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Posts tagged ‘Lyme disease’

Lymelife

The blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis), the ...

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That’s the title of a movie I just saw yesterday on Netflix. It’s basically a movie about 2 families who live in a town that’s been “terrorized” by Lyme disease. There is one character played by Timothy Hutton who has been experiencing chronic neurological problems. He says in the movie that he’s been diagnosed by doctors at different times with syphilis, Lyme disease and multiple sclerosis. Interesting, since Lyme disease is also called “the great imitator” (because it could mimic a lot of illnesses). Lyme disease has to be ruled out in cases such as chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, psychiatric illness and autoimmune diseases (such as rheumatoid arthritis), among other things. How is it acquired? It’s primarily caused by a tick bite. Other possible routes of transmission (according to researchers) may include blood transfusion and mosquito bites. It’s scary considering that quite a huge percentage of infected people don’t have the characteristic bull’s eye rash. So, these people go undiagnosed, only to manifest later in life with chronic, debilitating symptoms. How is it diagnosed? Ideally, according to ILADS (International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society), it has to be a clinical diagnosis. However, most doctors are still relying on the not very sensitive commercial tests available. People who are actually infected may have negative test results. What’s the usual treatment? A short course of antibiotics. According to Dr. Stricker, one of the prominent LLMDs (Lyme-literate medical doctors) challenging the IDSA (Infectious Disease Society of America) guidelines, a short-course of antibiotics is not sufficient t0 eradicate the bacteria. It has been mentioned that Lyme disease is a zoonotic infection and as such, are programmed to be chronic infections. Anyway, what’s happening in real life is much more interesting than what happens in the movie. My advise, watch it for entertainment purposes.

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Tired And Sick Of Being Tired and Sick?

A child sleeping.

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Fatigue is a very common complaint we see daily. It’s not something that should be taken lightly, however. Often, we’re told that it’s a normal part of the aging process. Not if you’re thinking that aging is a gradual and progressive degradation of parts and function. We do have a choice. We can age gracefully or we can age “badly,” for lack of a better word. If a person would like to age well, then they better take care of the basics such as good nutrition, adequate water intake, breathing properly, restful sleep, sensible exercise, stress reduction, detoxification, nutritional supplement intake (individualized) and hormone balancing (through diet and perhaps, the use of bioidentical hormones).
Anyway, back to the subject of fatigue. Fatigue (tiredness) is a vague, subjective symptom. It’s normal to get tired or fatigued at times. But, if it’s chronic and unrelenting, then it need to be addressed further. There are a lot of possible causes of chronic, persistent fatigue. I can enumerate a few here. These include nutritional deficiencies (lack of B vitamins, Coenzyme Q10, etc), heavy metal toxicity (lead, mercury, arsenic), hormonal imbalance (low thyroid, adrenals, growth hormone, low testosterone in men, estrogen/progesterone imbalance in women), poor detoxification mechanisms, anemia, heart/lung problems, pathogens (Lyme’s disease, chronic candidiasis), etc. It’s best to find out the cause/causes of fatigue rather than masking it with excessive caffeine intake (coffee) or using energy drinks (high in sugar).
Once pathologic causes of fatigue are ruled out, then someone may consider incorporating the following nutrients to improve energy levels. Coenzyme Q10 (or better yet, Ubiquinol), L-carnitine, B vitamins and D-ribose. Consult with your holistic healthcare practitioner however, before incorporating any of these into your health program.

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