Archive for the ‘Lyme’ Category

The Morning I Couldn’t Walk and What Finally Healed Me

While reading this, please note this patient finally got to a Lyme literate doctor and started anti-microbial treatment – including antibiotics and herbs.  Her progress went from wheelchair to walker to cane to walking on her own.  That is progress; however, there is more to this than killing pathogens, for sure, but never, ever underestimate the power of killing pathogens!  For some that alone is enough but for many, more is required…..

Further complicating the picture is borrelia complexity, the involvement of coinfections requiring different medications, and environmental toxins.  Then, there’s the inevitable blowback from harsh treatment and imbalances within the body that need to be corrected.

IMO, treating pathogens AND the whole person is a requirement with Lyme/MSIDS and for many, this treatment will take YEARS.   Many make the mistake of only taking one track or giving the final thing they used all the credit.  This is short-sighted.  This will be unlike anything else you’ve ever been treated before, and frustratingly confusing.

https://www.lymedisease.org/morning-i-couldnt-walk/

The morning I couldn’t walk–and what finally healed me

by Dr. Melanie Stein

Nov. 12, 2025

The morning my legs wouldn’t move changed everything I thought I knew about health. Full-body tremors tore through me. I couldn’t stand, let alone walk. I was admitted to the hospital, frightened, searching for answers.

A long list of tests returned “normal,” and the doctors’ search for answers stopped there. I was given a label, conversion disorder, and asked why I might be “choosing to live this way.” [Editor’s Note: Conversion disorder refers to physical symptoms that have no obvious medical explanation.]

While I was still inpatient at the hospital, an unmistakable bull’s-eye rash appeared. I knew what it meant and expected treatment. Instead, I was told, “Lyme disease doesn’t exist in Oregon,” and I was discharged without care.

Still not believed

The dismissal kept going. During one exam, a neurologist let me fall and said, “Get up.” I couldn’t. I was then sent to inpatient rehab, not to find out why I was so ill, but to learn how to live in a wheelchair. Soon after, my spinal fluid showed signs of infection. It still wasn’t enough to be believed, but it was enough for me to keep looking until I found someone who would listen.

I eventually found a Lyme-literate physician. What followed were years of steady, dedicated work—oral and IV antibiotics, herbal protocols, and constant reassessment and new treatments. Progress returned in pieces: wheelchair → walker → cane → walking.

Through it all, I finished medical school. I attended lectures in a wheelchair, studied between infusions, and arranged rotations around treatment. I promised myself I would never become a provider who stops at “normal” labs.

When I completed my training, I opened my practice at Restorative Health Clinic, focusing on complex chronic illness, vector-borne disease, and caring for patients who too often hear the same “nothing is wrong” I once did.

What finally moved the needle

Then COVID-19 hit. After I contracted COVID-19, I developed seizures, 20 or more a day. Retesting showed my tick-borne infections had reactivated. We tried multiple antimicrobial regimens, different combinations and intervals, without a meaningful response. I had done what I ask my patients to do: pursue treatment, show up to appointments, and adjust therapies as needed. The results didn’t match the effort.

This is when I changed the question from “Which pathogen remains?” to “Why isn’t my body recovering the way it should?”

Day one of medical training teaches this: healing begins at the cellular level. Every thought, heartbeat, step, and immune decision depends on cells that can take in what they need, send out what they don’t, and interpret messages accurately.

The cell membrane is the gatekeeper; the mitochondria make energy. When those are damaged, signals scramble, energy falters, and even smart treatments become unpredictable or short-lived. The body can get stuck in a protective “danger” mode instead of repair.

So I shifted from targeting infections first to strengthening the body’s foundation with a terrain-first model I call Cell Membrane Therapy. That means helping the outer layer of each cell (the cell membrane) work well again and boosting the cell’s “energy makers” (mitochondria).

When we rebuilt that foundation—and supported the body’s natural cleanup system and immune response—other treatments started to work better. Progress wasn’t overnight, but it lasted: my energy and focus returned, and the daily seizures stopped.

Why I Wrote Breaking Through Chronic Illness

Seeing outcomes shift when we rebuilt the cellular foundation—repairing membranes, restoring mitochondrial function, and strengthening the terrain—convinced me we needed a new playbook. Cell Membrane Therapy became the backbone of my practice, yet it’s still under-taught and often overlooked.

I wrote Breaking Through Chronic Illness to share this framework and to shift the question from “what else should we treat?” to “what’s blocking recovery despite the right therapies?” It’s for those who have done everything right and still don’t feel better—offering clear steps to rebuild the foundation so progress becomes durable.

I did everything I was told, and my body still wasn’t recovering the way it should. Week after week, my patients tell me the same. We’ve been asking the wrong question: it’s not just what’s left to treat, but why recovery isn’t happening despite the right treatments.

The signs were there—I knew what that rash meant—yet I wasn’t taken seriously and was taught how to use a wheelchair before anyone could explain why I needed one. That experience—and a clear purpose to make sure no patient goes unheard—carried me through school, through illness, and into this work.

Beyond the revolving door

This book looks beyond the revolving door of standard antibiotic protocols to an overlooked reason progress slips away and recovery doesn’t last: damage to cell membranes and mitochondria undermines the body’s ability to heal. When we repair the cellular foundation, the body can finally use the treatments we give it to restore health, not just suppress symptoms.

I keep the science readable and the steps practical: why good treatments fail when cellular repair is missing, how a stuck Cell Danger Response keeps the body in a defensive, inflamed mode (and what helps it switch off), and a clear roadmap to rebuild resilience—restoring energy, calming neuroinflammation, and resetting immune balance.

I translate this into everyday choices—nutrition, key supplements, detox support, nervous-system regulation, and environmental strategies—so you know where to start, what to look for, and what matters most.

The book weaves in patient stories of people with “normal” labs and very abnormal days who moved from temporary relief to durable progress. That’s the goal: hope with a plan.

If you’ve been told “everything is normal” while your life is anything but, you’re not alone, and you’re not broken. There is a path forward when we begin — where healing begins — at the cellular level. If you’re tired of improvements that don’t last, Breaking Through Chronic Illness offers a way back. Your symptoms are real, and so is the science that can explain them.

Dr. Melanie Stein is a naturopathic doctor specializing in complex chronic illness and vector-borne disease. After overcoming her own battle with Lyme disease, she founded Restorative Health Clinic in Portland, Oregon. Click here to order Breaking Through Chronic Illness.

For more:

Bob Giguere of IGeneX states a case by Dr. Jones of a little girl who went outside to play about   8:30a.m. and came inside at 10:30 with an attached tick above her right eye.  By 2 o’clock, she had developed the facial palsy.  At the hospital she was told it couldn’t be Lyme as the tick hadn’t been attached long enough.  They offered a neuro-consult…..

By 4pm she couldn’t walk or talk.

Dr. Jones met the family in his office on a Saturday, gave her an intramuscular injection of antibiotics and within 2 hours the palsy was gone.  He continued her treatment for approximately 4 weeks.

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Treatment

Federal Roundtable Lyme Disease Reflections

By Project Lyme

Federal Roundtable Reflections

On December 15, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) convened a public roundtable, “Invisible Illness: Leading the Way with Lyme Disease,” bringing renewed federal attention to Lyme disease and related tick-borne illnesses. The discussion was moderated by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who shared personal family experiences with Lyme disease—including his own uncomplicated recovery, a son who experienced Lyme-induced Bell’s palsy, and another who continues to live with chronic Lyme disease.

Secretary Kennedy’s statement that the “gaslighting of Lyme patients is over” marked a notable shift in tone and approach, signaling a federal commitment to patient-centered care, scientific rigor, and collaboration across government, medicine, and advocacy. For a community that has long struggled to be seen and believed, this visibility matters.

Participants included senior HHS leadership such as CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya; Members of Congress, including Senator Susan Collins (ME), Congressman Morgan Griffith (VA), and Congressman Chris Smith (NJ); as well as patients, advocates, clinicians, researchers, and innovators. Project Lyme was represented by Executive Director Michelle Cuevas and Board Chair Ali Moresco.

The conversation emphasized Lyme disease as an often-overlooked invisible illness, highlighting persistent challenges related to diagnosis, access to care, and the validation of patient experiences. Key announcements included the renewal of the LymeX Innovation Accelerator—a major public-private partnership with the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation focused on advancing diagnostic tools—and clarification that Medicare coverage includes Lyme-related care, including guidance on chronic care management.

HHS reaffirmed four core priorities closely aligned with Project Lyme’s mission: strengthening medical education, investing in innovation, expanding prevention and public awareness, and improving insurance coverage. There was explicit recognition of the complexity and persistence of Lyme disease, including infection-associated chronic conditions, alongside a call to address stigma and misinformation.

HHS also unveiled an updated centralized federal Lyme disease website, signaling increased national coordination. As we look ahead, this moment presents an opportunity to align priorities, partnerships, and resources to advance focused, actionable solutions that drive meaningful and lasting change.

http://

Lyme Disease Roundtable

Dec. 15, 2025

Secretary Kennedy Convenes Lyme Disease Patients and Providers to Announce New Diagnostic Efforts

 

Category:

Activism, Lyme

RFK Jr. To Lead Lyme Disease Roundtable Today: December 15, 2025

https://www.lymedisease.org/hhs-lyme-roundtable-dec15/

RFK Jr. to lead Lyme disease roundtable on December 15

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced a roundtable discussion titled Invisible Illness — Leading the Way with Lyme Disease, scheduled for December 15, from 2:00–4:30 PM Eastern Time / 11:00 AM–1:30 PM Pacific Time.

The event will be broadcast live to the public on the HHS YouTube channel:

http://
 

Lyme Disease Round Table

The session will be convened by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., along with senior HHS leadership, Members of Congress, clinicians, researchers, innovators, and patient advocates.

The roundtable will focus on several topics, including:

  • Early detection of Lyme disease
  • Coordinated care approaches
  • Next-generation diagnostic tools
  • Federal priorities for Lyme disease and related chronic conditions

Organizers note that the conversation will highlight the roles of researchers, transparency in decision-making, and patient participation in shaping solutions.

SOURCE: US Department of Health and Human Services

For more:

 
 

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Testing, Treatment

Investigation into U.S. Military Bioweapons-Origin of Tick-Borne Lyme Disease Successfully Added to 2026 National Defense Authorization Act

https://jonfleetwood.substack.com/p/investigation-into-us-military-bioweapons?

Investigation Into U.S. Military Bioweapons-Origin of Tick-Borne Lyme Disease Successfully Added to 2026 National Defense Authorization Act

U.S. Representative Chris Smith says we are now “one step closer to finally determining whether the U.S. government’s bioweapons program contributed to the proliferation of Lyme disease.”

Jon Fleetwood
Dec 12, 2025

U.S. Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) has successfully included his amendment to investigate whether the U.S. military weaponized ticks with Lyme disease into the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The ordeal underscores the national security threat posed by laboratory pathogen manipulation.

Rep. Smith, who is Co-Chair of the Congressional Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Caucus, had offered similar amendments—one in 2019 and the other in 2021—which passed the House, but failed in the Senate.

The successful addition of the amendment follows FDA Chief Dr. Marty Makary’s statements  during a November podcast, in which Makary expressed his belief that Lyme disease was created in U.S. military Lab 257 on Plum Island, New York.  (See link for article)

________________

**Comment**

Go here to hear Makary state it is highly likely Lyme came from Plum Island – just off the shore of Connecticut, where the first outbreak is recorded.

Smith states his amendments were inspired by Kris Newby’s book, “Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons.”  Here’s a clip of her stating she met a CIA black ops guy who stated that the strangest thing he’d ever done in 1962 which was coined, “Operation Mongoose,” was drop poison ticks on Cuban sugar cane workers.  She also explained how a military ‘bean counter’ stated, “We can kill 10,000 people at $1.33 per life,” regarding bioweaponized Tularemia, which is transmitted spread by ticks.

Here, this podcaster Mike Benz explains it was the very same Rocky Mountain Laboratories where Willy Burgdorfer experimented on infecting ticks with various pathogens that also more recently experimented on bats with COVID.

Category:

Activism, Lyme

FDA Chief Says Lyme Disease Came From U.S. Military Lab 257 & Suggests HIV Came From African Lab

https://jonfleetwood.substack.com/p/fda-chief-says-lyme-disease-came

FDA Chief Says Lyme Disease Came from U.S. Military Lab 257, Suggests HIV Came from African Lab (Video)

“It came from Lab 257 on Plum Island.”

Jon Fleetwood
Nov 27, 2025

In a stunning exchange on the PBD Podcast (Episode 690), U.S. Commissioner of Food and Drugs (FDA) Dr. Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins surgeon, dropped two bombshell admissions about pathogen origins—one about HIV, the other about Lyme disease.

Dr. Makary openly entertained the possibility that HIV “may very well have come from a lab in Africa,” saying the film Thank You, Dr. Fauci “explore[s] a non-traditional narrative, which has not gotten the attention it deserves.”

HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is said to be a retrovirus that targets and destroys CD4 T cells in the immune system, weakening the body’s ability to fight infections and potentially leading to AIDS if untreated.

When asked where Lyme disease originated, Makary answered directly: “I can tell you with a high degree of probability. It came from Lab 257 on Plum Island.”

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, transmitted through bites from infected blacklegged ticks, often marked by an expanding “bull’s-eye” rash, fever, fatigue, and joint pain.

The head of the FDA has admitted that two major diseases originated not in nature, but in government laboratories, raising questions about other disease origins.  (See link for article)

________________

**Comment**

Here’s the brief 5 minute portion of the interview pertaining to HIV and Lyme.  Scroll to 2:44 hear the bit on Lyme disease.  Go here for entire interview.

For years, Lyme advocates have been gaslit for stating the exact same words Makary said.

In fact, after waiting an entire year for Representative Chris Smith‘s (R-NJ) proposed amendment passed by the House of Representatives directing the government’s ‘watchdog’ agency to investigate the DOD’s possible weaponization of ticks and other insects with Lyme disease, the inspector general at the Pentagon didn’t have the bandwidth to launch an investigation. (Translation – I don’t have any balls and I’m passing the football to someone else), so then it headed to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).  Ultimately, the Senate rejected the amendment for the GAO to investigate whether Lyme came from a Pentagon research laboratory

And despite an investigation into five NJ school districts revealing devastating effects of Lyme disease on the children there, cries have fallen on deaf ears.  The CDC refused to publish the school study despite telling the advocate that they would.

So while Makary affirms what we all know, the following problems remain:

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Testing, Treatment