Hi all, I subscribe to the Townsend Letters and this article from Scott Forsgren (betterhealthguy.com) is very interesting. I cut and paste the beginning of his article and if you want to read the rest you can click on the link at the bottom of this post (click view article to read it all) in pdf format:
Casting a Broad Net to Maximize Lyme Disease Recovery
After a tick bite in Northern California in 1996, I became mysteriously ill in early 1997 with a myriad of symptoms including full-body burning sensations, flu-like symptoms, cognitive issues, difficulty walking, balance issues, visual disturbances, gastrointestinal distress, muscle and joint pain, numbness and tingling, crawling sensations, air hunger, light sensitivity, anxiety, depression, OCD, and more.
Over the next eight years, I had seen 45 doctors and specialists of all kinds and still had no explanation for my failing health. In 2005, an MD referred me to an acupuncturist doing electrodermal screening (EAV/EDS) to explore food sensitivities. It was only then that I was told to have my doctor run tests for Borrelia, Bartonella, Babesia, and Ehrlichia. Fortunately, the doctor was able to confirm that these were in fact issues, and I was diagnosed with Lyme disease in July 2005.
My initial approach to recovery was to first "kill the bugs," then detoxify, and finally consider mental and emotional factors that may have contributed to what I was experiencing.
After having studied the work of Dietrich Klinghardt, MD, PhD, and the "Klinghardt Axiom," my understanding of the priorities for regaining wellness was turned on its head. Today, my belief is that exploring mental and emotional health is a top priority, followed by detoxification, and lastly supporting the body against microbial overgrowths. Nonetheless, all three of these must be explored and addressed simultaneously in order to make lasting progress. This axiom was one of the concepts that led me to consider broader models of healing early on.
In the realm of Lyme disease treatment, it is easy to fall into the belief that health would be restored if only the bugs could somehow be eradicated. The focus often entirely becomes eliminating the organisms involved in Lyme disease and its coinfections, particularly Borrelia, Bartonella, and Babesia. While these, no doubt, play a role in the struggles of those dealing with Lyme disease, they represent only a portion of the many factors that must be explored to regain optimal health. In my personal experience and that of many others, I have engaged with over the years, casting a broad net is often the best way to maximize Lyme disease recovery.
Casting a broad net may include the following:
• Reducing the impact of negative thought patterns and past emotional traumas and conflicts,
• Eliminating environmental mold and biotoxin exposures,
• Optimizing nutrition and improving GI health,
• Stabilizing mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS),
• Detoxifying the body and improving the terrain,
• Reducing exposure to EMR/EMFs,
• Supporting kryptopyrroluria (KPU),
• Addressing parasites,
• Supporting the body against other microbial overgrowths,
• Identifying dental contributors to chronic illness, and
• Rewiring limbic system impairment.
Reducing the Impact of Negative Thought Patterns and Past Emotional Traumas and Conflicts
Based on my personal experience and observation of people with Lyme disease over many years, there seems to be a common pattern where many are Type A (or Type A+) personalities, often perfectionists, and often not feeling deserving of or worthy of wellness. Very little with Lyme disease is black and white; and while this may not apply to everyone, it does seem to represent a pattern which may have been a contributor to setting the stage for health challenges in the first place.
Emotional traumas and conflicts do not necessarily have to be personally experienced; they may be inherited from our ancestors or even past lives (if one believes in this possibility). Further, if emotional contributors did not play a role prior to illness, the process of going through something as invalidating as one's Lyme experience often can itself create a PTSD-like condition, which could then benefit from work in this realm.
Family constellation therapy, applied psycho-neurobiology (APN), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), BodyTalk, the Emotion Code, EFT, and related techniques may be very helpful in exploring this realm.
I highly recommend the book How to Heal Yourself When No One Else Can: A Total Self-Healing Approach for Mind, Body, and Spirit by Amy B. Scher.
www.betterhealthguy.com/castingDenise