Before moving on to other blog topics (like what it’s like to try and find your sunglasses after 6 weeks) I want to pick up where I left off before the holiday weekend, and touch on a few of the aspects of Lyme that make it challenging to treat. These are complcating factors that many doctors do not address; they give their Lyme patients rounds of antibiotics, and the patients don’t get better. Here’s what more doctors need to consider:

Neurotoxins: Lyme spirochetes can produce toxins that stay in the neurological system, causing chronic Lyme symptoms even after the disease is succcessfully treated. Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker outlines the diagnosis and treatment of these toxins on his website, www.biotoxins.info . In addition to these protocols, I help my patients detoxify by prescribing an algea called chlorella, as well as through the use of Far Infrared Saunas (FIRS). These saunas are portable, reasonably priced, and highly-effective at getting my patients to sweat – which is, of course, an excellent way to rid the body of toxins.

Co-infections: Deer ticks have become synonomous with Lyme Disease; but they can carry many other diseases that are passed along through the same bite that transfers the Lyme spirochete. Babesia, Bartonella, and Ehrlichea are the diseases I test for most commonly in my Lyme patients. Any positive result necessitates a tweaking of the antibiotics prescribed, particularly in the case of Babesia. Mycroplasma fermentans is another infection carried by deer ticks and frequently missed in diagnosis. Dr. Garth Nicholson of the Institute for Molecular Medicine has done very good work on these infections; you can read more on his website, www.immed.org .

Biofilm: you know that slimy feeling on your teeth when you wake up? That’s biofilm – a sticky matrix that bacteria form to protect and harbor them. The Lyme spirochete is a notorious former of biofilm (another reason why it’s tricky to eradicate). I will therefore often give patients proteolytic enzymes like Serraflazym and InflammaQuell, or EDTA suppositories, to help disrupt the biofilm and render antibiotic treatment more effective.

Enough, for now, of blogging about Lyme … but I’ll remain in the trenches, with many more Lyme Clinics scheduled over the next several months. I could double that amount and still do more.