Top 7 Overlooked Factors For Treating Lyme Disease
After two decades of published research and investigating numerous clinical cases on Lyme disease, Envita Medical Center brings powerful perspective. These seven commonly overlooked factors for treating Lyme disease may be the key to stopping unneeded suffering for Lyme disease patients and lead to restored heath for patients dealing with this painful and confusing affliction. Lyme disease is one of the most complex and advanced bacterial infections in the world.Borrelia burgdorferi, the scientific name for Lyme, is not only resistant to most antibiotics, traditional treatment, and often natural treatment, it also evades detection from the body’s immune system making it very difficult to treat clinically and even diagnose.
However, as difficult as it is to treating Lyme disease a whole new set of issues arise when this disease becomes “chronic” and develops into Chronic Lyme disease. The Borrelia infection releases endotoxins and neurotoxins into the body which destroy muscle and nerve fibers which cause painful inflammation and chronic pain. The toxins given off by the Borrelia also damage the neurological and endocrine systems resulting in a multitude psychiatric imbalances and mood changes. Most patients fail treatment because one or more key factors are not being addressed and will often lead to relapse after seeing short-term symptom reduction.
Listed below are the top seven critical yet often overlooked factors that need to be addressed to properly treat Lyme disease and help patients finally reach optimal health.
Getting a Complete and Accurate Diagnosis
Multi-Drug Resistance
Crossing the Blood-Brain Barrier with Treatment
Stripping Biofilm
Flushing Endotoxins and Biotoxins from the body
Pain Medication Complications
Reestablishing the Immune System
These 7 essentials are designed to point out some of the flaws of treatment and diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease but do not represent a comprehensive treatment plan. Much more goes into putting together a targeted and personalized treatment plan for patients than s mentioned here. Chronic Lyme disease is a complicated and resilient infection that requires highly skilled and experienced clinicians with a personalized approach specific to the patient.
Many Lyme disease treatments fail because numerous factors are overlooked, misdiagnosed, under-considered, or mistreated. Over a decade of working in this field, Envita Medical Clinic has discovered these seven critical treatment factors and many more that have saved and improved the lives of our patients.
Lyme + Herxheimer Reactions: Your Guide To Feeling Good Again
by Carin Gorrell & Dr. Bill Rawls
Updated 1/21/19
It’s one of life’s cruel jokes: You discover a new therapy for Lyme disease and are really optimistic about your odds of finally feeling better. Then, within a day or two of starting the regimen, your symptoms take a turn for the worse—intense fatigue washes over you, and you feel like you did during your last fight with the flu. Could it be the dreaded Herxheimer Reaction you keep hearing about from fellow Lyme sufferers?
Unfortunately, answering that question is no easy feat. So we asked Dr. Bill Rawls, author of the bestselling book Unlocking Lyme, to help explain Herx Reactions and the best ways to differentiate them from other possible issues. Keep reading for his advice, plus steps you can take now to feel better—without derailing your recovery.
Herxheimer Reactions, Defined
Herxing was first observed in syphilis patients by dermatologists Adolf Jarisch and Karl Herxheimer in the late 1800s and early 1900s, who noticed that sufferers receiving treatment often got worse before they got better. The phenomenon was dubbed the Jarisch-Herxheimer Reaction, and has since been shortened to Herxheimer Reaction or simply, herxing.
“The classic explanation of a Herxheimer Reaction in Lyme sufferers is that when Borrelia bacteria are killed off by an antibiotic or herbal therapy, parts of dead bacteria called endotoxins are shed,” explains Dr. Rawls. “These endotoxins then circulate throughout the body and cause an intense whole-body inflammatory reaction. And that makes the war against microbes that’s already going on inside your body worse.”
In general, Herx Reactions are more common and more intense with conventional antibiotic use than with use of herbs, says Dr. Rawls. “With herbs, the bacterial die‐off is more gradual and the immune response is less intense.”
Either way, the intensification of your symptoms can be disconcerting, and if you’re treating Lyme, the odds are good you’ll experience herxing: While there’s no clinical research on the prevalence of herxing, anecdotally it seems the majority of Lyme sufferers experience it at some point. And that’s actually good news: “It’s often a sign that the therapy is working,” says Dr. Rawls.
How To Tell If It’s Herxing—Or Something Else
Herx Reactions can feel like a red herring, for a few reasons.
For starters, symptoms vary from person to person, says Dr. Rawls, and they’re easy to confuse with other health concerns that are also highly likely in chronic Lyme sufferers, including a disease flare-up, adverse reaction to a new Lyme treatment, or food sensitivity (digestive issues are highly common in Lyme sufferers). What’s more, the timing of any of these issues can also overlap, making it difficult to track your symptoms to their source.
For help clearing up the confusion and determining what’s to blame for your symptoms, check out these helpful identifying characteristics from Dr. Rawls:
HERX REACTION
Symptoms: Intensified fatigue, muscle pain, and flu‐like symptoms such as headache, nausea, GI distress. You may also experience symptoms not listed here; Herx Reactions are highly variable between individuals.
Onset: Symptoms intensify in tandem with starting a new therapy.
Telltale signs: Symptoms may gradually improve with continuation of therapy, and worsen again when you increase the dosage or add a new therapy.
LYME FLARE-UP
Symptoms: Intensification of fatigue, arthritis (joint pain, swelling, and stiffness), flu-like feelings, GI distress, recurrence of your usual Lyme symptoms
Onset: Symptoms are often precipitated by any type of extra stress to your system (including emotional stress, poor diet, toxin exposure, physical stress, lack of sleep, or a new tick bite). Symptoms are not related to starting a new therapy, though the two may coincide if you experienced stress just before starting the therapy.
Telltale signs: Your best clue is timing: A Lyme relapse typically occurs while taking a stable dose of treatment and in reaction to some type of stress, so look for recent lifestyle changes (i.e., diet changes, travel, sleep deprivation, relationships trouble).
ADVERSE TREATMENT REACTION
Symptoms: An allergic-like reaction (hives, itching, skin rash, runny nose, watery eyes, wheezing). This is common in people with chronic Lyme disease, whose entire immune system is in disarray and more easily activated.
Onset: Symptoms develop within about an hour of taking a new medication or herb
Telltale signs: Your symptoms get better when you take an allergy remedy such as an antihistamine. *See your doctor as soon as possible if you experience signs or symptoms of a drug allergy. Call 911 if you experience signs of a severe reaction or suspect an anaphylaxis after taking a medication.
Onset: Symptoms occur within hours to a couple of days after an offending food is consumed.
Telltale signs: Your symptoms get better when you eliminate the food(s) from your diet. Doctors can order testing for food sensitivity and heavy metal toxicity, however the best determinant of food sensitivities is an elimination diet.
If these guidelines don’t describe your experience with herxing exactly, take heart. In the beginning, you may go back and forth between knowing whether what you’re experiencing is Herx Reaction or something else, but with time, you will become better at distinguishing herxing and riding it out.
It’s Herxing. When Will It End?
If you’ve determined (or strongly suspect) that you’re herxing, your next question is likely: How long will it last?
Unfortunately, there’s no cut-and-dry answer — everyone’s experience is individual, says Dr. Rawls. Some may feel better after a few days or a few weeks; others may experience herxing for as long as two to three months (though symptoms tend to wax and wane throughout that time).
The good news is, there’s a lot you can do to help ease a Herx Reaction and move beyond the symptoms more quickly. The quickest solution would be to discontinue your Lyme treatment. But that’s not necessarily the best solution, says Dr. Rawls.
“Fundamental advice with herx is to continue therapy at whatever dose you can tolerate. Sometimes you will have to reduce the dose to stay comfortable, but you can increase again later” says Dr. Rawls. “If your symptoms improve over days to a couple of weeks, that suggests confirmation that it’s a herx.And as your symptoms improve, you can gradually increase the dose until the desired therapeutic dose is reached.”
If your symptoms do not improve, it may be an indication that the therapy is not working. In this case, Dr. Rawls suggests either increasing the dose or adding other herbs or other therapy. If symptoms gradually start getting better, then you know you’re on the right track.
That said, if your symptoms are debilitating, back off on your treatment dosage or even stop altogether, advises Dr. Rawls. Then, once your symptoms are tolerable, you can gradually increase your dosage again.
Smart Ways to Ease Herxing
The number one way to find relief from herxing is to address the underlying cause for needing Lyme treatment in the first place: chronic immune dysfunction.
“An impaired immune system is what makes people vulnerable to chronic Lyme,” explains Dr. Rawls. “Restore your immune function, and not only will your body be better at battling Lyme microbes, it’ll be stronger at withstanding the side effects of treatment and overcoming herxing as well.”
To begin, work your way through what Dr. Rawls calls System Disruptors, factors that can contribute to inflammation and intensify either a Herx reaction or a Lyme relapse. These include poor nutrition, emotional stress, environmental toxins like air pollutants and mold, physical stress, and excessive exposure to radiation from modern sources like computers, cell phones, and microwave towers.
Once you’ve begun to take the pressure off of your immune system by decreasing your exposure to these disruptors, your body will be better equipped to handle both microbes and the endotoxins they create as they begin to die off. The result: You start to feel better.
From here, there are a number of additional lifestyle habits you can adopt to help alleviate a Herxheimer Reaction—all of which also contribute to restoring immune function and thus contribute to Lyme recovery, says Dr. Rawls. Here, his recommendations:
1. Hydrate with fresh ginger tea.
A lot of liquids in general is a good idea, but fresh ginger tea in particular has potent systemic anti-inflammatory properties for reducing Herxheimer symptoms.
2. Add some natural therapies to your regimen.
Some good ones to try:
Turmeric and Boswellia They’re excellent for reducing systemic inflammation associated with Herxheimer reactions, and it’s hard to take too much of either. Dr. Rawls recommends 175 mg of turmeric and 75 mg of Boswellia, twice a day for each.
Marine source omega-3 fatty acids They offer anti-inflammatory support, especially for high-fat tissues such as the brain. Both fish oil and krill oil reduce inflammation, but krill is better absorbed and also contains the antioxidant astaxanthin, which provides extra anti-inflammatory support. The suggested dose for krill oil is 500 mg, 1-3 times daily.
Red Root This herb is very good for stimulating clearing dead cellular debris from the lymphatic system. It also supports a healthy liver and spleen, optimal immune function, and swollen lymph nodes.
Chlorella Consistently taking this freshwater algae does wonders for healing an irritated stomach and restoring digestive function. It’s also great for detoxing and healing in general. The typical maintenance dose is 5 to 7.5g total a day. For additional support, we suggest 10g total a day. Chlorella can be taken any time of day. For best results, take with food. (Avoid products that also contain spirulina, a blue-green algae that potentially contains toxins.)
Adaptogenic herbs. These help reduce herxing and moderate the effects of stress. Some to try: Chinese skullcap (450 mg, twice a day), Cordyceps(450 mg, twice a day), Reishi mushroom (175 mg, twice a day), and Rehmannia (50 mg, twice a day).
3. Take enzymes.
There are a variety that will work to help break down immune complexes and reduce inflammation. Bromelain (from pineapple) is a good choice; the dose is 500-1000 mg, one to two times daily. It’s sometimes found in combination supplements for joint health. In general, it’s best to take enzymes on an empty stomach so they are absorbed directly.
4. Apply heat.
Heat can be very soothing during Herx reactions. A far infrared (FIR) sauna and/or a hot bath are excellent for removing toxins from the body. Adding Epsom salts to your bath can also help soothe muscles and joints.
5. Get outside and breathe fresh air.
Forests and beaches or shores alongside open water are especially beneficial. Take your shoes off and walk barefoot: called “grounding,” it’s a good practice for reducing inflammation in the body.
6. Relax.
Decreasing stress is key to normalizing the body’s adrenaline/cortisol response. Some ideas:
Meditate
Get a massage, or try abhyanga (the Ayurvedic practice of self-massage)
Practice Qigong or yoga
Try acupuncture or energy healing
7. Sleep.
Make 7-8 hours of shuteye a nightly goal.
8. Say “no” more often.
Only agree to doing what’s necessary, and let the rest go until you are back on your feet.
9. Avoid coffee and green and black tea.
They tend to dry and irritate the stomach lining.
10. Eat steamed cabbage.
It’s great for soothing an inflamed stomach.
11. Use lavender essential oil.
Research suggests it may be beneficial for easing insomnia, anxiety, stress, and postoperative pain. Apply it to the bottom of your feet before bed to help with sleep.
12. Laugh lots.
It raises your immune system and just makes you feel good.
Thoughts on Herx Prevention
There’s a decent chance that if you increase the dosage of your current treatment or introduce a new one to your Lyme regimen, the herxing may return. It’s not entirely avoidable, says Dr. Rawls, but there are steps you can take to help fend off and reduce symptoms.
A few days before you change up your therapy, Dr. Rawls recommends adding some turmeric and krill or fish oil to your daily routine; these help support a healthy immune response. He also suggests using calming essential oils such as lavender and frankincense to reduce your stress response.
And in general, the most successful approach to feeling your best is to focus on restoring healthy immune function. Do that, and you’ll rebound faster from herxing and most other maladies that may come your way.
Dr. Rawls is a physician who overcame Lyme disease through natural herbal therapy. You can learn more about Lyme disease and recovery in Dr. Rawls’ best-selling book, Unlocking Lyme. You can also learn about Dr. Rawls’ personal journey in overcoming Lyme disease and fibromyalgia in his popular blog post, My Chronic Lyme Journey.
One of the hardest things to understand about this complex disease(es) is that you feel a whole lot worse before you feel better and this can take considerable time. Managing the herx is a challenging job. Many find sauna’s to be of great help.
We humans are alive because of brilliant biochemistry, and while each system of our body has its own unique function, they are all inextricably linked and work together to keep us alive and thriving. When one system goes awry, it often affects other seemingly unrelated aspects of our health. This is especially true when it comes to detox, which is one of the biggest factors of poor health that I see in my patients.
With research starting to show the link between our increased toxin exposure and autoimmune conditions, it’s more important than ever for your body’s detoxification systems to be working properly. As your body’s largest organ, your liver is also the main detoxifier.
Why your liver is your detox organ.
Working in constant communication with your stomach, pancreas, gallbladder, and the rest of your digestive system, your liver is responsible for storing and converting nutrients from the foods we eat for our bodies to utilize. Through its role in the metabolism of fat, protein, and carbohydrates, your liver works to ensure that blood glucose levels are stabilized to prevent blood sugar imbalances and other metabolic problems. It works to filter out toxins from the foods you eat and environmental exposures as well as acting as a blood purifier, clearing out your blood of these impurities and only utilizing the necessary nutrients. Needless to say, if your liver isn’t working well, your ability to detox is going to be greatly affected.
When your liver is overloaded with toxins, it creates a cascade of systemic chronic inflammation, which further affects your liver’s ability to rid itself of these toxins. It becomes a vicious cycle between toxin buildup and inflammation that can only be broken through limiting your toxin exposure and supporting your liver’s natural ability to detox.
Detox rituals that support your liver.
I’ve written in the past about various ways to make your life a cleanse. But to really boost your detox pathways and liver function, these targeted natural tools are my go-to for next-level liver and detox support:
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1. Dandelion tea
Methylation is your body’s biochemical superhighway that controls your body’s ability to detox. B vitamins act as fuel for methylation and are found abundantly in dandelions. Brew up a cup of dandelion tea to support methylation and help support optimal liver function.
2. Milk thistle
This plant is one of the most well-researched natural remedies for treating liver problems and has been used for years to treat a number of different liver conditions, including hepatitis and alcoholic liver disease. Milk thistleaids in eliminating toxins that have built up in the liver in addition to helping restore liver cells that have been damaged from increased toxin exposure. You can take it in a supplement capsule or as a tea.
Image by Yoyochow23 / iStock
3. Garlic
Garlic helps to activate liver detox enzymes that work to break down the toxins that enter your body in order to effectively eliminate them. Thankfully, garlic makes a delicious addition to almost any recipe, so don’t be afraid to load up while cooking your next meal!
4. Sulfuric vegetables
Vegetables such as broccoli, broccoli sprouts, mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower are considered sulfuric and contain the powerful antioxidant glutathione. This antioxidant is essential for activating phase 1 and phase 2 liver detoxification.
5. Beets
Beets are great for helping break down toxins through increasing enzyme activity so that your body can eliminate them quicker. I love roasting them as a side or adding them to a salad seasoned with garlic!
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6. Red clover
This is one of my favorites for its ability to rid toxins from not only your liver but your spleen and lymphatic system as well. You can take it in capsule form or as an herbal tincture.
7. Burdock root
As a tea or supplement, this root does wonders for removing toxins, specifically heavy metals. With its natural diuretic properties, it works to flush out toxins by increasing fluid excretion as well as boosting your lymphatic system.
You don’t have to adopt all these rituals to support your liver, but by making yourself a cup of dandelion tea, adding garlic and beets to your next meal, or taking a red clover supplement, you can support your detox pathways going into 2019.
Briefly, MSM stands for Methylsulfonylmethane and is 34% sulfur by weight. Sulfur plays a crucial role in detoxification and is an important antioxidant for producing glutathione. If you aren’t getting enough sulfur, glutathione can not work. Even if you have a diet rich in sulfur (think cabbage, onions, garlic, broccoli, etc – essentially the stinky veggies – and many other food items as well) your body still could use supplementation.
Lauren Tessier, ND is a Naturopathic Physician licensed in the state of Vermont. She received her Bachelors in Premedical Sciences and Health Psychology from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in Boston and later became a Naturopathic Physician at Bastyr University in Kenmore, Washington.
Her practice, Life After Mold, uses a patient-centered approach to help recover those that are suffering from mold-related illness. She combines naturopathic, functional, and integrative medicine to address the entire person. She is a Shoemaker Certified Physician specializing in the treatment of Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) which results from exposure to water-damaged buildings.
In 2011, Hurricane Irene created an unimaginable flood in Waterbury, Vermont, and she was unprepared for what she would see next in her practice. Patients were ill with unexplained rashes, allergies that did not respond to treatment, fatigue, breathing difficulties, neurological complaints, headaches, nausea, and immune system dysfunction. When her normal approaches no longer worked for these patients, she dove deep into mold-related illness.
Her practice is dedicated to helping those suffering with mold, biotoxin, and mycotoxin associated illness resulting from water-damaged buildings. As time passed, she came to the belief that the environment plays a role in all chronic illness. Environmental illness includes mold, heavy metals, glyphosate exposure, chronic infections such as Lyme disease, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. Dr. Tessier is an Executive Board Member of the International Society for Environmentally Acquired Illness (ISEAI) which aims to advance medical knowledge surrounding environmentally acquired illness.
Key Takeaways
What are some of the environmental factors that may predispose an environment to water-damage and the potential for mold illness?
What are some of the illness-creating substances that are found in a water-damaged building?
What are common symptoms of CIRS?
Are there basic screening tests that can be performed of an environment before investing in an IEP?
How important are the HLA haplotypes in CIRS?
Is there clinical value in urinary mycotoxin testing?
Can molds encountered in a water-damaged building lead to colonization within the body?
When considering binders, what is absorption vs. adsorbtion?
Why is bile flow important and how might it be supported?
What options might help reducing inflammation in those with CIRS?
Are there downsides of exogenous glutathione supplementation?
How important is eradicating MARCoNS in CIRS?
How might VIP and Synapsin be helpful in those with CIRS?
What triggers Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) and how might it be addressed?
When someone feels significantly worse, what rescue items might help to move through a detox or Herxheimer reaction?
Is there a role for limbic system retraining in CIRS?
Create Your Healthy Home with May Dooley, MS, MA, CMC
In this episode, you will learn about Bau Biologie, or Building Biology, and how to evaluate and improve the health of the external environment in order to improve overall health.
May Dooley, MS, MA, CMC (Council-certified Microbial Consultant) is a former middle school science teacher who loves to educate and empower people with information to improve their environment – and thus, their lives. She has been an environmental consultant for more than 24 years helping people make their home environment healthier.
She leads her clients through the basic steps to assess and create a healthy home which includes air quality, water quality, and reduced exposure to other stressors that may impact health such as electromagnetic fields. Her inspections are interactive, and her clients learn how to measure EMFs, reduce body voltage in their bed, use a laser particle counter to evaluate their vacuum cleaner, and to take samples to explore for mold. She even brings along her microscope and looks at the samples in your home. Once she has evaluated an environment using the principles of Bau Biologie, she provides an easy-to-understand series of steps to improve the environment.
Key Takeaways
Why might culture plate air sampling be a better option than spore trap testing?
What are the pros and cons of the ERMI?
What is the CAP ERMI?
What role do microbial VOCs play in the health of an environment?
How often can mold issues be remediated?
How is a microscope helpful in exploring the potential for mold?
When moving to a new environment, what testing should be done to validate the environment is safe?
What belongings can be brought from a moldy environment to a new environment?
What can be used to address small amounts of visible mold?
What vacuum cleaners are ideal?
What are the 5 different types of EMFs and their sources?
The content of this show is for informational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any illness or medical condition. Nothing in today’s discussion is meant to serve as medical advice or as information to facilitate self-treatment. As always, please discuss any potential health-related decisions with your own personal medical authority.
Symptoms: Intensified fatigue, muscle pain, and flu‐like symptoms such as headache, nausea, GI distress. You may also experience symptoms not listed here; Herx Reactions are highly variable between individuals.
Onset: Symptoms intensify in tandem with starting a new therapy.
Telltale signs: Symptoms may gradually improve with continuation of therapy, and worsen again when you increase the dosage or add a new therapy.
Madison Area Lyme Support Group 