Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
Sounds interesting.
By the way... this place is great for massages. And that is from someone who REALLY doesn't like a massage at all!
`````````````````````````````````````````````````
Topic for August 11th 2:00- 3:30 PM
Natural Options for Lyme Disease
The number of Lyme disease cases has doubled in the U.S. since 1991, and Maryland has some of the highest rates of Lyme disease in the country. Although acute Lyme disease is easily treated, chronic Lyme disease can be a debilitating and frustrating illness, with a wide variety of symptoms that may change over time.
In this informative lecture you'll learn about some of the natural treatment options available for chronic Lyme disease, their benefits and risks, and their compatibility with conventional medical treatments.
Call or Stop By to reserve your space...
True Relaxation Holistic Health Center Located in Centreville in the Acme Shopping Center
Valerie Nix, N.D. is a graduate of the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine and Health Sciences, a four-year post-graduate program in alternative and integrative medicine. She now practices at True Relaxation in Centreville, and in Annapolis.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Lyme Disease and Holistic Medicine Valerie Nix, ND
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the number of cases of Lyme disease in the United States has doubled since the disease was first classified in 1991. Many of these new cases are in Maryland, which has one of the highest rates of Lyme disease in the country.
If the disease is recognized very early, treatment with antibiotics is considered much more effective than later treatment. Unfortunately, many people do not know that they have Lyme disease until they have been infected for months or even years.
Lyme disease is named after Lyme, Connecticut, where a group of young people who were misdiagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis were discovered to have a tick-borne infection. The bacteria known as Borrelia burgdorferi is usually transmitted by a deer tick, and can spread to the lymph, blood, organs, and other tissues, causing a multitude of symptoms.
In 60% of Lyme cases, the patient is also infected with other organisms, such as Ehrlichiosis or Babesiosis.
However, the actual number of bacteria in a person infected with Borrelia burgdorferi is usually not very high, and many of the symptoms of the later stages are caused by the body's immune response rather than the infection itself.
Thus, according to current medical thought, many of the symptoms are caused by the patient's immune system, rather than by the bacteria--in other words, an autoimmune reaction.
Most of the patients who seek out holistic therapies for Lyme disease are those in the later stages, who were not treated with antibiotics within the first two months of becoming infected.
The most common symptoms of late stage Lyme disease are joint pain and swelling ("Lyme arthritis") and neurological symptoms such as numbness and tingling in various parts of the body, muscle twitching and pain, and a host of other symptoms.
A small percentage of Lyme sufferers develop mental/emotional disorders, sleep disturbances, or even life-threatening cardiac problems or encephalitis (swelling of the brain).
Since some of the complications can be life-threatening, and holistic medicine is poorly regulated in the state of Maryland, the vast majority of patients who seek out alternative treatments are simultaneously receiving treatment from an M.D.
There are several different types of holistic approaches for the symptoms of Lyme disease. One of the most popular is herbal medicine. A group of plants known as "immunomodulators" have been used for thousands of years to stimulate a normal immune response to an infection and reduce autoimmune activity.
Some of these plants, such as astragalus, siberian ginseng, and ashwaghanda, are sold in health food stores and organic markets. Others, such as andrographis and schizandra, are prescribed mainly by practitioners and are hard to find over the counter.
The immune-stimulating plant that the public is most familiar with, echinacea, should be avoided by anyone who has Lyme disease or any other condition with autoimmune activity, as it can actually worsen symptoms by stimulating the immune system without balancing it.
There are a few formulas available that are designed specifically for tick-borne diseases, such as David Winston's Spirolyd Compound, but these are usually available only to practitioners, since they are not safe for over-the-counter sales.
Another type of holistic medicine that some Lyme patients find helpful is homeopathy. Homeopathy is an extremely safe system of medicine created by a German doctor in the 1700's that is designed to stimulate the body's ability to heal itself.
It was very popular in this country in the first half of the 1900's, when homeopathic physicians and conventional medical physicians received training together, and most major cities in the United States had homeopathic hospitals.
The Canadian homeopath and naturopathic physician, Andre Saine, N.D., is currently working on a book on the history of homeopathic treatment of dangerous infectious diseases, such as cholera and typhoid, that took place in the United States in the early part of this century.
The survival rate of patients who were treated with this method were generally much higher than those who were treated by "the regulars", or conventional doctors, according to Saine.
Homeopathic treatment is highly individualized, so that five different patients with the same diagnosis might receive five different remedies, based on the details of their symptoms and the overall clinical picture.
Finally, nutritional counseling often has much to offer for anyone with a chronic infection. Research has shown that dietary factors can influence immune response to infection, as well as influencing inflammation levels in the body.
The typical American diet is rich in calories but low in the nutrients necessary for normal immune function, and also tends to promote the production of inflammatory prostaglandins, which can have a dramatic effect on symptoms such as joint pain.
There are many other types of holistic, or complementary, medicine that have not been discussed here, but these examples should help to illustrate that there are many options available to sufferers of Lyme disease who wish to add complementary medicine to their current treatment regimen.
It should be noted that in medicine, every treatment decision is a matter of weighing the cost (in terms of medical risk, financial cost, etc.) and the potential benefits of the treatment, and for many of these treatment modalities the risk is relatively low.
However, there is no type of medicine or treatment in existence that is absolutely risk-free, and negative interactions between different treatments are possible, so it is always best to consult with your physician about any additional treatments that you are interested in.
Visit True Relaxation for a schedule of free talks given every second Saturday of the month. Saturday August 11th 2:00 - 3:30 pm, Dr. Nix will discuss Lyme Disease.
Valerie Nix, N.D. is a graduate of the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine and Health Sciences, a four-year post-graduate program in alternative and integrative medicine. She now practices at True Relaxation in Centreville, and in Annapolis.
GiGi
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 259
posted
Open minded - good spirited - that's what I have always loved about you!
Take care.
Posts: 9834 | From Washington State | Registered: Oct 2000
| IP: Logged |
luvs2ride
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8090
posted
This article sings my song. Especially homeopathy. It cleared up so many symptoms for me.
Change of diet brought about the most dramatic improvements in my joint pain.
A 2nd tickbite has sent me down the allopathic path now in hopes of killing this while in the acute stage.
Even the doctor I work with now said her experience has shown there is no use going after the bacterias until we heal the gut and clean up the parasites and heavy metals. She says chronic illness is never caused by just one thing.
Thanks TC for sharing with us.
Luvs
-------------------- When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, there will be Peace. Posts: 3038 | From america | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic