I'm sure this site has been brought to Lymenet before, but I've never seen it, so maybe some of you have never seen it either.

There are other pages at the site, (including Lyme Disease) but, I found this one to be very interesting, as I have been pos dx'd with LD, then Fibro (6 months later), 'in that order'(huh..?). I wish I would have had this article to show any one of the doctors I've seen over the past nine years!

Warning: LONG Article, but it's worth your time! At first he sounds like he doesn't know what's he's talking about, but as the article goes on, IMO...he's right on!!!

In fact, many of you probably know him, personally, I've probably even heard him name mentioned.

But, anyway, I'm sharing this because I think it's a great written (public) article for 'us newbies' (If you don't agree with it, please take it up with Dr. Shoemaker )

(and about the three weeks of antibiotics after believing the patient had Lyme for maybe five years??...I know, I know...but it was written in 2000...Sooo...anyway)...

Disclaimer: I'm "NOT RECOMMENDING" anything, "JUST SHARING"!! It's your choice to read it if you want.
~laserred~

This page (written in 2000) is 'basically' about:
Fibromyalgia vs Lyme Disease

Dr Shoemaker
Contrast Vision Sensitivity Test Site http://tinyurl.com/7rvhz

Edited to change 'she' to 'he'...Sorry 'bout that, Thanks Lymetoo!

Thanks for the link.

Although, I am diagnosed with both fybromialgia and Lyme. Totally. Western blot CDC criteria, proper amount of presure points etc...

My LLMD, even before the visual contrast test, gave me a prescription for the drug used to clear nuerotoxins mentioned in this article, cholory...... however you spell it, because of my symtoms and severe neurological herxing. Anyway, it is a cholestorol lowering drug for its on lable usage, and I tried twice, but the side effects I got were way, way to rough on me.

So, it is a good article. And, I am sure there is a relation and this works for some or many people, but unfortunaltelly, it is not a marker for all cases, and not everyone can take that particlular drug. I am trying ALA and chlorella at the moment and doing more research to try and find other approaches to get the neurotoxins out.

I am glad to find physycians looking for cominalities, doing there best research, trying to help people. But, we need funding and complete research samples etc... to get the ultimate answers and markers, the full answers need more than what one doctor can do in his office/practice. In the meantime, this is a good start, and it will be a marker for a percentage of the population.

I tried to do some research on why this drug bothered my so. I cant know exactly why, but one theory is this: It is usually used as a cholesterol lowering drug. I have low cholesterol already.

Cholesterol is not all bad, it serves inportant functions in our bodies. It has something to do with seratonin in our brains. (whish I could remember this article !) Anyway, they have found a correlation with too low colesterol and crazy and/or criminal behavior.

Also, I think I read something about colesterol binding heavy metals. So, lower colesterol even more, metals pop out to wreak havoc in your brain.

I am not saying not to do it. It will probably help many people. If you have low colesterol already, be aware you could get bad nuero side effects. If you do, dont freak out, it is reversable. Just stop the new drug and try something else that clears nuerotoxins.
The second time I tried it, to confirm what caused my symptoms, it was not so scary cause I knew I was not going crazy, I just needed to stop taking it.

I am glad you are pointing out this article to more people, as it is bound to help some.

You know, I was questioning my self when I said she, but for some reason I thought the article referred tothe doctor being a she...

Thanks for clearing that up, TuTu, I knew you'd know who Dr. Shoemaker was I knew a few of you probably do, but I didn't.

crazychris: I'm glad you found that interesting too!

mt momma: I don't think I'm going to ask my LLMD to change anything at this point, as he has his 'plan'...and so far, so good...so I'll let him go with it but it's good to hear your experience with it.

Did you do the full therapy as it was recommeneded with the pre-antibiotic(prio...something...) first to get the bacteria load down, or just do 2 attempts of the cholestyramine alone?

I think you should try it if your doctor says it will help. It wont hurt. If you start to have real bad symptoms, you can just stop. I just put my experience out there to let you know that if you are in the small percentage to get these syptoms, not to panic.

Also, I do not fail the visual whatever test he suggets. It is not a marker for me. So, that already shows my nuerotoxins might behave different from yours or other patients he's used this on.

I do have great trouble with headlights at night, have lyme, have fybromialgia. So, that marker is not he whole picture for all of us.

I hope you tolerate it so it can clear nuerotoxins for you, let us know how it turns out. The more data points, the better.

Know, Ive never taken it or heard of it before. So, I googled it. It is usually used for type 2 diabetics, also helps with cholesterol. And, there is a study mentioning using it for Multiple Sclerosis. hard to understand how, but here is part of it:

"The thiazolidinedione class of drugs were developed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and act by improving insulin resistance without causing hypoglycemia, even in euglycemic individuals. They were later found to activate PPAR? and shown to promote anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects by suppressing T lymphocyte activation, proliferation, and inhibiting cellular production of inflammatory molecules associated with MS [3,6,7].

The beneficial effects of pioglitazone observed in this patient are somewhat unexpected as inflammation is less prominent in secondary progressive MS compared to relapsing remitting disease. However, improvements in upper body strength, coordination, dysphagia, and cognitive function, suggest neurological benefit associated with pioglitazone treatment. In addition to their anti-inflammatory actions, TZDs can also influence cell physiology in a receptor-independent manner, and we recently demonstrated that TZDs increase astrocyte glucose metabolism and lactate production [11]. It is therefore feasible that effects on brain metabolism, for example increased capacity of astrocytes to provide lactate to surrounding neurons, accounts in part for improved cognitive and motor function."

Well, I'll have to ask my LLMD if she's ever heard of this, sounds like it might be an important piece of this detox protocol.

The Questran [cholestyramine] wreaked havoc on my stomach. I got relief of the neurotoxins to some extent and I think I also got a lift in energy.....but over time my stomach and/or gallbladder just couldn't take it. I understand it has sugar in it, so the yeast thing was probably a factor for me.

Maybe if "Margie" had been actually treated properly for LD she would have actually gotten better.

quote:

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Originally posted by Lisianthus:
Maybe I am missing something here but Dr. Shoemaker put "Margie" on 3 weeks of Abx and she had LD for more than 5 years. But her symptoms didn't go away after 3 weeks of treatment. I really doubt this Dr. knows anything about LD at all. Gee... no wonder her eyes didn't improve... duh!

Maybe if "Margie" had been actually treated properly for LD she would have actually gotten better.

Just my humble opinion

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Note: Just an FYI..this article was WRITTEN 5 years ago.