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5209814 tn?1365169116

Return of babesia and/or lyme

From January 2011 through January 2013 I was treated for lyme, babesia & bartonella.  My last symptoms were in September 2012.  Over the past few days I've started having familiar symptoms of lyme and/or babesia (I need to find the symptom checklist to be more confident of which or both).

I had a very hard time with anaphalaxis from Tindamax, Ceftin, Bactrim, and Alinea, some but not as much with Flagyl.  Plaquenil caused an alarming amount hair loss.  And my regular doctor & I are still working hard to rebuild healthy bacteria.

If I am having a recurrence, I don't want to take the antibiotic route again.  I have too many drug allergies, and the damage to healthy bacteria is too great.

Any suggestions for natural, herbal, homeopathic doctors in the Washington, DC area? (I won't go back to NIHA)  Has anyone tried Healtone (in addition to other treatments)?


Regards,
~ rebecca
11 Responses
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Avatar universal
I don't recall jbbaby posting here for a while --

Have you seen a Lyme specialist?  
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Avatar universal
can you please tell me what you used to clear the spirochetes???  You said you used essential oils??  or hydrogen peroxide? I need help
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Avatar universal
In experienced hands, IV hydrogen peroxide will not cause bubbles in the bloodstream, allergic rxns (it's inside our body already), or the wikipedia quack watch information you posted.     Anytime you put in an IV, you can get vein phlebitis/irritation, which can last for a few days, sometimes longer.
    You should never take oral hydrogen peroxide, especially over the counter variety.    If you wanted to do an oral oxidant, then try MMS/chlorite dioxide.    But just like IV antibiotics, IV oxidation is more bioavailable and more effective.   It's really not alternative.  It was used back in the 1920s with H202 with numerous studies and case reports for polio, influenza, hepatic, and bacterial sepsis.     uvb and ozone, although also considered quack medicine too, have been extensively studies.   To this date, nobody has been able to afford to do a large enough double blind study using these on tick borne disease.   We don't have a pharmaceutical company involved, of course.    Dr H and possibly myself hope to some day,  if we can figure out further funding.
    IV H202 and other forms of oxidation (UVB and sometimes ozone) have very good success with lyme and confections.  Borrelia species and confections do not develop resistance to this, oxidation is able to penetrate biofilms, it does not cause dysbiosis or microbial die off in the gut, and/or lead to candidias.   In fact, in some countries, it is used for candida.
   It surely worked for me,  in only 2 months, when a year and a half of rotating antibiotics and herbals/diet/toxin elimination did not do enough to my persistent symptoms.  
  
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Avatar universal
Quotes below come from:

10/15/2008

"Hydrogen Peroxide: A Warning and a Dangerous Scam"  (Published and copyright by Johns Hopkins University Medical Center)

tinyurl . com / 4bgyot

"Taken intravenously, it can damage blood vessels at the site of injection, produce bubbles in the bloodstream, and lead to life-threatening allergic reactions.

"It's obvious that some people will try to sell anything to make a buck, but it's hard to believe that purchasers can be so gullible. It seems now that nothing short of an FDA warning will dissuade some consumers from ingesting lethal doses of hydrogen peroxide.

"For some time now I've been aware of Internet ads for pills containing oxygen and for bottles of high-strength hydrogen peroxide. I hadn't paid much attention because I thought it unlikely that anyone would be dumb enough to buy them. Apparently, though, enough people have bought high-strength hydrogen peroxide to prompt the FDA warning not to purchase or use these products.

"For many years low concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (3 percent) have been applied safely to the skin as an antiseptic and antibacterial agent.

"Now advertisers promote ingestion of 35 percent 'food grade' hydrogen peroxide products such as Oxywater and Oxylife as a therapeutic agent to fight cancer, AIDS, and other conditions, as well as to maintain optimal health. Some ads state, correctly, that '35 percent concentrated hydrogen peroxide is densely packed with oxygen molecules.'

"Unfortunately, those oxygen molecules do not get into the red blood cells that carry oxygen to body tissues. Rather, hydrogen peroxide leads to the formation of dangerous free radicals - which many of the same consumers, ironically, are probably trying to control by taking antioxidants like vitamin E.

...  "The FDA warning states that high-strength hydrogen peroxide products can cause serious harm or death when ingested. Ingestion can cause ulceration or irritation of the gastrointestinal tract. Taken intravenously, it can damage blood vessels at the site of injection, produce bubbles in the bloodstream, and lead to life-threatening allergic reactions...."

Just say no.
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Avatar universal
It does sound like your two year period of abx didn't fully address the needs of your whole body.  Perhaps trying another doc as Jackie suggested would be worthwhile. It's possible the antibiotics you took didn't work well because you had mold, toxic metal overload, and/or yeast.  All are believe to interfere with the effectiveness of antibiotics.  A LLMD who takes an integrative approach would address this.  A LLND would, too.  

While natural treatments can indeed help you feel better, no one believes they'll cure Lyme.  A big question is whether your goal is to just feel better, which will require indefinite, ongoing treatment, or whether you want to get well.  

You might consider the natural approach to improve your overwall wellness, and then try abx again when your body is in better shape to handle it. Some people's bodies handle long term abx badly, and you may well conclude that the ongoing natural approach is your best answer.  But don't just accept living at half capacity as "good enough" just because you have treatment fatigue.  (I have to keep reminding myself of this, 16 months in!)  Don't give up yet!  (My doc treats some patients up to 4 years. It can take a long time if you have multiple coinfections, other compounding problems, and a long term infection.)

Please research anything before proceeding with treatment. Consumption of hydrogen peroxide is widely discouraged, even by LLMDs.  There are quacks and sharlatans out there who do indeed make money by giving unusual, ongoing treatments to people.  They are usually highly enthusiastic about the treatments and very confident, which lulls the patient into trusting them, even when there is no research or evidence whatsoever that the treatment is useful or even safe.  

An unethical chiropractor who claims to see Lyme in the blood and will pronounce anyone "Lyme free" is clearly a quack who needs to be shut down before he harms someone. No one can declare anyone "Lyme free" as it's impossible to know if every bacteria in the body has been eradicated.
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1763947 tn?1334055319
FYI, I am from Northern, Va and saw Dr Z in Fairfax, Va. She does a combo of abx and natural supplements.
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5209814 tn?1365169116
Thanks!

My primary doctor (Dr R) does holistic medicine, the office is on her farm in Mt Airy (Gaia Healing Center), which is not far from Olney.  I love going out there, it's so peaceful.

I left a message for Dr R and when she calls bacl I'll ask about Dr Bloem.  The referrals I've received so far (on another bulletin board) have sent me back to NIHA and Dr B.  I'd recommend Dr B for anyone who can get the Eastern Shore easily enough, but I feel like I need a fresh approach this time.  NIHA I would recommend with caveats.

~ rebecca
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Avatar universal
Interesting!  Will be waiting to hear how it's going --
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4939681 tn?1361299299
I have a great holistic doc in Olney, MD near DC!  He is expensive ($450 for nearly 2 hr appt, still way less than what LLMD is going to charge me) but will write whatever you want to see if insurance will reimburse.  He wasn't enthusiastic about prescribing me doxy , but he did bc I asked.  He swears by Ozone treatment for Lyme and says that he has another Lyme patient who has greatly improved after a few treatments.  He was so convincing about Ozone, but I could barely afford my 2 hr session with him, so I didn't have the guts to ask how much the Ozone treatment would cost.  After a lot of research Ozone really seems to be one of the top alternative treatments.  So much so that my husband went ahead and bought a small at home water ozone generator.  I have had a glass of ozone water for the past 2 days and do feel refreshed.  Obviously, it's too soon to tell, but it's worth a shot!  Anyway, he has many other treatment ideas and is very easy to contact and always responds quickly.  The only downside is that he sees patients mainly out of his home office which weirds me out a little.  Still a great doc with a lot of knowledge.  His name is Dr. Bloem and the LLMD that I just set up an appt with thinks highly of him.
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Avatar universal
Sorry to hear you're not out of the woods yet.  

If you don't think your current doc's approach is working, then consider getting a second opinion from another LLMD.  The combination of various co-infections and each person's body chemistry and the particular infections is a dizzying problem to figure out, so sometimes the best a doc can do is not effective, and that calls for another approach.  Lyme is still a developing area of medicine, and it can take a few changes of personnel to get to the right place.

It's spring, and perhaps your infections are waking up from a long winter's nap -- they seem to be seasonal sometimes.  As others here have reported, the treatment is not always a straightforward cure because of the odd habits of the various bugs (like hiding from the immune system) and the effect of Lyme in particular (in suppressing the immune system).  Ricobord has written recently here about how it took some months of treatment before it became clear that she had a 'hidden' infection with another bug, so it definitely happens.

You say, "I have too many drug allergies, and the damage to healthy bacteria is too great."  If your current/past doc was not paying attention to these aspects, then maybe a new doc is in order, but I would not necessarily give up on mainstream medicine.  Herbal approaches may well work, and some are known as helpful, like Artemisia, which has been adopted into mainstream medicine by many docs.  Even my hardcore pro-antibiotics LLMD insisted on supplements to re-seed the digestive tract alongside the antibiotic treatment that was killing the infections I had (along with the healthy gut bacteria).  It is indeed something to keep in focus, and if your last doc didn't, it doesn't necessarily mean another doc would do the same -- and in fact should not.  Most docs are savvy to the issue.

I too was on a medication that made a lot of my hair fall out, but it all came back in very healthy and glossy after treatment was finished.  It was a passing thing, and well worth it to be well again.  My drivers license photo taken during treatment is a memento of that era:  my scalp shows through my hair!  And it all came back as strong as it was pre-Lyme.

Personally, I think herbs are a good thing, but that it's a better thing to also deploy modern medicine against Lyme and its co-infections.  Your previous doc may not have had a good grip on the side effects of treatment, and that's his/her blind spot, but I personally wouldn't give up on antibiotic treatment yet.  That's just me.  

Whatever you do, we wish you well.  Do stop in and let us know how you are doing, okay?
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Avatar universal
I posted this on a previous discussion, but thought it may be of some encouragement for you.
I don't know if I am one of the lucky ones or what, but let me tell you my experience thus far. My entire family was diagnosed with lyme mid last year. We were diagnosed by a chiropractor/natuepath. We started IV's and supplements. I began using food grade hydrogen peroxide simultaneously. After only 7 treatments I was pronounced lyme free, but the rest of my family (5 others) still had it. After several months, and some unethical actions by the practioner, we could no longer afford treatments. My wife had an associate who claimed her daughter had recently become lyme free from a much less expensive approach than we had been using. It is a particular regimen of essential oils.  We decided to go for it. Even though I had been pronounced lyme free, my wife included me in this. Lucky huh :). After a few months we had a blood analysis done again. The spirochetes that had been there were all gone in all of us.

An issue I found though is that the two different practitioners were calling different things lyme spirochetes. One of what the second practitioner was calling spirochetes was found in both me and my boy. My wife and daughers were clear of spirochetes. I had never seen anything like what the second person found. So, I am once again wondering what the spirochetes actually look like. My online research tells me it is what the 1st person found in our blood, but I have lost confidence in him due to unethical behavior. What I do know is that what he first diagnosed as spirochetes are gone. I am so grateful for my wife's friend helping us with this. I do realize that not all respond the same to treatments, but I would recommend it to anyone. .
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