Anyone have any info or opinion on why it is recommended not to have caffeine, or is it just coffee (?), when one has lyme? Does it interfere with treatment? Is green tea or decaf considered okay? Any thoughts appreciated.
Thank you, Gabe
-------------------- "Keep up, and you will be kept up." Y.B. Posts: 25 | From BC | Registered: Mar 2016
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TF
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All your answers are in the Burrascano Guidelines:
"CERTAIN ABSOLUTE RULES MUST BE FOLLOWED IF LYME SYMPTOMS ARE TO BE PERMANENTLY CLEARED: 1. Not allowed to get behind in sleep, or become overtired. 2. No caffeine or other stimulants that may affect depth or duration of sleep, or reduce or eliminate naps. 3. Absolutely no alcohol! 4. No smoking at all. 5. Aggressive exercises are required and should be initiated as soon as possible.
6. Diet must contain generous quantities of high quality protein and be high in fiber and low in fat and carbohydrates- no simple carbohydrates are allowed. Instead, use those with low glycemic index. 7. Certain key nutritional supplements should be added. 8. COMPLIANCE!" (page 27)
"GREEN TEA Green, but not black or white tea contains some of the most potent antioxidants around (80-100 times more effective than vitamin C). I strongly recommend this to any patient with degenerative changes to the central nervous system.
At least four cups daily are needed to reap this benefit, and the tea must be decaffeinated.
A nice alternative is “TeGreen“ capsules by Pharmanex. They contain 97% pure tea polyphenols and each capsule is the equivalent of four cups of decaffeinated green tea. Take one to three daily." (page 29)
"DRINKS ALLOWED Water, seltzer, caffeine-free diet sodas, coffee and tea without sugar or caffeine, vegetable juices
NOT ALLOWED Fruit juices, regular sodas, and any drinks sweetened with sugars or syrups No Alcohol at all" (page 35)
Jordana
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You have to defer to Dr B because he's cured a lot of people.
On the other hand the thing about coffee is that it's the number one most dependable source of magnesium in the US population, and caffeine is an antioxidant and acetylcholinesterase inhibitor,
which means it makes more acetylcholine available everywhere in the body including the neuromuscular junction.
It lowers blood sugar, improves insulin sensitivity and detoxes the liver.
However in the Gerson therapy the protocol prefers the antioxidant capacity enter the other way (enema) in order to detoxify the liver without disturbing the pancreas.
Your call.
(breaking up the post for easier reading for many here)
Keebler
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- About avoiding the caffeine in coffee - it's about avoiding all stimulants: anything stimulating can damage us so much by being rocket fuel and further tank already exhausted adrenal system . . . and also cause trouble for the heart rhythm . . . and sleep, etc.
It's that rocket fuel effect that can spell disaster for us.
A good ORGANIC decaf coffee might work okay but, really, it can be nearly impossible to get the caffeine out of it so if you get zoomed from it or your heart is fluttering, those would be signs.
posted
This is great, thank you all. I am having trouble with the thought of giving up all coffee, even the organic decaf that I like, so it's god to know there may still be room for this! I will seek out a good organic decaffeinated green tea as well.
Oh I was also wondering about the good Dr.'s recommendations on "aggressive exercise" because elsewhere he also says that one should not be exercising aggressively until one is recovered.
I'm interested in this because I do Kundalini yoga, which has really leveraged my vitality up quite a bit in the last three years, but sometimes it seems to knock me out for a few days too.
Perhaps it is better at certain times of the cycle than others? So far I haven't figured out what's going on with that.
Gabe
(breaking up the post for easier reading for many here)
-------------------- "Keep up, and you will be kept up." Y.B. Posts: 25 | From BC | Registered: Mar 2016
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Keebler
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- It a matter of definition. And many can use words in different ways.
As with Low-Carb diet - the present day buzz word - it's all in the INTENT of the definition. We really should be on high carb diets (lots of veggies along with good fat and clean protein) but, the term low-carb generally refers to cutting out REFINED carbs, not good carbs from the plant kingdom.
So, IMO, his use of the term "aggressive" is not at all what most might think. Perhaps the term would be best as "determined effort" toward NON-AEROBIC exercise.
"Aggressive" may be more in the dedication to the effort than the force expended in that effort.
It's "no aerobic exercise" until one is much, much better.
He goes on to talk about light weight training as excellent. And that can be suited for each person's needs.
Some, though, can't do any weights due to joint issues. Still, there are ways to find the right exercise and be "aggressive" in the consistency, etc. but not in the force, speed or intensity.
Some folks, though, are actually very much exercise intolerant and they would have to go by other methods for themselves.
Pilates, Qigong, Tai Chi, Yoga, just strolling can be of great help.
I'm not familiar with Kundalini yoga - but if it works for you and you do not have a boomerang effect, payback or otherwise some kind of clobber from it, sounds good.
But, as you say "sometimes it seems to knock me out for a few days too." That is NOT good. If you can determine if you are overdoing it, or what over factors tip you over, adjust.
If something knocks you out the next day (often it's not until the next day the "hit" comes) it's just not wise. Adjustments usually in time / intensity help. And do not get too hot.
Kundalini yoga, as I understand it, is more meditative and not "power" yoga. But some might get too intense with it. Easy does it. I would avoid "power" yoga and also the hot yoga as many with lyme are very sensitive to heat.
If you can do weights, there is something very special that comes with that. LIGHT WEIGHTs, of course. Talk to those in your lyme support group about a LL guide to teach you.
If you have a LLMD, talk to them about the specifics to your body on this topic and if they have a LL physical therapist who can guide you.
The PT must be LL or they just won't do. No matter how good of a PT, there is so much about how lyme changes a body that they really need to be lyme literate. Most LLMDs know the best ones to suggest. -
[ 03-20-2016, 03:12 AM: Message edited by: Keebler ]
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Keebler
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- If what you are doing exercise wise knocks you out sometimes, after assessing the variables in regard to when you do okay with it . . . you might want to also see the support methods in this set, especially for adrenal support - and liver support. Exercise requires a lot from those systems.
Also be sure to eat real foods. Too many people try to get by on far too little food.
Advanced Topics in Lyme Disease (Diagnostic Hints and Treatment Guidelines for Lyme and Other Tick Borne Illnesses
Dr. Burrascano's Treatment Guidelines (2008) - 37 pages
[TF posted an excerpt from this] Page 27 - SUPPORTIVE THERAPY & CERTAIN ABSOLUTE RULES for self-care
Page 32 - see the section on Physical Therapy regarding non-aerobic exercise and weight training -
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Brussels
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Not only Burrascano has been healed, but many other people.
Coffee is medicine in Chinese TCM. As with everything, what is medicine for some, it's poison for others.
I was prescribed coffee with these words: if you take coffee 3 times a day, you may live more 10 years. Coffee without sugar, without milk, is an antioxidant, and it supports the liver in TCM.
If I add sugar, I get stomach aches, diarrhea. So I don't add anything. You can read Mercola site on coffee, he has some other info about it.
It seems that coffee is the main antioxidant in a Western style diet (that is usually very poor in antioxidants).
Coffee also helps your body to get warm in TCM. Lyme makes your body cold. Borrelia has developed a mechanism to protect itself against our immune system by lowering our body temperature. Coffee is warm, energetically (even if you take it room temperature), according to TCM.
As for aggressive exercises, dr. K. is not on that opinion. Me neither. If you can STAND aggressive exercises, that is GREAT.
My body was so worn out that if I did a bit of anything too much (even walking), it would take me DAYS to get back again 'normal'. Aggressive exercises are great for those who can stand them.
Posts: 6200 | From Brussels | Registered: Oct 2007
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Thanks so much for the replies.. Lots of good food for thought here!
Yes the Kundalini Yoga has been good for me. It seems much more technical and specific neurologically, and can really get deep to impact the glandular and nervous systems with regular practice, sustained for at least 40 days at a time.
I think what might be happening with the crashes is that my energy waxes and wanes quite a bit through the month with menses (and also if there's a lyme bug cycle happening too),
and if I try to do what I can do at one point in that cycle at the "wrong" point, there is a crash phase, post-exterional malaise thing going on.
My theory is that perhaps this is because exercise circulates blood and tissue as well as oxygenates everything,
so when I have better immunity and energy in the middle part of my monthly deal, the bugs are handled better and kept in check, subjected to more oxygen, etc, so my system is "winning."
But as the bugs are more active during the immune suppression phase of menses, circulating them and oxygenating them has perhaps less of an effect or maybe costs more energetically, bringing more malaise or possibly, spreading them around more ("losing")??
Also likely depending on how I respond to my food cravings. (If there's one thing I seem to need to relearn now and again, it's that I can't handle sugar!!)
It's interesting because in Kundalini yoga one of the main teachings is that we need to align and get in sync with natural laws such as rhythm and polarity.
With the variation in the cycle, I need to understand that I can work it and do the full kriyas when my energy levels can rally and meet that, and I get to build up vitality from there,
but I need to dial it back proportionately when at the low ends of the cycle, and rest more to bank the energy rather than spending what I have "earned."
As for sweeteners, I had read somewhere a while back that stevia leaf powder (the green stuff, not the processed white powder) is a good remedy for lyme as well.
It is certainly a bit of an acquired taste but I actually really like it now in tea and coffee. I make a tea in the morning with Reishi and Lion's Mane mushroom powder, a bit of turmeric and black pepper, and green stevia leaf powder.
I've been feeling better since doing that the last couple of weeks so I'm pretty sure it's helping to settle the inflammation. Haven't had any bad migraines since!
Hurrah! Gabe
(breaking up the post into a couple lines for easier reading for many here)
-------------------- "Keep up, and you will be kept up." Y.B. Posts: 25 | From BC | Registered: Mar 2016
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Brussels
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Gabe, I sent you a PM!
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sixgoofykids
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I went without coffee for at least a year during my Lyme treatment. When I added it back, it made no difference. At the point I got better, I was drinking coffee again. I think it depends on the person.
I do not drink coffee past lunchtime though. If I do, it will affect my sleep.
As far as the exercise, I agree it's needed. You just don't want to do cardio while you're sick. I do Pilates and feel that it's a big part of getting well and staying well for me.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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Thanks Sixgoofy. I am currently enjoying a lovely organic decaf. I love it..
I can't seem to tolerate the "high test" when feeling below a certain level of vitality but when i'm in the middling range, I do enjoy the feeling of neurons firing again!
Brain fog bites... :b
-------------------- "Keep up, and you will be kept up." Y.B. Posts: 25 | From BC | Registered: Mar 2016
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sixgoofykids
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I don't know what the "high test" is .... but for me, I don't feel more or less energetic when I have coffee vs when I don't. I just like the taste and the routine of it. I can easily skip it for a few day and feel no different. That's why I don't really worry about it.
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