I experience recurring respiratory problems, primarily air hunger/asthma-like problems, that I have always attributed to Babesia, since I was diagnosed. I subscribe to a Chicago-area doctor's newsletter that has me wondering if some of my problems may be caused by something else.
Infraspinatus Respiratory Reflex A little known fact is that asthma patients and patients with other lung problems like chronic bronchitis, chronic cough, or emphysema may have sore spots in a specific location in their backs. Those spots, on the muscles of the lower shoulder blade area called the infraspinatus muscles, apparently correspond to a center of autonomic nervous system control over respiratory physiology. As in other locations, it is possible that these nerve endings become irritated, and end up firing in a repetitive and maladaptive way, thus contributing to or even causing the patient's respiratory distress. This connection is called the infraspinatus respiratory reflex, or IRR for short. Louisiana physician Harry Philpert discovered this connection by observing that nearly 100% of his asthma patients showed muscle tenderness in the infraspinatus area.
The treatment consists of palpating both infraspinatus muscles, identifying any tender spots, and injecting each of those spots with the local anesthetic agents procaine or lidocaine. There may be immediate benefit observed in some cases, though it may be temporary. The treatment works because this temporary shut down of repetitive neuron firing by the anesthetic clears the neuron's memory banks, and stabilizes the negative influence of the autonomic response. Usually a series of 6 to 8 treatment sessions are required. The results reported by Philbert in a series of 1000 patients have been impressive....in the range of an 80% chance of improvement and a 50% chance of cure. I encourage all patients with respiratory complaints to be checked for the IRR.
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I checked and I definitely have the sore spots under my shoulder blade area on my back. And if I massage them, the problem seems to abate somewhat. I've never heard of this. Is anyone here familiar with this diagnosis? I'm beginning to believe that babesia may not be the only problem I am dealing with concerning respiratory problems.
This is an excellent newsletter to subscribe to, as I've found that it regularly contains beneficial information, especially about integrative and alternative therapies.
Posted by lymex5&counting (Member # 7202) on :
Thank you notime2work,
This is great info. Perfect timing. My oldest son
(the asthmatic) just hasn't been the same since
he had Pneumonia last summer he has been sick
constantly. We just got back from seeing Dr J
again and he didn't think it was lyme related.
Still don't have all the new labs back looked
for alot of viruses and more mycos, etc. But the
Asthma and Allergy Specialist didn't help much
this time either. He always wants to push
steroids. I will take him to Dr
F this summer if I can't get anyone to do
it locally. My mother sees him and really likes
him. He helped her strengthen her immune system
with some alternative lyme treatments. This
really makes alot of sense. Sounds like I should
take him to the Chiropractor more often, maybe
working some of those area will help.
Posted by johnlyme1 (Member # 7343) on :
To both of you - Mycoplasma can cause the same stuff. I had pnenmia (SP) 2 years ago. The mycoplasma that caused this was still high when tested back in march 05. One of my co-infections. Once put on Zith a lot of it went away.
Posted by JimBoB (Member # 8454) on :
Herbs help some for asthma conditions. I had asthma long before lyme, but last year my bronchial tube got painful, continually. NOTHING seemed to help that at all.
Until I discovered the Sali-Pipe, after a few days using it, the symptoms pretty much went away, as long as I used it once a day for about 20 minutes. A couple of days I had to use it twice a day.
I have been using the Sali-Pipe (salt pipe) for about a month now. Not cheap, but glad I got it.
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