A few detox questions

All very good questions!!!

I can tell you that I did nothing but detoxing and balancing the organs & systems of the body for 6 months before I ever started any treatments and I believe that was key to my healing so well and so quickly. This allowed me to get the detox pathways open and working as well as they were going to before I started creating even more toxins by killing the bacteria. So I would encourage you to start right away.

With that being said, you will still want to move cautiously and slowly. Don't try to use the detoxing soaks daily, and don't stay in the water for more than 10 minutes the first couple of times you use it. That way you will know how your body will react without putting yourself in bed or on the couch the whole next day! You can release so many toxins by adding in too many detoxing methods or doing them too often and really make yourself ill.

When I first started detoxing, I ended up with a 3 day migraine every time I did anything to detox. It took a while for me to get past that reaction. So be cautious until you know how your body will react.

For starters, begin with only one full bath detox (in the tub) a week, again, until you know how your body will respond. You can build up to 2 - 3 per week. You can build up to a couple of foot soaks a day, but that first week of doing these, I would suggest that you do the full bath detox, then wait for 2 days before even using the foot detox soak. This is the only kind of "rest period" that you will need from detoxing.

You should continue to detox the whole time you are in treatment - and to be honest, you'll likely find yourself doing them after you finish your treatment as well since you will be learning what an overload of toxins feels like. We collect toxins from everywhere - the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food that we eat, the products that we put on our skin (antiperspirants/deodorants, soaps, lotions).

You likely won't really feel much difference right away, but with a bit of time, you will begin to see a decline in the severity of your symptoms and then in the amount of your symptoms. When you start treatment, it's quite possible that your symptoms will increase in severity and/or in number again - as you will be dumping more toxins from the dying bacteria into your system again - but that should be able to be brought under control once again with plenty of detoxing.

Many people find they feel better after showering once they have done the detoxing soak. Be sure to watch for your skin drying out. If this does happen, be sure to use something that won't put a bunch of toxins back into your system - natural oils - like coconut oil - are really good choices - but everyone has their favorite. If you use coconut or any natural oil, remember just a little bit goes a really long way!!!

Most of the ingredients in the baths are pretty safe - although if you are taking heavy duty meds like warfarin or something, then you will want to check each and every ingredient out carefully. My husband is on warfarin and he can't use ginger -among many other things -but once in a while as it increases the blood thinning that the warfarin does!

Unfortunately, there are still many doc's that don't understand how important it is to detox, even some Holistic docs don't understand this yet! But with a bit of research, anyone can see that it really is important. And as for those fighting these infections? Just take a look at those posts from people who haven't been detoxing and then the posts after they start detoxing to see how much is usually helps.

And if the doc is disputing the amount of toxins in our environment and whether or not it poses a threat to our health, there's always this:
www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-93/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-93.htm

"Despite American industry's extensive use of pollution control
technology, millions of tons of toxic chemical waste continue to be released into the environment each year, posing risks to the environment and to the health of workers, consumers, and the public. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in 1992 the manufacture or use of about 320 chemicals that are monitored by the agency generated over 37 billion pounds of toxic waste, and about 3.2 billion pounds were released into the environment.

(*I added the bold to the letters)

cppoly,

Since I'm going to assume that you are seeing the LLMD that I gave you a referral to, I can tell you that he doesn't have a problem with detoxing at all. I had already started an herbal treatment plan with my ND, and he was pleased with it, he just added the prescription antibiotics and he suggested Burbur detox drops along with the detox baths. He is so very compassionate with his Lyme patients, it's almost unreal. I have an open invite to call his office regarding herxing, detox, new symptoms or whatever I need to discuss or have questions with.

I would definitely start detoxing before seeing him. Traveler is right, it might make you feel a bit worse at first, so go slow, but it's worth it. I was really bad about it at first, but I now realize the importance of it.

Good luck, and I can't wait to hear how your first appointment goes.

As far as the ginger is concerned - fresh is better, but powdered works too. Just remember, fresher ingredients are always best.

I too am quite happy to hear that you will be seeing a LLMD that not only understands the need for things like detoxing, but supports his patients that are doing so!!

Congrats to both of you!