Posted by bleauberry on March 24, 2018, at 7:36:11
THE GREAT IMITATOR, excerpts from a book being written right now by my doctor and a nurse who are clinical experts on the topic...
Early Lyme = fatigue, rash, fever, headache, chills, cough, muscle pain, joint pain, neck pain, SLEEP DISTURBANCES.
Misdiagnosis of early lyme = dermatitis, spider bite, flu/cold, ANXIETY ATTACKS, migraine, allergic reaction, more.
Late Lyme = fatigue, joint pain, muscle pain, SLEEP DISTURBANCES, cognitive decline (brain fog), Neuropathy, ANXIOUSNESS, DEPRESSION, OCD, SCHIZOPHRENIA, headaches, more..
Misdiagnosis of late lyme = PSYCHIATRIC, Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus, Alzheimers, Parkinsons, other autoimmune diseases, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, more.
Acute Lyme
The Complete Lyme Report - Functional Medicine
Lyme is a clinical diagnosis supported by laboratory data . - Dr. Charles Ray Jones MDRead that quote very carefully. In fact, read it again.
It indicates that it is first up to the physician and the patient to review signs, symptoms, and your outdoor exposure and activity in a Lyme endemic area, and then determine whether or not Lyme disease should be included in a diagnosis. (I would like to add that your diagnose can go wildly wrong at this stage if you are dealing with a doctor who has only average knowledge of Lyme disease - it is very easy for them to accidentally discount the likelihood simply because they don't know what they are dealing with, their expertise is something else.)
A negative Lyme test does not rule out the possibility of Lyme disease, as we will review in the book.
My doctors are in agreement that 9 out of 10 patients who come to the office poorly managed with psychiatric symptoms by other doctors are in fact infected with a lyme pathogen. That's because 9 out of 10 improve modestly to completely with antibiotic treatment. In their offices.
Since the lab tests are woefully inaccurate - the reason I was a psych patient for 20+ years! - is there a way we can test ourselves? The answer is mostly yes.
There is a common, almost universal, pattern that happens at the beginning of lyme treatment. That pattern can be used as a diagnostic tool of high accuracy when it is not known if the patient has a lyme issue or not. To rule it out or rule it in, would be great knowledge to have! So how do we do that?
At the beginning of treatment, pathogenic organisms are initially stunned, paralyzed, and can shift into other forms, such as cystic. At this point their usual daily activities have been almost completely stopped but they have not died. It is during this temporary phase of inaction that YOU FEEL BETTER THAN YOU HAVE FELT IN A LONG TIME. This usually happens in a window from day 2 to day 14, but mostly day 2 to day 5. You feel great and your think you have discovered a miracle.
But the honeymoon is short-lived. In a few days, those stunned bacteria begin to die. They die off in massive numbers. Your body is overwhelmed with dead body parts and debris. Your liver and kidneys cannot clean it out fast enough. Your lymph glands might slow or become clogged. Your immune system reacts in a big way to the foreign invasion of debris with a strong inflammation response. It is at this point that you feel really bad, really fast, overnight, and you may feel worse than before you started! You will have all of your original symptoms flare up and likely some new ones too! This is called a Herxheimer reaction, or a 'die-off' reaction for short. This is not likely to happen with an uninfected healthy person. But if there is a stealth unsuspected hidden infection, this pattern will reveal it.
According to clinical studies and my own personal experience, the endotoxins and the debris of death have affinity for our opioid receptors. So there is no wonder psych symptoms are common. What other receptors are impacted? Probably all. In my own hypothesis, that is why antipsychotics can be as useful as they are - they are not simply blocking DA or 5HT, they are blocking debris and toxins!!!!! My own hypothesis.
I proved it many times actually. How? In my worst psychiatric moments of despair from a Herxheimer reaction, I took Vicadin as a life preserver, literally, to prevent suicide. Within 90 minutes I felt NORMAL. Many times. In my hypothesis, Vicadin has STRONGER AFFINITY for the receptors than the debris and toxins do. Vicodin kicked them out. Antipsychotics might be doing that too.
Now before anyone says, "well yeah a lot of people feel good on Vicodin", wait, the story isn't finished. What happens if I take Vicodin when I am not in a Herxherimer reaction? It makes me depressed, slow, and groggy! The exact opposite effect.
These patterns are fascinating to me and are gold mines for clues.
Start an antibiotic, usually Doxycylcine, sometimes Azithromycin, or start a lyme herb(s) such as Cat's Claw or Japanese Knotweed. Full doses. And then see what happens. If a couple weeks goes by and not much changed, maybe some diarrhea or maybe constipation or maybe indigestion or something, then that is a fairly accurate ruling out the possibility of a lyme infection.
But if the pattern occurs with you, it is strongly diagnostic of unsuspected Lyme. When lab testing is negative or not trusted, the 'challenge test and pattern' is a great clue as a detective to find out what is actually wrong with you.
Another almost-dead-giveaway clue is 'sensitivity to meds, doses or food'. For example, maybe you require much higher doses than most other psych patients, or you require tiny miniscule doses. Those are both strong clues.
Low vitamin D, despite sunshine, is a good clue.
CD-57 testing low is a moderate clue, indicates chronic infection but not necessarily lyme.
There are other medical tests explained in Why Cant I Get Better which sound foreign to me, but those of you who are medical-jargon savvy should enjoy reading about that stuff.
I've recommended two books. Without knowledge of what is in those books, it is sometimes difficult to relate to what I am saying here. I get that. That's why I suggest those books. I can only point you in the right direction. Whether you go there or not is a personal decision. Just trying to help give patients options they were not aware of, options that actually lead to significant enduring improvement in quality of life, psychiatrically speaking.
poster:bleauberry
thread:1097636
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20180212/msgs/1097636.html