What is Lyme?

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection Borrelia burgdorferi. When detected early, for example following a tick bite, ACUTE Lyme disease may be treated effectively using short-course antibiotics obtained through your physician. Chronic Lyme is a something completely different and involves impairment or dysregulation of your immune system.

Chronic Lyme

Chronic (late-stage) Lyme is a complex chronic health condition which is not well understood. Chronic Lyme and Multi-systemic infectious disease syndrome (MSIDS) does not only include Borrelia, but more often than not another series of infections, such as:

• Coinfections-Bartonella, mycoplasma and other microbes. Other infections include Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Anaplasma, Erhlichia, etc.
• Babesia (malaria-like parasite)
• Viral infections–such as Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), Cytomegalovirus (CMV), HHV6, HSV1, HSV2, other Herpes viruses, etc.
• Viral reactivations
• Parasitic infections
• Mold toxicity
• Other environmental toxicity (i.e. heavy metals)

Getting a Lyme disease diagnosis can be challenging. Standardized Canadian testing is considered to be flawed and consequently, obtaining a Lyme disease diagnosis can be challenging for Canadians. Some Canadians obtain private testing through US based and other laboratories.

Practitioners also use symptomatology and use clinical assessments to assess probability of a patient experiencing chronic Lyme. The Horowitz questionnaire is a well-established diagnostic checklist that is available.

Planning the order of treatment is important in chronic Lyme. Medical specialists will determine whether treatment of toxicity should be addressed initially, prior to treating infections as part of the “Patient Plan”.

Treatment

Some physicians suggest treatment may not be necessary in cases where:

• positive testing exists but there are no symptoms
• removal of mold toxins have sufficiently balanced the immune system and symptoms have improved

Acute Lyme treatments focus on use of antibiotics. However, many chronic Lyme patients are treated with a combination of antibiotic and herbal anti-microbial supplements.

Partnering with a Lyme literate physician is an important part of building a treatment plan.  Assuming the treatment of mold is the initial focus of the patient plan, variations of binders will be introduced to reduce toxin load and free up the immune system.

Examples of binders include cholestyramine, welchol, bentonite clay, chlorella, charcoal, carbon based binders, Pectasol-C, zeolite etc. Binders can bind different toxins, for example, mold vs. heavy metals.

Lyme or Mold, or both?

Underlying factors including mold illness as a result of susceptibility will hamper the immune system. As a result, the immune system becomes weakened and does a poor job dealing with pathogens.

Many patients with chronic Lyme illness, have an underlying problem of toxin overload such as mold toxicity (estimated 70-80%). Since mold toxins interfere with the body’s ability to detoxify, this results in further problems including:

• impairing the immune system’s ability to function effectively
• initial readings of testing to determine mold levels may be inaccurately low. Instead, levels may be more accurately reflected following treatment and on the second testing
• detoxification pathways may be impaired and require support before detoxification is initiated

For some patients, the primary issue may be MOLD over LYME disease. It can be difficult to distinguish symptoms since many symptoms overlap, for example; fatigue, brain fog, and neuropathy.

Your body is not able to heal effectively without relieving the mold burden. Consequently, many practitioners suggest that detoxification of mold is the preferred starting point and wholeheartedly agree that this approach will work towards restoring the immune system’s ability to fight infections. Dr. Nathan uses this approach to relieve the mold burden, assist in identifying the relief of some symptoms, and then determine the appropriate Lyme treatments. Dr. Ross emphasizes protocols for both are necessary, and addresses this by slowly introducing protocols for both. This is a common approach. However, some patients cannot tolerate the full regime approach and this must be tailored to each patient specifically based on their needs and where their health is at.

Most Powerful Antimicrobials

This excellent 10 minute video by Dr. Rawls details the most powerful herbal antimicrobials as tested by John Hopkins study (in-vitro) for treatment of growing and persister forms of Lyme. See the attached article for summary.

The Use of Natural Bioactive Nutraceuticals in the Management of Tick-Borne Illnesses

The Schor & Schweig article posted below highlights the antimicrobial efficacy and potency of botanical medicines and nutraceuticals against various forms of Lyme Borrelia, Bartonella and Babesia, and the potential ability to treat tick-borne illnesses independently of prescription antibiotics.

The following antimicrobials are effective against Borrelia and Bartonella:

• Japanese Knotweed
• Black walnut
• Methylene blue
• Cryptolepis

BABESIA (B.dunaci):

From the study of Zhang and colleagues, the following were identified to have good in vitro inhibitory activity against B. duncani:

• Cryptolepis sanguinolenta
• Artemisia annua
• Scutellaria baicalensis
• Alchornea cordifolia
•  Polygonum cuspidatum

In a second study, garlic oil and black pepper oil were noted. 

OTHER NOTEWORTHY BOTANICALS:

Botanical	Activity against	Notes
Allicin (garlic)	Garlic oil showed highest activity against Babesia, along with black pepper oil (Zhang et al.)	Broad-spectrum antimicrobial
Berberine	High activity against stationary phase Bartonella (Li et al.)
Black Walnut	Bacteriostatic activity against log phase spirochetes of B. burgdorferi and B. garinii & bactericidal activity against Borrelia round bodies. Effective against active and stationary log forms of Bartonella (Ma et al.)	Short-term use due to cytotoxicity
Monolaurin	Baicalein & monolaurin effective against biofilm-like colonies of B. burgdorferi and B. garinii (Goc et al.)
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese Knotweed)	Inhibits Babesia duncani and Bartonella henselae (Zhang et al.). Efficacy against stationary and active log forms of Bartonella (Ma et al.).
Scuttelaria, Baicalin, and Baicalein (Skullcap)	Effective against active, persister, and biofilm forms of B. burgdorferi and B. garinii (Goc et al., Feng et al.). Superior anti-Babesia (B. duncani) activity to quinine and clindamycin.	Synergistic outcomes when combined with luteolin. 90% eradication of active & stationary forms, 50% elimination of biofilms when used synergistically. Exceeds performance of doxycycline (Goc et al.)
Cat’s Claw	More effective at eliminating stationary Borrelia, less impact on active/spirochete form (Feng et al.).

Lyme Resources

Dr. Neil Nathan, MD

Dr. Bill Rawls, MD

Dr. Richard Horowitz, MD

Use of Neutraceuticals in Managing Tick-Borne Illness

Dr. Eric Gordon, MD

Dr. Kelly McCann, MD

General health & wellness tips