Download Lyme Disease: The Silent Destroyer of Lives

Lyme Disease: The Silent Destroyer of Lives
Dr Terri Dluhy
Lyme disease is known to wreck lives and strike when people least expect it.
Transmitted from ticks, it can take years to diagnose, leaving people
suffering painful symptoms doctors are unable to explain. The oldest known
case was discovered in the Copper age, and it is now one of the fastestgrowing diseases in the Western world.
Lyme disease is caused by a spirochete; a corkscrew-shaped bacterium
called Borrelia burgdorferi that consists of more than 20 sub-species, five of
which can cause disease in humans. Lyme is called “The Great Imitator,”
because its symptoms mimic many other diseases. Many Lyme symptoms,
such as fatigue, cognitive impairment, joint pain, poor sleep, mood problems,
muscle pain, and neurological presentations also occur in other diseases.
Hence, the symptoms of Lyme disease significantly overlap those of chronic
fatigue, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s
disease, ALS, depression and Alzheimer’s disease thus making it hard to
diagnose. It can affect any organ of the body, including the brain and
nervous system, muscles and joints, and the heart. Although, it is not
unusual for someone who is diagnosed with Lyme disease to have these
concurrent diseases due to a lowered immune system trying to fight the
bacterium leaving the body open to other pathogens and illnesses.
Lyme disease, which was first recognized in the US in the early 1970’s
among patients in Lyme, Connecticut, is one of the fastest growing diseases
in the Western world: the threat it poses has become increasingly apparent in
recent years. Estimates suggest that more than 300,000 people are diagnosed
with the disease each year in the US and more than 65,000 cases a year are
diagnosed in Europe. However, the true number of people affected is
probably underestimated due to under-reporting and the limitations of
current tests to diagnose the illness. Borrelia can flourish inside the tick,
where they migrate from the gut to the saliva glands. When the tick takes a
blood meal from humans, the bacteria can penetrate our skin and travel
around our body in our bloodstream. And the bacteria mutates in a number
of ways to become invisible to the host’s immune system so we become
infected with it. The main way the bacteria is transmitted in Europe is the
deer tick, Ixodes ricinus - but other species of the same tick carry the
microbes in the US and Asia. Humans can become infected after being bitten
by an infected tick. This is because it is one possible illness among the
potentially large number of infections that may have been contracted as a
result of the tick bite, meaning it often goes untreated. But it’s not just ticks
we have to worry about. Lice, fleas, and mosquitoes have also been found to
contain Borrelia. Recent research suggests that the Borrelia bacteria may
also be transmitted from person to person through saliva, organ transplants,
blood transfusions, sexual contact or breast milk.
Currently, western medicine has no cure. Unfortunately, there is currently no
vaccine available against Lyme. Western medicine suggests that it is also
important to be treated with antibiotics as quickly as possible to prevent
illness and avoid long-lasting symptoms in its early stages, but patients with
the chronic variant may require months or even years of treatment before it
resolves. Unfortunately, long term antibiotic treatment causes its own set of
symptoms, and diseases, particularly of the gut as the antibiotics cause an
imbalance in the gut flora. The gut is where most of the immune system is so
this sets up a cycle of chronic illnesses over time. Some physicians still view
antibiotics as the only solution to this disease, but chronically infected
patients require multidisciplinary care. Fortunately, Holistic medicine has
found successful diagnosis and treatment for Lyme disease; not only the
causative bacteria, but also the concurrent pathogens, and the resultant
debilitation that arises from long term suffering along with the rebuilding of
the immune system and the total health of the patient.
The Sentient Temple Healing Center uses a combination of herbal and
nutrients products, and along with other therapies can help the body destroy
the spirochete organism and any other concurrent pathogens; some of which
actually live on the spirochete and are released when the spirochete is killed,
along with rebuilding the body’s immune system and bringing the body back
to health and vitality.
Ref: Lymedisease.org, Dr Hany Elsheikha, Univerity of Nottingham