The Connection Between Lyme Disease & Mental Illness

May 5, 2023

https://holtorfmed.com/articles/the-connection-between-lyme-disease-and-mental-illness/?

The Connection Between Lyme Disease and Mental Illness

 
By Holtdorf Medical Group

May is both Lyme Disease Awareness Month and Mental Health Awareness Month. While the two may seem unrelated, there is actually a significant connection between the two. Lyme disease, a bacterial infection primarily transmitted through tick bites, can cause neurological and psychiatric symptoms, including anxiety, depression, and memory problems:

The History of Lyme Disease

Lyme disease was first identified as a separate illness in 1975, when a group of children in Lyme, Connecticut, began experiencing symptoms of what was initially thought to be juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Researchers eventually linked the symptoms to a tick bite and identified the bacterium responsible for the illness, which they named Borrelia burgdorferi.

However, it’s now known that Lyme disease has likely been around for much longer than this. In fact, there are historical reports of illnesses that may have been caused by Lyme disease dating back hundreds of years. For example, there are reports of a condition known as “erythema migrans” that dates back to the 1800s and is thought to have been caused by the same bacterium that causes Lyme disease.

Over the years, researchers have learned more about Lyme disease and how it’s transmitted. They’ve also identified other species of ticks that can transmit the bacterium, including the black-legged tick and the western black-legged tick. Known as the “Silent Epidemic,” there are approximately 30,000 cases of Lyme disease reported by the Center of Disease Control (CDC) annually. However, the CDC also notes that around 476,000 people are treated for Lyme each year, according to insurance claims.

What is Lyme Disease?

Lyme disease can affect any organ or system in the body, including the immune system, brain, nervous system, heart, and gut. In the U.S., most cases of Lyme disease are caused by a corkscrew-shaped spirochete called Borrelia burgdorferi. This organism has a unique way of evading the human immune system, starting as early as the tick bite, and has learned to survive in the human body even when aggressive treatment attacks are mounted against it.

Upon infection, some patients may develop a “bull’s eye” rash, a circular red rash centered around the bite that is also referred to as erythema migrans (EM). Anyone who experiences this symptom should seek medical attention immediately in order to receive a full course of antibiotics. Antibiotics are critical immediately after infection as they can prevent chronic Lyme from developing (this will be explained below). However, at least 30% of people exposed to Lyme disease do not develop this rash, which means many may become infected and not even know it.

Once the Borrelia bacteria has entered the body, this spirochete is able to hide itself from the body’s immune system while wreaking havoc on bodily systems as it attacks tissues and later triggers an inflammatory response. In this way, although a chronic infection, Lyme disease mirrors many autoimmune conditions because not only is the spirochete bacteria attacking the body, the body is also triggered to attack itself.

The Link Between Lyme Disease and Mental Health

Research has shown that Lyme disease can cause neurological and psychiatric symptoms. The spirochetes can damage nerve cells, disrupt the balance of chemicals in the brain, and trigger inflammation. Additionally, studies  show inflammation to the hippocampus (which is critical for learning and memory) caused by an infection or chronic stress can negatively impact the brain systems associated with motivation and mental agility.

Psychiatric symptoms can occur during the acute phase of the disease, as well as during the later stages of the disease. Some of the most common neurological symptoms of Lyme disease include:

  • Headaches
  • Dizziness
  • Fatigue
  • Confusion
  • Memory problems

Psychiatric symptoms of Lyme disease can include:

  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Irritability
  • Mood swings
  • Panic attacks

In some cases, these symptoms can persist even after treatment for Lyme disease. This is known as post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS) or chronic Lyme disease. While the exact cause of PTLDS is not known, it is thought to be related to an ongoing immune system response to the bacterium that causes Lyme disease.

The condition known as neurological Lyme, or neuroborreliosis, occurs in about 15% of untreated patients. The condition can affect both the central and peripheral nervous systems. Potential symptoms include aseptic meningitis and facial palsy.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Lyme Disease

Diagnosing Lyme disease can be challenging, as the symptoms can mimic those of other illnesses. Blood tests can be used to detect antibodies to the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, but these tests are not always reliable, particularly during the early stages of the disease. It’s important to seek medical attention if you suspect you may have Lyme disease, as early treatment is crucial for preventing long-term complications.

Early treatment for Lyme disease typically involves antibiotics. In general, the earlier the disease is treated, the better the outcome. Ozone therapy is also a great potential anti-viral and bacterial treatment that may help stimulate immune defenses to prevent chronic Lyme developing (Ozone is commonly integrated into chronic Lyme treatment due to its promising results).

Although there are so many cases of chronic Lyme in the United States alone, because Lyme disease mirrors other inflammatory conditions, many Lyme patients remain un or misdiagnosed. It is important to note that standard blood tests for Lyme disease are often inaccurate, especially when testing occurs soon after transmission. This is in part because the guidelines around a “positive test” are hard to solidify. The CDC identifies a positive Lyme diagnosis as at least five out of ten total markers from a standard blood test. This means that someone could be exhibiting the three most common markers and still not be diagnosed with Lyme.

Prevention of Lyme Disease

The best way to prevent Lyme disease is to take steps to avoid tick bites. This can include:

  • Wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants when spending time outdoors, especially in wooded or grassy areas.
  • Using insect repellent that contains DEET, picaridin, or IR3535 on exposed skin.
  • Checking yourself and your pets for ticks after spending time outdoors.
  • Showering within two hours of spending time outdoors to wash off any ticks that may be on your skin.
  • Keeping your yard free of leaf litter, tall grass, and brush, which can attract ticks.
  • Proactive ozone therapy for potential immunomodulating benefits

Conclusion

Lyme disease is a serious illness that can have significant effects on both physical and mental health. It’s important to be aware of the symptoms of Lyme disease and to seek medical attention if you suspect you may have the disease. By taking steps to prevent tick bites, you can reduce your risk of contracting Lyme disease and protect your overall health.

If you are experiencing mental health symptoms related to Lyme disease, contact our team of experienced integrative medical providers who can empower you to restore your sense of health.

For more:

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Psychological Aspects

Comments Off on The Connection Between Lyme Disease & Mental Illness

‘I Know, Without a Doubt, That I Have Lyme’

https://www.thesudburystar.com/news/local-news/i-know-without-a-doubt-that-i-have-lyme

‘I know, without a doubt, that I have Lyme’

However, doctors in Ontario have not diagnosed her with the disease, so Sudbury woman can’t get treatment
Jim Moodie
Published Aug 21, 2020
Sharon Rines, of Sudbury, Ont., said she has been diagnosed with Lyme Disease.
Sharon Rines, of Sudbury, Ont., said she has been diagnosed with Lyme Disease. John Lappa/Sudbury Star
“Whoever thought taking a shower could be so hard?” she said. “I even have trouble brushing my teeth.”The 60-year-old Flour Mill resident has lost most of her muscle mass and dropped nearly half her weight. 

“I’m scared because I’m 97 pounds, if that, where I used to be 170,” she said. “I look like a skeleton and I’m in bed a lot. I can’t go out of my house now because I can’t even lift my legs off the couch.”

Rines is certain she has Lyme disease, even if doctors in this province haven’t so far agreed.

“I got tested three times in Ontario, but it was negative each time,” she said. “And they won’t recognize Lyme here unless you are diagnosed with it.”

That means Rines has not been prescribed any treatment — antibiotics are the usual way to combat Lyme if the disease is caught early, although their effectiveness later is questionable — and will not be covered by public health insurance for any care she seeks out on her own.
“I’m fighting for my life, and can’t get help to get me on the right path,” she said. “I live on a pension so financially it’s hard.”
(See link for article)

______________

**Comment**

Current testing for Lyme is abysmal and many are seronegative.  This is fact, plain and simple.

Since testing is atrocious you would think that by now there would be more emphasis on symptomology and the need for doctor education, but this isn’t happening because it’s a politicalized disease like COVID.  Patients are the ones who suffer the most.

Your best bet for proper diagnosis and successful treatment is STILL getting to a Lyme literate doctor.

Category:

Activism, Lyme

Comments Off on ‘I Know, Without a Doubt, That I Have Lyme’

Get Ready For a Big Marburg Scare, PSYOP 23

May 4, 2023

https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/get-ready-for-a-big-marburg-scare

Get Ready For a Big Marburg Scare

Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex propagandists activated following reports from Equatorial Guinea & Tanzania.

MAY 2, 2023

By JOHN LEAKE

On April 6, 2023, the CDC issued a report “to increase awareness of the risk of imported cases in the United States” following Marburg Virus Disease Outbreaks in Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania.

“This is a problem – this unprecedented outbreak of the Marburg virus in two different countries,” said Paul Hunter, an epidemiologist at the University of East Anglia.

“There has been an acceleration in the number of Marburg virus outbreaks over recent years,” added Cesar Munoz-Fontela, a specialist in tropical infectious diseases at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg.

(See link for article)

_________________

https://www.2ndsmartestguyintheworld.com/p/psyop-23-seeding-marburg-virus

PSYOP-23: Seeding Marburg Virus As The Next Global “Pandemic”

2ND SMARTEST GUY IN THE WORLD
FEB 15, 2023

The Mockingbird MSM outlets have just been tapped on their proverbial shoulders to ramp up the “pandemic” outbreak fear mongering.

This substack has previously covered potential virus outbreak narratives ranging from Monkeypox to Ebola to Marburg:  https://www.2ndsmartestguyintheworld.com/p/lawyer-todd-callender-believes-that

With all of the various other psyops currently in play, and the growing backlash to all things DEATHVAX™ and the burgeoning rallying call of #DiedSuddenly, the usual One World Government nodes like the WHO, WEF, UN, et al. had placed the “pandemic” narrative on the back burner on simmer; that is, until fairly recently.

Marburg was originally detected in Equatorial Guinea after health authorities were notified of a patient with hemorrhagic symptoms back on Feb 7th.

Since that time, Marburg has been confirmed in the country where 9 have died, 27 are in ICU with hemorrhagic fever symptoms and 274 others are in quarantine and being tested.

The virus has “officially” spread to Cameroon where two cases have so far been confirmed by lab results from Feb 13th.  The two had no travel history to or from neighboring Equatorial Guinea.  42 people who came in contact with the two individuals are undergoing contact tracing.

Now it has “possibly” spread to Gabon as well where 5 possible cases are being investigated as lab results are still pending.  And 3 individuals in the Republic of Congo who recently visited Equatorial Guinea have expressed symptoms and are being investigated as lab tests are pending.

Marburg is HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS and death rates range from 24 to 88 percent depending on the care and treatment options available.   (See link for article)

________________

SUMMARY:

  • According to the WHO, at least nine have died.
  • According to the CDC, Marburg is a viral hemorrhagic fever.
  • It is from an animal-borne RNA virus believed to have been transmitted from African fruit bats.
  • It is highly contagious with a high mortality rate (24-88%) according to the WHO.
  • It is spread by direct contact with bodily fluids or infected surfaces.  It is NOT airborne and has been mostly confined to Africa.
  • Symptoms include: high fever, severe headache, chills, malaise, muscle aches/cramps, jaundice, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. A rash can appear on the chest, back or stomach 5 days after symptoms start.
  • While highly contagious, it is very rare.
  • With COVID waning, MSM may be about to go full fear-mode.
  • Do NOT comply.

Lyme/MSIDS patients live daily with a litany of similar and even worse symptoms but nobody cares.  Funny how the Eye of Mordor only sees what it wants to see.  Nobody lifted an eyebrow over the following:

Category:

Activism, Viruses

Comments Off on Get Ready For a Big Marburg Scare, PSYOP 23

Patients Can’t Force Hospitals to Administer Ivermectin for COVID, Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/wisconsin-supreme-court-hospitals-ivermectin-covid

Patients Can’t Force Hospitals to Administer Ivermectin for COVID, Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules

The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s Tuesday decision upheld a 2022 appeals court decision against Allen Gahl, who sued Aurora Health Care in October 2021, when doctors refused to use ivermectin to treat his uncle, John Zingsheim, for COVID-19.

wisconsin supreme court ivermectin feature

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled in a 6-1 decision that a hospital cannot be compelled by the courts to administer ivermectin to patients to treat COVID-19.

The decision upheld a 2022 appeals court decision against Allen Gahl, who sued Aurora Health Care in October 2021, when doctors refused to use ivermectin to treat his uncle, John Zingsheim, for COVID-19.

The appeals court ruled there was no legal basis by which a patient could compel a healthcare provider to administer a particular treatment or to credential an outside provider to do so.

Kim Mack Rosenberg, acting chief counsel for Children’s Health Defense told The Defender the narrow ruling has no bearing on the broader issues around ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19.

“The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision is concerning but ultimately should be treated as the narrow ruling it is,” she said, adding:

“While replete with criticisms of ivermectin, the Supreme Court’s opinion did not ultimately rule on the efficacy or appropriateness of administering ivermectin to this patient.”

Ivermectin is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is typically used to treat parasitic diseases. It is “extremely safe for use in humans,” and has general antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties.

Ivermectin has for decades been administered to hundreds of millions of people across the world, with very few side effects.

During the pandemic, doctors working on the front lines and 93 controlled trials — 73 of them peer-reviewed and 43 of them randomized controlled trials — showed the safe and effective use of ivermectin in treating COVID-19, according to internist and critical care physician Dr. Pierre Kory.

But the press, public health officials and regulatory agencies consistently denigrated the low-cost, generic ivermectin as a “horse dewormer” — even in reports about this ruling, stoking fear around its use. They also prevented people from accessing the drug.

Kory told The Defender he thought the details of this particular case are not the major issue in the Gahl v. Aurora ruling. Instead, he pointed to the broader problem of “the underlying systemic corruption around repurposed drugs” like ivermectin.

He said:

“I see it in a much broader picture, which is that ivermectin was attacked by a global disinformation campaign executed by the pharmaceutical industry.

“They’ve been doing this for years to other drugs, and this drug threatened a worldwide market for vaccines and other antivirals in a market that’s worth over $100 billion.

“So it [ivermectin] was a grave threat and they pulled out every disinformation tactic possible.”

The industry and the press instead favored treatment with drugs such as Gilead’s remdesivir (brand name Trodelvy), which failed to demonstrate efficacy in clinical trials and has been shown to cause organ damage, and Paxlovid, which is associated with rebound infections.

Gilead made $5.6 billion in revenue in 2021, and $6.9 billion in 2022 from remdesivir. Paxlovid, launched in December 2021, produced $18.9 billion in profits for Pfizer in 2022.

The “disinformation campaign” against ivermectin creates cases like Zingsheim’s, Kory said. “Everything is unfortunate because none of it is based in fact.”

Kory added:

“So these doctors that refuse to give it, it’s because they’ve been misled to think that ivermectin is not effective.

“The judges who don’t want to mandate a dying patient to get it, it’s because they’re not aware that it’s effective …

“This is a direct result of the corruption of science.”

Dr. Paul E. Marik, founding member of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC) and former chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School, told The Defender that the battle for access to effective treatment needs to be waged at the legislative level.

He said:

“The court’s decision this week is greatly disappointing. It is unfortunate that the case was needed in the first place, as there was no medical reason for the hospital to deny Mr. Zingsheim access to ivermectin.

“The law needs to change. Denying access to treatment should not be protected by the law.

“I am not sure the laws will change through suing hospitals. More states should follow the example of the Ohio State Legislature that is considering a bill that will protect patients’ access to repurposed medications like ivermectin.”

Patients in critical condition ‘should have access to all possible treatments’

In October 2021, Zingsheim was admitted to a hospital in the Aurora Health Care system in Wisconsin due to complications from COVID-19. He was placed on a treatment protocol that included a steroid, baricitinib and Solu-Medrol.

He declined remdesivir, according to appeals court documents.

He was eventually intubated and placed on a ventilator.

Gahl, who had power of attorney on behalf of his uncle, demanded Zingsheim be taken off the hospital’s medication protocol and requested he be treated with ivermectin.

The hospital refused.

Gahl obtained a prescription for ivermectin for his uncle from a Wisconsin physician not associated with the Aurora Health Care system.

Aurora doctors refused to administer the ivermectin, saying that it would be “below the standard of care” for COVID-19 patients, the appeals court opinion states.

Gahl sued the hospital in the Waukesha County Circuit Courts, which ultimately ordered the hospital to grant emergency privileges to an outside physician to administer the ivermectin treatment.

The hospital appealed the court’s decision to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals District II, which reversed the lower court’s ruling, ruling the lower court did not have the authority to compel the hospital to allow the use of ivermectin.

Gahl’s attorneys then submitted an emergency petition to bypass the Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court denied the petition on October 25, 2021.

Zingsheim later was secretly administered ivermectin. He eventually recovered.

The Amos Center for Justice & Liberty, which represented Gahl, filed a petition for a review of the Supreme Court decision, which the Wisconsin Supreme Court granted in September.

Rosenberg told The Defender the lower court’s order didn’t actually compel the hospital to administer ivermectin. She said:

“The lower court’s [Circuit Court’s] order merely created a process by which a doctor could come into the facility to administer the potentially life-saving treatment to an extremely ill patient.

“In finding that the lower court’s injunction was not properly supported, the Supreme Court narrowly held that the lower court did not adequately analyze whether the plaintiff (the nephew of the patient) had demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of his claims, which is one of the required elements to support injunctive relief.”

The FLCCC and the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons submitted amicus briefs to the Supreme Court in support of the plaintiff’s arguments.

Commenting on the case and their amicus brief on the FLCCC website, Marik said:

“The FLCCC filed this brief to support Mr. Gahl’s case as we believe that patients, especially those in critical condition, should have access to all possible treatments.

“There was no medical reason for the hospital to deny Mr. Zingsheim access to ivermectin.”

The AAPS similarly told the court:

“AAPS has a strong interest in ensuring that patients have timely access to the medications they need, as prescribed by physicians, without interference by hospitals or any other corporate entity.”

The American Medical Association filed a brief asking the court to uphold the hospital’s ability to obstruct a patient’s access to such care, claiming that there is “no credible evidence that ivermectin effectively treats COVID-19, and ample evidence it does not.”

Kory said a major part of the problem is that doctors are misinformed by such institutions. “They [doctors] really believe what they’re told and what they read,” he said. “They trust in those journals and they trust in their agencies.”

He added:

“The physicians were, I would say, manipulated, by manipulating the evidence based around ivermectin, which leaves these doctors thinking it doesn’t work.

“And they believe the media, they believe the propaganda and they believe the journals.

“A well-known fact said by other experts that have studied science, is that the average doctor has no idea how captured those journals are. They have a little idea of how corrupted the science is in high-impact medical journals.

“And to me, that’s kind of the big thought in this case: in a sea of censorship and propaganda people are gonna do strange things and people are gonna get hurt.”

Kory said there were six trials published in high-impact medical journals that found ivermectin didn’t work. They were done, he said by “heavily pharmaceutical industry-conflicted investigators,” yet they are the only ones that get media attention, while the rest of the nearly 90 trials that found it worked are ignored.

He also pointed out that every media article makes the same false claims — that all the evidence supporting ivermectin is from low-quality, small trials or fraudulent trials and that the National Institutes of Health and FDA have not approved it for COVID-19.

“You see the control that the journals and the agencies have over what we use. And when they capture the journals and capture the agencies, you’re gonna get guidance that serves the pharmaceutical industry.”

Wisconsin one of dozens of similar cases

The Wisconsin lawsuit is one of dozens that have been filed across the country seeking to compel hospitals to administer ivermectin for COVID-19, many in 2021.

In one lawsuit filed in June of last year, Drs. Robert L. Apter, Mary Talley Bowden and Marik sued the FDA for launching what they alleged was a “crusade” against ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 that “unlawfully interfered” with the doctors’ ability to practice medicine.

They argued the FDA acted outside of its authority by directing the public, including health professionals and patients, to not use ivermectin — even though the drug is fully approved by the FDA for human use, The Defender reported.

In December, a federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas dismissed the case, ruling that the government had “sovereign immunity” and can only be sued with its consent.

The doctors plan to appeal.

In many of the cases, the families obtained prescriptions for ivermectin, but hospitals refused to administer it to their loved ones, who were often on ventilators and facing death.

Kory made a final point:

“When someone is dying on a ventilator, the risk-benefits of medicines changes because they’re dying on a ventilator.

“So to try something that potentially might help — and almost all the studies, even the corrupted studies all showed benefits, they just weren’t statistically significant — it was just a shame they weren’t willing to try a medicine that had benefits, even if maybe not proven to the extent that they wanted.

“But none of the studies showed any adverse outcomes with ivermectin.”

This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.

For more:

Category:

Activism, Treatment, Viruses

Comments Off on Patients Can’t Force Hospitals to Administer Ivermectin for COVID, Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules

How Lyme, Mast Cell, and MCS Are Related

https://rawlsmd.com/health-articles/how-are-lyme-mast-cell-and-multiple-chemical-sensitivities-related

How Are Lyme, Mast Cell, and Multiple Chemical Sensitivities Related? | RawlsMD

How Are Lyme, Mast Cell, and Multiple Chemical Sensitivities Related?

by Dr. Bill Rawls
Posted 3/15/23

Cellular stress and disruptions of immune system functions are chief instigators of overlapping conditions like mast cell activation syndrome and chemical sensitivities. Here’s how they’re all related to Lyme disease. Read more about cellular stress and immune system dysfunction here.

Video Transcript

Question: How are Lyme, mast cell, and multiple chemical sensitivities related?

Jenny Buttaccio: Anna asks, what are your thoughts about Lyme accompanied with severe multiple chemical sensitivities and mast cell activation?

Dr. Rawls: Yeah, you know, that’s what we do in conventional medicine is we divide it up into diagnoses and compartmentalize everything. And to me, chronic illness is just all a variation on the same thing.

It’s all related to distressed cells in the body. It all has an underlying microbe component. What chronic illness is, is reactivation of microbes. We have different illnesses because we get different microbes, and they affect different cells in the body. So that causes a variety of different illnesses because there are thousands of microbes and hundreds of different cell types, different combinations, different diseases.

So when you look at how these reactivated, or ongoing infections with microbes, affect the immune system, you know, it’s a battle, it’s a tug-of-war. So the immune system is trying to do its best to eradicate this really out of control situation. So it’s suppressing the microbes, but the microbes are actually infecting white blood cells and manipulating the cytokines, the chemical messengers coming from those cells to manipulate the immune system.

And they do it in different ways. So it depends on what type of white blood cell they’ve infected, what type of microbe is active. Viruses do this, bacteria do this, protozoa do this. So we know this is happening. So what they’re doing is manipulating the immune system to reduce the sensitivity or the ability of the immune system to take out microbes in cells that have been infected with microbes to shift it toward doing other things, like being hypoallergenic, like mast cell activation syndrome or other kinds of things.

So it’s this total disruption of immune system functions that causes it to be under-activated in some ways and over-activated in other ways. So it’s part and parcel. Now, because everybody gets different microbes. We have different genes, different cells are affected and different parts of the immune system are affected. It can happen in different ways, in different people. Fundamentally, it’s all the same stuff, though.

Dr. Rawls is a physician who overcame Lyme disease through natural herbal therapy. You can learn more about Lyme disease in Dr. Rawls’ new best selling book, Unlocking Lyme.
You can also learn about Dr. Rawls’ personal journey in overcoming Lyme disease and fibromyalgia in his popular blog post, My Chronic Lyme Journey.  Learn About Dr. Rawls’ Holistic Herbal Protocol »

For more:

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)

Comments Off on How Lyme, Mast Cell, and MCS Are Related