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Zombie Hell 2: still stuck and shuffling through 1/3 of a life

poor recovery unrefreshing sleep dysautonomia meta-medical advise nutrient malabsorbtion chronic illness fatigue zombie hell

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#1 Dichotohmy

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Posted 12 August 2017 - 01:28 AM


This is a continuation of the thread found here, but which thread has become too convoluted for me to make sense of anymore and which has run its course.

 

I think I have considered a lot of possible causes for what I am experiencing, so am not really very interested in suggestions outside of novel or obscure possibilities that you don't hear about everyday. I have also tried a lot of orthodox supplements, lifestyle adjustment, and medications that should be helpful for whatever is wrong with me. I'm not even sure if this is the right subforum for this, but I am posting primarily in hopes of advise to find helpful medical advise -- meta-medical-advise if you would. I have been away from any doctor for a long time because I assumed they cannot help me -- either because of managed-healthcare red tape or because I do not have the energy to effectively advocate for myself. In essence, I have been just trying to get on with my life and live it to the best and most fulfilling of my ability. Unfortunately, my life prognosis is unsustainable and I am heading to homelessness within 1-2 years maximum if I cannot get my health together enough to make a living. Something has to give, and so I have to make a push to find a helpful solution before its too late.

 

I have attached some separate .doc files to, I hope, clearly explain my symptomology, background, and things I have tried. In essence, I'm limited to a functionality level of around 1/3 of my known 100%. By that I mean that on any given day, I can sustainably devote a maximum of 1/3 of my waking hours to some sort of thinking, physical movement, socialization, critical reading, or other activity that requires actual active participation on my part. The rest of my waking hours I have to devote to activities like laying down, watching TV, staring at the ceiling, zoning out, or other activities that only require passive participation on my part. I find that my 1/3 of active waking hours seem to almost invariably happen in the first 5 hours of the day. Once the midday comes around, my mental and physical energy hits a wall. To color it up, my oomph and my morning get up and go, just gets up and leaves. I usually become quite sleepy, hazy, and somewhat zombie-like for the rest of the day and shift to couch-bound passive activities. I believe that this and other symptoms are a result of my inability to recharge energy anymore - something akin to CFS/ME or autoimmune disease, but likely rooted in a haywire feedback mechanism or unrefreshing sleep instead of a clearly-defined trigger. Some of these problems, as I explain in the background document, have been present for a long time but have become significantly worse since something happened to me around November, 2013. Still other things developed only then.

 

Symptoms in brief:

 

- Protracted recovery from physical and mental exertion or moderate energy expenditure. Mild-severe fatigue that is related to energy expenditure.

- Exercise intolerance.

- Mild cognitive dysfunction.

- Unrefreshing sleep with measured architecture abnormalities. Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations.

- Propensity to dehydration and some diminished serum electrolytes, mild polyuria.

- Mineral deficiencies, atypical gut phenomena, persistent, slow weight loss and inability to tolerate eating enough for weight gain. 

- Chronic swollen lymph nodes.

- Joint and muscle stiffness, inflammation, ataxia, pain, and crepitus related to physical energy expenditure.

- Orthostatic intolerance with syncope and pre-syncope.

- Low heart rate with normal-high systolic blood pressure. Prolonged bleeding from minor wounds.

- Cold intolerance and abnormally low-basal temperature. Improved global symptomology from warm temperatures.

 

All of these symptoms form a constellation that is a moderate-severe hindrance to my ability to provide myself the basic necessities of life, let alone meaningful work or achievement. The symptoms wax and wane in severity and the degree to which they incapacitate me, but ultimately, a poor recovery from energy expenditure seems to be the one constant.

 

Because I am so bad at self narrative or on-the-spot description, I have been working on and off for several months on the attached written documents to better explain my situation. At the same time, I realize that what I have written is a whole lot to digest and I suspect will not work advantageously for my first GP doctor appointment in over 2.5 years. I have not had very good medical diagnostics or tests run, so there is a lot that has not been excluded. My appointment is in 10 days. I really need advise on what to cut from my written statement, what to extrapolate on, and generally, just how to broach the subject without looking like a head case due to the fact that the issues are wide-ranging, chronic in nature, and I have not sought care. I also seek recommendations for specific doctors in the American southwest or northern Mexico in the event that I get nowhere with the VA and have to go outside of insurance. I am not really seeking medical advise unless it is some novel advise, to which I hope good judgement prevails. At the same time, I am willing to better explain things in the interest of making a better case that helps me get better. I truly want to just get better and have no agenda or emotion invested in what results in my recovery. Unfortunately, I dread I could get a CFS or treatment-resistant depression diagnosis that would not help me at all, and which poisons the well in seeking a second or third new opinion. I have clearly-defined goals and a vision of where I want to go and who I want to be, and I have the smarts and motivation to get there, but my body and/or brain is sabotaging me.

 

Thank you for reading.

 

 

Attached Files


Edited by Dichotohmy, 12 August 2017 - 01:31 AM.


#2 brainfogboy

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Posted 12 August 2017 - 01:52 AM

Three things that have led to IMMEDIATE noticeable improvements in brain fog:

 

1) Ginger Ale (I'm sipping on a single can throughout the day)

2) 300mg Zantac 2x daily

3) 10mg Zyrtec 1x daily

 

Explanation:

 

1) Ginger is said to be a known anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant:

https://www.ncbi.nlm...les/PMC3665023/

I don't know if these properties are the reason but I feel better almost immediately.

 

2 and 3) A well reputable GI doctor I recently saw mentioned "Histamine De-granulation Syndrome, which he said is a first-stage immune response to food particles that cross the intestinal lining.  He called this "intestinal permeability", which is the same thing as "leaky gut" if you've read about this online. This is the first time I have heard a doctor mention something resembling leaky gut, and this was at Rush University Medical Center here in Chicago (a teaching hospital).  He is trying me on 300mg Zantac 2x daily and 10mg Zyrtec 1x daily to manage histamine release, and doing a hydrogen breath test next month to test for bacterial overgrowth.  So far I have had a noticeable improvement.

 

I mentioned these three things because they are relatively cheap (ginger ale is a few dollars at the store for a 12 pack, and zyrtec and Zantac [Ranitidine] 300mg can be purchased over the counter) and might be worth a shot.

 

Sounds stupid, but next time you're at the store pick up a few cans of ginger ale and a bottle of Zyrtec.  Zyrtec seems to help more than Zantac for me.  I have been drinking the ginger ale the past several days and have actually had energy to do things.  If I feel poisoned after eating I take a few sips and let it sit on my tongue before swallowing it, and I feel better within 5 minutes.  Definitely not placebo. 


Edited by brainfogboy, 12 August 2017 - 01:58 AM.

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#3 echopraxia

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Posted 13 August 2017 - 06:13 PM

 As much as having a detailed history should be useful for a doctor, in my experience they really don't like "write-ups" as much as they should. If you don't get good responses from doctors when you go in this time, I'd consider just going in with a few of the primary complaints and making it an appeal to their emotions, with the only write-up being a sheet documenting your reactions to medications, past test results, and things that it clearly isn't. I'd also consider leaving out the drug-abuse section, simply because lots of doctors will anchor on to that, and it seems questionably relevant(e.g. if there is drug-induced dysfunction, that dysfunction could also exist without drugs). 

 

A lot of our background and symptoms are different(and yours definitely seems more severe or further along), but there are some commonalities -- extreme fatigue, circadian issues, sleep-onset insomnia from childhood + ADHD, immune issues, gut issues, SSRI responses. Given this, I'm going to throw out a couple of weird things. I wouldn't suggest them as first line treatments, and some of them are certainly long shots even though they work great for me, but given where you're at it seems worth throwing out there in case the doctors aren't helpful.

 

1. Have you tried psilocybin? I found .35-.7g 2-3x/day reduced fatigue, improved general well being, improved sleep issues, reduced my desire for other methods of self-medication[e.g. alcohol/adhd drugs], DRASTICALLY improved memory, etc. It drastically lowers TNF-a, and generally seems to have a mechanism of action that isn't present in any current psychiatric drugs. Given that, it seems worth testing. Even if it simply can replace your use of alcohol and provide anti-inflammatory benefits, that would likely be a pretty good change due to the negative effects alcohol can have on sleep. Honestly, for me, it feels like the good parts of weed + the OPPOSITE of the bad parts of weed.

 

2. Have you tried a ketogenic diet, both the "soft" 65-75% fat type, and the classic 90% fat type? If yes, did you do it properly?(E.g. making sure electrolytes are balanced, lots of fiber, lots of healthy fats, accurate tracking.)  I find it eliminates my gut issues almost entirely, stabilizes energy levels, and also has benefits on mood. By "stabilize" i don't mean it's particularly higher(although it is somewhat), but more that there aren't as many huge dips.

 

3. I personally find my fatigue issues almost go entirely away when camping for an extended period of time. This sounds weird, but less so when you consider how strong immune effects can be, and how we really aren't meant to be inside all day. As ridiculous as it sounds, I'd consider testing something like sleeping in a hammock or tent in your back yard.

 

4. Have you had a full hormone workup? Testosterone specifically seems like something that could be an issue. It obviously won't cause all of your problems, but when it gets to something like this it seems just as likely that it's a few things that may or may not be related.


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#4 Dichotohmy

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Posted 16 August 2017 - 11:05 PM

Three things that have led to IMMEDIATE noticeable improvements in brain fog:

 

1) Ginger Ale (I'm sipping on a single can throughout the day)

2) 300mg Zantac 2x daily

3) 10mg Zyrtec 1x daily

 

 

1. I've never drank a drop of ginger ale in my life, but have used fresh ginger often in cooking for years. I see that the process to make ginger ale uses more fresh ginger and thus likely provides more of the benefitial anti-inflammatory compounds and other benefitial nutrients. I'll try making my own ginger ale and see how it works. I like to try new food things anyway.

2. I've never tried Zantac, but took omeprazole in the past and it was not good. By that I mean it took my mild heart burn at the time (I haven't had any heartburn at all for a long time now) to the level of regurgitating a little bit of stomach contents every time I burped and other GERD symptoms. This was more like 4.5 years ago, before I really crashed in 2013, so maybe not applicable. They are obviously different drug classes to the same end of reducing stomach acid - one an H2 antagonist and the other a PPI, but I don't care to try seeking that end result again. One hypothesis I've considered is that I have too low stomach acid, in part due to my response to the PPI and bicarbonate self-tests I've done, and this could be the explanation for my measured low levels of iron and magnesium, and perhaps why I seem to be able to eat so far above my metabolic caloric requirement without gaining weight. Acid-mineral reactions and food breakdown in the stomach are important and underappreciated steps in the digestive process. This could also be the reason for why zinc, which I've never had tested, did give me significant benefits with high-dose supplementing.

3. I've never tried Zyrtec but 2-3 years ago gave an extended trial to loratadine in an unsuccessful bid to help my nasal congestion and (at the time) total nasal blockage while in the laying position. The loratadine didn't have an ounce of benefit for relieving nasal congestion or anything else that I could tell.

I get that you're going at the anti-histamine angle with suggestions 2 and 3. I'm sensitive to anti-histamines that cross the BBB in that they massively sedate me without improving sleep quality, then leave me with a sluggish hangover after 12-hours or so. Some reading I did suggests Zyrtec more readily crosses the BBB than loratadine so I think I'll stay away considering the loratadine wasn't benefitial for me at all. 

 



#5 Dichotohmy

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Posted 16 August 2017 - 11:20 PM

 As much as having a detailed history should be useful for a doctor, in my experience they really don't like "write-ups" as much as they should...

 

Well, the reason I considered going with a detailed writeup is that I've tried the approach of mentioning one or two primary complaints per 6-month checkup, like unrefreshing sleep, exercise intolerance and slow recovery, and poor nasal breathing. While that approach lead to some interesting tests results, I have neither gotten an explanation for those primary complaints, let alone the whole nexus of things as a whole.

I agree that too much information is a bad thing, either in the form of too much detail or irrelevant information that can be used as a strawman of sorts, but at the same time, without sufficient time to think about it, I am so bad at explaining these things and how they affect my life, that I think bringing some sort of writeup is worth a try. I'm also dealing with the VA here, where the doctors are notoriously overworked, understaffed, and underappreciated, so yeah, I don't plan to mention anything that can be used as an excuse to dismiss me. I was thinking more like a page or two that my PCP, who no doubt hopes for an easy 15 minute appointment, can digest in 5 minutes or so. I guess I wrote so much because I can't lay out such a symptom or background writeup in one, two, three, or even four sittings, and so made it an ongoing project.

1. I tried psilocybin mushrooms a few times in the distant past (like over 15 years ago). I got some interesting introspection and self-awareness I wouldn't normally wouldn't have. I might have gotten some very minor (too little) benefit for the dysthymia, or the other drug abuse that followed from it, that I had at the time. I am somewhat familiar with the more recent research into psilocybin's immune system interactions and interested in trying mushrooms again, now that I am such a different person.

 

These days I use 2-4 drinks of alcohol as a nightcap, because in my experience, alcohol has proven to be the least bad drug that helps provide more refreshing sleep on a consistent basis. 24/7 drinking, or even more minor noon-passout drinking, was a disaster for my physical and mental health in the past, and I'm glad I haven't been down that deep into the bottle in quite some time. I have long sought a true alcohol replacement. The only thing that has come close are a low dose stimulant and low dose opiate combo, which can keep me craving and alcohol-free all day and into nightfall. I have too many stimulant side effects these days and I'm not sure this is a less-harmful replacement to mild-moderate alcohol use.

2. I tried VLC and kept a food log for a few weeks to get an idea of the diet. I went down to about 30g of carbs a day. I tracked at the time around 45% fat and 45% protein as my calorie sources. I ate a lot of low-calorie, low-starch, high-fiber vegetables at the time. I lost far too much weight and had intensely worse brain fog, other cognitive issues and fatigue during this 4-month experiment. The extra protein didn't even help with exercise recovery or muscle gain. This was in early 2014. I made no attempt to supplement electrolytes at the time and was likely unbalanced. A very significant amount of that 45% daily fat calories came from O-6 oils and animals fats, so definitely not the healthiest sources. Maybe I was just worse, in terms of health, at the time, and the worsening was a coincidence, but I think I just feel better eating enough carbs that I get a more even distribution of macronutrients.   

3. Poor recovery from energy expenditure and ensuing fatigue, or any other core issues aren't helped by traveling or sleeping under the stars. I definitely try to get outside and travel when I have enough energy that it will be a vacation. I sleep worse because I cannot lug a comfortable bed in a backpack, motorcycle, or even a car. What does really improve is my feeling of well being and ADHD symptoms. I am one of those people who is attracted to seeing new sights, the very act of traveling, and novel experiences. I would be a pathological tourist if I had the energy or money to do so.  

4. I have not had a full hormone workup. I have tested vitamin-D, and around 2.5 years ago, testosterone and cortisol on my own dime. The T and cortisol tests were so long ago they probably aren't relevant anymore. At the time, my T was normal-highish as I recall and besides poor-recovery from exertion and trouble putting on muscle, I have all the other positive symptoms of high T. My 24-hour cortisol at the time was sort of an elongated U-shaped curve as I recall. IE, it was low-normal upon awaking, too low in the mid-day, and raised up again to more normal levels around bed time. I imagine my cortisol curve is more of an backwards J now - high in the morning where I have energy, dipping to low territory in afternoon where I lose the energy, and then raising back to normal at bed time where I fall asleep easily. I definitely want a full hormone panel because I can speculate about this all day, but there's no solution for objective test results.




 



#6 Gordo

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Posted 17 August 2017 - 04:14 AM

I'd ask for a lyme test at your doc visit, pretty much all of your symptoms match lymes and you hint at that yourself in your write up, you also say a 6 month course of doxy improved your symptoms which further supports this hypothesis, however while the doxy may knock it down, it doesn't always permanently resolve the problem.  Lowered body temp is a symptom of Lyme for sure, as is swollen lymph nodes.  Unfortunately no test can identify all bacterial infections, however there is at least one "novel" thing you can do which may help, look at your blood under a phase contrast microscope (100x oil immersion).  Either buy the equipment yourself ($800-$1500 check ebay), or find someone that does this (search for "live blood analysis" but avoid quacks if possible) - you can find many videos of this on youtube - this is one way to see some bacterial infections such as spirochetes, you could also look at a sample taken from the base of your teeth for dental spirochetes.

 

(if you go to the above guy's video description, he has a great deal of info and links to other resources & videos, listen to his commentary too)  He also mentions in the comments: These bacteria are spread by ticks in most cases, but they can also be spread by the bite of deer flies, horse flies, sand flies, some spiders, a very small percentage of mosquitos, and other insects. 
Also from the comments "researchers showed that borellia migrates to lymph nodes".
 

 


Edited by Gordo, 17 August 2017 - 04:36 AM.

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#7 Dichotohmy

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Posted 18 August 2017 - 10:45 PM

 

I'd ask for a lyme test at your doc visit, pretty much all of your symptoms match lymes and you hint at that yourself in your write up, you also say a 6 month course of doxy improved your symptoms which further supports this hypothesis, however while the doxy may knock it down, it doesn't always permanently resolve the problem.  Lowered body temp is a symptom of Lyme for sure, as is swollen lymph nodes.  Unfortunately no test can identify all bacterial infections, however there is at least one "novel" thing you can do which may help, look at your blood under a phase contrast microscope (100x oil immersion).  Either buy the equipment yourself ($800-$1500 check ebay), or find someone that does this (search for "live blood analysis" but avoid quacks if possible) - you can find many videos of this on youtube - this is one way to see some bacterial infections such as spirochetes, you could also look at a sample taken from the base of your teeth for dental spirochetes.

 

 

Yeah, some sort of tick-borne infection is something I have been very curious about given my background. This comes back to the meta-medical advice thing: how does one find a lyme-literate doctor who isn't a quack? How does one find a LLD at all? I posted to lymenet three years ago and got zero responses. I have tried emailing individual, purported lyme-literate doctors and have gotten exactly zero replies from any of them. LLDs versus established medicine conspiracy theories, and patient communities are so replete with obvious quackery and nonsense, with just enough compelling evidence to keep me intrigued, that I am very wary. There is something wrong in my mind when its suggested that these doctors are paranoid about losing their medical licenses due to practicing unorthodox treatments like extended, multiple antibiotic courses. Who is the FDA boogeyman taking out the LLDs? Is there like some sort of secret handshake, wink, nudge, or darkweb speakeasy you have to contact in order to get access to a LLD? Who are the regulators who can make me confident I'm not wasting time, money, and most importantly, energy on a quack? I'm not afraid of high-does anti-biotics, even though that is nothing to take lightly, because I understand it will probably take full measures like that. I do dread being duped by a quack.

 

The videos are very interesting, thanks. I wish I had thought of this back in 2015, before I put my university education on hiatus and when I had access to microscopes and chemistry research labs.

 

 


(if you go to the above guy's video description, he has a great deal of info and links to other resources & videos, listen to his commentary too)  He also mentions in the comments: These bacteria are spread by ticks in most cases, but they can also be spread by the bite of deer flies, horse flies, sand flies, some spiders, a very small percentage of mosquitos, and other insects. 
Also from the comments "researchers showed that borellia migrates to lymph nodes".
 
I had regular tick exposure beginning around age 9 when I decided I enjoyed hiking very much. My mental health first began declining when I was 9 after I caught a flu-like illness following a hike. I have found many ticks stuck to my body after a hike over the years. At the same time, I cannot recall a single bite that I can say looks like a tick bite. I have done nearly all of my hiking in west coast states, where I realize tick-borne infections are proven to exist, but not to the extent they do in New England. One time in 2005, I got a rash, following a hike, on my right calf that clearly resembled a classic Bartonella stretch-mark rash. At the same time, I cannot rule out that I merely brushed that leg against a plant I am allergic to. I certainly didn't experience a decline in health after that incident in 2005. I was bitten by what I suspect was a spider back in July-August, 2013. The bite was, coincidentally, also on the right calf and swelled up to a tennis-ball sized, red, non-necrotic mass and took a good month to go away. Three months later, in November, my health declined significantly.
 
As a non-sequitor, the mosquitos here in Arizona have a huge hard-on for biting me for some reason. Last week, I had over 200 fresh mosquito bites on my ankles and calves because I spent time outside in shorts. It might be a coincidence, but I also felt like I had a mild fever the day after being chewed up. I measured my temperature went up to 99.4 which is both the first time that I have ever felt like I had a fever in 10 years time, and the first time I have ever seen my body temperature that high in the last four years. It was most probably just a half-assed immune response from my body to the mosquito saliva instead of WNV or Dengue fever.
 
I am a huge believer in wild coincidences and that terrible things happen all the time, to good people and bad people alike, for no reason or demonstrable cause. However, I am not sure that cause-effect hypothesis from 2013 is not a coincidence. I am just intrigued enough by the coincidence of effects following that flu-like illness when I was 9, that I honestly wonder if my problem is multiple little, latent infections reactivating and overwhelming my immune system to a new and relatively severe degree starting in late 2013. Essentially, my immune system isn't killing off or containing this death by a thousands cuts, but can put in half-assed offensives from time-to-time that make my symptoms wax and wane. The immune system just can't get momentum or win the war because it is rendered impotent by some sort of mysterious and malfunctioning feedback mechanisms. Those hypotheses would really drive me nuts if I was the type who believed that everything happens for a reason, or if I had OCD.

 


Edited by Dichotohmy, 18 August 2017 - 10:47 PM.


#8 brainfogboy

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Posted 19 August 2017 - 12:29 AM

I thought I found the real deal in regards to Lyme, infections, etc.  When you're desperate and have the money, you inevitably spend it.  $1200 later I was told I have Lyme and a protozoan infection.  I was, of course, immediately put on supplements which did not work.  I was told to "give them time".  I was in the hospital every single day for symptoms resembling death, and realized these supplements weren't doing their job.  Of course, if you stop treatment early because it isn't working, then it's your fault (the patient's fault) for stopping treatment.  If you do the treatment and it doesn't work, then you have a "hard case of lyme" and require more treatment.  I felt much worse on that shit, and was told I was "herxing".  Well, how can you tell a herx reaction from a poisoning of the supplements themselves?  Is one willing to potentially poison oneself and trust the practitioner that charges ridiculous fees?

 

I wish I could just go to a local college, give them a sample of blood, and see if this shit is for real once and for all.  So many people willing to take advantage of the sick.  I was also sick as a kid, I was raised in the woods, and my mother used to give me "tick checks" before going to bed every night.  It disgusts me that people like us are sick for years because no one can get their head out of their ass.


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#9 RYAN474

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Posted 19 August 2017 - 03:50 AM

A couple of things I didn't see in my brief review of your documents: 

 

A Low-Lectin Diet. See Dr Gundry's Plant Paradox Book. Or The Autoimmune Paleo Protocol (AIP). Both basically elimination diets specifically targeted at autoimmune issues. Both are a mainstay of my fatigue and brain fog relief. 

 

As someone else mentioned in this thread: Hormones. Including possibly thyroid issues. Even if labs are normal. Stopthethyroidmadness.com is one starting point.

 

As others have mentioned as well, infection seems like a very reasonable possibility. If infection is part of the picture, I would be sure to consider CIRS (Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome) as part of the picture and treatment. 


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#10 Gordo

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Posted 19 August 2017 - 02:43 PM

Yes, in my opinion there are far too many quacks in the Lyme treatment world including so called Lyme literate doctors. Some docs don't even believe chronic Lyme is a real condition, but this has been proven false as documented in the microscopy videos on YouTube. The REAL problem is that there IS no cure for chronic Lyme (i.e. After it's been in your body for years it becomes entrenched)! Antibiotics are the only thing I know of that knocks it down, but they mainly just temporarily clear it from the blood, meanwhile it's hiding out in many organs including muscles and even the brain, in a dormant cyst state, ready to come back later. And being on antibiotics for life doesn't sound like a great option.

I'll make an offer to both of you guys that suspect you have Lymes, if you mail me a blood sample I will analyze it with my own high powered phase contrast microscope for free, it's probably not going to help you much but at least you'll know if you have spirochetes in your blood or not. It's up to you to figure out how to get a vial of your blood, either ask your doc, get it from labcorp, or buy a sterile syringe and take it yourself if you're feeling bold, but it needs to be in a well sealed test tube, and enough that it won't quickly dry out. PM me for my mailing address. But you are probably going to want to ask your doc for a standard Lyme test anyway, as he or she is not going to trust anything else.

Edited by Gordo, 19 August 2017 - 02:44 PM.

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#11 Gordo

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Posted 22 August 2017 - 02:59 AM

Actually this might be easier to send than blood and it travels better:
http://www.anapsid.org/lyme/bach.html
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#12 Dichotohmy

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Posted 22 August 2017 - 07:48 PM

I thought I found the real deal in regards to Lyme, infections, etc.  When you're desperate and have the money, you inevitably spend it.  $1200 later I was told I have Lyme and a protozoan infection.  I was, of course, immediately put on supplements which did not work.  I was told to "give them time".  I was in the hospital every single day for symptoms resembling death, and realized these supplements weren't doing their job.  Of course, if you stop treatment early because it isn't working, then it's your fault (the patient's fault) for stopping treatment.  If you do the treatment and it doesn't work, then you have a "hard case of lyme" and require more treatment.  I felt much worse on that shit, and was told I was "herxing".  Well, how can you tell a herx reaction from a poisoning of the supplements themselves?  Is one willing to potentially poison oneself and trust the practitioner that charges ridiculous fees?

 

What you describe are the exact appeals to ignorance that I wish to steer clear of. I understand that the diagnostics to confirm chronic condition X can be flaky, and the treatments even more so; but ideally, that's where skill in making a differential diagnosis and empirical experience in how to sucessfully treat the diagnosis comes in. That is why I want tips for how to find a reputable doctor who is knowledgable and direct. I mean to the extent of knowledge a doctor can have without actually suffering a chronic illness - because let's face it, you don't become a doctor, or stay a doctor if you are limited by chronic illness. It seems like such "straight shooter" docs are lying low and are only reachable via word-of-mouth, because they can get plenty of business, based on reputation, without gimmicky advertising or taking on just any patient.
 

 


A Low-Lectin Diet. See Dr Gundry's Plant Paradox Book. Or The Autoimmune Paleo Protocol (AIP). Both basically elimination diets specifically targeted at autoimmune issues. Both are a mainstay of my fatigue and brain fog relief.

 

As others have mentioned as well, infection seems like a very reasonable possibility. If infection is part of the picture, I would be sure to consider CIRS (Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome) as part of the picture and treatment. 

 

I have definitely done some homework in the past about lectins and the evidence on paper looks compelling. I have attempted to control my intake of lectin-rich foods. Some things, like avoiding omega-6 fats, have stuck with me and are part of my cooking habits now. I usually ferment and/or pre-soak legumes and whole grains if I am going to cook with them. I have never done a hardcore lectin elimiation diet, but might try it someday.

CIRS is legitimately something I hadn't heard of before you posted. Preliminary searching leads me to some questionable sites, but I'll do my homework on more scientific sources.

 

I'll make an offer to both of you guys that suspect you have Lymes, if you mail me a blood sample I will analyze it with my own high powered phase contrast microscope for free, it's probably not going to help you much but at least you'll know if you have spirochetes in your blood or not. It's up to you to figure out how to get a vial of your blood, either ask your doc, get it from labcorp, or buy a sterile syringe and take it yourself if you're feeling bold, but it needs to be in a well sealed test tube, and enough that it won't quickly dry out. PM me for my mailing address. But you are probably going to want to ask your doc for a standard Lyme test anyway, as he or she is not going to trust anything else.

 

That's a very generous offer, and I'll PM you once I source some supplies. Is <1ml a sufficient sample? Express or even priority mail should help preserve the integrity of the sample I think.

 

I also don't mind making test-tube babies if indeed this is a more reliable medium of testing.


Edited by Dichotohmy, 22 August 2017 - 07:49 PM.


#13 Gordo

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Posted 23 August 2017 - 04:16 PM

 

I'll make an offer to both of you guys that suspect you have Lymes, if you mail me a blood sample I will analyze it with my own high powered phase contrast microscope for free, it's probably not going to help you much but at least you'll know if you have spirochetes in your blood or not. It's up to you to figure out how to get a vial of your blood, either ask your doc, get it from labcorp, or buy a sterile syringe and take it yourself if you're feeling bold, but it needs to be in a well sealed test tube, and enough that it won't quickly dry out. PM me for my mailing address. But you are probably going to want to ask your doc for a standard Lyme test anyway, as he or she is not going to trust anything else.

 

 

That's a very generous offer, and I'll PM you once I source some supplies. Is <1ml a sufficient sample? Express or even priority mail should help preserve the integrity of the sample I think.

 

I also don't mind making test-tube babies if indeed this is a more reliable medium of testing.

 

 

1ml of blood should work, 2 ml to keep it from drying out might be better.  Based on what I've read, letting the sample sit for 2 days is actually ideal, as all the spirochaetes will move out of the red blood cells in that timeframe, making them easily visible under microscope.  So priority mail, and not over a weekend, should be fine.  Regarding semen sample, in that study I linked to, they only found spirochaetes in HALF the samples from men who tested positive for lymes, so while that is a really interesting finding and is very strong evidence that lyme is actually also a sexually transmitted disease (which most people probably do not know), its probably NOT the best thing to look at just to see if a person has a spirochaete infection (50% reliability isn't very good).  That said, if you include both types of samples, it may be kind of interesting, we might find out if you have been possibly infecting other people, and I can also tell you how healthy your sperm count is, haha! 



#14 FunkOdyssey

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Posted 23 August 2017 - 08:50 PM

At the risk of repeating other posters: running thyroid labs seems like an obvious first step here.  I also second everything brainboy had to say about Lyme and the trap it represents for the chronically and inexplicably ill.


Edited by FunkOdyssey, 23 August 2017 - 08:51 PM.

  • Good Point x 1

#15 brainfogboy

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Posted 23 August 2017 - 09:15 PM

Here's what I don't understand:

 

Either someone has Lyme or they don't.  Either they have the bacteria that causes the condition, or they do not.  I can't understand why it's so hard to take a sample of blood and tell whether or not a person has spirochetes in it, or any other type of infection.  Don't labs do this for a living?  Don't people that work in labs do this for a living?  I understand that I am not a trained scientist, but this seems like something a biologist in college could do.

 

There is so much confusion over whether someone has Lyme, but where does this confusion come from?  That was a rhetorical question.  The confusion is on whether or not the spirochetes are in the blood.  There is so much confusion and arguing (online) over the testing methods and what they show, but does it really matter?  Just find out of there is an infection.  If the testing method is faulty, then it would be reasonable to assume that the treatment is faulty (how can you treat something you don't know even exists?  How can you target a therapy/treatment at something if you don't have specifics?).  The source of the problem is the testing.

 

I asked my last doctor this:  Is there or is there not an infection in the blood?  Why is this so hard to answer?

I couldn't get a straight answer out of the guy, which to me implies that he doesn't know (incompetent or a liar).

 

I'm going to try to get a vial taken next week at my doctor's appointment and send it to Gordo.  I've had enough of this shit.  I feel like Gordo could steer me straight when all these other doctors have their heads up their asses.  Even if there aren't spirochetes in the blood, perhaps something else is?  I mean normal, healthy blood should look a certain way, shouldn't it?

 

I wish I had the money for a microscope.  What I'm missing is accurate information.  Being passed around by doctors without me being able to discern what's true and what isn't seems to be the source of the problem.  I think both Dichotohmy and I could be healed in a very short time if we narrowed it down to what we were really struggling with.

 

P.S. I was feeling fine and ate 1 apple.  Within 5 minutes I the fog and fatigue began.  I still think this is linked to food in some way.  Lyme or otherwise.


Edited by brainfogboy, 23 August 2017 - 09:44 PM.


#16 Gordo

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Posted 23 August 2017 - 10:35 PM

Brainfogboy - at first I was as perplexed as you about this.  The best doc I ever went to had a microscope in some back room, I went to her about a toe nail fungus I'd had for many years, she took a sample right on the spot in her office, looked at it under the microscope, identified and diagnosed it on the spot and successfully treated it.  Some other docs have published microscopy videos on youtube, the dental docs verify their laser treatments worked with microscopy, here is one great example.
 
But thinking from the mainstream general practitioner's perspective, using a microscope:
  • Takes up very valuable office time.
  • Increases liability - what if he/she misses the bacteria?  What if patient has it, but it just wasn't in the particular sample, or he/she didn't spend enough time looking for it?
  • Is not specific enough - for example you can see a spirochete but you can't tell what type of bacteria it is, might be Borrelia burgdorferi, or it might be syphilis or even from a dental infection.  Even if they saw something, they would still have to do the lab testing to identify what it was, so to them there is no point in even looking.
From a mainstream doc perspective, its safer and easier to order a standard western blot test, even if they are unreliable.  Sadly, this does not help the patient much in this case.  There are 16 known tick-borne diseases of humans (four discovered since 2013).  Your blood shouldn't have ANY spirochetes or other bacteria in it, and if it is clearly overrun, you need antibiotics (if you have ANY spirochetes you need antibiotics).  And the only way to make sure the antibiotic treatment worked, is to check the blood again after treatment, and probably again 6 months after that...
 
IGenex supposedly is the gold standard of lyme testing, but even a basic test, which has the flaws mentioned above, will cost you several hundred dollars, and people could easily end up spending thousands:
And you will need at least 3 tests (1 to diagnose, 1 to confirm successful treatment, 1 followup to confirm long term results), which means about $800 total for just the bare minimum testing required.

Edited by Gordo, 23 August 2017 - 10:38 PM.

  • Agree x 1

#17 Dichotohmy

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Posted 02 September 2017 - 05:41 PM

Another update here. That appointment on the 21st, was, in fact, just an intake appointment because I've been away from the VA for so long. My real GP appointment is in another two months. Got to love the speed of socialized medical care. I did get some labs done and already some results. One nice thing about the VA is that they do process lab work fast and you can view all the results online.  

Some things that jump out at me from these latest results:

-- Positive ANA screening result. Positive SS-A antibodies (5.0). Negative for anti-DNA antibodies and negative ENA screening. I do not have further info on these things at this time. See attached.

-- The nurse measured my temperature at 101.2 and my blood pressure was 155/100. I did not feel feverish or hot at all, it was not a hot day, I did not walk far to the clinic, I was waiting in A/C, I did not feel nervous, and I didn't even feel like my blood pressure was high. Pretty unusual.

-- Low RBC (4.5 million/uL) and high MCH (33 pg).

-- High folate - beyond the measurable range of 20 ng/ml. Unremarkable B12 (516 pg/ml).

-- My iron and ferritin are up a bit 110 ug/dL and 66 ng/ml, respectively.

-- High HDL 83 mg/dL with low LDL and triglycerides. Too much HDL seems to be bad, but I don't understand why it would be so high because I have not been eating cleanly for a long time now.

-- Unremarkable TSH and FT4 results, again. 1.94 mIU/L and 1.05 ng/dL, respectively.

-- The serum electrolyte trend continues: sodium and chloride at the bottom of the range, magnesium at the bottom of the range, potassium normal, calcium normal.

 

 

At the risk of repeating other posters: running thyroid labs seems like an obvious first step here.  I also second everything brainboy had to say about Lyme and the trap it represents for the chronically and inexplicably ill.

 

I have asked twice, but it is apparently VA policy they will not run in-depth thyroid labs unless the TSH and/or FT4 are far out of range. The ranges for those two are very conservative, and not necessarily representative of good thyroid health, as they are in most health-care paradigms. I am familiar with more optimum TSH and T4 ranges, and the importance of also testing T3 and RT3, plus Hashimoto's antibodies. Maybe I can get tested for Hashimoto's antibodies given those recent positive ANA results.

 

 

I guess now I need to consult with the doctor to see what these results mean, whether I indeed have Hemolytic anemia due to the low RBC count, and/or some other autoimmune disease(s). Hemolytic anemia and/or Sjogren's would sure explain a lot. As I have also come to understand, viral and bacterial infections from long ago, lingering in the body, can also be the real cause for chronic illness and probable autoimmune disease one might never associate them with.

 

 

Attached Files


Edited by Dichotohmy, 02 September 2017 - 05:41 PM.


#18 brainfogboy

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Posted 02 September 2017 - 07:48 PM

Dichotohmy,

 

I was being treated at the Hines VA in Chicago, and recently moved up to the James Lovell Federal Health Center last week.  The Federal Health Center services Department of Defense (DOD) and Veterans, and is near the Naval Base in Great Lakes.  World-class difference in care.  What Lovell is doing within 1 week, Hines couldn't do within 2 months.

 

I don't know if you have a military base around where you are, but from my experience over the past week the quality of care is leagues above anything the VA can give you, and wait times are much shorter.  Staff have to answer to someone and don't fuck around.  They treat you with compassion and respect, and are very professional (something most VAs I've been to seem to lack).

 

I'm only mentioning this because I have only recently found this out, after dealing with VA incompetence for several years, and if you are just starting out with care maybe try something such as this to get adequate care the first time around.  I wasted years of my life with the VA and it seems like Lovell Federal Health center is going to start fighting for me.  I will never step foot in another VA ever again.


Edited by brainfogboy, 02 September 2017 - 07:58 PM.

  • Informative x 1

#19 Dichotohmy

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Posted 02 September 2017 - 08:39 PM

Dichotohmy,

 

I was being treated at the Hines VA in Chicago, and recently moved up to the James Lovell Federal Health Center last week.  The Federal Health Center services Department of Defense (DOD) and Veterans, and is near the Naval Base in Great Lakes.  World-class difference in care.  What Lovell is doing within 1 week, Hines couldn't do within 2 months.

 

I don't know if you have a military base around where you are, but from my experience over the past week the quality of care is leagues above anything the VA can give you, and wait times are much shorter.  Staff have to answer to someone and don't fuck around.  They treat you with compassion and respect, and are very professional (something most VAs I've been to seem to lack).

 

I'm only mentioning this because I have only recently found this out, after dealing with VA incompetence for several years, and if you are just starting out with care maybe try something such as this to get adequate care the first time around.  I wasted years of my life with the VA and it seems like Lovell Federal Health center is going to start fighting for me.  I will never step foot in another VA ever again.

 

I'd never heard of a federal health center, but I did a brief search and don't see anything like you describe available at the Fort Huachuca or Davis Monthan AFB hospitals. Looks like Lovell is the first and only one of its kind at this time. I do know that I am eligible for choice program, which is basically when the VA contracts and reimburses care, when the patient goes to a doctor out of the system due to a wait time > 30 days. 

 

Personally, I get the sense that the VA personnel I have dealt with have been cordial and respectful, and I have never felt condescended or belittled by any of the personnel. They do get a lot of details wrong, which you can see when you go to myhealthevet and download your VA medical records and doctor notes via the blue button. You and I, and others who have been paying attention to the news in the last 10 years know, that the VA is overworked, understaffed, and even though they have an enormous budget, still underfunded for the huge patient volume. This is my personal explanation for why the VA doctors like to take the easy way out, like wanting to blame all patient complaints on depression or PTSD, or being reluctant to give referrals to specialists unless the patient keeps pressing the issue. The VA is 100% free for me, though, so it helps to realize that health care is the epitome of the old adage "you get what you pay for," and not get too mad about it.

 

I'm glad that you seem to be getting useful help now and sincerely hope you can get some answers that set you on the path to getting better.



#20 brainfogboy

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Posted 02 September 2017 - 09:10 PM

The fat lady hasn't sung yet, but I'm hopeful to have someone take me seriously in this new place.  Of course when the going gets tough they may give up like everyone else, but it's too soon to tell.  The attitude is much different here.

 

Sorry that nothing like this is by you.  I didn't know something like this existed until another veteran I met in the VA at Hines told me about it.  People are literally driving an hour north to this place when Hines is within walking distance.

 

If you have people working with you and treating you with respect, then by all means stick with them.  Half the battle is getting someone on your side.  Maybe it's different out west.  I sincerely hope you get the answers you need as well.

 

As I have said before, if I ever pull out of this I'm going to dedicate my life to bettering the health of all.  Becoming a doctor, researcher, politician that fights for a new system... I don't know yet.  I will do something, I just hope I can get there before it's too late.  I'll pull you out of this if I get better first.  That I can promise you.  Nobody should ever be left behind.

 

Stay strong,

 

BFB



#21 Gordo

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Posted 05 September 2017 - 01:51 AM

Dichotomy just an FYI, brainfogboy did actually send me a blood sample (5ml vial) for analysis, I sent him some pictures of his blood and did spend a lot of time analyzing his sample, at the end of the day, there were no spirochetes and his blood looked normal so nothing super helpful except perhaps some confirmation of the negative Lyme test result he had already received. Just want to mention this one last time to you as I think it could potentially be helpful to you. Brainfogboy said the lab had no problem at all giving him an extra vial of blood at no charge. I even made a little video showing how I prepped his sample:


#22 birthdaysuit

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Posted 08 September 2017 - 07:44 AM

Hi, Gordo and others. I'll link a post I wrote awhile back, I also will direct you to actionLyme and truthcures which talk about persistent Lyme and why the CDC and IDSA denies its existence. They knew prior to the dearborn false diagnostics that Lyme was a relapsing, immune supressing organism. They later changed their minds ans increased the cut off standard on their ELISA test so that neurolyme patients would not test positive, all to pass off their Lymerix vaccine which had the OspA 31 bleb, causing terrible symptoms and killing someone who already had Lyme.

I too have Lyme, Babesia, Bartonella AND a rare strain of mycoplasma, which have caused severe autoimmne problems. Steroids gave me basically MS and I was in a wheel chair for awhile. Antibiotics helped, especially IV but they stopped working. I'm stuck and I'm pissed because doctors don't care or son't know what to do. They say I don't have Lyme anymore because I was treated, even though I've never read a study proving that the current lyme antibiotics erradicate lyme from a host. doxy can't even kill all viable cells in a test tube let alone all of Lyme's other forms.

Not to mention the coinfections that the doctors ignore. My LLMD is okay but he can only do so much. I'm trapped and I'm scared. These infections have taken my youth.

I'm looking into high dosages of cryptolepis, Sida Acuta, Houttuynia ans other herbs to see if they help.

So far high dosages of sida acuta have helped fatigue tremendously.

#23 Gordo

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Posted 08 September 2017 - 03:16 PM

Hey birthdaysuit, I'm very interested in "They say I don't have Lyme anymore because I was treated".  I believe this persistent lyme thing is real, and there is certainly good evidence for this, we know now that the lyme bacteria can produce a protective cyst with biofilm which makes eradication difficult, and at least one person has posted videos of the live spirochetes in his blood even after antibiotic treatment.  I have yet to see this personally myself, under a microscope.  Have you actually confirmed spirochetes in your blood after antibiotic treatment?  I would love to be able to analyze a blood sample from you if you are interested.  I assume you and most other people get periodic physicals where they draw blood from standard labs to tell you your cholesterol, etc.  The next time you have that done, please ask for an extra vial, the labs don't seem to mind doing this and don't even charge extra for it.  PM me to get my mailing address.

 

-Gordo

 



#24 brainfogboy

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Posted 09 September 2017 - 12:54 AM

Birthdaysuit,

 

I was told all about Lyme, Osp31A, and was told that it would take me years to get better.  Doctors also wanted thousands of dollars for treatment and supplements.  Then I sent a sample to Gordo and he saw nothing in the blood.  I don't really believe in conspiracies.  Why would anyone want to suppress the Lyme epidemic?  Why is there so much confusion over this?

 

Within 2 days Gordo let me know that there was nothing there.  How hard is it for these labs to confirm or deny the presence of Spirochetes in the blood?  What does Western Blot and IGenex have that Gordo doesn't?  Are most tests looking for antibodies and not the spirochetes themselves?  Why is this such a clusterfuck?

 

I was recently (Tuesday of this week) diagnosed with SIBO and put on the antibiotic Xifaxan, 550mg 3x daily.  I feel slightly better after only one day, but I don't want to jump to any conclusions.  The problem with feeling like garbage is it could be a million things, and it seems none of the doctors want to work with us to figure it out.  I'm currently in Boston getting treatment from Beth Israel Medical Center, affiliated with Harvard.  I had this appointment for 6 months and wanted to keep it, even though further workups are being done in Chicago.

 

Endocrinologist also said my blood sugar is going down to low 40s when I'm sleeping.  She can't figure it out, and says she wants me to get more follow-up testing.



#25 birthdaysuit

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Posted 15 September 2017 - 05:22 AM

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;

Birthdaysuit,
&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;
I was told all about Lyme, Osp31A, and was told that it would take me years to get better. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;Doctors also wanted thousands of dollars for treatment and supplements. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;Then I sent a sample to Gordo and he saw nothing in the blood. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;I don't really believe in conspiracies. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;Why would anyone want to suppress the Lyme epidemic? &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;Why is there so much confusion over this?
&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;
Within 2 days Gordo let me know that there was nothing there. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;How hard is it for these labs to confirm or deny the presence of Spirochetes in the blood? &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;What does Western Blot and IGenex have that Gordo doesn't? &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;Are most tests looking for antibodies and not the spirochetes themselves? &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;Why is this such a clusterfuck?
&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;
I was recently (Tuesday of this week) diagnosed with SIBO and put on the antibiotic Xifaxan, 550mg 3x daily. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;I feel slightly better after only one day, but I don't want to jump to any conclusions. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;The problem with feeling like garbage is it could be a million things, and it seems none of the doctors want to work with us to figure it out. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;I'm currently in Boston getting treatment from Beth Israel Medical Center, affiliated with Harvard. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;I had this appointment for 6 months and wanted to keep it, even though further workups are being done in Chicago.
&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;
Endocrinologist also said my blood sugar is going down to low 40s when I'm sleeping. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;She can't figure it out, and says she wants me to get more follow-up testing.

Hi, Brainfogboy

The 700+ studies on the peresistence of Borrelia Burgdorferi, many of which were written by the NIH and CDC as well as the current antibiotics in vitro only killing a sml. percentage of viable cells, in the case of doxycycline the most frequently prescribed increasing cytic forms of borrelia 200%, whilst killing less than 35% of viable cells in VITRO, it seems obvious that Borrelia Burgdorferi persists. Keep in mind after dearborn the CDC officals have stated that even if you had Borrelia in serum it would not peresist and your body would clear it. So, there's no evidence that the current IDSA guidelines erradicate Borrelia Burgdorferi, let alone kill all of its forms. Symptoms do improve, and spirochetal load plays a big role in an asymptomatic stage but relapse is all too common. However, the idea that once you finish the IDSA's strict guidelines, despite continuing symptoms, i.e. neurological and CNS problems your free of Borrelia is not rooted in science. Also, Beth Israel Medical Center does not really believe in chronic Lyme.

I had my blood tested twice by my UNI. The first blood test was positive. Spirochetes were clearly visible under darkfield microscopy, the 2nd was negative. I also had a tissue biopsy which discovered spirochetes. This was awhile back so I'm not sure how'd I test now. Considering I've been on antibiotics for awhile including Cell-wall inhibitors, It would most likely be negative in serum. Borrelia is not really a blood infection, although it can causees sepsis due to OspA 31. it uses serum to transport. It is mostly a tissue, bone and joint infection.

So, yes Serum is not really an accurate indicator of Lyme infection, although if you can see spirochetes, you have some sort of spirochetal infection. ELISA does not test as many strains as IgeneX does, nor does it test for band 23 and other speific Lyme bands. Keep in mind there are 100 Strains of borrelia in the US, most of which do not show up on diagnostic testing. Though, if you test for multiple bands on IgeneX western blot, say 41, and 31 as positives and have clnical symptoms of Lyme which isn't so cut and dry, you probably still have an active infection. One should not be testing positive on the IgM with fluctuating biomarkers for bands, if they are negative, especially if they have Lyme like symptoms. The problem is the immunosupression of Lyme which makes it nearly impossible to test positive in the case of a desseminated CNS infection.. Hence, why ELISA and IgeneX Western Blots were never meant for diagnostics testing, rather for surveilance purposes.

People conspire everyday. Conspiracies are an everyday occurance, whether big or small. The emotionally mature and fun thing to do with modern technology is own diseases and then say no one can have them, this is essentially what certain Lyme organizations wanted to do. Why is the Lyme debate so polzarized you might ask, well you have to go back to dearborn case definition. I'll explain it in brief and in terms that make sense. If you want later I can post sudies.

The testing for Lyme disease was falsified to pass off fake vaccines and test kits, sounds crazy right?

There are primarily two distinct disease outcomes in Lyme disease. Right now only one type is allowed to exist and we refer to that outcome as “bad-knee Lyme” and the other as “tick bite induced post sepsis syndrome”. Bad knee only accounts for 15% of total cases, the other 85% of us are the chronic neurological cases. Today, Lyme disease means that you have an HLA-linked hypersensitivity response to spirochetes with high antibody production. These are the CDC positive positive people (with the exception of about 1.2% of cases who have both says Fallon) are not very sick and typically only have an arthritic “bad-knee”.

The rest of us are extremely disabled with several neurologic diseases all at the same time. The 85% of us who are VERY sick and disabled were purposely cut out of the diagnostic standard and case definition in 1994 at the Consensus Conference in Dearborn, Michigan. The reason being that patent holders like Allen Steere, Barbara Johnson and members of the fake non-profit propaganda firm the ALDF wanted to sell a vaccine called LYMErix that was actually an endotoxin and gave people the same disease we know as “Chronic Lyme”. If this form of the disease didn’t exist, the disabling kind, they could say that their vaccine was at least 85% effective. That’s the crime. The crime is the disease itself.

Borrelia lipoproteins are endotoxins and that’s how spirochetes cause disease. If only it was a spirochete that drilled through tissues that you could eventually kill enough off of to reach a state of remission.. I wish that’s all it was. But it’s not. We know from the LYMErix vaccine that this is true. The victims got the same disease but there were NO spirochetes injected into them. That isn't to say that spirochetes do not cause problems, howeve rthis is a multi-dimensional infection.

We have known that Relapsing Fever germs persist for 106 years. What is more troubling about this disease is the anti-inflammatory effects. Spirochetes stealth bomb the host with toxic lipoproteins that cause permanent immunosuppression. If the host didn’t down-regulate after initial cytokine storm then the host would die, it’s a survival mechanism. That is why we call this post sepsis syndrome which is ultimately a B cells AIDS-like disease with reactivated neurotropic viruses and a mixed bag of opportunistic pathogens.

Study:

"Bacteria that are able to persist in hosts to cause long term infections are, by definition, able to evade host immune defenses. While establishment of persistent infection can benefit the bacteria, in certain cases where the bacteria itself causes little damage, allowing the establishment of prolonged infection may be more beneficial to the host than continued attack by the immune system. Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, produces no toxins or other virulence factors thought to damage the host. Instead, most of the manifestations of Lyme disease are thought to be the result of the immune response to the organism. In its natural Peromyscus mouse host, little or no reaction to the organism is typically seen despite the fact that, once infected, the organism persists for the life of the animal. In humans and inbred mice (which do develop immune responses to the organism), inflammation is thought to be initiated by receptors of the innate immune system. In vitro, loss of receptors of the innate immune system that recognize B. burgdorferi such as toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) or Nod2 results in a decrease inflammatory response. However, in vivo studies of animals deficient in these receptors or their adaptor molecules have not reduced inflammation and in many cases, have actually resulted in increased inflammation. We hypothesize that the host has evolved methods for dampening the immune response over time and that during the course of prolonged exposure, these receptors play a more important role in triggering innate immune tolerance, rather than activating acute inflammatory pathways. In preliminary studies, we have shown that exposure of macrophages to B. burgdorferi can reduce release of inflammatory cytokines and increase release of anti-inflammatory cytokines upon re-exposure to the organism. In this proposal, we will first identify pathways and mechanisms involved in mediating innate immune tolerance to B. burgdorferi. We will study both pathways that have been identified in playing a role in tolerance to other agents (e.g. lipopolysaccharide) as well as perform unbiased studies to identify new mechanisms. In Aim 2, we will develop animal models to study the importance of innate immune tolerance in Lyme disease. We will test both ex vivo and in vivo systems for isolating the role of different pathways during B. burgdorferi infection. Successful completion of these experiments will provide proof of principle for a new strategy of host defense (mutualism or “benign neglect”) against organisms that are considered pathogens and establish a rationale for the existence of innate immune tolerance.“

Patients relapse and remit to and fro between differing levels of disability it seems no matter what they try to do or how much money they spend or how long they set off the equivalent to an atomic bomb of antibiotics into their bodies.

We know everything we need to know about why these patients don’t get better. We know that spirochetes deploy TLR 2/1 agonists that permanently suppress the immune system, we know that in the presence of antibiotics spirochetes just casually morph into cysts, we know that they are intracellular. So why to seemingly everyone is this treated like some extraordinary mystery? It’s not. It’s really not.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.../pubmed/1634816

In short Pam3Cys OspA 31 causes immunosuppression. This kind of damage is not fixed by removing the source of exposure. Killing spirochetes that shed or bleb OspA won’t reverse these kinds of changes to germinal centers (lymph nodes). What “Lyme” patients are left with is a B cell AIDS-like outcome and reactivated viruses and a mixed bag of opportunistic pathogens that cause everything the sun from cancer to dementia to that bone crushing fatigue. So too, do these re-activated and secondary viral, fungal and bacterial infections of all kinds take over the show as your immune system can no longer recognize other pathogens. Creating the perfect stealth pathogen producing no antibodies, a Hellstorm known as the "Great Imitator" ALS, MS, parkinsons, dementia, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, stroke, cancer, etc.. Spirochetes themselves are not the only problem, it's the AIDS like outcome where all the secondary infections are wrecking havoc.

As for the Lymerix vaccine and the CDC officers and others who were involved in the commercialization of OspA (ALDF, Mayo Clinic, Yale’s L2 Diagnostics, Corixa, Imugen, SmithKline) knew all of this during (and likely prior to) the phase I and II trials of the OspA “vaccine” patented by Yale University (5,747,294).

CDC officer Barbara Johnson owns five patents with SmithKline, the manufacturer of LYMErix. One of her patents from 1992-93 explains that there are two distinct outcomes of OspA exposure: one being an HLA-linked (genetic) hypersensitivity, or allergic, arthritic knee response (15%), and the other being the post-sepsis immunosuppression response (85%) that patients refer to as “chronic Lyme.”

Allen Steere, in 1992-93, published research in Europe in which he 1) developed fraudulent diagnostic testing that left out OspA and OspB despite those being highly immunogenic, primary diagnostic antigens; and 2) added an ELISA to be used as a “screening” test, to exclude the neurologic, or immunosuppression cases from diagnosis. This was in direct opposition to his own 1986 research which was the basis for the original,1990 case definition, and also stated that only Western blot band 41 (flagellin) was necessary to diagnose Lyme borreliosis.

In 1994 the CDC, led by Barbara Johnson, held a conference in Dearborn, Michigan, in which they changed the disease definition (“case definition”) to include ONLY the 15% arthritis cases who otherwise are not sick. The diagnostic standard was changed from one that reflected the persistence of spirochetes and their variable surface antigens (few, changing antibodies based on Steere’s 1986 report), to one that reflects only the hypersensitivity response, or the production of many antibodies, using Steere’s fraudulent ELISA. The labs that were invited to participate did not agree with the change, and reported an average accuracy rate of 15%. This “two-tier” testing protocol is still the only testing accepted by the CDC, insurance industry and medical societies, despite not meeting FDA standards for method validation (specificity, sensitivity, etc.).

Yale, in addition to owning the LYMErix (OspA “vaccine”) patent, owns the patent for the only VALID test method for diagnosing “Lyme disease” (5,618,533), a flagellin method as previously indicated by Steere as valid. They did not use their own test method to assess the outcomes of the LYMErix trials. Instead, the new, falsified Dearborn method was used, and adverse events (immunosuppression outcomes) were discarded.

Dave Persing (Mayo) owns a patent (6,045,804) for testing based on Steere’s European research in which the OspA-B antigens were left out. The patent is described as a method for distinguishing OspA vaccine recipients from OspA tick bite victims. Once LYMErix was on the market, a strain of borrelia that did not have the vaccine antigens in it would have to be used. Vaccine efficacy is never assessed with the very same antigen as the vaccine antigen. Otherwise, it would not be known if the victim has the actual infection in question, or that the antibody that shows up came from the vaccine. Had LYMErix stayed on the market, this test method would have created a monopoly on Lyme disease testing in North America, with Corixa (Persing) Imugen, and L2 Diagnostics (Yale/Robert Schoen) being the only labs licensed to test for Lyme. These entities were listed with the SEC as formal partners and advertised as such. With all tick-borne disease blood samples being processed through only these three labs, they would have had sole access to whatever other tick-borne pathogens could be identified and then commercialized as additional “vaccines” and test kits.

I'm sorry if this was hard to understand. Duckduckgo, Lymecryme or Lyme crinimal charges sheets. If you have questions just message me.

Edited by birthdaysuit, 15 September 2017 - 05:53 AM.


#26 birthdaysuit

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Posted 15 September 2017 - 05:27 AM

&amp;amp;amp;nbsp;

Hey birthdaysuit, I'm very interested in "They say I don't have Lyme anymore&amp;amp;amp;nbsp;because I was treated". &amp;amp;amp;nbsp;I believe this persistent lyme thing is real, and there is certainly good evidence for this, we know now that the lyme bacteria can produce a protective cyst with biofilm which makes eradication difficult, and at least one person has posted videos of the live spirochetes in his blood even after antibiotic treatment. &amp;amp;amp;nbsp;I have yet to see this personally myself, under a microscope. &amp;amp;amp;nbsp;Have you actually confirmed spirochetes in your blood after antibiotic treatment? &amp;amp;amp;nbsp;I would love to be able to analyze a blood sample from you if you are interested. &amp;amp;amp;nbsp;I assume you and most other people get periodic physicals where they draw blood from standard labs to tell you your cholesterol, etc. &amp;amp;amp;nbsp;The next time you have that done, please ask for an extra vial, the labs don't seem to mind doing this and don't even charge extra for it. &amp;amp;amp;nbsp;PM me to get my mailing address.
&amp;amp;amp;
-Gordo


Yes, I have with my friends and former professor. I had tested positive via western blot, tissue biopsy and under the microsope. However, a year later I tested blood again after being on cell-wall inhibitor antibiotics and NO sign of spirochetes in blood. I'll be happy to send you a blood sample, you may find something or not, but at the moment this feels more like a bone marrow, joint and tissue disease. I'll talk to my weekly nurse and see if I can get an extra blood sample next week when she draws. Probably around tuesday or wednesday.

How should I mail it?

Edited by birthdaysuit, 15 September 2017 - 05:47 AM.


#27 Gordo

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Posted 15 September 2017 - 12:24 PM

Yes, I have with my friends and former professor. I had tested positive via western blot, tissue biopsy and under the microsope. However, a year later I tested blood again after being on cell-wall inhibitor antibiotics and NO sign of spirochetes in blood. I'll be happy to send you a blood sample, you may find something or not, but at the moment this feels more like a bone marrow, joint and tissue disease. I'll talk to my weekly nurse and see if I can get an extra blood sample next week when she draws. Probably around tuesday or wednesday.


How should I mail it?

 

 

OK, send it overnight mail, I'll PM you the address.  I will use the following technique to analyze your blood and fully document it all:

http://gordosoft.com...nHumanBlood.pdf



#28 ceridwen

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Posted 15 September 2017 - 04:02 PM

Very interesting! I had 3 tick Bourne encephalopathy vaccines before my current neurological illness showed up. Could this have had something to do with it.

#29 ceridwen

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Posted 15 September 2017 - 04:06 PM

? I have had an Eliza test which showed that I have come into contact with Lyme. Enough to make a Dr suggest I take Doxycyclin which I did though not enough to be a full positive test.

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#30 birthdaysuit

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Posted 15 September 2017 - 04:12 PM

@Gordo

Does it matter the vile? No spinning or anything like that? I've never really sent my blood over like this, except with Igenex. Would overnight fedex work?





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