Archive for the ‘Inflammation’ Category

Study Says Opioids No Better Than Placebos For Back & Neck Pain

https://www.paintreatmentdirectory.com/posts/opioids-no-better-than-placebos-for-back-and-neck-pain-new-study-says

Opioids No Better Than Placebos For Back and Neck Pain, New Study Says

By: Cindy Perlin, LCSW

7/10/23

A new study just published in The Lancet, a highly respected mainstream journal, reported that patients with low back pain and neck pain who were prescribed opioids did no better than patients given a placebo. The randomized, controlled study of 347 patients found that there was no significant difference in pain scores between the two groups at six weeks. A year later, the placebo group had slightly lower pain scores,1.81 compared to 2.37 for the opioid group. The average age of participants in the study was 44.7 years and they all had lower back pain, neck pain or both for 12 weeks or less.

According to the National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA), 10-12% of those prescribed opioids develop an addiction. Despite the fact that over a million Americans have died of opioid overdoses to date, opioids continue to be widely prescribed as noted by the CDC. After peaking in 2012 at 81.3 prescriptions per 100 persons nationwide, the prescription opioid rate was 43.3 per 100 persons in 2020. However, some counties had rates that were nine times higher than that. This study indicates that many pain patients are being unnecessarily exposed to devastating and potentially fatal risks for absolutely no benefit.

I believe that the reason that opioids continue to be so widely prescribed despite the risks is that healthcare providers and patients have heard so often that “opioids are the best treatment we have for pain”. This statement has been repeated so often by pharmaceutical interests and their enablers despite the lack of evidence that most people believe it. Will this study be enough to change these beliefs? I doubt it.

Besides patients’ and healthcare providers’ frequently reinforced beliefs that “opioids are the best treatment we have for pain”, there are several other barriers that get in the way of change. These include:

Healthcare providers are not educated about safer and more effective alternatives.

One survey of medical school curriculum in the U.S. found that physicians were receiving less than two hours of education about pain during their four years of medical school. Post-graduate education is largely sponsored by the drug companies, who fund the medical journals through advertising, sponsor most of the continuing education courses and conferences that physicians attend and send sales reps to physicians’ offices to peddle their wares on an almost daily basis. There are no comparable platforms for educating physicians about alternatives to pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pain.

Insurance companies won’t pay for alternative treatments or severely underfund them.

They do not pay for acupuncture, biofeedback, massage, nutritional counseling or supplements, exercise programs, herbal treatments, light therapy or other proven pain treatments. They have not raised fees for chiropractors, mental health providers or physical therapists in over 40 years.

Government policy often blocks access to alternative treatments.

Marijuana is still federally illegal, making it inaccessible for many. The FDA has gone to great lengths to try to ban kratom, a very effective southeast Asian pain-relieving herb, and failing that, has done their best to demonize it. Several states have banned kratom. 

The FDA has also recently declared homeopathy illegal, classifying all remedies as unapproved drugs, despite significant evidence that homeopathy is safe and effective and a long tradition of its use being legal.

No federal or state laws require insurance coverage for most alternatives or adequate fees for the treatments, like physical therapy, psychotherapy and chiropractic, that are covered.

Sign My Petition to Require Insurance Companies to Pay for Alternative Treatments

The supply of alternative service providers cannot currently meet increased demand.

For instance, while the demand for chiropractic services has been increasing, the U.S. Small Business Administration reports that the five-year survival rate of chiropractic practices is only 48.9%. This is most likely due to low fees and excessive paperwork demands by insurance companies.

The physical therapy profession is currently hemorrhaging providers despite increasing demand, with over 22.000 physical therapists leaving the workforce in the last quarter of 2021 alone. Over 15,000 licensed clinical social workers left the workforce during the same time period in professions where there were already significant shortages.

There are already shortages of massage therapists and demand for acupuncturists is already increasing compared to supply. These shortages will be even more severe if insurance coverage is made available.

Find the Right Provider

The Placebo Effect and Chronic Pain

The placebo effect refers to the improvement in a patient’s condition, despite receiving a treatment with no active pharmacological properties, for example: a sugar pill. Research has consistently shown that when patients genuinely believe they are receiving an effective treatment, their bodies often respond accordingly, producing measurable improvements.

The power of placebos extends beyond a mere psychological response; it can lead to actual physiological changes in the body. Studies have shown that the placebo effect can trigger the release of endorphins (the body’s natural opioids), dopamine (the body’s natural mood elevators) and other neurotransmitters associated with pain relief and improved mood. This indicates that the mind possesses an innate ability to activate the body’s self-healing mechanisms.

Placebo-controlled clinical trials are now standard practice in drug development, enabling researchers to evaluate the true effectiveness of new medications, or in the case of the above-described study, older medications.

While placebos have the potential to produce positive outcomes, some have raised ethical concerns about their use. They claim that deceiving patients by prescribing placebos without their knowledge undermines the principle of informed consent. However, I would counter that by pointing out that prescribing potentially dangerous drugs without warning patients of the full range of risks or the fact that a safer alternative exists is a much higher order ethical violation.

Researchers are exploring ethical ways to use placebos. Some studies have shown that even if you tell patients they are getting a placebo for their condition, it still seems to have the desired effect.

Placebos and the Power of the Mind/Body Connection

Placebos are an indicator of the power of the mind-body connection to influence our well-being. The effectiveness of placebos in pain management has been observed for both acute and chronic pain. Placebos have shown significant analgesic effects in conditions such as migraines, osteoarthritis, and even post-surgical pain. They have been proven to reduce pain intensity, increase pain tolerance, and enhance overall well-being. Placebos have also been shown to reduce anxiety and depression and to improve sleep.

Want to try a placebo for yourself or a loved one? Here is a placebo you can order on Amazon:

Conclusion

Many safer treatments for back pain, neck pain and other types of pain exist and should be offered to patients instead of misinforming patients that “opioids are the best treatment we have for pain”. A “best” treatment doesn’t have the potential to kill people.

Cindy Perlin is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, certified biofeedback practitioner, chronic pain survivor, the author of The Truth About Chronic Pain Treatments: The Best and Worst Strategies for Becoming Pain Free and the founder and CEO of the Alternative Pain Treatment Directory. She has been helping her clients in the Albany, NY area reach their health and wellness goals for over 30 years. She also provides virtual pain consults. See her provider profile HERE. 

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BTW, in the effort of staying real: The Lancet and other journals have been caught numerous times publishing fraudulent studies and pushing politics rather than science:

Category:

diet and nutrition, Hemp Oil, Herbs, Inflammation, Pain Management, research, Supplements, Treatment

Can Microdoses of Psychedelics Effectively Treat Neuro-Lyme?

https://www.lymedisease.org/microdosing-psychedelics-lyme/

Can microdoses of psychedelics effectively treat neuro-Lyme?

Dr. Dan Kinderlehrer

By Daniel A Kinderlehrer, MD

Those of us dealing with Lyme disease are well aware that most symptoms reside in the musculoskeletal and nervous systems. And for many of us, the worst symptoms in the nervous system are neuropsychiatric. The severity of anxiety, panic attacks, depression, irritability and rage can be overwhelming.

Chronic tick-borne infections can also cause bipolar disease, addiction syndromes, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder and psychosis.1-8 And of course, it is all compounded by impaired sleep, brain fog, fatigue and chronic pain, not to mention physician ignorance.

Neuroinflammation

It turns out that these mental health symptoms are primarily caused by inflammation from infection outside the nervous system.9

For example, kids with PANS—Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome—have infections in which antibodies to different microbes cross the blood brain barrier and attack the brain, resulting in severe mood and behavioral disturbances.10 A similar process occurs in adults with neuropsychiatric Lyme disease.11-13

There is increasing recognition that many mood disorders are linked to infections and autoimmune disorders, and the common link is neuroinflammation—brain on fire.14

It is no surprise that people with neuropsychiatric Lyme disease have elevated levels of inflammatory mediators including antineuronal antibodies, cytokines, chemokines and inflammatory lipoproteins.9  Think of neuropsychiatric Lyme disease as autoimmune inflammation of the brain. The primary legs of treatment are antimicrobials, psychotropic medications and anti-inflammatory agents. Ideally, an anti-inflammatory agent will decrease inflammation but not suppress immune function.

In March 2023, I published a report describing a patient with long standing Lyme disease, Babesia and Bartonella infections in which the primary symptoms were neuropsychiatric.15 He experienced anxiety with panic attacks, depression with suicidal ideation and sleeplessness.

These symptoms gradually came under control with appropriate treatment, but a change in his regimen resulted in a severe relapse. He could no longer tolerate even low dose antimicrobials without Herxheimer reactions, Zoloft was not helping and he could not tolerate Ativan for anxiety. In fact, any benzodiazepine increased his suicidality. That is when his daughter suggested he try microdosing.

A new approach: psychedelic microdosing

This is from the case study that I published:

After a 40-year prohibition in the US of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin, there has been renewed interest in their potential for therapeutic benefit. The preponderance of research in the past two decades has been in controlled clinical settings in which subjects are administered a single high dose of a hallucinogen while under the supervision of a therapist/guide. In 2018 the US Food and Drug Administration categorized psilocybin as ‘a breakthrough therapy’ in the treatment of depression, a designation the agency applies to drugs that in early trials demonstrate substantial improvement over existing treatments.16

There is compelling evidence that psilocybin has potential value in the treatment of some mental health conditions. Multiple studies have documented its effectiveness in patients with depression, anxiety syndromes, end of life anxiety, and suggested benefit in OCD and addiction disorders.17-23

Microdosing is the practice of consuming very low, sub-hallucinogenic doses of a psychedelic substance on a regular basis. The intention of microdosing is to offer similar benefits to full dose psychedelic therapy, but without perceptual distortions, the need for clinical oversight, or the risk of a bad trip.” 24

Microdosing has become increasingly popular. In one online microdosing forum that was begun in 2013, the number of subscribers rose to 40,000 in 2018 and 219,000 in October 2022.25 LSD and psilocybin continue to be listed as schedule I controlled substances, meaning legally they have no accepted therapeutic value. Nevertheless, possession of psilocybin has been decriminalized in many US cities and is on the ballot of many states to be legalized in clinical therapeutic settings; Oregon and Colorado have already done so.26

No longer suicidal

The subject of my case history began microdosing three times weekly at doses one-fiftieth of a typical hallucinogenic journey. Within two days he was no longer suicidal and within two weeks he felt well. He continues to microdose and feels well three years later.

No wonder they call psilocybin magic mushrooms. It is a potent stimulator of serotonin and may also have some influence on dopamine.27 But what may be more crucial is its anti-inflammatory action. It significantly inhibits pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukins IL-1b, and IL-6, and cyclooxygenase-2 concentrations in human macrophage cells.28-30

It turns out that most mental health disorders are caused by neuroinflammation. That’s right: most patients with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder and even psychosis have inflammation in their brains driving their mood disorders.31

Neuroinflammation in these patients may be caused by undiagnosed tick-borne infections, but there are multiple other drivers of inflammation. Autoimmune diseases such as lupus, Sjögrens syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis are well documented causes of neuropsychiatric illness.32-37  Stress by itself can result in inflammatory conditions.38 People with childhood histories of adverse events such as physical or sexual abuse have an increased risk of autoimmune problems.39

Patients with PTSD—Post Traumatic Stress Disorder—don’t just have hypervigilance and anxiety disorders. They develop the same nervous, immune and endocrine system dysregulation as patients with persistent tick-borne infections and neuropsychiatric disease.40

The role of genetics

Meanwhile, genetics plays a significant role in the development of autoimmune conditions. Add to this epigenetic transmission that alters gene expression without changing the underlying DNA expression, and allows for trauma to be handed down from one generation to the next41—just ask children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors.

Microdosing psilocybin holds the potential to help patients suffering from these mental health issues. Numerous studies suggest that microdosing is effective in the treatment of anxiety and depression.42-46 Unfortunately, these studies are not controlled and are reliant on subject reporting—it is impossible to separate benefits from placebo effect. We clearly need better research on microdosing.

Presently Johns Hopkins University is recruiting for a study in which patients with PTLDS—Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome—are treated with full hallucinogenic doses of psilocybin under the supervision of a therapist/guide.47 These ‘journeys’ last four or more hours in controlled settings. I hope this research finds positive benefits of treatment, but full dose psilocybin treatment demands excessive resources that will never be available to most patients with Lyme.

Those of us with “Chronic Lyme” know that PTLDS is actually persistent infection with Borrelia burgdorferi complicated by the existence of co-infections resulting in systemic inflammation—it is an autoimmune illness.48 In a review of the physiological effects of psychedelics, the authors Caitlin Thompson and Attila Szabo “…propose that psychedelics hold the potential to attenuate or even resolve autoimmunity.”

The bottom line is that microdosed psilocybin may be an important adjunct to the treatment of mental illness. It is time that we find the resources to perform properly controlled double-blind investigations into the impact of microdosed psilocybin on patients with neuropsychiatric Lyme disease as well as those suffering from the ever-increasing numbers suffering from mental health disorders.

Click here to read the entire case report.

Dr. Daniel Kinderlehrer is an internal medicine physician in Denver, Colorado, with a practice devoted to treating patients with tick-borne illness. He is the author of  Recovery From Lyme Disease: The Integrative Medicine Guide to the Diagnosis and Treatment of Tick-Borne Illness.

References
  1. Bransfield RC. Neuropsychiatric Lyme Borreliosis: An Overview with a Focus on a Specialty Psychiatrist’s Clinical Practice. Healthcare (Basel). 2018 Aug 25;6(3):104. doi: 10.3390/healthcare6030104. PMID: 30149626; PMCID: PMC6165408.
  2. Bransfield RC. Lyme Disease, comorbid tick-borne diseases, and neuropsychiatric disorders. Psychiatr Times. 2007 Dec 1;24(14):59–61.
  3. Fallon BA, Nields JA, Burrascano JJ, et al. The neuropsychiatric manifestations of Lyme borreliosis. Psychiatr Q. 1992;63(1):95–117.
  4. Fallon BA, Nields JA. Lyme disease: a neuropsychiatric illness. Am J Psychiatry. 1994;151(11):1571–83. doi: 10.1007/BF01064684. PMID: 1438607.
  5. Fallon BA, Kochevar JM, Gaito A, Nields JA. The Underdiagnosis Of Neuropsychiatric Lyme Disease in Children And Adults. Psychiatr Clin N Am. 1998;21(3):693–703. doi: 10.1016/s0193-953x(05)70032-0.
  6. Bransfield RC. Aggressiveness, violence, homicidality, homicide, and Lyme disease. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2018 Mar 9;14:693-713. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S155143. PMID: 29576731; PMCID: PMC5851570.
  7. Mattingley DW, Koola MM. Association of Lyme Disease and Schizoaffective Disorder, Bipolar Type: Is it Inflammation Mediated? Indian J Psychol Med. 2015 Apr-Jun;37(2):243-6. doi: 10.4103/0253-7176.155660. PMID: 25969618; PMCID: PMC4418265.
  8. Greenberg R. Tick-borne infections and pediatric bipolar disorder.  Psychiatry Brain Res. 2015;22:11. doi: 10.1016/j.npbr.2015.12.025.
  9. Bransfield RC. The psychoimmunology of lyme/tick-borne diseases and its association with neuropsychiatric symptoms. Open Neurol J. 2012;6:88-93. doi: 10.2174/1874205X01206010088. Epub 2012 Oct 5. PMID: 23091569; PMCID: PMC3474947.
  10. Chang K, Frankovich J, Cooperstock M, et al; PANS Collaborative Consortium. Clinical evaluation of youth with pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS): recommendations from the 2013 PANS Consensus Conference. J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol. 2015 Feb;25(1):3-13. doi: 10.1089/cap.2014.0084. Epub 2014 Oct 17. PMID: 25325534; PMCID: PMC4340805.
  11. Coughlin JM, Yang T, Rebman AW, et al. Imaging glial activation in patients with post-treatment Lyme disease symptoms: a pilot study using [11C]DPA-713 PET. J Neuroinflammation. 2018 Dec 19;15(1):346.
  12. Chandra A, Wormser GP, Klempner MS, et al. Anti-neural antibody reactivity in patients with a history of Lyme borreliosis and persistent symptoms. Brain Behav Immun. 2010;24(6):1018–24.
  13. Fallon BA, Stobino B, Reim S, Stoner J, Cunningham MW. Anti-lysoganglioside and other anti-neuronal antibodies in post-treatment Lyme disease and erythema migrans after repeat infection. Brain Behav Immun. 2020;2:100015.
  14. Benros ME, Waltoft BL, Nordentoft M, et al. Autoimmune Diseases and Severe Infections as Risk Factors for Mood Disorders: A Nationwide Study. JAMA Psychiatry.2013;70(8):812–820. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.1111.
  15. Kinderlehrer DA. The Effectiveness of Microdosed Psilocybin in the Treatment of Neuropsychiatric Lyme Disease: A Case Study. Int Med Case Rep J. 2023 Mar 3;16:109-115. doi: 10.2147/IMCRJ.S395342. PMID: 36896410; PMCID: PMC9990519.
  16. approval-priority-review/breakthrough-therapy (Accessed October 10, 2022)
  17. Davis AK, Barrett FS, May DG, et al. Effects of Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy on Major Depressive Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Psychiatry. 2021 May 1;78(5):481-489. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.3285. Erratum in: JAMA Psychiatry. 2021 Feb 10;: PMID: 33146667; PMCID: PMC7643046.
  18. Moreno FA, Wiegand CB, Taitano EK, Delgado PL. Safety, tolerability, and efficacy of psilocybin in 9 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. J Clin Psychiatry. 2006 Nov;67(11):1735-40. doi: 10.4088/jcp.v67n1110. PMID: 17196053.
  19. Khan AJ, Bradley E, O’Donovan A, Woolley J. Psilocybin for Trauma-Related Disorders. Curr Top Behav Neurosci. 2022;56:319-332. doi: 10.1007/7854_2022_366. PMID: 35711024.
  20. Bogadi M, Kaštelan S. A potential effect of psilocybin on anxiety in neurotic personality structures in adolescents. Croat Med J. 2021 Oct 31;62(5):528-530. doi: 10.3325/cmj.2021.62.528. PMID: 34730895; PMCID: PMC8596485.
  21. Yu CL, Yang FC, Yang SN, et al. Psilocybin for End-of-Life Anxiety Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Psychiatry Investig. 2021 Oct;18(10):958-967. doi: 10.30773/pi.2021.0209. Epub 2021 Oct 8. PMID: 34619818; PMCID: PMC8542741.
  22. Griffiths RR, Johnson MW, Carducci MA, et al. Psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer: A randomized double-blind trial. J Psychopharmacol. 2016 Dec;30(12):1181-1197. doi: 10.1177/0269881116675513. PMID: 27909165; PMCID: PMC5367557.
  23. Johnson MW, Garcia-Romeu A, Cosimano MP, Griffiths RR. Pilot study of the 5-HT2AR agonist psilocybin in the treatment of tobacco addiction. J Psychopharmacol. 2014;28(11):983-992. doi:1177/0269881114548296.
  24. Hutten NRPW, Mason NL, Dolder PC, Kuypers KPC. Motives and Side-Effects of Microdosing With Psychedelics Among Users. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2019 Jul 1;22(7):426-434. doi: 10.1093/ijnp/pyz029. PMID: 31152167; PMCID: PMC6600464.
  25. https://www.reddit.com/r/microdosing/ (Accessed October 10, 2022)
  26. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2022/07/15/more-states-may-legalize-psychedelic-mushrooms (Accessed October 10, 2022)
  27. Coppola M, Bevione F, Mondola R. Psilocybin for Treating Psychiatric Disorders: A Psychonaut Legend or a Promising Therapeutic Perspective? J Xenobiot. 2022 Feb 7;12(1):41-52. doi: 10.3390/jox12010004. PMID: 35225956; PMCID: PMC8883979.
  28. Nkadimeng SM, Steinmann CML, Eloff JN. Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Four Psilocybin-Containing Magic Mushroom Water Extracts in vitro on 15-Lipoxygenase Activity and on Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Cyclooxygenase-2 and Inflammatory Cytokines in Human U937 Macrophage Cells. J Inflamm Res. 2021 Aug 5;14:3729-3738. doi: 10.2147/JIR.S317182. PMID: 34385833; PMCID: PMC8352634.
  29. Kubera M, Maes M, Kenis G, et al. Effects of serotonin and serotonergic agonists and antagonists on the production of tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-6. Psychiatry Res. 2005 Apr 30;134(3):251-8. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2004.01.014. PMID: 15892984.
  30. Flanagan TW, Nichols CD. Psychedelics as anti-inflammatory agents. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2018 Aug;30(4):363-375. doi: 10.1080/09540261.2018.1481827. Epub 2018 Aug 13. PMID: 30102081.
  31. Yuan, N., Chen, Y., Xia, Y. et al.Inflammation-related biomarkers in major psychiatric disorders: a cross-disorder assessment of reproducibility and specificity in 43 meta-analyses. Transl Psychiatry9, 233 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-019-0570-y
  32. Shen CC, Yang AC, Kuo BI, Tsai SJ. Risk of Psychiatric Disorders Following Primary Sjögren Syndrome: A Nationwide Population-based Retrospective Cohort Study. J Rheumatol. 2015 Jul;42(7):1203-8. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.141361. Epub 2015 May 15. PMID: 25979721.
  33. Meszaros ZS, Perl A, Faraone SV. Psychiatric symptoms in systemic lupus erythematosus: a systematic review. J Clin Psychiatry. 2012 Jul;73(7):993-1001. doi: 10.4088/JCP.11r07425. Epub 2012 May 1. PMID: 22687742; PMCID: PMC9903299.
  34. Mura G, Bhat KM, Pisano A, Licci G, Carta M. Psychiatric symptoms and quality of life in systemic sclerosis. Clin Pract Epidemiol Ment Health. 2012;8:30-5. doi: 10.2174/1745017901208010030. Epub 2012 Apr 20. PMID: 22550545; PMCID: PMC3339425.
  35. Bernstein CN, Hitchon CA, Walld R, Bolton JM, Sareen J, Walker JR, Graff LA, Patten SB, Singer A, Lix LM, El-Gabalawy R, Katz A, Fisk JD, Marrie RA; CIHR Team in Defining the Burden and Managing the Effects of Psychiatric Comorbidity in Chronic Immunoinflammatory Disease. Increased Burden of Psychiatric Disorders in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2019 Jan 10;25(2):360-368. doi: 10.1093/ibd/izy235. PMID: 29986021; PMCID: PMC6391845.
  36. Lwin MN, Serhal L, Holroyd C, Edwards CJ. Rheumatoid Arthritis: The Impact of Mental Health on Disease: A Narrative Review. Rheumatol Ther. 2020 Sep;7(3):457-471. doi: 10.1007/s40744-020-00217-4. Epub 2020 Jun 13. PMID: 32535834; PMCID: PMC7410879.
  37. Silveira C, Guedes R, Maia D, Curral R, Coelho R. Neuropsychiatric Symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis: State of the Art. Psychiatry Investig. 2019 Dec;16(12):877-888. doi: 10.30773/pi.2019.0106. Epub 2019 Dec 9. PMID: 31805761; PMCID: PMC6933139.
  38. Calcia MA, Bonsall DR, Bloomfield PS, Selvaraj S, Barichello T, Howes OD. Stress and neuroinflammation: a systematic review of the effects of stress on microglia and the implications for mental illness. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2016 May;233(9):1637-50. doi: 10.1007/s00213-016-4218-9. Epub 2016 Feb 5. PMID: 26847047; PMCID: PMC4828495.
  39. Dube SR, Fairweather D, Pearson WS, Felitti VJ, Anda RF, Croft JB. Cumulative childhood stress and autoimmune diseases in adults. Psychosom Med. 2009 Feb;71(2):243-50. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0b013e3181907888. Epub 2009 Feb 2. PMID: 19188532; PMCID: PMC3318917.
  40. Bransfield RC. Adverse Childhood Events, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Infectious Encephalopathies and Immune-Mediated Disease. Healthcare (Basel). 2022 Jun 17;10(6):1127. doi: 10.3390/healthcare10061127. PMID: 35742178; PMCID: PMC9222834.
  41. Yehuda R, Lehrner A. Intergenerational transmission of trauma effects: putative role of epigenetic mechanisms. World Psychiatry. 2018 Oct;17(3):243-257. doi: 10.1002/wps.20568. PMID: 30192087; PMCID: PMC6127768.
  42. Rootman JM, Kryskow P, Harvey K, et al. Adults who microdose psychedelics report health related motivations and lower levels of anxiety and depression compared to non-microdosers. Sci Rep. 2021 Nov 18;11(1):22479. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-01811-4. PMID: 34795334; PMCID: PMC8602275.
  43. Lea T, Amada N, Jungaberle, H. Psychedelic microdosing: A subreddit analysis. Psychoactive Drugs. 2020;52:101-112. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 02791072.2019.1683260.
  44. Lea T, Amada N, Jungaberle H, et al. Perceived outcomes of psychedelic microdosing as self-managed therapies for mental and substance use disorders. Psychopharmacology. 2020;237:1521. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-020-05477-0.
  45. FadimanThe psychedelic explorer’s guide: Safe, therapeutic, and sacred journeys.  Simon and Schuster, New York, 2021.
  46. Johnstad PG. Powerful substances in tiny amounts: an interview study of psychedelic microdosing. Nordic Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2018; 35(1):39–51. https://doi.org/10.1177/1455072517753339
  47. https://classic.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05305105 (Accessed June 30, 2023)
  48. Yehudina Y, Trypilka S. Lyme Borreliosis as a Trigger for Autoimmune Disease. Cureus. 2021 Oct 10;13(10):e18648. doi: 10.7759/cureus.18648. PMID: 34786243; PMCID: PMC8578812.
  49. Thompson C, Szabo A. Psychedelics as a novel approach to treating autoimmune conditions. Immunol Lett. 2020 Dec;228:45-54. doi: 10.1016/j.imlet.2020.10.001. Epub 2020 Oct 7. PMID: 33035575.

Category:

Inflammation, Lyme, Psychological Aspects, research, Sleep, Treatment

About Cytokines in Lyme Disease and Related Conditions

https://www.treatlyme.net/guide/cytokines

Updated: 6/27/23

By Dr. Marty Ross

About Cytokines in Lyme Disease and Related Conditions

Lowering inflammatory cytokines made by the immune system is essential for Lyme disease and related conditions recovery. In this article and video, I discuss why this is so and lay out a nutritional support plan using supplements to lower cytokines.

Cytokines are proteins made by various types of white blood cells to turn on the immune system to attack invaders like:

  • bacteria (for example, Lyme germs and the co-infections),
  • intestinal yeast,
  • parasites,
  • viruses,
  • Lyme and mold toxins,
  • environmental toxins, and
  • heavy metals toxins, like lead and mercury.
Cytokines are Good, Right? Well, Yes and No.

In the right amount, cytokines promote healing. In excess, they cause all of the major Lyme disease symptoms and dysregulate the immune system. The problem in chronic Lyme and associated diseases is that they are usually made in excess. Fortunately, there are some great steps you can take to lower cytokines. (See top link for article and video)

For more:

Category:

Detoxing, diet and nutrition, Inflammation, Lyme, Pain Management, Supplements

Unraveling Bartonella: Dr. Mozayeni

https://www.betterhealthguy.com/episode185

Episode #185: Unraveling Bartonella with Dr. B. Robert Mozayeni, MD

 
 
About My Guest

My guest for this episode is Dr. B. Robert Mozayeni.  B. Robert Mozayeni, MD is an expert in Translational Medicine, the science and art of advancing medical science safely and efficiently.  He is the Chief Medical Officer of Galaxy Diagnostics, LLC.  He is a co-founder of the Foundation for the Study of Inflammatory Diseases.  He serves as an advisor to pharmaceutical and nutraceutical companies and serves on an Institutional Review Board specializing in nutraceutical products for pain management.  He is the immediate past President of ILADS, the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society where his goal was to advance the science of translational medicine.  In late 2019, Dr. Mozayeni launched T Lab Inc., a research and clinical laboratory engaged in research using advanced microscopy to understand better the pathogenesis of disease in inflammatory conditions associated with persistent infections.  He has research and clinical expertise with regard to autoimmune diseases and the effects of chronic infection and inflammation on vascular physiology and neurovascular conditions seen commonly with autoimmune and neurovascular diseases.  With a strong foundation in the basic sciences and evidence-based medicine, he analyzes complex medical cases using a combination of basic scientific principles and clinical experience along with the balance of the evidence base.  Dr. Mozayeni has published numerous papers on immunology and cerebrovascular blood flow hemodynamics.  He has been actively researching and publishing his work on chronic rheumatic diseases and their relationship to persistent human Bartonella spp. infection.  Of note, chronic persistent Bartonella spp. infections are strongly associated with neurovascular diseases.  Thus, Dr. Mozayeni is uniquely qualified in the combined areas of chronic persistent endovascular infections and related rheumatological and neurovascular diseases.   He has also published papers providing new insights as to a potential infectious  (Bartonella spp.) cause of osteoarthritis and also, a case of arthritis associated with hypermobility that was likely caused by Bartonella spp.

Key Takeaways
  • What advances have been observed in recent years in the realm of Bartonella?
  • What are common symptoms of Bartonella?
  • How is Bartonella transmitted?- Might Bartonella lead to autoimmunity?
  • Can Bartonella be a trigger for PANS?
  • Might Bartonella be a contributor to osteoarthritis?
  • Is there a connection between Bartonella and hypermobility or EDS?
  • Does Bartonella contribute to MS?
  • What is the connection between Bartonella and SIBO?
  • Can Bartonella act as a trigger for MCAS?
  • Is Bartonella activation observed in those with COVID?
  • What is the state of the art in Bartonella testing?
  • What is Babesia odocoilei?
  • What agents are most helpful in the treatment of Bartonella?
  • Is there a place for herbs and other natural interventions in Bartonella treatment?
  • Should pets be considered as a potential source of exposure to Bartonella?
Connect With My Guest

http://TMGMD.com

Related Resources

Article: Unraveling the Mystery of Bartonellosis

Transcript

Go to top link for transcript, video, and audio

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Category:

Bartonella, Cancer, Eye Issues, Heart Issues, Inflammation, Psychological Aspects

9 Lyme & Tick-borne Disease Hacks & Dr. John Aucott’s Lyme Research Update

https://www.treatlyme.net/guide/lyme-tick-borne-disease-hacks  Video Here (Approx. 35 Min)

Nine Lyme and Tick-borne Disease Hacks

Marty Ross MD presents nine hacks for Lyme and tick borne disease. Watch this video and Powerpoint presentation to find real ways to improve your health.

This is a second recording of a video Powerpoint presentation first delivered to the Canadian Lyme Disease Research Network Virtual 2023 Awareness Event on May 23, 2023.

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Watch Dr. John Aucott’s update on latest Lyme disease research

Dr. John Aucott, Director of the Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Research Center, recently delivered an overview of Lyme and other tick-borne disease research. You can watch a replay of his presentation below.

What follows is the introduction to Dr. Aucott by Shireen Rusby, one of the founders of Maryland’s Lyme Care Resource Center.

May is Lyme disease awareness month. Like any “awareness” effort, the intent is to increase the attention to and appreciation for the subject. In the case of Lyme disease there is a particularly powerful irony to the concept of awareness. Lyme disease is an illness that is often hidden and its symptoms unrecognized, yet the patient can be so overwhelmed that there is little reprieve from the self-awareness that dominates each day.

Those of us living with Lyme disease, as well as those living with many other long-term, hidden health conditions, have experienced very similar scenarios – the body’s natural inclination toward homeostasis is challenged.

Balance becomes harder to achieve and maintain. Lyme has imbalanced us, COVID has imbalanced us, ME/CFS has imbalanced us, dysautonomia and POTS have imbalanced us. So while our bodies, minds and spirits are making constant efforts to balance and rebalance physically, mentally and emotionally, what is the impact of stressors on a system that is already experiencing overload?

Well, that’s a whole thesis in and of itself and we’re not going to cover it tonight. But there is one stressor that we can increase “awareness” of this evening. For members of the Lyme community and those of other hidden illnesses, the challenges of dysfunctional homeostasis are compounded by the emotional strain of invalidation.

What interferes with healing

When we then begin to doubt our own reality, we make efforts to normalize the abnormal state of our being and that in turn leads to an even greater maladaptive response and further interferes with healing.

In his book, Conquering Lyme Disease, Dr. Brian Fallon states: “The experience of being disbelieved and misrepresented over and over is inherently traumatizing. Some patients…have identified this atmosphere of disbelief (and the resulting social isolation and self-doubt) as the single most stressful aspect of their illness experience.”

Some of you may have seen the movie Avatar. It is a futuristic story of human beings landing on another planet and attempting to conquer the native people of that land. When greeting each other, these natives to whom we are supposedly superior, look each other in the eye and say, “I see you.”

This simple phrase encapsulates much of our ongoing struggle in the medical world. It speaks to a fundamentally necessary component of the practitioner-patient relationship that is at times absent in this journey with invisible illness.

Many medical professionals may not know where to turn when blood work looks normal and verifiable analytical tools fail to provide objective evidence. The simple truth, however, is that an absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. That quote, often attributed to the astrophysicist Carl Sagan, can serve as an incredibly powerful guiding principle when it comes to illnesses like Lyme disease.

The art of inquiry

Our lack of comprehensive and neatly packaged scientific proof need not preclude our awareness and acknowledgement of the situation. Rather, this is an opportunity for us to practice the art of inquiry as the necessary first step on the path of healing.

And certainly, there is no one path of healing in illnesses as complex as Lyme disease, and that adds to the challenge for both the patient and the practitioner. The fractured Western paradigm of medicine, in its tendency to compartmentalize and classify health as black or white, present or absent, positive or negative often fails to recognize the holistic nature of human suffering.

But the path of healing is first paved with recognition of and respect for the imbalanced body, mind and spirit.

Our journey to regain and retain balance begins again each day. In paving this path let us remember to turn toward the light especially when it seems dark, and let us use the tools of compassion and understanding to help one another.

Fostering awareness of this hidden yet ever-growing health pandemic will increase the opportunities for healing, and will turn the tide against the history of glaring invisibility and deafening silence.

We have as our guest speaker tonight someone who has made it his mission to foster the awareness of Lyme disease. He has paved the path of healing for countless Lyme warriors with sound practices and with stellar science.

John Aucott and his amazing team at the Lyme Disease Research Center, have partnered with many, first and foremost with the patients they serve, to produce the scientific evidence necessary to authenticate many of our struggles – struggles which we have experienced for months, years or even decades, while seeking out the rare practitioner like him who looks at us and says “I see you.”

For your endless support, for your validation of what we endure, and for your ongoing efforts to find the evidence that may have once seemed absent –we offer our endless gratitude.

http://  Approx. 2 hours

LCRC May 2023: Advances in Lyme Disease and Tickborne Disease Research

Dr. Aucott will be discussing research advances in Lyme Disease and Tickborne Diseases, including an update on diagnostics, potential biomarkers, advanced neuroimaging, and future treatments.

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Category:

Activism, Detoxing, diet and nutrition, Gut Health, Herbs, Inflammation, Lyme, Mold, Supplements, Testing, Treatment