MAY IS LYME DISEASE AWARENESS MONTH!

LYME DISEASE IN ONTARIO

TICK REMOVAL

•  If bitten by a tick – see your family physician to have it carefully removed with fine-pointed tweezers (most tweezers are too blunt on the tips and will cause regurgitation). Place tweezers snugly against skin, with a firm grip on tick’s head, gently pull it straight out with steady pressure.  Apply an antiseptic and wash your hands.

•  Make a note of date, location on body, geographic location.  Take a picture, especially if a rash is present or appears.  Place tick in a vial with a piece of moist Kleenex or paper towel.  Submit tick to local public health unit for testing.

 SYMPTOMS

• Lyme Disease has early and late stages; patients may exhibit symptoms from one or both.  Late stages of infection are much more difficult to diagnose and can mimic other illnesses.  Children’s symptoms can vary from adults and may include behavioural changes, declining school performance, fatigue, headache, forgetfulness, comlex partial seizures, depression and may be misdiagnosed with primary ADHD.  For a full list of symptoms please visit www.lymeontario.com.
• Only 30-50% of people infected with the Borrelia Burgdorferi bacteria (Lyme) will get a rash of any kind.  Of these only 9% will get a classic bulls-eye rash.  Only 10% of children present with a rash of any kind.

DIAGNOSIS

• Lyme disease is a rapidly spreading illness that is difficult to test for and many cases are missed.  Here in Canada the ELISA method of testing is used to screen for infection.  The ELISA has an accuracy of 4%-65%.   The Western Blot method  (through IGENEX in California) is a more accurate test. However, many people who are actually infected do not mount an antibody response so testing will be negative.
• Diagnosis of Lyme Disease should be CLINICAL
• Co-infections almost always accompany the Lyme (Borrelia) bacteria. It is important to identify and treat these co-infections because, if left untreated, their continued presence increases morbidity and prevents successful treatment of Lyme Disease

 TREATMENT

• A bulls-eye rash is in itself conclusive evidence of a Lyme infection and must be treated with 4 weeks oral antibiotics to prevent re-emergence of the infection months or years later. 
• Family physicians in Canada will only treat with a standard 2 week antibiotic course if Lyme is suspected or confirmed.  It is up to the patient or caregiver to INSIST on a full 4 week antibiotic treatment course. 
• Lyme Disease can remain dormant in the body for many years, until a stressor or immune compromise causes it to become active and the patient will then manifest symptoms.  At this point it is much more difficult to treat.
• You do not need to visit an endemic area to encounter ticks! Migrating birds disperse various tick species Canada-wide.

 FURTHER INFORMATION

• For additional accurate and up-to-date information on ticks and Lyme Disease please visit

LYME ONTARIO - www.lymeontario.com

CANADIAN LYME DISEASE FOUNDATION - www.canlyme.com

INTERNATIONAL LYME AND ASSOCIATED DISEASE SOCIETY - www.ilads.org

Thank-you Lord For A Good Week!

I realize it has been awhile since I posted last.  After a good week, where I have experienced a return in some of my spark, energy and abilities, I am ready to update again.... There are times lately when I feel very 'normal' and it gives me great encouragement that one day, Lord willing, I will return to full health again!

NEUROLOGICAL DIFFICULTIES
For many weeks before this past one, I have been very much struggling with neurological difficulties. I have had an increase in trouble with my vision especially over the past month, and an inability to focus adequately.  My brain and my eyesight seemed not to align, so that a busy view (a crowded room, a department store, cars on the highway) exhausts my brain.  I would glance around without really focusing on anyone or anything.  In such a visually stimulating environment, I arrived very quickly at a point where I needed to shut my eyes and nap.  This poses some difficulties in common areas of my life - I have been unable to process in my mind where to start at the grocery store, or what I even need!  I have also been unable to see the minister clearly in church, and the sea of faces makes me dizzy.

Do you recall one of the first games to come out when computers were introduced? A disk bounced around the four corners of the screen, and the job of the player was to prevent the disc from touching the bottom of the screen by moving a float back and forth across the base.  I often feel like that disk is bouncing around in the same manner inside of my brain - it constantly whizzes back and forth without giving me a moment of true rest.

...Brekky while running my IV on the road to Plattsburgh

BABESIA/PROTOZOAN INFECTIONS
According to Dr McShane, these symptoms are caused by the co-infections that accompany Lyme Disease, in this case particularly the parasite Babesia, (a protozoan infection) which is apparently still active in my brain.  Thanks to this parasite, my mind is also unable to shut down during the night, which is why I am awake every hour or two and have trouble returning to sleep.  It is also the reason why my attempts to address adrenal fatigue have been so far unsuccessful - I have too much active infection remaining which is interfering with the possibility of adrenal recovery.  I have since discontinued my work with Dr Lam (Adrenal specialist), until I am further along in treatment.  Our goal since my last appointment was to wait out this flare-up of symptoms while upping my antibiotic dose so that I will be strong enough within 6 weeks to begin a treatment that will address this protozoan infection more directly.  Specifically the new treatment protocol will aim to break up the bio-film that this organism creates (using the fats ingested in my diet) to protect itself from my immune system.

PROGRESS
The good news is - we have made progress this past week!  The changes that may have contributed to my increase in energy and abilities:

1.  I am now receiving double dose of the IV antibiotic Clindamycin - a 600mg dose twice a day.  
2. I have also been receiving Ozone therapy 2X weekly from Dr Um at Naturomedic in St Catharines.
3. Time of year - We are pulling through early spring, which in addition to the late fall, has in the past number of years for me been a more active time of year for the Borrelia bacteria.
4. I have begun to implement a low-fat, plant-based diet.  I am slowly changing my diet to prepare for the new treatment protocol, which will require me to be 100% fat free and eating only plant-based foods.
   

A Typical Green Lunch

OZONE THERAPY 

Info shared from http://www.chroniclymedisease.com/ozone-oxygen-lyme-disease

Ozone mitigates the negative effects Lyme Disease has on the body. It re-establishes healthy bio-terrain and neutralizes neurotoxins. It also combats the acidic condition created by Lyme Disease because it is alkalizing.

Ozone provides:
1. Able to kill spirochetes as well as ANY other pathogenic microbe – virus, bacterial, yeast, mycoplasma, parasite, prion, etc., contacted. In fact, is ATTRACTED to them by polarity.
2. Able to destroy infected cells, as well as mutated, malignant cells.
3. A powerful treatment for Candida.
4. An effective adjunct treatment for heavy metal chelation.
5. Pathogens are unable to build a resistance to it.
6. An effective treatment for brain, eyes, ear areas (using ozone applied locally to those areas).
7. As a by-product, provides bio-available oxygen to cells, to start a cascade of metabolic actions toward healing and rejuvenation and galvanizing of the immune system. Ozone breaks down into oxygen and singlet oxygen inside the body.
8. As a by-product, oxidizes toxins, including neurotoxins – THUS MARKEDLY REDUCING HERXES EVEN WHILE KILLING PATHOGENS.
9. As a by-product, scavenges free radicals and helps reverse the extensive free radical damage from a severe systemic infection like Lyme Disease.
10. The oxygenation provides for a more energized state.
11. Helps move pH toward alkaline from the acidic pH induced by chronic disease.
12. Potentiates other remedies, supplements, protocols.
13. Is natural, does not have side-effects, toxicity, or cumulative effects.

Duct cleaning in our home resulted in better air quality - I noticed that I struggled to breathe every time the furnace turned on.  As a result, our house was kept very cool over the winter.  Cleaning the ducts has proved to be a perfect solution!

A note pinned in McShane's office informs that a EM rash, although only present in 50% of people infected with Lyme, is diagnostic of Lyme disease.  Be AWARE!!  Lyme Disease is TREATABLE when caught early....

GOD CONTINUES TO CARRY US

Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change; 

courage to change the things I can; 

and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time; 

enjoying one moment at a time; 

accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; 

taking, as He did, this sinful world

as it is, not as I would have it; 

trusting that He will make all things right

if I surrender to His Will; 

that I may be reasonably happy in this life

and supremely happy with Him

forever in the next. 

Amen.

       

Alanah 'fishing'

Climbing trees at the local park