In cases where you’re experiencing a range of symptoms like fatigue, headaches, poor memory, inability to concentrate, depression, anxiety, recurrent flu-like symptoms, rashes, and a general sense of unwellness, it can be a challenge for doctors to diagnose the cause. One such illness that shares these difficult-to-diagnose symptoms is Lyme disease.
Lyme disease can overlap with other conditions such as chemical sensitivity, viral infections, bacterial infections, and mold, which makes treatment for Lyme a complex issue. However, treating Lyme disease in a holistic way can certainly help to alleviate the symptoms and improve the quality of life for those affected.
Tailoring Treatment for Lyme Disease
Many Lyme patients benefit from an antibiotic protocol when the disease is caught in the early stages. However, it’s important for the antibiotics to be supplemented with further therapies supporting the entire body to provide an optimum outcome.
Some patients don’t tolerate antibiotics well, and therefore need an alternative herbal antimicrobial approach. Others are so far along in the disease progression that antibiotics are not very effective. Ultimately, treatment plans must be tailored to each patient’s needs and tolerances. However, there are common systemic effects on the body that many Lyme patients experience, such as chronic inflammation and imbalances in immunity. How can these be managed at home?
Building a Strong Health Foundation
It is crucial to have a stable foundation of health before beginning intense treatment for chronic Lyme disease. This requires addressing the basics of health in a holistic manner to set the stage for healing.
Many Lyme patients are nutrition savvy, but they may still not be eating a diet that is appropriate for their particular constitution. It is possible that their diet might not be targeted to optimize the body’s detoxification systems and cellular biochemical reactions. Clinical intake and functional nutrition laboratory tests can provide insights into specific health aspects and can help evaluate appropriate dietary recommendations to optimize functional nutrition status.
Nutrients, Herbs, and Supplements
Supporting the detoxification process and elimination of waste is important for people with Lyme disease. Nutrients, herbs, and supplementation can be helpful to support all the organs of elimination. Conducting special laboratory work can reveal genetic tendencies or specific imbalances in the body’s natural biochemical makeup. People with Lyme disease often have imbalances that need to be addressed in order for healing to be optimized.
Eliminating Toxins
Our environment is laden with toxins, ranging from pollution in the air and water to added chemicals and hormones in our food sources. Exposure to these toxins can wreak havoc on our immune and nervous systems. Toxins also can be carcinogenic over the long term. Lyme patients are more susceptible to illness from toxin exposure, as their immune systems are already weakened. Suitable detoxification protocols can be key in the treatment of Lyme, which could include heavy metal chelation, neural therapy, and strengthening of the liver’s natural detoxification pathways. Regular sweating is also important for the excretion of toxic substances.
Addressing Co-infections and Microbes
Co-infections and opportunistic infections in Lyme patients are common. Bacteria, viruses, mycoplasmas, and molds co-habitate, and it is very common for Lyme patients to suffer from a variety of these. Microbes secrete biotoxins to subdue the host’s immune responses. Therefore, treatment with antibiotics and/or herbal antimicrobials to address these co-infections is critical.
Repairing the Body
Bacterial infections weaken the biochemistry and physiology of the body, and repair is needed. Protocols for the gastrointestinal tract, mitochondria, nervous system, and immune system will be put into place, not only before and while detoxifying and treating the microbes but also on a follow-up basis.
As Lyme is a multi-systemic disease, treatment needs to be comprehensive and individualized. Protocols must address not just support for the organs and the body’s natural biochemical processes, but also safe detoxification.
