidepressant Prozac (fluoxetine) in the late 1980s was a game changer for depression treatment in that the drug’s maker, Eli Lilly, heavily promoted the chemical balance theory as a marketing gimmick to sell the drug. With fewer side effects than some of the earlier antidepressants, Prozac became a blockbuster drug and the poster child for the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class of antidepressants, which target the neurotransmitter serotonin.

“There was, of course, no demonstrable evidence showing that depressed patients had any imbalance, but Lilly ran with it,” Psychology Today noted. “Before long, psychiatrists and psychiatric patients alike came to identify with the idea that mental disorders are caused by chemical imbalances in the brain.”4

Zoloft (sertraline), another SSRI, was another major player in spreading and perpetuating the chemical balance theory, with their television ads going so far as to say, “While the causes are unknown, depression may be related to an imbalance of natural chemicals between nerve cells in the brain. Prescription Zoloft works to correct this imbalance.”5

It’s important to note that in the time since Prozac flooded the market, depression still remains poorly treated, despite a plethora of new antidepressant options to choose from. SSRIs work by preventing the reuptake (movement back into the nerve endings) of the neurotransmitter serotonin.

This makes more serotonin available for use in your brain, which is thought to improve your mood since low serotonin levels are said to lead to depression. Yet, as written in the Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, it’s a largely disproven theory:6

“Antidepressants are supposed to work by fixing a chemical imbalance, specifically, a lack of serotonin in the brain. Indeed their supposed effectiveness is the primary evidence for the chemical imbalance theory. But analyses of the published data and the unpublished data that were hidden by the drug companies reveal that most (if not all) of the benefits are due to the placebo effect.

Some antidepressants increase serotonin levels, some decrease it, and some have no effect at all on serotonin … The serotonin theory is as close to any theory in the history of science having been proved wrong.”

Harvard: Depression ‘More Complex’ Than a Brain Chemical Imbalance

It’s quite possible that people who are depressed may have an imbalance of certain chemicals in their brain. But to speculate that that imbalance is the cause of their symptoms is overly simplistic. For instance, it’s known that psychological stress can cause biological changes in the brain, including a reduction in the size of the hippocampus, which is used for learning and memory.7 In turn, it’s known that some people with depression have a smaller-than-average hippocampus.8

“Evidence of biological changes correlating with environmental stressors is vastly different from evidence that mental illnesses are ‘caused’ by biological deficits,” scientists wrote in a 2008 report on the chemical imbalance theory,9 and this is an important point. Even Harvard Medical School acknowledges that while brain chemicals may play a role in your mood, it is not accurate to suggest that one being too high or too low is at the root of depression. They state:10

“Research suggests that depression doesn’t spring from simply having too much or too little of certain brain chemicals. Rather, there are many possible causes of depression, including faulty mood regulation by the brain, genetic vulnerability, stressful life events, medications, and medical problems.

It’s believed that several of these forces interact to bring on depression … There are millions, even billions, of chemical reactions that make up the dynamic system that is responsible for your mood, perceptions, and how you experience life.”

One theory posits, for instance, that stress could be a major contributor to depression because it suppresses the production of new neurons in the hippocampus. In order to feel better, people with depression may need to increase neurogenesis (the generation of new neurons), which takes weeks.

This would explain why many people who take antidepressants don’t notice any improvement for several weeks.11 If the action was really on neurotransmitters, the patient should feel better right away when levels increase. Instead, triggering the growth of neurons could be the secret, which is a process that can be triggered naturally via exercise.

Believing Depression Is Caused by Chemical Imbalance Worsens Outcomes

Aside from the serious implications of prescribing drugs under a false premise, the chemical balance theory is also dangerous in that it takes away ownership from the patient. If a person feels a chemical imbalance in their brain is to blame for their depression, they may believe taking medications is the only option to feel better. According to Todd Kashdan, professor of psychology at George Mason University in Virginia, upon “buying into a biomedical explanation for their depression:”12

“They become pessimistic that recovery is possible. They become less confident that they can manage and regulate negative moods that arise (and they always do). The notion that depression is their brain’s fault does not lessen the stigma or self-blame one bit.

And they no longer believe that psychotherapy is a credible or useful strategy for treating their depression and instead, are ready to be dispensed a pill cure. Essentially, they become less flexible in their options for treating depression and less confident that they will escape its clutches.”

Indeed, a 2014 study published in Behavior Research and Therapy revealed just that — attributing depressive symptoms to a chemical imbalance made people more pessimistic about their prognosis and led them to believe that drugs would be more effective than psychotherapy.13 At the same time, they still felt the same amount of self-blame. It’s important to note that –

feeling depressed is not anyone’s fault, nor should they feel blamed for or ashamed of their feelings.

However, pinning its cause on a chemical imbalance is likely to worsen outcomes rather than improve them. It’s a vicious cycle as well, because the chemical imbalance theory makes people assume that medications are the best course of treatment. But here again research has shown that people with depression who are treated with medication have poorer long-term outcomes compared to those who are not.14

Antidepressants Work No Better Than Placebo

Nearly 7 percent of U.S adults suffered from a depressive episode in the past year15 while, worldwide, 350 million people suffer from depression, making it a leading cause of disability.16 Despite this, only about one-third of Americans with depression get treated,17 which puts the remaining two-thirds left untreated at increased risk of suicide and with a lower quality of life.

That said, the antidepressant drugs that are supposed to work by fixing a chemical imbalance in the brain are largely ineffective, which means that even when some people attempt to get treatment, they’re left suffering. Studies have repeatedly shown antidepressants work no better than placebo for mild to moderate depression.18

Irving Kirsch, associate director of the Program in Placebo Studies at Harvard Medical School, has conducted meta-analyses of antidepressants in comparison to placebo and has concluded that there’s virtually no difference in their effectiveness, noting, “The difference is so small, it’s not of any clinical importance.”19 What is different, however, is the potential for side effects, which is far greater among antidepressants than placebos.

For instance, antidepressant users have an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes,20 even after adjusting for other risk factors, like body mass index (BMI).21 Antidepressant use has also been linked to thicker arteries, which could contribute to the risk of heart disease and stroke.

The results of a study of 513 twin veterans, presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting in New Orleans in 2011, found that antidepressant use resulted in greater carotid intima-media thickness (the lining of the main arteries in your neck that feed blood to your brain).22

This was true both for SSRIs and antidepressants that affect other brain chemicals. Further, the use of antidepressants is also associated with an increased risk of heart attack, specifically for users of tricyclic antidepressants, who have a 36 percent increased risk of heart attack.23

Meanwhile, the drugs are also linked to dementia, with researchers noting “treatment with SSRIs, MAOIs, heterocyclic antidepressants, and other antidepressants was associated with an increased risk of dementia,” and as the dose increased, so too did the risk.24

The drugs are also known to deplete various nutrients from your body, including coenzyme Q10 and vitamin B12 — in the case of tricyclic antidepressants — which are needed for proper mitochondrial function. SSRIs may deplete iodine and folate,25 and you’re even more likely to relapse if you’re treated with antidepressants than if you’re treated via other methods, including placebo or exercise.26,27Given the lack of effectiveness and the risks involved, Kirsch and colleagues concluded:28

“When different treatments are equally effective, choice should be based on risk and harm, and of all of these treatments, antidepressant drugs are the riskiest and most harmful. If they are to be used at all, it should be as a last resort, when depression is extremely severe and all other treatment alternatives have been tried and failed.”

Alternative Treatments for Depression

If the chemical imbalance theory is false, the case for choosing antidepressants as a first-line treatment for depression is incredibly weak. Fortunately, there are many alternatives to drugs for treating depression, including nutritional interventions, light therapy, exercise and more. If you’re struggling with depression, you needn’t suffer in silence. Seek help, from a counselor, a holistic psychiatrist or another natural health practitioner to start the journey toward healing.

That said, if you are feeling desperate or have any thoughts of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a toll-free number: 1-800-273-TALK (8255), call 911, or simply go to your nearest hospital emergency department. You cannot make long-term plans for lifestyle changes when you are in the middle of a crisis. If you’re in a place where you feel you can begin to make positive changes, here are some of the top alternative treatments for depression to consider:

Exercise. Those who didn’t exercise were 44 percent more likely to become depressed compared to those who did so for at least one to two hours a week.29
Light therapy. Light therapy alone and placebo were both more effective than Prozac for the treatment of moderate to severe depression in an eight-week-long study.30
Omega-3 fats, which have been shown to lead to improvements in major depressive disorder.31 Make sure you’re getting enough omega-3s in your diet, either from wild Alaskan salmon, sardines, herring, mackerel and anchovies, or a high-quality animal-based omega-3 supplement.
Optimize your vitamin D levels, another factor linked to depression32
Magnesium. Magnesium supplements led to improvements in mild-to-moderate depression in adults, with beneficial effects occurring within two weeks of treatment.33
B vitamins. Low levels of B vitamins are common in patients with depression, while vitamin B supplements have been shown to improve symptoms.34
Mindfulness meditation35 and the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT). In a study of 30 moderately to severely depressed college students, the depressed students were given four 90-minute EFT sessions. Students who received EFT showed significantly less depression than the control group when evaluated three weeks later.36
Cognitive behavioral therapy, which works as well as antidepressants and may reduce your risk of relapse even after it’s stopped.37
Limit sugar. Men consuming more than 67 grams of sugar per day were 23 percent more likely to develop anxiety or depression over the course of five years than those whose sugar consumption was less than 40 grams per day.38
 _____________
**Comment**
A very helpful article for Lyme/MSIDS patients as we nearly always at some point suffer with depression.  
Some of you might be on antidepressants and this article has left you floundering.  Take a deep breath and decide you are going to take this information, study it, and talk to your practitioner before deciding upon any course of action.
Please seek help if you need it.  If possible find at least a “Lyme friendly” practitioner as the last thing you need is to be abused by another health professional when you are at your lowest.  Hopefully the word is getting out on the psychiatric manifestations of Lyme/MSIDS.  Start by going to your local Lyme support group and ask around for a good, reputable, understanding, and hopefully experienced practitioner.
For those of you in the trenches, I want to encourage you that this too shall pass.  I found my depression while in treatment for Lyme/MSIDS was directly aligned to how I felt physically.  The worse I felt physically the worse I felt emotionally.  I’ve said this before, but the best advice I ever received from someone who made it to the other side of health was, “Don’t get depressed about feeling depressed.”  Give yourself permission to feel lousy.  Your body is in a battle of epic proportions – you’re bound to feel like crap.
Treating for Lyme/MSIDS is unlike most other treatments that have linear improvement.  You are going to have starts and stops, good days and bad, and down right horribly miserable days.  You are going to have days where you beg to have it all end.
Persevere.  Don’t quit.  Better days are coming.  Do not give in to the moment.  
When I got really low I read books where others had it worse than me.  I watched cartoons, anything to get my mind off the pain and hopelessness.  For a long time I didn’t read anything about treatment outcomes, because frankly I couldn’t have handled the truth.  That’s OK.  You don’t need to know how the watch works when you are at your lowest.  There will come a day when you can handle all that information, but for today, take a nice bath.  Listen to your favorite music.  Read your favorite books.  Call an understanding friend.  Whatever it takes to get through this day, minute, and second.

There has been researching showing that probiotics help with depression as well:  http://www.spring.org.uk/2017/03/probiotics-depression.phpThe scientists found that when mice in the study were put under stress, they developed a reduction in Lactobacillus through the metabolite kynurenine, which is somehow involved with inflammation and was linked to depressed behavior.  Feeding them Lactobacillus almost completely stopped their depressive behaviors.  

All Lyme/MSIDS patients should be on good pro and prebiotics and doing all they can to lower inflammation.  Read here about the microbiome and MSM’s ability to lower inflammation & help heal the gut:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/01/03/the-invisible-universe-of-the-human-microbiome-msm/

If the depression hangs on, seek help.  Also, if you need to take medication short-term – so be it.  No judgement here.  We are all different and take different things to make it to the other side of health.  But, I encourage you to get to the bottom of things rather than mask it with a pill.  

My experience has shown me that treatment for pathogens is just one prong of our healing journey, and while important, isn’t the end-all.  We must detox.  We must address diet and sleep.  We must learn everything we can about our personal imbalances and weaknesses and seriously address them.  We must address our mental health and all that entails – from lowering our stress to ditching harmful relationships.
Thank you to all the mental health practitioners and patients out there writing about your experiences with Lyme/MSIDS psychiatric issues.  We need to hear what you have to say!

Category:

Activism, Inflammation, Lyme, Psychological Aspects, Treatment

A Strange Itch, Trouble Breathing, Then Anaphylactic Shock

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/magazine/a-strange-itch-trouble-breathing-then-anaphylactic-shock.html?_r=1

A Strange Itch, Trouble Breathing, Then Anaphylactic Shock

By LISA SANDERS, M.D. JAN. 4, 2018

“I can’t breathe,” the woman panted, her voice a husky monotone. Her sister looked anxiously at the clerk at the triage desk at the University of Iowa hospital emergency room. The woman’s breath was rapid and coarse. Her chest heaved with the work of simply breathing. She pulled at the neck of her sweatshirt — suddenly it was too tight. She pulled it over her head and dropped it to the floor. She was naked beneath the top; she had been in bed when this attack came on.

The 54-year-old woman was helped into a wheelchair and whisked into the inner sanctum of the E.R. What followed was a blur of concerned faces, needles and medical data. Her blood pressure was dangerously low; her heart was racing. She was given epinephrine and steroids, but it was hours before she could explain what had happened that night.

She was staying at her mother’s house in rural Iowa, she told the doctors. Just as she was going to bed, she felt a sudden tingling in the palms of her hands. She recognized the sensation immediately: Twice in the past eight years, she had felt the same strange itch on her hands and sometimes her feet. Each time it was quickly followed by a terrifying sense of her throat closing.

Anaphylactic Shock

She had driven herself to her sister’s house, several miles away, and her sister drove her the rest of the way to the hospital. She opened the car window to let in the frigid winter night air. She struggled to breathe. Black spots swam before her eyes, but she willed herself not to pass out.

She had had this kind of allergic reaction twice before but never as severely. She knew from her own research that this was anaphylactic shock — a potentially deadly allergic reaction. After she got the medications, the woman’s symptoms resolved. She stayed in the hospital overnight, and when it was clear that the episode was over, she went back to her mother’s house. She made an appointment to see a local allergy specialist right away.

A Mystified Allergist

The specialist spent nearly two hours going over everything the woman had been exposed to — food, plants, toxins, anything that might have triggered this nearly fatal allergic reaction. There were no new exposures that day, nothing she hadn’t eaten or touched many times before and after this latest attack. The most common cause of severe allergic reactions in adults is food, but the allergist couldn’t identify any likely suspects. He was mystified. He asked her to share her diagnosis when she got one.

For months after returning to her home on Long Island, the woman was anxious about everything she ate, and she worried every night when she went to bed. She always kept a bottle of Benadryl and an EpiPen with her, but still she was terrified about what might happen if she was too far from a hospital the next time.

‘I Need a Nurse!’

When her next attack happened — just 10 months later — she was already in Brookhaven Memorial Hospital in East Patchogue, N.Y. She was being treated with antibiotics for a devastating case of gastroenteritis due to salmonella. Her first meal, after days of nothing but clear liquids, was beef brisket with potatoes and carrots. It smelled good, but she had no appetite. She made herself eat a few bites anyway, knowing it was her first step toward going home.

A couple of hours later, she felt a strange itch on the top of her head. She scratched reflexively. Then the recognition hit her like a slap: Not now, she thought. She grabbed the IV pole, still dripping fluids into her system, and ran out into the hallway. “I need a nurse,” she shouted. Her heart was pounding, and she knew what was coming next. Hospital staffers in scrubs descended on her. Was she having a panic attack? No, an allergy attack, she told them.

They helped her back into bed and gave her oxygen, Benadryl and steroids. “What happened?” someone asked. She told the whole story, plus something she now realized — every one of her attacks seemed to come a few hours after she ate beef. She didn’t go through this every time she had a hamburger or steak; meat was a regular and much-loved part of her diet. But she was pretty sure that she had steak — or beef brisket, this time — before each episode.

Her doctors were dubious. New food allergies — especially severe ones like hers — are uncommon in adults. This was much more likely to be an allergic response to one of the antibiotics they were giving her. The patient, though, found that theory hard to swallow. It might explain this episode, but what about the earlier ones? She hadn’t been on antibiotics then. The doctors had no answer.

Was a Tick to Blame?

A nurse had a different theory about what happened, one the patient had heard before but never believed. There was some kind of tick, the nurse told her, whose bite could make you allergic to meat. She didn’t know much about it. But, the nurse suggested, she should check it out.

The woman had been bitten by ticks before — who on Long Island hasn’t? But was it really possible for a bite to produce this crazy reaction? Indeed it was, she discovered, when she got home and began doing some research. The bite of the lone star tick — named for a white spot shaped like Texas on the arachnid’s back — could cause an allergic reaction to mammalian meat. The trigger was a sugar, identified as galactose-α-1,3-galactose and more casually known as alpha-gal, a carbohydrate found in the flesh of all nonprimate mammals.

How the tick bite triggers this allergy is not yet known. The link between the tick — whose range extends from southern Florida to Maine and as far west as Iowa — and the resulting alpha-gal allergy was first described in 2009 by Thomas Platts-Mills, a professor at the University of Virginia, who himself developed the disorder. Unlike most food allergies, in which symptoms occur within minutes of consuming the allergen, the alpha-gal reaction is delayed. The symptoms — ranging from a rash to nausea to shortness of breath and even anaphylaxis — can appear four to six hours after a meal containing meat. Stranger still, the reaction doesn’t occur after every exposure.

A Diet Changed Forever

The diagnosis of mammalian meat allergy (M.M.A.) can be confirmed with a blood test that identifies antibodies to alpha-gal. The patient contacted Diane Cymerman, an allergist she had seen years earlier for seasonal allergies. Cymerman asked her to list all the foods she consumed before her last episode in the hospital and had her blood tested for antibodies to everything on the list, down to the black pepper and parsley seasoning. And to alpha-gal.

The first results came back the following week: She had a moderate allergy to beef, but everything else was normal. The following month, the test results for alpha-gal antibodies came back. She was wildly allergic to galactose-α-1,3-galactose. Cymerman called the patient with the news. She had to avoid eating meat from mammals — and everything derived from them, including Jell-O and other foods and medications made from gelatin. Even safe foods cooked on a grill that has also been used for meat can be contaminated with enough alpha-gal to trigger a reaction.

The patient contacted the allergist back in Iowa and told him what she had. He was amazed. He had only recently heard a lecture on this phenomenon. He had never seen it before her case.

It hasn’t been easy for this Iowa transplant to give up beef and other meat that comes from mammals. Some days, she tells me, just thinking about a juicy hamburger or steak makes her stomach growl. But she remembers her terror and that long drive to the Iowa hospital and sticks to chicken, fish and vegetables.

Lisa Sanders, M.D., is a contributing writer for the magazine and the author of “Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis.” If you have a solved case to share with Dr. Sanders, write her at Lisa.Sandersmd@gmail.com.

________________

**Comment**

For more on Alpha-Gal:  http://alpha-gal.org

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/01/12/tick-related-red-meat-allergy-found-in-minnesota-wisconsin/

Approx. 5 Min.

Great video by Dr. Greger at nutritionfacts.org on tick bites, meat allergies, and chronic urticaria

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/02/05/paralysis-tick-the-immune-system/  Australian allergy specialist Sheryl van Nunen got her red meat allergy mystery solved when there was a surge in allergic reactions in the U.S. to a drug, Cetuximab, used to treat colorectal cancer developed using a mouse cell line, also containing alpha-gal.

Pause

If you haven’t read the articles on vaccines, please do.
https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.wordpress.com/2015/06/19/a-word-on-vaccines/ and https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.wordpress.com/2015/07/15/vaccines-continued/
Some vaccines used to be run through mouse brains. This is important to know as mice are one of the biggest reservoirs for borrelia, the causative agent known to cause Lyme Disease.

More damning evidence of the mouse/vaccine connection:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/15/vaccines-and-retroviruses-a-whistleblower-reveals-what-the-government-is-hiding/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Category:

Activism, Ticks, vaccines, Viruses

2-Tier Lyme Testing Missed 85.7% of Patients – Milford Hospital

https://www.change.org/p/1120418/u/22255324?utm_medium=email&utm_source=petition_update&utm_campaign=228977&sfmc_tk=GMMXfuEdwN9ahd2uRes%2bYz7IACkro6DA7%2brPwdqwfoMnga0JumrNDJyG2Dm49N96&j=228977&sfmc_sub=410444853&l=32_HTML&u=41890189&mid=7259882&jb=74

The 2-tier serology assay missed 85.7% of the cases of early Lyme disease with spirochetemia

Carl Tuttle
Hudson, NH
JAN 16, 2018 — Please see the letter below addressed to the TBD Working Group referencing ongoing attempts to suppress direct detection methods in the laboratory testing for Lyme disease.

Anyone wishing to contact the Lyme Disease Working Group can send an email to:  tickbornedisease@hhs.gov

Letter to the Working Group:

I would like to call attention to the study below published in November of 2010 by Dr. Sin Lee identifying faulty serology tests for Lyme disease in 85.7% of the walk-in patients in the Emergency Room of Milford Hospital.

One month after publishing his paper (Dec 13, 2010) Dr. Lee received a termination of employment letter from the Director of Human Resources at Milford Hospital as they ordered the immediate shutdown of the molecular diagnostic laboratory. It appears that individuals at Yale Medical Group weren’t happy with the truth and wanted to end his work and shut down his lab sabotaging the development of a DNA sequencing test for Lyme disease diagnosis.

For those who haven’t made the connection:

Serology cannot be used to gauge treatment failure or success which makes it the ideal tool for concealing persistent infection perpetuating the thirty year dogma that chronic Lyme does not exist.

Did the scientists in Europe use Western blot or DNA sequencing to prove the Iceman contracted Lyme disease 5000 years ago? If DNA sequencing can be used to confirm Lyme disease in a dead man frozen 5000 years ago, why are we not trying to use the same technology to diagnose Lyme disease on those still walking?

Iceman Mummy May Hold Earliest Evidence of Lyme Disease

https://www.livescience.com/18704-oldest-case-lyme-disease-spotted-iceman-mummy.html

Dr. Lee went on to win a lawsuit against his employer’s irrelevant unsubstantiated accusations(Sin Hang Lee vs. Milford Hospital, Incorporated et al) and reopened his lab to continue his work. In 2014 Dr. Lee published a study of persistent infection while working on a project with the Centers for Disease Control. Once that study was published, the CDC stopped communicating with him.

“There are people who do not want to see the ugly truth which may be revealed by widespread use of direct detection tests.”

With early detection and treatment, eradication of infection is possible but faulty/misleading antibody tests are the root cause of unimaginable pain and suffering.

A Lyme patient in Norway won her recent lawsuit due to faulty/misleading antibody tests….

“On May 23rd, 2017, Seim was granted, in the District Court, 340,000 in court costs, and claims for expenses for up to 90,000”

BOTA BORRELIA – CURE LYME – Lyme patient receives compensation 10 years after inadequate treatment.
https://botaborrelia.wordpress.com/2018/01/09/bota-borrelia-cure-lyme-borreliapatient-far-ersattning-10-ar-efter-bristande-behandling-lyme-patient-receives-compensation-10-years-after-inadequate-treatment/
___________________________

1. Dr. Lee’s 2010 Publication:

BMC Res Notes. 2010 Nov 1;3:273. doi: 10.1186/1756-0500-3-273.
Early Lyme disease with spirochetemia – diagnosed by DNA sequencing.
Lee SH1, Vigliotti VS, Vigliotti JS, Jones W, Williams J, Walshon J. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21040573

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

A sensitive and analytically specific nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) is valuable in confirming the diagnosis of early Lyme disease at the stage of spirochetemia.

FINDINGS:

Venous blood drawn from patients with clinical presentations of Lyme disease was tested for the standard 2-tier screen and Western Blot serology assay for Lyme disease, and also by a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for B. burgdorferi sensu lato 16S ribosomal DNA. The PCR amplicon was sequenced for B. burgdorferi genomic DNA validation. A total of 130 patients visiting emergency room (ER) or Walk-in clinic (WALKIN), and 333 patients referred through the private physicians’ offices were studied. While 5.4% of the ER/WALKIN patients showed DNA evidence of spirochetemia, none (0%) of the patients referred from private physicians’ offices were DNA-positive. In contrast, while 8.4% of the patients referred from private physicians’ offices were positive for the 2-tier Lyme serology assay, only 1.5% of the ER/WALKIN patients were positive for this antibody test. The 2-tier serology assay missed 85.7% of the cases of early Lyme disease with spirochetemia. The latter diagnosis was confirmed by DNA sequencing.

CONCLUSION:

Nested PCR followed by automated DNA sequencing is a valuable supplement to the standard 2-tier antibody assay in the diagnosis of early Lyme disease with spirochetemia. The best time to test for Lyme spirochetemia is when the patients living in the Lyme disease endemic areas develop unexplained symptoms or clinical manifestations that are consistent with Lyme disease early in the course of their illness.
__________________________

2. Dr. Lee’s additional publication identifying chronic Lyme: (2014)

DNA sequencing diagnosis of off-season spirochetemia with low bacterial density in Borrelia burgdorferi and Borrelia miyamotoi infections.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24968274
_______________________

At what point in time do we acknowledge that Lyme disease has been tenaciously mishandled to protect the long established racketeering scheme outlined in the Shrader & Associates RICO lawsuit;

You can read the court document here:

https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/LymeDisease.pdf

Might I remind everyone reading this email that the Centers for Disease Control has aligned itself with the seven defendants identified in this racketeering lawsuit so if the CDC is allowed to oversee the future direction of Lyme per the recommendations/outcome of this TBD Working Group we are in for another thirty years of failure to control, treat and eliminate this 21st Century plague.

Sincerely,

Carl Tuttle
Lyme Endemic Hudson, NH

 

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Testing, Uncategorized

Magnesium: An Invisible Deficiency

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/01/19/magnesium-deficiency.aspx?

Magnesium: An Invisible Deficiency That Could Be Harming Your Health

By Dr. Mercola January 19, 2015 

Story at-a-glance–

  • Only about 25 percent of US adults are getting the recommended daily amount of magnesium (and even that may not be enough)
  • Magnesium deficiency may trigger 22 medical conditions, from anxiety to diabetes
  • Early signs of magnesium deficiency include loss of appetite, headache, nausea, fatigue, and weakness

Magnesium is a mineral used by every organ in your body, especially your heart, muscles, and kidneys.1 If you suffer from unexplained fatigue or weakness, abnormal heart rhythms or even muscle spasms and eye twitches, low levels of magnesium could be to blame.

If you’ve recently had a blood test, you might assume it would show a magnesium deficiency. But only 1 percent of magnesium in your body is distributed in your blood, making a simple sample of magnesium from a serum magnesium blood test not very useful.

Most magnesium is stored in your bones and organs, where it is used for many biological functions. Yet, it’s quite possible to be deficient and not know it, which is why magnesium deficiency has been dubbed the “invisible deficiency.”

By some estimates, up to 80 percent of Americans are not getting enough magnesium and may be deficient. Other research shows only about 25 percent of US adults are getting the recommended daily amount of 310 to 320 milligrams (mg) for women and 400 to 420 for men.2

Even more concerning, consuming even this amount is “just enough to ward off outright deficiency,” according to Dr. Carolyn Dean, a medical and naturopathic doctor.

Magnesium Deficiency May Trigger 22 Medical Conditions

Download Interview Transcript

Magnesium is often thought of primarily as a mineral for your heart and bones, but this is misleading. Researchers have now detected 3,751 magnesium-binding sites on human proteins, indicating that its role in human health and disease may have been vastly underestimated.3

Magnesium is also found in more than 300 different enzymes in your body and plays a role in your body’s detoxification processes, making it important for helping to prevent damage from environmental chemicals, heavy metals, and other toxins. In addition, magnesium is necessary for:

  • Activating muscles and nerves
  • Creating energy in your body by activating adenosine triphosphate (ATP)
  • Helping digest proteins, carbohydrates, and fats
  • Serving as a building block for RNA and DNA synthesis
  • Acting as a precursor for neurotransmitters like serotonin

Dr. Dean has studied and written about magnesium for more than 15 years. The latest addition of her book, The Magnesium Miracle, came out in 2014 and in it you can learn about 22 medical areas that magnesium deficiency triggers or causes, all of which have all been scientifically proven. This includes:4

 

Anxiety and panic attacks Asthma Blood clots
Bowel diseases Cystitis Depression
Detoxification Diabetes Fatigue
Heart disease Hypertension Hypoglycemia
Insomnia Kidney disease Liver disease
Migraine Musculoskeletal conditions (fibromyalgia, cramps, chronic back pain, etc.) Nerve problems
Obstetrics and gynecology (PMS, infertility, and preeclampsia) Osteoporosis Raynaud’s syndrome
Tooth decay

Early signs of magnesium deficiency include loss of appetite, headache, nausea, fatigue, and weakness. An ongoing magnesium deficiency can lead to more serious symptoms, including:

Numbness and tingling Muscle contractions and cramps Seizures
Personality changes Abnormal heart rhythms Coronary spasms

The Role of Magnesium in Diabetes, Cancer, and More

Most people do not think about magnesium when they think about how to prevent chronic disease, but it plays an essential role. For instance, there have been several significant studies about magnesium’s role in keeping your metabolism running efficiently—specifically in terms of insulin sensitivity, glucose regulation, and protection from type 2 diabetes.

Higher magnesium intake reduces risk of impaired glucose and insulin metabolism and slows progression from pre-diabetes to diabetes in middle-aged Americans.5 Researchers stated, “Magnesium intake may be particularly beneficial in offsetting your risk of developing diabetes, if you are high risk.”

Multiple studies have also shown that higher magnesium intake is associated with a higher bone mineral density in both men and women,6 and research from Norway has even found an association between magnesium in drinking water and a lower risk of hip fractures.7

Magnesium may even help lower your risk of cancer, and a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that higher intakes of dietary magnesium were associated with a lower risk of colorectal tumors.8

Results from the meta-analysis indicated that for every 100-mg increase in magnesium intake, the risk of colorectal tumor decreased by 13 percent, while the risk of colorectal cancer was lowered by 12 percent. The researchers noted magnesium’s anti-cancer effects may be related to its ability to reduce insulin resistance, which may positively affect the development of tumors.

Surprising Factors That Influence Your Magnesium Levels

Seaweed and green leafy vegetables like spinach and Swiss chard can be excellent sources of magnesium, as are some beans, nuts, and seeds, like pumpkin, sunflower, and sesame seeds. Avocados also contain magnesium. Juicing your vegetables is an excellent option to ensure you’re getting enough of them in your diet.

However, most foods grown today are deficient in magnesium and other minerals, so getting enough isn’t simply a matter of eating magnesium-rich foods (although this is important too). According to Dr. Dean:

“Magnesium is farmed out of the soil much more than calcium… A hundred years ago, we would get maybe 500 milligrams of magnesium in an ordinary diet. Now we’re lucky to get 200 milligrams.”

Herbicides, like glyphosate also act as chelators, effectively blocking the uptake and utilization of minerals in so many foods grown today. As a result, it can be quite difficult to find truly magnesium-rich foods. Cooking and processing further depletes magnesium.

Meanwhile, certain foods can actually influence your body’s absorption of magnesium. If you drink alcohol in excess, for instance, it may interfere with your body’s absorption of vitamin D, which in turn is helpful for magnesium absorption. If you eat a lot of sugar, this can also cause your body to excrete magnesium through your kidneys, “resulting in a net loss,” according to Dr. Danine Fruge, associate medical director at the Pritikin Longevity Center in Florida.9 The following factors are also associated with lower magnesium levels:10

  • Excessive intake of soda or caffeine
  • Menopause
  • Older age (older adults are more likely to be magnesium deficient because absorption decreases with age and the elderly are more likely to take medications that can interfere with absorption)
  • Certain medications, including diuretics, certain antibiotics (such as gentamicin and tobramycin), corticosteroids (prednisone or Deltasone), antacids, and insulin
  • An unhealthy digestive system, which impairs your body’s ability to absorb magnesium (Crohn’s disease, leaky gut, etc.)

Calcium, Vitamin K2, and Vitamin D Must Be Balanced with Magnesium

It may seem like you could remedy the risks of low magnesium simply by taking a supplement, but it’s not quite that simple. When you’re taking magnesium, you need to consider calcium, vitamin D3 and vitamin K2 as well, since these all work synergistically with one another. Excessive amounts of calcium without the counterbalance of magnesium can lead to a heart attack and sudden death, for instance. Research on the Paleolithic or caveman diet has shown that the ratio of calcium to magnesium in the diet that our bodies evolved to eat is 1-to-1.11Americans in general tend to have a higher calcium-to-magnesium ratio in their diet, averaging about 3.5-to-1.

If you have too much calcium and not enough magnesium, your muscles will tend to go into spasm, and this has consequences for your heart in particular. “What happens is, the muscle and nerve function that magnesium is responsible for is diminished. If you don’t have enough magnesium, your muscles go into spasm. Calcium causes muscle to contract. If you had a balance, the muscles would do their thing. They’d relax, contract, and create their activity,” Dr. Dean explains.

When balancing calcium and magnesium, also keep in mind that vitamins K2 and D need to be considered. These four nutrients perform an intricate dance together, with one supporting the other. Lack of balance between these nutrients is one of the reasons why calcium supplements have become associated with increased risk of heart attacks and stroke, and why some people experience vitamin D toxicity. Part of the explanation for these adverse side effects is that vitamin K2 keeps calcium in its appropriate place. If you’re K2 deficient, added calcium can cause more problems than it solves, by accumulating in the wrong places, like your soft tissue.

Similarly, if you opt for oral vitamin D, you need to also consume it in your food or take supplemental vitamin K2 and more magnesium. Taking mega doses of vitamin D supplements without sufficient amounts of K2 and magnesium can lead to vitamin D toxicity and magnesium deficiency symptoms, which include inappropriate calcification that may damage your heart.

Tips for Increasing Your Magnesium Levels

One way to really increase your magnesium, as well as many other important plant-based nutrients, is by juicing your greens. I typically drink one pint to one quart of fresh green vegetable juice every day, and this is one of my primary sources of magnesium. Organic foods may have more magnesium if grown in nutrient-rich soils but it is very difficult to make that determination. If you opt for a supplement, be aware that there are a wide variety of magnesium supplements on the market, because magnesium must be bound to another substance. There’s simply no such thing as a 100 percent magnesium supplement.

The substance used in any given compound can affect the absorption and bioavailability of the magnesium, and may provide slightly different, or targeted, health benefits. The table that follows summarizes some of the differences between the various forms. Magnesium threonate and citrate are some of the best sources, as it seems to penetrate cell membranes, including your mitochondria, which results in higher energy levels.Additionally, it also penetrates your blood-brain barrier and seems to do wonders to treat and prevent dementia and improve memory. If you take a supplement, you can use the “bowel test” to determine if you’re taking too much magnesium. Dr. Dean explains:12

“The best way to tell if you are getting enough magnesium is the “bowel test”. You know when you have too much magnesium when your stools become loose. This, in fact, may be a blessing for people with constipation… [which] is one of the many ways magnesium deficiency manifests.”

Besides taking a supplement, another way to improve your magnesium status is to take regular Epsom salt baths or foot baths.Epsom salt is a magnesium sulfate that can absorb into your body through your skin.Magnesium oil can also be used for topical application and absorption. Whatever supplement you choose, be sure to avoid any containing magnesium stearate, a common but potentially hazardous additive.

Magnesium glycinate is a chelated form of magnesium that tends to provide the highest levels of absorption and bioavailability and is typically considered ideal for those who are trying to correct a deficiency. Magnesium oxide is a non-chelated type of magnesium, bound to an organic acid or a fatty acid. Contains 60 percent magnesium, and has stool softening properties
Magnesium chloride/Magnesium lactate contain only 12 percent magnesium, but has better absorption than others, such as magnesium oxide, which contains five times more magnesium Magnesium sulfate/Magnesium hydroxide (milk of magnesia) are typically used as laxatives. Be aware that it’s easy to overdose on these, so ONLY take as directed
Magnesium carbonate, which has antacid properties, contains 45 percent magnesium Magnesium taurate contains a combination of magnesium and taurine, an amino acid. Together, they tend to provide a calming effect on your body and mind
Magnesium citrate is magnesium with citric acid, which like most magnesium supplements has laxative properties but is well absorbed and cost effective Magnesium threonate is a newer, emerging type of magnesium supplement that appears promising, primarily due to its superior ability to penetrate the mitochondrial membrane, and may be the best magnesium supplement on the market
– Sources and References

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**Comment**

Fantastic and helpful article by Dr. Mercola that Lyme/MSIDS patients should definitely read as we are often deficient in Magnesium.  We also suffer many similar symptoms – which begs the question – could our symptoms be ameliorated by supplementation?

Please discuss ALL supplementation with your health care provider.

Again, I receive no monies and have no ties to any companies.  The following is my personal experience.

My LLMD uses Reacted Magnesium by Ortho Molecular Products with great success.  I’ve been taking this for years now.  It does have the magnesium stearate Dr. Mercola warns about – but remember, it is a common, “potentially” hazardous additive.  It is very hard to find supplements without it and they cost substantially more.

https://www.orthomolecularproducts.com/file.aspx?DocumentId=597

This pdf will explain that this supplement has three forms of magnesium as well as:

“Reacted Magnesium provides the additional benefit of highlyabsorbed, Albion® mineral chelates. Albion® is the world leader in manufacturing highly bioavailable mineral chelates, a specialized form of minerals bound to amino acids. This patented process creates organic mineral compounds which use active absorption mechanisms in the gastrointestinal tract to greatly enhance mineral absorption. In a magnesium comparison study reported by Graff et al. at Weber State University, Albion®’s magnesium amino acid chelate had (See Figure 1)[5]:

• 8.8 times greater absorption than magnesium oxide

• 5.6 times greater absorption than magnesium sulfate

• 2.3 times greater absorption than magnesium carbonate

I’m sure there are many other brands equally as effective.  Talk to your provider for suggestions.

For a great article explaining the various ways to test for magnesium deficiency:  https://www.mymagnesiumdeficiency.info/how-to-test-for-magnesium-deficiency/

Wouldn’t it be sweet if your fatigue, anxiety, insomnia, poor memory, and depression were helped or even eliminated by a simple supplement?

 

 

 

Category:

Supplements

Developing New Tests to Identify ALL Bacteria in Ticks – Drexel University

https://www.lymedisease.org/drexel-new-tick-testing/

LYME SCI: Developing new tests to identify ALL bacteria in ticks

by Lonnie Marcum

Researchers at Philadelphia’s Drexel University College of Medicine have joined the fight against tick-borne diseases and are asking citizens throughout the US to send them ticks.

Drexel’s Center for Advanced Microbial Processing (CAMP) has developed a state-of-the-art facility using comprehensive high-resolution testing able to detect all bacteria inside of ticks—not just Lyme disease and its better-known co-infections.

The goal of CAMP is to identify emerging pathogens and use that information to find targeted therapies to cure infection and illness.

Garth Ehrlich, PhD, holds professorships in two departments at Drexel—Microbiology & Immunology, and Otolaryngology. He’s also Executive Director of CAMP. He first thought of testing ticks while working on a different project a couple years ago.

Dr. Ehrlich knew about Lyme disease at the time, and started thinking his “Pan Domain Test” might be useful to identify the many different bacteria that are carried by ticks. After looking further, he realized most tick testing done in the past was limited to just a few common pathogens.

The Pan Domain test is unique. It uses “next-generation sequencing” to look for specific genetic markers and is able to detect every bacterium known to science—in just one test. This is different from PCR or ELISA testing, which require a separate test for each suspected pathogen.

In the end, Dr. Ehrlich hopes to have a comprehensive picture of exactly what diseases are carried by ticks in the U.S. Along the same lines, a recent study in France found that 45% of ticks carried five different pathogens. See:  https://www.lymedisease.org/lyme-sci-coinfections/

Current tick testing at CAMP is only set up to detect bacteria. The second phase of the study will look for parasites and fungi found in the same ticks. At this time, the researchers want as many ticks as they can get from diverse parts of the country. This information will give a clearer picture of which tick-borne diseases are the biggest risks in different regions.

Dr. Ehrlich’s goal is to bring the test to the public for human testing. He says that if all goes as planned, the bacterial assay could be available in 2018, with the parasite/fungi test about three to six months behind that. He estimates that his Pan Domain testing will cost significantly less than traditional testing for each pathogen. Not only is it cheaper, but the Pan Domain test can detect emerging bacteria, for which there currently are no standard tests.

I talked to Dr. Jaroslaw (Jarek) Krol when I was at ILADS in November. Jarek is the lab manager for CAMP and is deeply involved in the development of the genetic sequencing and analysis of the tick-testing project. He told me that preliminary tick testing has detected up to 60 different bacteria in northeastern ticks. Since co-infections compound illness and complicate treatment, the ability to rapidly detect many infections at once would be invaluable.

Dr. Krol says ticks can be sent in dead or alive. However, if you are going to send in more than one tick, please bag them separately. Ticks can share germs, he says, which can skew test results.

Click here to download the instructions and form for sending your ticks to CAMP:  http://drexel.edu/medicine/about/departments/institute-for-molecular-medicine-infectious-disease/Research-Centers-of-Excellence/center-for-advanced-microbial-processing/microbiome-testing-on-ticks/

Important note: CAMP testing is for research only. You will not be sent results of the testing. If you have been bitten by a tick and want to know what pathogens you were exposed to, you can send it to the University of Massachusetts’ TickReport. You should receive results within three business days.  https://www.tickreport.com

LymeSci is written by Lonnie Marcum, a Licensed Physical Therapist and mother of a daughter with Lyme. Follow her on Twitter: @LonnieRhea Email her at: lmarcum@lymedisease.org.

 

Category:

research, Testing, Ticks