IF CHOLESTYRAMINE REMOVES MEANIGFULLY SOME OF YOUR SYMPTOMS - YOU MOST LIKELY HAVE LYME DISEASE. Tell this to your doctor and he will most likely belive that you have Lyme disease.

I have self diagnosed myself with Lyme disease and all my doctors have no longer doubts that I have it. The method proves presence of Lyme disease indirectly (so it will never be as good as positive Western Blot but trust me - good enough!). After I have done it and showed my journals (you must have a journal of your symptoms!!!) to my doctors none of my them had any doubts regarding diagnosis of Lyme.

Read my thread (that to some extent I have treated as a blog). The second last and the last page explains how I did it . If you in a hurry go right to the second last page.

http://brain.hastypastry.net/forums/showthread.php?t=39049

If you improve - it is a good proof for health professionals.

What is Cholestyramine?
An older drug used to lower blood cholesterol. Currently used less often because statins are more comfortable to use.
Cholestyramine is a resin that will never get absorbed to your blood stream. In digestive system it absorbs bile so the bile cannot be reabsorbed back to the blood stream but instead is removed from the body. Apparently Borrelia burgdorferi toxin travels together with bile. That means the liver picks it up from the blood, excrete it together with the bile into duodenum, and in nontreated patient the bile AND THE TOXIN is reabsorbed back.
So now you see why the toxin cannot be removed efficiently even if your liver is doing its best.
Cholestyramine changes things dramatically: the toxin is quickly removed from your body and you improve.
In fact sometimes cholestyramine is used in snake/spider bites - to accelerate toxin removal (make sure you tell this to your doctor as he may not know). If he doubts you send him to Pub Med website so he can find articles in scientific medical journals on the topic.

Cholestyramine is safe but unpleasant. May cause heartburn and strong constipation. So start it slowly: one or two sachets per day. See how you respond. Initially it may be bad, but later your body might adjust to it. Give yourself time.
Take ranitidine or losec for heartburn. Take laxative for constipation.
I took it 3 times a day and started improving in 10 days. If you can take it 4 or more times a day.
At the beginning of this therapy (in a few days) I lost unpleasant tingling, sharp pains; slightly longer took removal of sensory defects from my hands and legs.
The longest (3-4 weeks) took to improve my memory and attention.

Your doctor shouldn't hesitate to prescribe cholestyramine to you, because it is a safe drug. Make sure that it doesn't interfere with other oral medication. The best is not to take other medicines one hour before cholestyramine and 3 hours after. Otherwise you risk that your other treatment might not work.
Than buy yourself a notebook, date pages and day by day describe your experience. This will be the proof for your doctor that you improve.

Dr Shoemaker propagated the method to clear toxin from Lyme.
He has never published any article in scientific journals (that is unfortunate) but had oral presentations on symposia (there was something in 2002).
He tried cholestyramine for other disease such as chronic fatigue, Gulf war veterans but as far as I know it works very well only for Lyme disease and for snake bites.

NOTE: not all symptoms of Lyme disease are caused by toxin. The bacteria may itself damage your brain, your heart and other organs.
So don't expect that cholestyramine will remove all your symptoms.
In my case, it didn't remove skin oversensitivity. So, I suspect that bacteria has infected my brain (thalamus in particular) and change the way I feel my skin.

Also make sure that you understand that even if you improve dramatically after cholestyramine that bad living bacteria are still in your body. Cholestyramine may be considered as a symptomatic treatment but for sure not as a cure.
They have to be killed with antibiotics otherwise they will continue to produce toxin and damage your vital organs.

Are there safer ways to bind/remove toxins?

Chitosan may help but even if you improve it won't be a good evidence to a medical doctor that you have Lyme disease.
Doctors prescribe cholestyramine and they know how it works.
Chitosan would be considered as a wierd supplement by many doctors and will not add to your diagnosis.

It is important to note that various treatments have very different effects on different people and while taking this drug changed your condition quickly and noticeably, it might not for other people.

The same can be said for using antibiotics as a diagnostic tool. Some people's symptoms will get better or worse very quickly after taking antibiotics. This is a helpful diagnostic tool as well. Other people won't have a noticable change despite the fact that they do have Lyme.

My LLMD said that it often takes 90 - 120 days of treatment before there is a change. I have read many postings here that support that. Each of us had a different Lyme experience & journey.

It is fortunate that your Dr. had an open mind. Not all of us are so lucky. There are some around here who are beyond closed minded; they are downright insulting and condescending.

At a famous hospital here they tried to convince me that I might not have been bit by a tick, had not had a Lyme test (they "lost" the one my Dr. sent them)and saw no reason why my symptoms had anything to do with Lyme since I didn't have swollen joints! This was right after I explained that I was bit on July 6, had removed the tick myself and kept the tick. I had also had a positive Lyme test (2 positives after they ordered a 2nd test)!

I could not possibly have explained the use of any drug to these people.

We each need to become educated and choose what works best for us. I appreciate your letting us know what worked for you.

h&s

My LLMD hasn't mentioned that but I would love to try it. My tests are positive but I'm definitely struggling with tx.

Hatsnscarfs, intersting theory about abx. My husband has had lyme at least 40 years and doesn't know what it feels like to be normal.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lyme ED:
A good Lyme disease test that is greatly underutilized is the Coin Flip.

---

Lyme ED, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but the medical community will never accept your new lyme test at an accuracy rate of 50%. It's too high.

Angie

quote:

---

Originally posted by twoangie:
Lyme ED, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but the medical community will never accept your new lyme test at an accuracy rate of 50%. It's too high.

Angie

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lyme ED:
A good Lyme disease test that is greatly underutilized is the Coin Flip.
Joanne

---

OMG! That IS funny!

I read it yesterday, and I laughed so hard.

I re-read it this morning, and I had to roll again.

Thank you so much for the comic relief. I needed that!

...and Up for more views!!!

I also agree, that questran will work very well only in people who have livers in good shape and are able to turn the toxin from their blood into the bile.

I am all over this--thank you so much!

Also wanted to let folks know that the ranitidine you mentioned for heartburn will also help with Active Epstein -Barr. I take four a day along with...ugh forget--you know the stuff for herpes. And let me say if I forget to take it--I can tell!

Thank you so, so much.

Gotta go read your link now!

linda

Re: Cholestyramine - I have never heard that it can be used as a diagnostic tool, and I think I'd need more evidence to be convinced. Partly, because I think today's today's humans are so full of toxins anyway that improvement of symptoms from the removal of such toxins would not convince me that it would JUST help those with Lyme Disease to feel better.

Anyway. I took Cholestyramine at the beginning of my treatment, but only for two weeks because it made my hands itch something rotten.

DLL

Areneli,

In my case, I am pretty sure, seronegativity is caused by having the bug from other continent: too different for standard American tests.

Aren,