Spiky
fever. Achy shoulders. Achy left arm.Persistent dry cough.I had this
flu imposter last summer and it took a while to realize it must be Lyme
disease.Without the tell-tale bull's
eye, many who get it don't know.The
symptoms are so many and so various, that doctors can be fooled.Is it osteoarthritis or is it Lyme?Is it M.S. or is in Lyme?Is it flu or is it Lyme?
Fortunately,
Stephen Harrod Buhner, an experienced
herbalist, has written an intensely informative book on how to manage Lyme
disease -- prevention, onset, and later stages. He details the usefulness of
antibiotics, referring to studies that show them to be 70%-95% effective, but
with a 35% relapse rate. To cope with this shortfall, he then gives
dose-specific recommendations for many herbs and other supplements to support
the immune system both in general and for particular symptoms, e.g., arthritis,
Bell's palsy, bladder problems, etc. His core protocol includes: andrographis (andrographis paniculata), Japanese
knotweed (polygonum cuspidatum),
Cat's claw (uncaria tomentosa),
astragalus (astragalus membranaceous),
and sarsaparilla (smilax glabra).
Buhner
describes half a dozen available tests for Lyme, giving their short-comings and
explaining why no test can yet give a truly definite diagnosis.Without the bull's eye or an autopsy, you can
never be absolutely sure.Why is it so
hard to diagnose?That is the truly
fascinating part of the book.
Positively
fascinating to me is the description of the spirochetes themselves. First they infect
us thanks to a tick bite, a mosquito bite, or a flea bite. Make no mistake,
these spirochetes -- of ancient lineage, much older than mankind -- are
brilliant. Somewhere between bacteria and protozoa in complexity, they have
many tricks up their sleeve, so to speak.
-They can
alter their DNA to suit the challenge posed by their host's immune system;
-They can
exchange information with each other in order to baffle the host;
-They
have an outer coat which they can shed to further obfuscate the situation; and
-They can
hide inside our cells by constructing what's called a 'shielding membrane.'
That last trick is known as 'intracellular sequestering.'
So what hope is there for us? Buhner points the way to
symbiosis. If we strengthen our immune systems in ways he recommends, we can
probably live happily with a few spirochetes sequestering themselves somewhere inside
us.
Where
are they likely to be hiding?Apparently, unlike bacteria, they prefer a viscous environment, not a
fluid one.They only use the blood as a
highway to get to their destination.Some favorite spots are soft tissue in the knee (feels like arthritis),
the aequeous humor (eye problems), myelin sheaths (nerve damage, Bell's palsy),
and soft tissue around the heart (carditis).
Assuming
you don't already have active Lyme disease, what should you do to prevent it?That depends where you live.If it's in a tick-infested area, astragalus
all year long is the recommendation.Andrograhis and cat's claw during tick season.Homeopathic remedies are also mentioned.For each remedy, Buhner gives what seems a
very thorough run down of its
properties and its treatment in scientific journals and in traditional lore.
Apparently, Lyme disease isn't new. The ancestors of
today's spirochetes infected our ancestors.Other spirochetal diseases, of which syphilus is the most famous
example, have also been around.Why is
Lyme increasing? Probably because we have disturbed the ecology: fewer
predators, thus more deer; more suburbanites, thus more tick-bites.So look for that bull's eye rash and, if you
get one, find a copy of Healing Lyme by Mr. Buhner.
N.b. To read further
about tick behavior, tick-borne diseases, and personal protection you can go to
the web for a copy of the Tick Management Handbook, authored
by Kirby C. Stafford, PhD,Chief
Entomologist, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station: http://www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/documents/publications/bulletins/b1010.pdf