Archive for the ‘research’ Category

Study Finds Classical Lyme Testing Does Not Aid in Diagnosis of Persistent Symptoms

https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/13/5/1134

Classical Borrelia Serology Does Not Aid in the Diagnosis of Persistent Symptoms Attributed to Lyme Borreliosis: A Retrospective Cohort Study

by 1,2,*, 2,3, 2,3, 2,3, 3 and 2,3
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Life 2023, 13(5), 1134; https://doi.org/10.3390/life13051134
Received: 27 March 2023 / Revised: 2 May 2023 / Accepted: 3 May 2023 / Published: 6 May 2023
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lyme Disease-An Incompletely Solved Puzzle)

Abstract

Objective: The diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis is based on two-tier testing using an ELISA and Western blot. About 5–10% of patients report persistent symptoms of unknown etiology after treatment, resulting in substantial difficulties in further diagnostic workup. This paper presents a study aimed at determining whether serology can differentiate between patients with persistent symptoms attributed to Lyme and other patients with Lyme borreliosis.
Methods: A retrospective cohort study included 162 samples from four subgroups: patients with persistent symptoms of Lyme (PSL), early Lyme borreliosis with erythema migrans (EM), patients tested in a general practitioner setting (GP), and healthy controls (HC). ELISA, Western blots, and multiplex assays from different manufacturers were used to determine inter-test variations in PSL and to compare reactivity against Borrelia-specific antigens among the groups.
Results: In comparing the IgG and IgM reactivity by Western blot, IgG was more often positive in the PSL group than in the GP group. The individual antigen reactivity was similar between the PSL and EM or GP groups. Inter-test agreement among the manufacturers was variable, and agreement was higher for IgG testing compared to IgM.
Conclusions: Serological testing is unable to define the subgroup of patients with persistent symptoms attributed to Lyme borreliosis. Additionally, the current two-tier testing protocol shows a large variance among different manufacturers in these patients.
_________________
**Comment**
Another study showing the obvious: Lyme testing sucks all around.
A few points:
  • If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 1,000 times: all percentages regarding Lyme/MSIDS are always, repeat always, horrifically low.  The numbers of people suffering from persistent symptoms is far, far greater than 5-10%.  The reasons are two-fold: 1) percentages touted only count those diagnosed and treated early  2) people are typically not diagnosed early due to the faulty testing  Everything regarding Lyme/MSIDS is driven by a vortex of circular reasoning without end and nothing ever changes.
  • Now, yet another study proves testing sucks.
  • The question is, and has always been, when is something going to be done about this other than the creation of a supposed magic-bullet and lucrative Lyme “vaccine” that historically has maimed people?

For more:

The form of testing used to determine Lyme infection has been a source of heated debate from the beginning:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/04/03/cdc-deliberately-avoids-direct-detection-testing-methods-for-ld/  Excerpt:

It would appear that there has been a deliberate avoidance of direct detection methods and it is believed that these efforts are to insure that the current thirty year dogma remain intact.

We have a dire need to develop rapid detection methods for a serious growing health threat which has the ability to disable its victim as described in the attached letter addressed to the previous Director of the CDC. (Please see attachment in link)

I would like to point out that employees of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control hold patents on metabolomics (Lyme tests).

CDC Employee Patent: https://www.google.com/patents/EP2805168A1?cl=en

For nearly four decades now the only FDA approved test for Lyme disease is the indirect two-tiered antibody test. Direct detection methods to identify the causative agent responsible for the disease have been avoided, criticized and shelved.

After publishing the 2013 article ‘A simple method for the detection of live Borrelia spirochetes in human blood using classical microscopy techniques’, professor Laane was invited to give a lecture at the 2014 Norvect conference in Oslo. An English patient saved the pdf, so you can still read it, via the link provided.

I was present at that conference and still remember how nervous he was. The reason was that several medical professors complained to his university. He was threatened with losing his job, if he would speak at the conference.

In fact, he did not literally speak – as you can see in the movie below – but used performing arts to show the slides of the spirochetes. Professor Laane was fired anyway and his laboratory was closed down.

It must be understood that testing has and continues to be used by ‘the powers that be’ to control the narrative.  They can virtually create a ‘pandemic’ anytime they want, and conversely deny a true pandemic.  Regarding Lyme, the narrative has been and continues to be that it is a simple nuisance either causing an immune response or is simply cured with a few weeks of doxycycline monotherapy.  Nothing could be further from the truth and reality and science continue to show this, but is simply ignored.  Go here for the CDC playbook.  Once you understand their MO, everything else makes sense.

Category:

Lyme, research, Testing

COVID Shots: Pretty Much Bad News All Around: Definitive Proof They Are Causing Death

**UPDATE**

Please watch this insightful and informative 10 minute interview with Dr. Peter McCullough, cardiologist and author of the study below in which he delineates the data from autopsies performed on those who got the COVID shot showing definitive proof the shots are causing death.

https://thevaccinereaction.org/2023/07/meta-review-of-autopsies-finds-link-between-covid-shots-and-death/

Meta Review of Autopsies Finds Link Between COVID Shots and Death

by Barbara Cáceres

Published July 9, 2023

autopsy

An independent meta review of autopsies on people who died after COVID-19 vaccination, published as a preprint in The Lancet online on July 5, 2023, found that 74 percent of the deaths were causally related to the shots. The review included 44 published papers that contained 325 autopsy cases and one necropsy case. According to one of the study’s co-authors, cardiologist Peter McCullough, MD, MPH of the Wellness Company, the review is the “final retort” to, “you cannot prove the vaccine caused the death.”1

Other co-authors of the study include doctors from Alberta (Canada) Health Services, the University of Michigan School of Public Health, Yale University School of Public Health and the Wellness Company, as well as a former senior COVID pandemic advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).1

The most implicated organ system in COVID vaccine-associated death was the cardiovascular system (53 percent), followed by the hematological (blood) system (17 percent), the respiratory system (8 percent) and multiple organ systems (7 percent). The mean time from vaccination to death was 14.3 days, with most deaths occurring within a week from last administration of a shot.1

Most of the deaths occurred among individuals who received Pfizer/BioNTech’s Comirnaty COVID shot (41 percent), followed by Sinovac Biotech’s CoronaVac (37 percent), AstraZeneca/Oxford University’s Vaxzevria (13 percent), Moderna/NIAID’s Spikevax (7 percent), Johnson & Johnson/Janssen’s Ad26.COV2.S (1 percent) and Sinopharm’s BBIBP-CorV (1 percent).1

Call for Research to Explain Mechanisms of Deaths Occurring After COVID Shots

The study’s authors suggest there is a high likelihood of a causal link between COVID shots and the deaths that occurred soon afterward in most cases and that “further urgent investigation is required aimed at confirming our results and further elucidating the mechanisms underlying the described fatal outcomes with the goal of risk mitigation for the large numbers of individuals who have taken one or more COVID-19 vaccines.”1

More than 70 percent of the population of United States is considered to have been “fully vaccinated” for COVID. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the shots for anyone over six months old. The agency also recommends COVID shots for pregnant women.2 3

Dr. McCullough stated:

Going forward in response to sudden unexplained deaths reported in the press, it is reasonable to conclude the cause of death is a fatal covid-19 vaccine injury until proven otherwise. Proof the decedent is unvaccinated or an alternative diagnosis is now required for the vaccine to be exonerated. In the absence of this information, medical examiners, coroners, physicians, and government officials should attribute the death to COVID-19 vaccination.4

Sudden Removal of Study by The Lancet ‘Smacks of Raw Censorship’

The preprint of the study was removed from The Lancet less than 24 hours after it was published—prior to the initiation of an anticipated peer review. It was removed with the sole explanation that “the study’s conclusions are not supported by the study methodology.” Dr. McCullough said that the study was removed “after large volume download” from The Lancet’s preprint server.4

Will Jones of The Daily Sceptic wrote:

Without further detail from the Preprints with the Lancet staff who removed the paper it is hard to know what substance the claim that the conclusions are not supported by the methodology really has. A number of the authors of the paper are at the top of their fields so it is hard to imagine that the methodology of their review was really so poor that it warranted removal at initial screening rather than being subject to full critical appraisal. It smacks instead of raw censorship of a paper that failed to toe the official line.5 

Study Methodology is ‘Sound’

Clare Craig, BM, BCh, FRCPath, a diagnostic pathologist and co-chair of the HART (Health Advisory & Recovery Team) pandemic advisory group in the United Kingdom, noted:

It is important that attempts are made to quantify the risk of harm and censorship of these attempts, rather than open scientific critique, does nothing to help reassure people.

The VAERS system [of vaccine adverse event reporting] is designed to alert to potential harms without necessarily being the best way of measuring the extent of those harms. Quantifying the impact of deaths can be done by looking at overall mortality rates in a country, but that is an imperfect system with dubious accuracy.

The alternative approach of auditing deaths through autopsy is sound.5

References

1 Hulscher N, Alexander P et.al. A Systematic Review of Autopsy Findings in Deaths After Covid-19 Vaccination. (available at SSRN) July 5, 2023
2 What’s the nation’s progress on vaccinations? USAFacts.org May 10, 2023.
3 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. COVID-19 Vaccines for People Who Would Like to Have a Baby July 14, 2022.
4 McCullough P. COVID-19 Vaccine is the Culprit in Majority Found Dead after Injection. Substack July 5, 2023.
5 Jones W. Lancet Study on Covid Vaccine Autopsies Finds 74% Were Caused by Vaccine—Journal Removes Study Within 24 Hours. The Daily Sceptic July 6, 2023.

______________

**Comment**

The above article only corroborates the current VAERS tally, but ‘the powers that be’ simply don’t care.  Vaers only has about a 1% capture rate so the numbers are horrifically low:

Between Dec. 14, 2020 and June 30, 2023 the following were reported to VAERS:
  • 1,537,131 adverse events
  • 202,684 hospitalizations
  • 66,476 permanent disabilities
  • 37,592 life threatening reactions
  • 35,267 deaths
  • 1,264 birth defects
  • 4,739 fetal deaths
Adverse reactions and deaths after the COVID shots continue to mount.

Fauci, aka Dr. Evil, told the government to tell people not to do autopsies.  Now, finally, a pre-print is attempting to answer the question of why the “vaccinated” are dying within 15 days of COVID infection.  According to Dr. Denis Rancourt, the clot shots have caused the death of 13 million people globally which equates to 1 death for every 2,000 injections.  They are also producing “cancer without tumors,” due to the Spike Protein inducing the Warburg Effect in cells, causing them to overproduce proteins, “clogging” the cell, which in turn causes cancer.

https://thevaccinereaction.org/2023/07/one-in-three-pfizer-vaccine-shots-may-have-been-a-placebo/  Go Here for Video

One In Three Pfizer Vaccine Shots May Have Been A Placebo

by Kim Iversen

Published July 11, 2023

There’s new evidence that many of the batches of the Pfizer [COVID-19] vaccine administered to the public, up to the 30 percent, were placebos. And even worse, the evidence points to regulators knowing about it and willingly administering them. Now, either they were actively experimenting on the public or they were covering up for the fact that the vaccines came with numerous side effects.

Study Here:  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eci.13998

The study shows that a small percentage of injection batches are responsible for nearly 71% of adverse events.

Lead researcher Dr. Vibeke Manniche states,

“4.2% of the batches are associated with almost 71% of the reported side effects. You would usually expect that if the batches were the same quality…You would expect more or less the same amount of side effects…This is a huge difference between the batches…Why did something change along the way?”

The data only shows results from the Danish vaccine roll out but similar shifts in protocol occurred globally. Why was the vaccine required to be kept at extreme cold temperatures initially and then not? Then there’s the other nasty flies in the ointment of Green Monkey DNA, graphene, and many, many other toxic substances and contaminants, as well as known mRNA instability, which as it turns out probably saved lives.

This article by John Leake, who has vast experience as a crime investigator, details the evil logic of corrupting the process of quality-control by corrupting those at the Paul Ehrlich Institute in Germany since they are responsible for all testing of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID “vaccine.” The German BioNTech company appears to have a cozy, fraudulent relationship with the German government since Germany is a founding member of the EU.  In evidence of fraud, the institute knew in advance that it wasn’t necessary to perform quality-control tests on the 32.1% of the batches associated with nearly zero side effects.

_______________

As you read the following article, please remember that there are now nearly 100 studies proving the effectiveness of ivermectin for COVID, but ‘the powers that be’ continue to censor this information despite remarkable recoveries of the sickest patients.

The FDA makes sure to post a picture of a horse to push their idea that the drug is a only a “horse de-wormer,” when it is used regularly and safely for decades in humans in Africa for river blindness. Predictably, the parts of Africa using the drug regularly haven’t seen COVID cases, but all sanity and logic have disappeared in the COVID era.  The narrative of a magic-bullet COVID injection must be pushed at all costs despite being controlled by the DOD and described as “counter measures,” and ordered as “prototypes,” clearly proving this is NOT a vaccine.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/05/ivermectin-ban-ended-by-australian-regulator-amid-warning-it-should-not-be-used-as-covid-treatment

Ivermectin ban ended by Australian regulator amid warning it should not be used as Covid treatment

The TGA banned off-label prescriptions when floods of people sought out the drug in the mistaken belief it would treat Covid-19.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has ended a ban on off-label prescriptions of anti-parasitic drug ivermectin, nearly two years after floods of people attempted to procure the drug in the mistaken belief it would treat Covid-19.

The TGA announced on Wednesday it would remove the ban for off-label prescriptions of the drug from 1 June. Off-label prescriptions had been limited to specialists such as dermatologists, gastroenterologists and infectious disease specialists since September 2021.

The decision was made due to what the TGA said was “sufficient evidence that the safety risks to individuals and public health is low” in the “current health climate”.

The high rates of vaccination against Covid-19 in Australia and high hybrid immunity meant that use of the drug by people was “unlikely to now compromise public health” including the risk of potential shortages of the drug for its stated use for treating river blindness, threadworm of the intestines, and scabies.  (See link for article)

Category:

Activism, research, Treatment, vaccines, Viruses

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.
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  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.
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  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.
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  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.
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Category:

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

Young Adults Most At-Risk for Lyme Carditis

https://danielcameronmd.com/young-adults-most-at-risk-for-lyme-carditis/

YOUNG ADULTS MOST AT-RISK FOR LYME CARDITIS

young-adult-lyme-carditis

Cardiac involvement is a rare complication of Lyme disease. But it is estimated that up to 10% of patients in the U.S. with untreated Lyme disease go on to develop Lyme carditis, according to the authors of a recent study. And, young adults are most at-risk.

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Lyme carditis often presents with non-specific symptoms, such as lightheadedness, syncope, dyspnea, palpitations, and chest pain, the authors explain. While an estimated 30% of patients exhibit no symptoms.

The most common clinical manifestation “is AV block, which can be acute in onset and can rapidly progress to complete heart block,” writes Carnazzo.

In their article, “Lyme disease presenting as complete heart block in a young man: Case report and review of pathogenesis,” Carnazzo et al. discuss the case of a young man with complete heart block as a complication of Lyme disease, who presented with symptoms months after several tick bites.¹

Interestingly, young adults, particularly males, are most at-risk for developing Lyme carditis, the authors point out.

“Clinical suspicion for Lyme carditis should be high for young patients with unexplained high grade heart block, particularly in Lyme disease endemic areas.”

Their case report describes a 37-year-old man who lived in northwestern Wisconsin. He presented to the emergency department with two episodes of syncope without prodromal symptoms which had occurred over a 5-day period.

“During these days, he had increasingly frequent episodes of dizziness and near-syncope,” writes Carnazzo.

“He also reported fever, chills, muscle aches, and bilateral lower extremity erythematous rash that had developed 3 weeks earlier that had resolved by the time of presentation.”

Two months before his symptoms began, the patient had removed several ticks from his left thigh and groin.

“Lyme carditis can be difficult to recognize in cases where classic signs of Lyme disease are not obvious upon patient presentation and EM rash or tick bite difficult to recall.”

An electrocardiogram (ECG) revealed complete heart block, so a temporary pacemaker was inserted.

The man was diagnosed with Lyme carditis after he tested positive for B. burgdorferi on Western blot and treated successfully with IV ceftriaxone.

After 9 days, the heart block had completely resolved.

The authors conclude:

  • “It is important for clinicians to be familiar with the presentation and treatment of this infection that is now being observed in a wider geographic distribution so as to avoid serious long-term complications…”
  • “Timely diagnosis and treatment of heart block due to Lyme carditis can lead to immediate and life-saving temporary pacing during initiation of antibiotic therapy, while avoiding unnecessary permanent pacemaker placement.”
  • “Patients presenting with AV block should be asked about possible tick exposure, history of erythema migrans rash, recent travel to a high incidence Lyme disease area and other constitutional symptoms of Lyme disease like fever, fatigue, malaise, chills, muscle and joint pain.”
Related Articles:

Lyme carditis presents without typical Lyme disease symptoms

Successful removal of pacemakers for Lyme carditis

Lyme carditis causes complete heart block in 26-year-old man

References:
  1. Carnazzo MC, Scholin C, Shweta F, Calvin AD. Lyme disease presenting as complete heart block in a young man: Case report and review of pathogenesis. IDCases. 2023 May 12;32:e01799. doi: 10.1016/j.idcr.2023.e01799. PMID: 37234726; PMCID: PMC10205533.

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**Comment**

Take all percentages regarding Lyme/MSIDS with a grain of salt.  In fact, they should just stop giving them.  Since testing misses a vast majority of cases (studies have shown anywhere between 50-85% are missed), throwing percentages out is mere conjecture.  Most patients are initially mis or undiagnosed and that is a fact.  Therefore, there are probably far more cases of Lyme carditis that are not even attributed to tick-borne illness.

For more:

And now that more than 70% have been “fully vaccinated” for COVID, the plot thickens as the clot-shots are known to cause a multitude of heart and other organ problems.

Category:

Heart Issues, Lyme, research, vaccines

Case Report: Lyme Neuroborreliosis Triggers Multiple Strokes

https://danielcameronmd.com/lyme-neuroborreliosis-triggers-multiple-strokes/

CASE REPORT: LYME NEUROBORRELIOSIS TRIGGERS MULTIPLE STROKES

Lyme disease can trigger neurological complications. But neurovascular manifestations are far less common. In this case report, the authors describe a 58-year-old man who suffered multiple strokes due to Lyme neuroborreliosis.

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In their article, “A case report of unilateral cerebral vasculitis in adults: keep in mind Lyme neuroborreliosis,” Riescher and colleagues examine the case of a 58-year-old man “with recurrent strokes in the same vascular territory without CSF pleocytosis, reflecting an unusual first manifestation of [Lyme neuroborreliosis].”¹

The authors point out that cerebral vasculitis is reported in only 0.3–1% of all Lyme neuroborreliosis cases, and unilateral or focal vasculitis have only rarely been described, almost exclusively in children.

In this case report, the patient, who had no medical history or cardiovascular risk factors, was admitted to the hospital with sudden right brachiofacial weakness. According to the authors, “He recovered partially, but facial palsy persisted.”

He was referred to the stroke unit but a neurological and general examination was normal.

“Cervical and intracranial CT angiography did not show any abnormalities such as stenosis, occlusion, or dilatation,” the authors wrote.

The man was diagnosed with cryptogenic stroke and prescribed aspirin (160  mg), atorvastatin (80 mg), and perindopril at 2 mg daily.

Two months later, the man exhibited sudden aphasia.

“Burgdorferi-induced cerebral vasculitis is thought to be a very rare manifestation of [Lyme neuroborreliosis]. But it must nonetheless be considered in the differential diagnosis of unexplained recurrent and/or multiple strokes.”

“MRI revealed a new and recent ischemic lesion in the left MCA territory visible on DWI, and another older lesion in the anterior cerebral artery (ACA) territory,” the authors wrote.

The patient was prescribed an oral anticoagulant and a cardiac monitor was inserted.

Over the next several months, the patient developed new symptoms including paresthesia (tingling sensation) in the right hand and foot, headaches, extreme weakness and lack of energy, psychomotor retardation, and unsteadiness.

Thirteen months after his first symptom appeared, he developed paresis (muscle weakness) in his right leg.

“A brain MRI showed a new recent ischemic lesion in the left cingulate cortex on DWI in the left ACA territory as well as other new lesions in the left MCA territory (in the frontal lobe),” the authors wrote.

Additional neurological testing was normal. However, Lyme disease testing was “highly positive” on ELISA and confirmed by Western blot.

The man was successfully treated with a one-month course of doxycycline.

“The patient experienced no further stroke after four weeks of doxycycline treatment.”

“In the following weeks, the patient reported dramatic improvement, with disappearance of his asthenia, dizziness, and right arm paresthesia,” the authors wrote.

The patient later reported that he had a tick bite 2 years prior to his first stroke, along with an erythema migrans rash but he never developed arthritis or pain.

Authors Conclude:

  • “Our patient stood out because he had recurrent ischemic strokes for more than one year (at least four episodes), without other associated symptoms, involving the ICA territory only, and without CSF pleocytosis, which is thought to be highly suggestive of LNB.”
  • “Burgdorferi-induced cerebral vasculitis is thought to be a very rare manifestation of [Lyme neuroborreliosis]. But it must nonetheless be considered in the differential diagnosis of unexplained recurrent and/or multiple strokes.”
  • “This case report reminds clinicians that it can occur without a history of a clear tick bite or erythema migrans, and cranial or peripheral neuritis and that the CSF examination can be normal.”
References:
  1. Riescher, S., Dos Santos, A., Lecomte, R. et al. A case report of unilateral cerebral vasculitis in adults: keep in mind Lyme neuroborreliosis. BMC Infect Dis 23, 283 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-023-08259-z

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**Comment**

I’ve stated this before but it’s worth repeating: many Lyme/MSIDS patients improve by taking blood thinners or anti-coagulants like heparin, systemic enzymes, and things like serrapeptase, nattokinase & lumbrokinase which have a blood thinning effect.  Considering that many pathogens form biofilm, thinning and thereby cleaning the blood seems a logical step in helping treatment be more effective.

Category:

Lyme, research, Supplements, Testing, Treatment