Archive for the ‘Psychological Aspects’ Category

Psychosis, Serious Side-Effect of COVID Shot. Many May Be Suffering From ‘Delusion of Benefit’ Says Cardiologist

https://twitter.com/DrAseemMalhotra/status/1650031510328692737  Video Here (Approx. 9 Min)

Psychosis: Serous Side Effect of COVID Shot

Re-analysis of mRNA vaccine data suggests one serious side effect is Psychosis.  Many people who took the jab may be suffering from ‘delusion of benefit’ says cardiologist Dr. Aseem Malhotra
Overwhelming evidence to be presented in court that jab is ‘not safe & NOT effective.’
“In my whole career in medicine, Neil, with all the academic work I’ve done looking at all different areas of medicine, specifically also related to cardiovascular disease, I have never seen such high, overwhelming quality of evidence of harm of any drug and such poor efficacy,” ~ Dr. Aseem Malhotra
_________________
 2022 May; 71: 103129.
Published online 2022 Apr 13. doi: 10.1016/j.ajp.2022.103129
PMCID: PMC9006421
PMID: 35447503

Psychiatric adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines: A rapid review of published case reports

Ilambaridhi Balasubramanian, Abdul Faheem, Susanta Kumar Padhy,1 and Vikas Menon2,⁎
Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer

Abstract

We aimed to review the available reports of psychiatric adverse reactions to COVID vaccines. Electronic databases such as PubMed and Google scholar were combed to identify relevant reports. We found a total of 11 reports describing 14 cases of psychiatric reactions; these were mostly altered mental states, psychosis, mania, depression, and functional neurological disorder. The index case was commonly a young or middle-aged adult. All reports pertained to the use of either mRNA or vector-based vaccines. Symptom onset was within 10 days of vaccination in all cases; as such, this seems to be a high-risk period warranting vigilance.

  • One month after getting the mRNA-based COVID injection and then worsening three weeks later after getting the 2nd dose, a 31 year old man without a past medical or psychiatric history was brought to the ER because of erratic and bizarre behavior.  He was anxious, guarded, superficial and grandiose, reported becoming ‘clairvoyant’, being able to talk to dead people, hearing ‘people drumming outside his house’ and the constant voice of a co-worker whom he believed to be a lover (but was not).
  • Patient after 2nd dose of COVID injection immediately developed anxiety, nonspecific fear, and insomnia as the prodromal phase of psychosis. Starting the second week, patient manifested delusions of persecution, delusions of influence, thoughts insertion, and delusional behavior, culminating in a suicide attempt.  Psychosis lasted 8 weeks and symptom reduction was observed only after the graduate administration of antipsychotics over four weeks.
  • 12 other case reports of psychosis after COVID shots.
  • Doctor censured for suggesting “vaccine” psychosis led husband to murder wife.

https://theconversation.com/post-covid-psychosis-occurs-in-people-with-no-prior-history-the-risk-is-low-but-episodes-are-frightening-179193

Post-COVID psychosis occurs in people with no prior history. The risk is low but episodes are frightening

By Sarah Hellewell, Research Fellow, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University

Far from the respiratory disease it seemed at first, COVID can impact almost all parts of the body, including the brain. For a small number of people, COVID infection may be accompanied by an episode of post-COVID psychosis, a break from reality which can be frightening for the patient and their loved ones.

Psychosis is a condition characterised by confused thoughts, delusions and hallucinations. People with psychosis can struggle to tell what’s real from what isn’t. Psychosis occurs in “episodes” which may last for days or weeks. Since the start of the COVID pandemic, reports of post-COVID psychosis have come from all over the world.

Post-COVID psychosis is different to psychosis seen in other brain illnesses and diseases. So-called “first episode psychosis” is usually seen in teens or young adults in the development of schizophrenia, or alongside dementia in elderly people.

But people experiencing post-COVID psychosis are typically in their 30s, 40s and 50s, and are experiencing psychosis for the first time. They usually do not have any family history of psychosis. People with post-COVID psychosis also frequently have insight into the way they are feeling. They can recognise this is not normal for them, and something has changed in the way they are thinking.  (See link for article)

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**Comment**

According to the article there were reports of post-viral psychosis during the Spanish flu as well as after the coronaviruses SARS and MERS.

This topic interests me as I experienced psychosis first-hand.  What a wild ride that was.  The event occurred while taking disulfiram/Antabuse, a new treatment at the time for Lyme disease and potentially Babesia.  If you are interested in that story, go here:

I attempt to highlight everything I can about the incident due to worries about single patients trying this treatment.  If you are single and live alone, you need to be checked on daily.  The psychosis can come on fast and you don’t know you are going nuts.  And you do go nuts.

Which brings me to Dr. Malhotra’s suggestion of ‘delusion of benefit’ theory.  I’m truly not trying to be divisive or mean here.  What I am attempting to do is point out that a perfect scenario was created in the past three years that could affect people’s reasoning ability: 

  1. Many had their faces covered for extended periods of time with oxygen depriving, CO2, and bacteria promoting toxic masks that science continues to show do nothing beneficial.
  2. Graphene, which is a toxic carcinogen, has been found in masks, PCR swabs, and the gene therapy injections. Symptoms caused by graphene are similar to COVID symptoms, further mudding the water of what a COVID case truly is since testing is fraudulently worthless.
  3. Graphene oxide in rats not only down-regulates glutamatergic synapses but changes synaptic function which is crucial to learning and memory. These changes are implicated in several brain diseases from dementia to anxiety disorders.
  4. Typically, these same people were then injected a graphene laced gene therapy with a known psychosis side effect that is linked to more reports of adverse reactions and death than any other vaccine in the history of VAERS.
  5. Multiple contaminants including metals have been found in the gene therapy.
  6. The gene therapy utilizes modified RNA (modRNA) forcing healthy cells to produce a toxic viral spike protein that disrupts cell metabolism, increases permeability of the blood-brain barrier, goes systemically into the body interfering with DNA repair, and is designed to persist – possibly forever.
  7. Another injection side-effect is blood clotting which will slow blood flow to the brain. One doctor found microclotting in over 60% of his vaxxed patients.
  8. Paxlovid, an “approved” yet ineffective treatment for COVID also can cause blood clotting.
  9. While authorities blame ‘climate change,’ these same authorities are spraying the air, and testing has confirmed graphene is in our precipitation along with a long list of toxins including aluminum particles, a known neurotoxin, which are found virtually everywhere from our food and body products to vaccines to cookware, which accumulate in the brain and are linked with Alzheimer’s, MS, asthma, autism, and autoimmune psychosis.
What a brilliantly orchestrated, or highly coincidental plan to affect the public’s ability to think and reason.
Food for thought.

Category:

Psychological Aspects, research, vaccines, Viruses

Back From Lyme Disease & Career Abyss, Jimmy Walker Grabs Lead At Heritage

https://www.si.com/golf/news/back-from-lyme-disease-and-career-abyss-jimmy-walker-grabs-lead-at-heritage

Back From Lyme Disease and Career Abyss, Jimmy Walker Grabs Lead at Heritage

Jimmy Walker, who won the PGA Championship in 2016, is back on tour thanks to a one-year exemption. He’s looking to make the most of it.

HILTON HEAD, S.C. – Jimmy Walker is like Kodak, an iconic brand name that was known by everyone until the world passed it by and film morphed into digital.

Walker may not have been as iconic as Kodak or Blackberry, but for a stretch from 2014 to 2016, Walker had six wins, including the 2016 PGA Championship. He was a force.

As time went on, instead of contending on the weekend he was back home, at first wondering where his game had gone and then eventually resigned to the fact that it was over.

A bout with Lyme disease near the end of 2016 caused irreparable harm and from there his confidence and to some extend his ability ebbed away.

And like Kodak, the golfing world passed him by.  (See link for article)

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**Comment**

The article points out that the pro golfer was also infected with EBV, West Nile virus, two different types of bacterial pneumonia, as well as Lyme disease.  He suffered “brain to body disconnects” and lack of energy which caused depression.

Now he’s back playing golf.

‘’I’m still a competitor, I still want to win, I still want to have all those feels and have all that built inside me,” Walker said. “And I mean, that doesn’t change, right?

“I want it bad. So that’s the bottom line.”

And we out here in Lymeland are all rooting for him to win as well, but winning in golf pales in comparison to overcoming Lyme/MSIDS!

For more:

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Psychological Aspects

Homicide, Two Assaults, And Suicide in Lyme Patient

https://danielcameronmd.com/homicide-two-assaults-suicide/

HOMICIDE, TWO ASSAULTS, AND SUICIDE IN LYME DISEASE PATIENT

lyme-disease-suicide

A case report by Dr. Robert Bransfield and colleagues describes a patient who developed substance abuse issues after struggling with Lyme disease and was eventually charged with homicide and two assaults. The patient later committed suicide.

By 

The article entitled “A Fatal Case of Late Stage Lyme Borreliosis and Substance Abuse,”1 describes a patient exhibiting aggressiveness, violence, and homicidality. Like many Lyme disease patients, the man experienced a delay in diagnosis and treatment. (One study reports that subjects enrolling in a trial of Lyme encephalopathy were ill an average of two years before being diagnosed.2)

The patient’s Lyme disease symptoms progressed. “Further disease progression contributed to him feeling desperate as a result of multiple late-stage symptoms,” wrote Bransfield et al.  According to Fallon et al., the number of Lyme disease patients who feel desperate is not clear. 2

Based on more than 30 years of experience treating Lyme disease patients, Dr. Bransfield previously described a wide range of neuropsychiatric symptoms in Lyme disease patients. “… neuropsychiatric symptoms, usually presenting with significant comorbidity which may include developmental disorders, autism spectrum disorders, schizoaffective disorders, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety disorders (panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, intrusive symptoms), eating disorders, decreased libido, sleep disorders, addiction, opioid addiction, cognitive impairments, dementia, seizure disorders, suicide, violence, anhedonia, depersonalization, dissociative episodes, derealization and other impairments.”3

“Further disease progression contributed to him feeling desperate as a result of multiple late-stage symptoms.”

The patient’s condition worsened.  “The pathophysiological effects of the infection resulted in an increased number and severity of multisystem symptoms, disability, and substance abuse,” the authors wrote. “He experimented with multiple substances in an effort for relief.”

The authors added, “During acute deterioration of his mental state from phencyclidine withdrawal, NMDA agonism increased, he committed a homicide, two assaults, and suicide.”

In an earlier study, Dr. Bransfield described substance abuse, cannabis use, and intoxication in Lyme disease patients.4

Bransfield and colleagues advised prompt diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease to help prevent addictive disorders, substance abuse, and death.

“More effective diagnosis and treatment and attention to substance abuse potential in these patients may help prevent some cases of addictive disorders, substance abuse, and death.”

Related Articles:

Mental health in COVID-19 and Lyme disease patients

Lyme disease and depression

Lyme disease patients at risk for suicide

References:
  1. Bransfield RC, Embers ME, Dwork AJ. A Fatal Case of Late Stage Lyme Borreliosis and Substance Abuse. Abstract. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports. April 2023. Last viewed 4/1/23 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666915323000641?via%3Dihub
  2. Fallon BA, Keilp JG, Corbera KM, et al. A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of repeated IV antibiotic therapy for Lyme encephalopathy. Neurology. Mar 25 2008;70(13):992-1003. doi:10.1212/01.WNL.0000284604.61160.2d
  3. Bransfield RC. Neuropsychiatric Lyme Borreliosis: An Overview with a Focus on a Specialty Psychiatrist’s Clinical Practice. Healthcare (Basel). Aug 25 2018;6(3)doi:10.3390/healthcare6030104
  4. Bransfield RC. Aggressiveness, violence, homicidality, homicide, and Lyme disease. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2018;14:693-713. doi:10.2147/NDT.S155143

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**Comment**

Most are not diagnosed and treated promptly and nobody has a clue how many patients are going through something similar to this poor man.  Most of us feel desperate at some point.

For more:

Category:

Lyme, Psychological Aspects, research

Dr. Alan McDonald: Lyme Links to Alzheimer’s, Cancer, Leukemia, Liver Damage, & Suicide

**Comment**

So thankful someone listened to the entire podcost and broke it down in this handy article.  I try to do this but sometimes get overwhelmed with the length and amount of material, and neglected to break down Dr. McDonald’s latest work.  I regret this as I consider McDonald an expert and a true help for Lyme patients.  Every word that proceeds out of this man’s mouth is informative.  Now we can all enjoy the information he presented in the podcast in the article which follows.  Enjoy!

https://www.lymedisease.org/lyme-links-alzheimers-and-more/

Pioneering researcher discusses Lyme links to Alzheimer’s and more

April 4, 2023

From the Tick Boot Camp Podcast:

In this eye-opening episode, Dr. Alan McDonald unveils his latest findings, revealing the connections between Lyme disease and an array of serious health issues, including Lewy body dementia, liver damage, leukemia, brain cancer, and even suicide.

This compelling conversation underscores the urgency of broadening our understanding of Lyme disease to better support and treat patients.

Dr. McDonald’s research has led to several groundbreaking discoveries, including:

  1. Lyme Disease Triggers Lewy Body Dementia: Dr. McDonald has discovered a link between Lyme disease and Lewy body dementia, a neurodegenerative disorder that affects the brain. His research has shown that Lewy bodies contain Borrelia DNA, the bacteria responsible for Lyme disease, challenging previous assumptions about the nature of Lewy bodies.
  2. Lyme Disease Causes Liver Damage: Dr. McDonald has found that nearly 20% of acute early Lyme patients suffer from liver issues related to the disease. Early treatment of Lyme disease can help prevent liver damage and its detrimental effects on the body’s detoxification process.
  3. Lyme Disease Linked to Leukemia: Dr. McDonald’s research has also identified a connection between Lyme disease and chronic lymphocytic leukemia, opening up possibilities for improved diagnosis and treatment options for patients affected by both conditions.
  4. Lyme Disease Initiated Brain Cancer: The podcast highlights Dr. McDonald’s ongoing research on glioblastomas, a form of brain cancer, and its association with Lyme disease. This research has the potential to lead to new treatment options and a better understanding of the disease’s impact on the brain.
  5. Lyme Disease and Suicide: The podcast also addresses the crucial connection between Lyme disease and suicide, emphasizing the importance of understanding and supporting patients struggling with the psychological impact of Lyme disease.
  6. Lyme Disease Intelligently Evades Tests: Dr. McDonald’s research illustrates the Lyme bacteria’s ability to sequester itself in the body, leading to false-negative test results and leaving many Lyme patients undiagnosed and untreated.

Click here to listen.

It’s also available on Apple podcasts, Google podcast, and Spotify.

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**Comment**

As I read this, I was again hit hard with the fact that this seriously incredible information isn’t even on the radar of mainstream research/medicine/public health.  After 40 years we haven’t budged on understanding this complex illness which typically includes far more than just Lyme, which is why many call it MSIDS or multi systemic infectious disease syndrome or Lyme and company.  Lyme alone is formidable, but add in a few coinfections just as nasty and you are one sick dog.  McDonald and a few others are the rare scientists who aren’t led by the government narrative/paradigm and who do not have conflicts of interests that obviously make them biased.  Further, they obviously look harder and don’t quit when they get the accepted result.

Hopefully the last few years have awakened many to the fact science has been hijacked; however, science has always been hijacked in many areas and Lyme/MSIDS is one of them.  I would put vaccines, cancer, autism, MS, chronic fatigue, and many others in this camp as well.  Currently, these diseases are huge money makers and the ‘powers that be’ are raking in royalties and other monies and don’t want their cash cows to stop.  Public health is the last thing on their minds.  If these diseases are in fact triggered or caused by hidden infections, they could be helped by cheap, already existing antimicrobials that could be repurposed.  As we have clearly seen with COVID, those controlling the narrative simply can’t allow this to happen.

For more:

Category:

Alzheimer's, Lyme, Psychological Aspects, research

When Lyme Changes Your Brain

https://www.lymedisease.org/lyme-related-brain-fog-is-real/

Advanced imaging shows Lyme-related brain fog is real

By Nancy Dougherty
Johns Hopkins Medicine Lyme Disease Research Center

There are approximately 476,000 people diagnosed with Lyme disease annually in the US. Of these, an estimated 10-20% suffer from impairing symptoms well beyond the acute phase of infection.

Persistent symptoms include severe fatigue, pain, and cognitive problems. Vexingly, these symptoms can be difficult to validate using current diagnostic tests.

Patients are often told by their health practitioners: “your tests are normal, it’s in your head” (aka psychosomatic).

Researchers have discovered, however, that by using more advanced imaging modalities, brain changes can be objectively detected in Lyme disease patients.

For example, clinical researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have used novel PET imaging, functional MRI (fMRI), and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to identify inflammatory, functional, and structural abnormalities in the brains of Lyme disease patients as compared to healthy controls.

Their findings indicate that Lyme-disease-associated brain alterations are biologic and measurable, not psychosomatic. These discoveries are significant but not yet well known by the physician community or broadly available to clinicians.

What does “brain fog” mean?

Brain fog is a term used to describe difficulties with cognitive functions such as working memory, focusing, concentrating, planning, organizing, word recall, processing speed, and mental fatigue.

Working memory enables one to do tasks quickly or easily solve a problem without looking up information. This includes quickly learning a new computer program or using names or numbers for a routine task.

Mental fatigue is akin to how one feels after taking a long test that requires remembering detailed information or doing a complicated mental task when short on sleep.

What are the limitations of current clinical tests for Lyme-associated brain fog?

Brain fog is commonly experienced by Lyme disease patients but difficult to detect because cognitive deficits can be too subtle for standard diagnostic tests to uncover.

Usual blood tests appear normal in Lyme encephalopathy or brain fog (CBC; CMP: kidney, liver, glucose, thyroid; ESR, CRP).

Serum blood testing for 2-tier IgG Borrelia burgdorferi antibody seropositivity may be negative in patients, such as those with past antibiotic treatment.

Clinically available MRI imaging is usually normal or shows nonspecific changes. Cerebrospinal fluid examination findings are usually normal as well. In some cases, the CSF fluid may show evidence of a mild form of encephalomyelitis, but this is rare.

Formal cognitive testing with a neuropsychologist to characterize the type and severity of cognitive problems can be a more helpful approach. Working memory and processing speed have been shown to be impacted in Lyme disease patients using standardized neuropsychological measures.[i] However, patient-reported cognitive complaints are subjective, and objective measures of cognitive decline are sought after by patients and clinicians.

What does more advanced neuroimaging reveal?

Non-standard research-grade neuroimaging technologies have discovered marked biologic abnormalities in patients with Lyme disease as compared to healthy controls.

A Columbia University brain PET imaging study (2009) found hypometabolism in Lyme-disease-associated encephalopathy.[ii]

A Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine brain PET imaging study (2018) revealed increased inflammation and glial activation in patients with Lyme-disease-associated persistent symptoms.[iii]

A 2022 Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine neuroimaging study utilized fMRI and DTI brain scans in conjunction with each other. These scans identified striking functional abnormalities as well as distinct structural changes in the white brain matter of Lyme disease patients.[iv]

What is the significance of these neuroimaging findings?

John Aucott, MD, Director of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Lyme Disease Research Center and Associate Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, explains, “The cause of Lyme-disease-associated persistent symptoms typically cannot be identified with regular MRIs, CT scans, or blood tests. However, in a research setting, more sophisticated PET, fMRI, and DTI imaging approaches have found significant objective abnormalities in the brains of Lyme disease patients compared with healthy controls.”

Cherie Marvel, PhD, lead author of the fMRI/DTI study and Associate Professor, Departments of Neurology & Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, describes fMRI as “a quantitative ‘brain stress test’ that measures brain function during cognitive tasks.”

Dr. Marvel explains that “the brain scans indicate Lyme disease patients’ brains work harder than normal and unexpectedly by activating white matter in the frontal lobe to try to maintain normal function.”

DTI, a measure of structural brain integrity, confirms abnormalities in the same white matter regions as observed in the fMRI scans.

These novel neuroimaging results provide new objective validation of a biologic basis for the brain fog reported by Lyme disease patients, including working memory impairment and slower processing speed.

The findings indicate Lyme-disease-associated brain fog is real and likely due to ongoing neuroinflammation driving brain dysfunction. More research is needed to better understand the diagnostic and therapeutic implications of these notable discoveries and to bring new insights and more advanced tools into the clinic to help patients.

Big picture

The Lyme-disease-associated advanced neuroimaging brain findings may be relevant to other infection-associated chronic illnesses where neuroinflammation is also significant, including Long COVID and ME/CFS. On June 29-30, 2023, a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine workshop will “examine common biological and clinical factors associated with infection-associated chronic illnesses.” Infection-associated brain fog is one topic this workshop can hopefully shine additional light on to help accelerate knowledge and solutions for patients.

Nancy Dougherty is an Education and Communications Consultant for Johns Hopkins Medicine Lyme Disease Research Center. Follow her on Twitter: @NancyNDougherty.

References

[i] Touradji P, Aucott JN, Yang T, Rebman AW, Bechtold KT. Cognitive Decline in Post-treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome. Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2019 Jun 1;34(4):455-465. doi: 10.1093/arclin/acy051. PMID: 29945190. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29945190/

[ii] Fallon BA, Lipkin RB, Corbera KM, Yu S, Nobler MS, Keilp JG, Petkova E, Lisanby SH, Moeller JR, Slavov I, Van Heertum R, Mensh BD, Sackeim HA. Regional cerebral blood flow and metabolic rate in persistent Lyme encephalopathy. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009 May;66(5):554-63. doi: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2009.29. PMID: 19414715. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19414715/

[iii] Coughlin JM, Yang T, Rebman AW, Bechtold KT, Du Y, Mathews WB, Lesniak WG, Mihm EA, Frey SM, Marshall ES, Rosenthal HB, Reekie TA, Kassiou M, Dannals RF, Soloski MJ, Aucott JN, Pomper MG. 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. doi: 10.1186/s12974-018-1381-4. PMID: 30567544; PMCID: PMC6299943. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30567544/

[iv] Marvel CL, Alm KH, Bhattacharya D, Rebman AW, Bakker A, Morgan OP, et al. (2022) A multimodal neuroimaging study of brain abnormalities and clinical correlates in post treatment Lyme disease. PLoS ONE 17(10): e0271425. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271425

Caption for featured photo: DTI brain images from a 2022 Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine study show white matter changes associated with post treatment Lyme disease.

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**Comment**

What’s important is what will they do with this information and what will they attribute the brain changes to. For instance, currently, and for the entire history of Lyme/MSIDS, these issues have been blamed upon PTLDS – an autoimmune/inflammatory type of condition that will be treated with things like steroids when the very real underlying problem could be persistent infection(s).  This has become highly politicalized, causing polarity in research and medicine.

Unfortunately, this article, like so many others before it emphasizes and pushes the accepted narrative about the consequences or supposed failure of prolonged antibiotics for Lyme/MSIDS.  Everyone understands that prolonged antibiotic use is not without risks; however, nobody seems to care when it’s for acne, salmonella, endocarditis, sickle cell, or rheumatic fever.  Further, this report states there is significant information that supports the safety of prolonged antibiotic use regarding penicillin and its derivatives.

Again it’s about benefit vs risk.

When you are faced with death or a life of misery, all of a sudden the risk of prolonged antibiotics falls on the priority list.  Further, many, including myself and my husband have achieved our health back after this therapy.

Of course antibiotics aren’t the only tool in the tool kit needed for treating Lyme/MSIDS.  It truly is a complicated illness and one must learn all they can about diet, supplements, herbs, immune modulators, etc., but that doesn’t mean antimicrobials don’t have a very important role.  

Lastly, there are good reasons why extended antibiotics haven’t appeared successful in many NIH funded studies.  This is because:

  • typically a monotherapy is utilized, which frankly often isn’t enough with Lyme/MSIDS, plus there’s the concern of antibiotic resistance with this myopic approach
  • often the wrong antibiotic is used
  • often the wrong dosage of antibiotic is used
  • often, individual differences are not taken into account for example, symptoms must be monitored carefully and antibiotics changed when patients hit a plateau.  This approach doesn’t fit into the current research paradigm.
  • many other research design flaws such as only accepting those who test positive on 2-tiered CDC testing which is known to miss more than 70% of all cases, as well accepting patients that have the EM rash which is highly variable
For a fantastic overview on treatment nuances listen to Dr. Burrascano on the history of Lyme which I highlight here. 

In brief:

  • Treat ALL forms of Bb
  • Treat coinfections
  • Treat long enough (Bb is slow-growing and persistent)
  • Make sure blood levels of antibiotics are high enough as people vary.  He discusses amoxicillin and how they found that increasing the dosage to 1,000mg 3X/day and adding probenecid to increase the antibiotic in the blood, people did even better.  He goes on to tell of an unpublished study with Stoneybook where there was a failure rate of 100% of patients taking 300mg of doxycycline a day for 21 days. Yet, how many people are given this exact treatment?
  • Cycle treatment.  This means, once you are symptom-free for 2-4 months, stop treatment.  If symptoms return, treat again.  Burrascano has found that it typically takes 3-4 Cycles before a person remains symptom-free.  The 3rd cycle often yields the worst herx in his experience.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/04/13/chronic-lyme-post-mortem-study-needed-to-end-the-lyme-wars/  In this astute editorial, Microbiologist Tom Greer states:

From the very beginning, treatment failures were seen in virtually every antibiotic study done. The longer the patient follow up, the higher the incidence of treatment failure. The medical community blamed early treatment failures on the older antibiotics erythromycin, tetracycline, and penicillin, and determined that these antibiotics were not very effective at curing Lyme disease. Ignored was the fact that the newer antibiotics were also consistently failing to prevent relapses of active infection. Since these early treatment studies, the concept that two weeks of antibiotic therapy is adequate treatment for Lyme disease has remained ingrained in the medical community’s collective consciousness. [The Long-Term Follow-up of Lyme Disease: A Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Study. Authors: Shadick NA; Phillips CB; Sangha O et al. Ann Intern Med 1999 Dec 21;131(12):919-26]

*Data presented by Dr. Nancy Shadick at an International Lyme Symposia showed that patients in the Nantucket Island study followed for up to 5.2 years after initial antibiotic treatment had ever-climbing relapse rates. Relapse rates in patients receiving two weeks of IV Rocephin (ceftriaxone) could expect a relapse rate to exceed 50% after five years.

There is a smart way to treat this, yet few are nuanced in this skill.  We desperately need post-mortem studies to determine what is keeping people ill.  We need current transmission studies.  We need doctor education on the polymicrobial aspect of this disease. And, we need the stigma & polarization to go away so insurance companies will cover Lyme/MSIDS medical expenses, patients will be believed and supported and the bullying will end.

Category:

Lyme, Psychological Aspects, research