Chronic Lyme – Resources to become Lyme literate.

The document available through the Download button below is offered to help others like me who feel lost after discovering they had Chronic Lyme. I couldn’t trust what I read on the internet, so I searched for published material by recognized Lyme “experts”. It takes time to find these resources and when you are urgently seeking help time is precious.

When first discovering that we have Lyme most of us feel if we kill the bugs, we will be healthy again. After years of dealing with treatment and studying Lyme, I came across these words in Recovery from Lyme Disease by Dr. Kinderlehrer, MD.

“Why not deal with this by just killing the bugs, since they were the initial trigger for immune disruption and inflammation? If it were only that simple. There is a misconception that there is a linear relationship between bumping off the microbes and clinical improvement: the more killing the better we get. Although reducing the microbial load often leads to improved immune function, especially early in the disease process, it doesn’t always work that way with these infections.”

His words are a mirror of my journey and, from what I read on Facebook blogs, I am not alone. The words “if it were only that simple” are left open to different interpretations. With six years of treatment experience, I know that antibiotics or standard herbal protocols on their own will not always lead to successful treatment. Very few of the published books give more than brief mention to the importance of timely organ support, detox fundamentals, gut maintenance, diet, lifestyle and behavior changes. If your doctor brings these issues up, pay attention. If it is not mentioned, ask, as they are important.

My search for knowledge was driven by the controversy over treatment options, antibiotics or herbal, so I tried to find information that would help me understand the controversy.

If you want to understand why Lyme is called an adaptive pathogen, how it gets past the blood brain barrier, coinfections and their synergy with Lyme, their food sources, how they change form and avoid detection, how they can identify antibiotics, trap and chemically transform antibiotics to a food source, etc., etc., read Buhner’s books. No other author writes about the biology and intelligence of this adversary, explains in detail what they do in our body and how they adapt to changes in our body during treatment. If you don’t care to study at that level of detail, Buhner’s books will not be your cup of tea. That’s OK, because no one book answers all of the questions I had.

Gaining knowledge by studying brings confidence, improving our ability to self-advocate. Recognizing the limitations (and why they exist) of our medical system removes anger from the equation. Knowledge also improves the Lyme literate doctor patient relationship, reducing anxiety. A good knowledge foundation strengthens our ability to endure a journey that is longer and more complex than was expected/desired in the early stages of treatment.

By providing a list of published books and webinars I found most useful and noting insight to lessons learned during my journey, my intent is to help bootstrap a “newbie” on the path to restored health.

Click the download button below to benefit from my experience.