Integrative Health Blog

Lyme Disease, Epstein Barr Virus and the Immune System

Posted by on Mon, Feb 18, 2019

Throughout my years in practice, I have developed a method of eliciting a positive Lyme Disease diagnosis from a typically negative western blot in those I feel fit the picture of a Lyme sufferer.

These symptoms can include but are not limited to fatigue, joint pain, memory weakness, irritability, alopecia (hair loss), cognitive impairment, muscle weakness, anxiety, night sweats, neurological issues, sudden onset of allergies, depression, stomach pain, hormonal imbalance, tics and tremors, fevers, and the list goes on. These symptoms may be stand-alone issues but often overlap with many other disease states including co-infections of Lyme Disease.

I have countless patients who have come into the office with seemingly benign issues like alopecia or eczema and despite conventional interventions, they continue to struggle.

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Tags: allergies, lyme disease, EBV, Epstein Barr

Tick Tock...Lyme Disease Season Is Here

Posted by on Sat, Apr 22, 2017

Some information bears repeating. 

It is finally summer and time to get outside and hike, bike, and garden.  As more of us venture outside wearing warm weather clothing and exposing more skins, ticks see a smorgasbord.  

Armed with the knowledge that the Lyme Disease spirochete  and some other bacteria and viruses carried by ticks are persisters (meaning they hang out long after treatment), the diseases are often chronic with episodes of relapse and remission through life and may lead to other problems. You can deduce that prevention of Lyme Disease is key. 

Lyme Disease and Tick Bite Prevention 

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Tags: lyme disease

Mild Winter Leads to Both Early Tick and Allergy Season

Posted by on Tue, Mar 14, 2017

Adult stage deer ticks are the primary vectors for Lyme disease and become active every year after the first frost. They're not killed by freezing temperatures, and while other ticks enter a feeding diapause, or suspended development, as the day-lengths get shorter, deer ticks will be active any winter day that the ground is not snow-covered or frozen. For the winter of 2017, in Washington D.C.  and many other typically snow covered areas, the risk of coming into contact with these nasty disease vectors has been much higher as this February holds the record for the warmest February in D.C. history.

Allergy Symptoms Started in February

Not only is the DC/VA/MD area a hot spot for Lyme transmission, it is also a hot spot for seasonal allergies.

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Tags: allergies, lyme disease

The Challenge of Lyme Disease and the Co-Infections

Posted by on Tue, Jul 01, 2014

Lyme Disease, the "Sneaky Masquerader"

Successful treatment of Lyme disease can be very challenging for the patient and the clinician because of many factors.  First of all, the spirochete which causes Lyme Disease, Borrelia Bergdorferi (a type of bacteria), is unusual and extremely adaptable in finding ways to work around our defenses.  The Lyme germ damages the same immune system which fights it, causes the immune system to inappropriately generate too much inflammation which weakens the body and can cause autoimmune diseases.  It masquerades into many forms (spiral, cystic, granular) to evade detection and attack by the immune system, is “sneaky,” and grows very slowly to stay under the immune system’s radar.  This clever spirochete changes its immune expression about every 4 weeks keeping the immune system off balance and can go into hiding and become dormant for long periods of time (but nevertheless continue to produce toxins).  It can wiggle its way into the body’s nooks and crannies and generate protective slime (biofilm) to hide.  No wonder Lyme disease has become endemic in the Washington DC and surrounding regions and many parts of the U.S. and the world – it is a vicious, crafty adversary.

Co-Infections of Lyme Disease: Other Insect-Borne Illnesses

Lyme is often accompanied by “co-infections” which can also be injected into humans through tick bites and other insects.  We are finding a high percentage of co-infections with babesia, a malarial-like parasite, rickettsias and we suspect Bartonella (e.g., cat-scratch fever), a bacteria that can turn off antibodies to Lyme so that the diagnostic tests are not even positive.  Diagnostic tests are helpful however but not always reliable, and clinicians and the public should maintain a high index of suspicion for these slow-growing, sneaky and potentially devastating infections. Basically, the cause of any new medical or psychiatric problem that develops without an obvious explanation, that is persistent and often does not fit any known pattern of a conventional disorder, and that baffles conventional doctors, may be caused by Lyme disease and/or related co-infections. Especially anyone suffering from unusual skin disorders, psychiatric disorders of any kind, neurological problems (autism and dementia), autoimmune disorders and unexplained arthritis deserve to be tested for Lyme and/or co-infections. 

Why are We Seeing So Much Lyme Disease?

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Tags: lyme disease, Dr. Gant

Lyme Disease is a Growing Health Problem

Posted by on Wed, Aug 28, 2013

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released data indicating that the number of Americans diagnosed with Lyme disease each year is around 300,000, and suggests the total number may be 10 times higher than the yearly reported number.

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Tags: lyme disease

Yeast, or Candida, Can Really Mess with Lyme Disease

Posted by on Wed, May 15, 2013

In 2008, Dr. Warren Levin was interviewed for Public Health Alert  about Candida Related Complex and how it affects patients with Lyme Disease.

As every Lyme patient knows, symptoms can vary from person to person. Headaches, fatigue, joint pain, digestive disturbance, vision problems, allergies  and brain fog are common in patients with Lyme Disease.

But these same symptoms may also be caused by Candida, or yeast overgrowth in the gut. The complicating factor is in understanding and treating Candida in a patient with Lyme Disease.

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Tags: fatigue, candida/yeast, lyme disease

What All Lyme Disease Patients Should Know

Posted by on Fri, Mar 29, 2013

 

 

New Clarification for Virginia Patients on the Accuracy of Lyme Disease Testing

From the Lyme Disease.org  website:
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Tags: lyme disease

Lyme Disease Warning: Tick Infested Area!

Posted by on Tue, May 22, 2012

It is only May and we have already seen many people with brand new tick bites. It is supposed to be a terrible year for Lyme Disease & other insect-borne illness thanks to the bumper crop of acorns in 2010, a mild winter, and early spring.

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Tags: fatigue, integrative health, lyme disease

Lyme Disease May be Worse Than Ever This Year

Posted by on Sat, May 05, 2012

 
The NIHA doctors are already seeing a lot of tick bites and Lyme disease due to the mild winter, early spring and other indicators of a large tick population in 2012.

The Washington Post ran an article this week in which Dr. Paul Beals is quoted:

*Excerpted from the The Washington Post:
Paul Beals,  a physician who specializes in diagnosing and treating Lyme disease at National Integrated Health Associates in the District, says, "We're finding that the vast majority of our patients who are getting tick bites causing Lyme are also getting other co-infections at the same time," including such febrile illnesses as bartonella, which can be transmitted by ticks and mosquitoes, as well as babesiosis and ehrlichiosis.
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Tags: integrative health, integrative medicine, holistic doctor, lyme disease

Lyme Disease Prevention Tips

Posted by on Thu, Apr 28, 2011

Lyme disease is a common tick borne disease caused by the spirochete borellia burgdorferi (Bb) and transmitted by the deer tick. In Virginia, the incidence of Lyme disease has exploded to the point where recently the governor of Virginia named a Lyme Disease Task Force to address the rising incidence of the disease.

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Tags: lyme disease