Lymes disease
16
Vol. 4, Issue 7 Investigating Lyme Disease & Chronic Illnesses in the USA July 2009 In This Issue Linnette Mullin Beauty From Ashes p. 4 Barbara Loe Fisher Politics, Profits & Pandemic Fear Mongering p. 5 Scott Forsgren Interviews Dr. Garth Nicolson on importance of Mycoplasma p. 1 Mary Budinger Lyme Disease Often Resides in the Mouth p. 1 Lisa Copen PHA Staff Writer Wins Women’s Health Hero Award p.5 Joan Vetter For Him Who Has Ears to Hear, Let Him Hear p. 4 Tina Garcia The Power of the Truth Spoken by Dr. Joseph G. Jemsek p. 9 Ginger Savely, DNP At the Feet of the Master: My Week With Dr. Jones p. 2 Public Health Alert www.publichealthalert.org Page 1 Into the Light Gala Photos and Info p.12 P UBLIC H EALTH A LERT FREE Waking Up the Nation, One Reader at a Time... Download Dr. Burrascano’s Lyme Protocol FREE at: www.PublicHealthAlert.org Mycoplasma - Often Overlooked In Chronic Lyme Disease by Scott Forsgren Those of us with chron- ic Lyme disease are quite familiar with the names of the better known Lyme co-infec- tions. Babesia, Bartonella, and Ehrlichia have become everyday words. As much as we would like to rid ourselves of these illness-producing pathogens, they have become a part of our daily struggle to regain a sense of health and wellness. Unfortunately, these are not the only co-infections seen in chronic Lyme disease. For some reason, Mycoplasma infections are not only lesser known by patients, but seem- ingly often overlooked by doc- tors as well. It is important for us, as patients, to educate our- selves on the topic of Mycoplasma and to ask our practitioners how we are being evaluated and treated for these infections. In 1987, Dr. Garth Nicolson, PhD was a professor at the University of Texas at Houston when his wife, an instructor at Baylor College of Medicine, became seriously ill and nearly died. She was diagnosed with a Mycoplasma infection, treated, and later recovered. A few years later, their daughter, who had served in the Gulf War, returned from active duty quite ill. Not only was she sick, but the symptoms that she exhibited were very similar to those that Dr. Nicolson's wife had expressed years earlier. At that point, Dr. Nicolson had the idea that his daughter's illness could be the result of an infection and start- ed to investigate his theory fur- ther. As his work progressed, he looked at Brucella, Borrelia, Ehrlichia, and other chronic intracellular infections that have the potential to cause illness and present with over- lapping signs and symptoms. In Gulf War veterans that were being evaluated, approximately 45% of those that were ill had Mycoplasma infection. It was found that the infection was a particular type of Mycoplasma, namely a peculiar species called Mycoplasma fermentans. Very little was known about this particular species of Mycoplasma at the time except that the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and the Army had been doing research on the organism. Once this likely causative agent of Gulf War Illness (GWI) had been identi- fied in about one-half of the GWI cases, Dr. Nicolson rec- ommended that the Mycoplasma-infected Gulf War veterans be treated with Doxycycline. He then found himself the target of vicious attacks for making the connec- tion between the illness and M. fermentans. Dr. Nicolson shared that "even talking about “Mycoplasma” ...cont’d pg 6 Professor Garth L. Nicolson is the President, Chief Scientific Officer and Research Professor at the Institute for Molecular Medicine in Huntington Beach, California Lyme Disease Often Resides in the Mouth by Mary Budinger Holistic, natural medi- cine tends to overlook what is probably the number one source of the body's toxins - the mouth. The infectious mechanism was initially docu- mented by Dr. Weston A. Price, chairman of the Research Section of the American Dental Association from 1914-1923. History tells us the ADA, how- ever, wanted to promote root canals as a new service and never moved forward with Dr. Price's well documented research. Some biological den- tists have studied Dr. Price's work, including Dr. Andrew Landerman of Sebastopol, California. He finds that Lyme and many other chronic dis- eases are fed by the unique bacteria that develop in root canals and where teeth have been extracted. Dr. Landerman granted us an interview: MB: Do you see a lot of peo- ple with Lyme disease? AL: I probably have a high proportion of people who are chronically ill. And a high pro- portion of people who have chronic illness have Lyme. MB: How do you determine that? AL: Some people of course come with the diagnosis. In others, I see Lyme in their symptoms. They may have swollen joints and other chron- ic conditions that are sugges- tive of Lyme. It is not the same with everyone. It depends upon their weak spot. Where they have a weak link, Lyme will affect that area. It is my experi- ence and that of many others like me, that Lyme at this point in time is not a pathogen that can be eliminated. Rather we must seek to manage it holisti- cally. MB: Are Lyme bacteria in the teeth? AL: Not in the enamel, but in the dentin and tubules. Every tooth has some three miles of tiny tubules that spirochetes love to occupy. Antibiotics, even the extended courses that some chronic Lyme patients use, do not get into these tubules. Lyme gravitates toward some teeth. It is my experience that Lyme gravi- tates especially to the upper and lower centrals, and to the upper and lower first molars. That's eight teeth. MB: How do you test the teeth to determine where the spiro- chetes are hiding? AL: I devised a method of percussion, a slight tapping of the tooth to give it a tiny shock. I use an electrodermal screening device to measure how the tooth responds. When you see a pattern of low or high current flow, that tells me the tooth is underperforming or overperforming. When the energy level is abnormal, that can indicate Lyme. I have not seen any amount of herbs or antibiotics get these teeth to change their readings for the better. MB: Can you get rid of the Lyme in the mouth then? AL: Mostly. It took me almost 15 years to figure out how to test for it in the teeth and how to devise a homeopathic reme- dy to address it. Teeth breathe. Healthy teeth push fluids out; that is the way they keep bacte- ria and such out just as skin keeps harmful things out. But with stressed teeth, the flow reverses and fluids go into the tooth. Recognizing that, I devised a mix of homeopathic remedies that go into stressed teeth and knock down the Lyme. I don't think you can ever get rid of Lyme complete- ly. We just have to learn to live with it. The homeopathic reme- dies I formulated will eliminate most of the Lyme and its co- infections from the teeth. I find that if there is too much Lyme in a person's mouth, cavitations do not heal unless we address the Lyme first. Energy transfer- ence of homeopathy is not like a chemical transference. When a tooth is treated, regardless of whether it has a crown, the tooth seems to respond. MB: You are one of a mere handful of dentists in the coun- try who uses electrodermal testing, why? “Dental Issues” ...cont’d pg 7
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Transcript of Lymes disease
Vol. 4, Issue 7 Investigating Lyme Disease & Chronic Illnesses in the USA July 2009
In This Issue
LinnetteMullin
Beauty FromAshesp. 4
Barbara LoeFisher
Politics, Profits& Pandemic
Fear Mongeringp. 5
ScottForsgren
Interviews Dr.Garth Nicolson
on importance ofMycoplasma
p. 1
MaryBudinger
Lyme DiseaseOften Resides in
the Mouthp. 1
Lisa CopenPHA Staff
Writer WinsWomen’s
Health HeroAward
p.5
Joan VetterFor Him WhoHas Ears to
Hear, Let HimHearp. 4
Tina GarciaThe Power of
the TruthSpoken by Dr.
Joseph G.Jemsek
p. 9
GingerSavely, DNPAt the Feet of
the Master: MyWeek With Dr.
Jonesp. 2
PPuubblliicc HHeeaalltthh AAlleerrtt wwwwww..ppuubblliicchheeaalltthhaalleerrtt..oorrgg PPaaggee 11
Into theLight Gala
Photos andInfop.12
PUBLIC HEALTH ALERTFREE
Waking Up the Nation,One Reader at a Time...
Download Dr. Burrascano’s Lyme Protocol FREE at:www.PublicHealthAlert.org
Mycoplasma - Often Overlooked In Chronic Lyme Disease
by Scott Forsgren
Those of us with chron-ic Lyme disease are quitefamiliar with the names of thebetter known Lyme co-infec-tions. Babesia, Bartonella,and Ehrlichia have becomeeveryday words. As much aswe would like to rid ourselvesof these illness-producingpathogens, they have become apart of our daily struggle toregain a sense of health andwellness. Unfortunately, theseare not the only co-infectionsseen in chronic Lyme disease.For some reason, Mycoplasmainfections are not only lesserknown by patients, but seem-ingly often overlooked by doc-tors as well. It is important forus, as patients, to educate our-selves on the topic ofMycoplasma and to ask ourpractitioners how we are beingevaluated and treated for theseinfections.
In 1987, Dr. GarthNicolson, PhD was a professorat the University of Texas atHouston when his wife, aninstructor at Baylor College ofMedicine, became seriously illand nearly died. She wasdiagnosed with a Mycoplasma
infection, treated, and laterrecovered. A few years later,their daughter, who had servedin the Gulf War, returned fromactive duty quite ill. Not onlywas she sick, but the symptomsthat she exhibited were verysimilar to those that Dr.Nicolson's wife had expressedyears earlier.
At that point, Dr.Nicolson had the idea that hisdaughter's illness could be theresult of an infection and start-ed to investigate his theory fur-ther. As his work progressed,he looked at Brucella,Borrelia, Ehrlichia, and otherchronic intracellular infectionsthat have the potential to causeillness and present with over-lapping signs and symptoms.In Gulf War veterans that werebeing evaluated, approximately45% of those that were ill hadMycoplasma infection. It wasfound that the infection was aparticular type of Mycoplasma,namely a peculiar speciescalled Mycoplasma fermentans.
Very little was knownabout this particular species ofMycoplasma at the time exceptthat the Armed Forces Instituteof Pathology and the Army hadbeen doing research on the
organism. Once this likelycausative agent of Gulf WarIllness (GWI) had been identi-fied in about one-half of theGWI cases, Dr. Nicolson rec-ommended that theMycoplasma-infected Gulf Warveterans be treated with
Doxycycline. He then foundhimself the target of viciousattacks for making the connec-tion between the illness and M.fermentans. Dr. Nicolsonshared that "even talking about
“Mycoplasma” ...cont’d pg 6
Professor Garth L. Nicolson is the President, Chief ScientificOfficer and Research Professor at the Institute for Molecular
Medicine in Huntington Beach, California
Lyme Disease Often Resides in the Mouthby Mary Budinger
Holistic, natural medi-cine tends to overlook what isprobably the number onesource of the body's toxins -the mouth. The infectiousmechanism was initially docu-mented by Dr. Weston A. Price,chairman of the ResearchSection of the American DentalAssociation from 1914-1923.History tells us the ADA, how-ever, wanted to promote rootcanals as a new service andnever moved forward with Dr.Price's well documentedresearch.
Some biological den-tists have studied Dr. Price'swork, including Dr. AndrewLanderman of Sebastopol,California. He finds that Lymeand many other chronic dis-eases are fed by the uniquebacteria that develop in rootcanals and where teeth havebeen extracted. Dr. Landermangranted us an interview:
MB: Do you see a lot of peo-ple with Lyme disease?
AL: I probably have a highproportion of people who are
chronically ill. And a high pro-portion of people who havechronic illness have Lyme.
MB: How do you determinethat?
AL: Some people of coursecome with the diagnosis. Inothers, I see Lyme in theirsymptoms. They may haveswollen joints and other chron-ic conditions that are sugges-tive of Lyme. It is not the samewith everyone. It depends upontheir weak spot. Where theyhave a weak link, Lyme willaffect that area. It is my experi-ence and that of many otherslike me, that Lyme at this pointin time is not a pathogen thatcan be eliminated. Rather wemust seek to manage it holisti-cally.
MB: Are Lyme bacteria in theteeth?
AL: Not in the enamel, but inthe dentin and tubules. Everytooth has some three miles oftiny tubules that spirocheteslove to occupy. Antibiotics,even the extended courses thatsome chronic Lyme patients
use, do not get into thesetubules. Lyme gravitatestoward some teeth. It is myexperience that Lyme gravi-tates especially to the upperand lower centrals, and to theupper and lower first molars.That's eight teeth.
MB: How do you test the teethto determine where the spiro-chetes are hiding?
AL: I devised a method ofpercussion, a slight tapping ofthe tooth to give it a tinyshock. I use an electrodermalscreening device to measurehow the tooth responds. Whenyou see a pattern of low orhigh current flow, that tells methe tooth is underperforming oroverperforming. When theenergy level is abnormal, thatcan indicate Lyme. I have notseen any amount of herbs orantibiotics get these teeth tochange their readings for thebetter.
MB: Can you get rid of theLyme in the mouth then?
AL: Mostly. It took me almost15 years to figure out how to
test for it in the teeth and howto devise a homeopathic reme-dy to address it. Teeth breathe.Healthy teeth push fluids out;that is the way they keep bacte-ria and such out just as skinkeeps harmful things out. Butwith stressed teeth, the flowreverses and fluids go into thetooth. Recognizing that, Idevised a mix of homeopathicremedies that go into stressedteeth and knock down theLyme. I don't think you canever get rid of Lyme complete-ly. We just have to learn to livewith it. The homeopathic reme-dies I formulated will eliminatemost of the Lyme and its co-infections from the teeth. I findthat if there is too much Lymein a person's mouth, cavitationsdo not heal unless we addressthe Lyme first. Energy transfer-ence of homeopathy is not likea chemical transference. Whena tooth is treated, regardless ofwhether it has a crown, thetooth seems to respond.
MB: You are one of a merehandful of dentists in the coun-try who uses electrodermaltesting, why?“Dental Issues” ...cont’d pg 7
Public HealthAlert
The PHA is committed toresearching and investigating LymeDisease and other chronic illnessesin the United States. We have joinedour forces with local and nationwidesupport group leaders. These groupsinclude the chronic illnesses ofMultiple Sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’sDisease (ALS), Lupus, ChronicFatigue, Fibromyalgia, HeartDisease, Cancer and various otherillnesses of unknown origins.
PHA seeks to bring informationand awareness about these illnessesto the public’s attention. We seek tomake sure that anyone strugglingwith these diseases has proper sup-port emotionally, physically, spiritu-ally and medically.
PHA StaffEditor: Dawn Irons
Assistant Editor: Susan WilliamsAdvertising Manager: Laura Zeller
Asst. Advertising Mgr: Tami ConnerEditorial Calander Manager:
Linda HemingDistribution: Randi Dumont,
Steve & Rhonda CopeContributors:Mary Budinger,
Donna Reagan, Bryan RosnerKathleen Liporace, Paul Callahan
Marjorie Tietjen, Tina GarciaScott Forsgren, Dr. Virginia Sherr,
PJ Langhoff, Dr. Robert Bransfield,Tami Duncan, Harriet Bishop,
Lisa Copen, Joan Vetter.
Website:www.publichealthalert.org
e-mail:[email protected]
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Giving Lymethe Boot!
Texas Lyme Disease Association
At The Feet of The MasterMy Week With Dr. Charles Ray Jones
by Ginger Savely, DNP
Remember when youwere a child and an illness orinjury prompted a visit to yourdoctor's office? Chancesare you dreaded theexperience and werebribed with the promiseof a treat afterwards,especially if needleswere to be involved.Now enter the waitingroom of pediatrician andLyme disease specialistCharles Ray Jones inNew Haven,Connecticut. Here chil-dren play video games,watch movies and lookforward to seeing theman they view more as alovable grandpa than as adoctor.
Charles RayJones has been treatingchildren with Lyme dis-ease since 1968, beforethe disease was namedfor the town inConnecticut where thefirst outbreak was described. Hecurrently estimates that he hastreated about 15,000 childrenwith Lyme and other tick-bornediseases. Health care providersfrom all over the world call himdaily for advice and he gener-ously gives of his time and hisexpertise. I was honored tospend a week with him inMarch of this year, observinghis style of interaction withchildren and parents, learninghis examination techniques, andgenerally taking in the pearls ofwisdom that only a healer withmany years of experience canprovide.
A shy, soft-spoken man,Dr. Jones has never been moti-vated by prestige or money. Heis the consummate old-fash-ioned pediatrician whose lovefor children and a calling toheal have been his impetus toforge ahead, swimming againstthe tide. The humble doctorclaims that he was the "ugliest,dumbest and least likely to suc-ceed" in his family. He acceptshis notoriety with reluctanceand even a bit of bemusement.Nevertheless, it is clear that heis touched by the attention andadulation heaped upon him byscores of grateful patients andtheir parents.
Shunning the profes-sional look of a lab coat, Dr.Jones prefers to wear a brightblue warm-up suit when he seeshis young patients, a uniformthat has become his signature.
"Dr. Charles Ray Jones" isembroidered across the back ofthe jacket with the words:"Keep marching to fulfill thedream" under his name. His
receding hairline merges withlong, thick, salt and pepper hairthat falls into ringlets at hisshoulders. If you were to tradehis large, thick glasses for apair of pince-nez spectacles,you would swear you werelooking at Ben Franklin inmodern garb. Like Franklin,Dr. Jones is a maverick, ahumanist with a wry sense ofhumor, a man of deep commonsense who is not afraid to chal-lenge conventional wisdom andthe powers-that-be.
His fraternal twin broth-er's battle with bone cancer andtragic death at the age of 16undoubtedly influenced Dr.Jones' desire to pursue medi-cine. In fact, his pre-Lyme call-ing was pediatric oncology andin those days, he says, therewas little to do but watch chil-dren die. With a backgroundthat includes a Bachelor'sdegree in Philosophy andPsychology and a stint at theTheological Seminary at BostonUniversity, Dr. Jones has anartistic sensibility and appreci-ates music, poetry, and painting.An intuitive man, he truly prac-tices the art of medicine, withsolid science as his foundationbut ultimately his senses as hisguide.
His office is located onthe ground floor of an apart-ment building in downtownNew Haven, in the shadow ofYale University, the epicenter ofLyme denialism. Dr. Jones lives
in a top floor apartment in thesame building, with his daugh-ter, the 10 year old son sheadopted from Guatemala, andtoo many dogs and cats to men-
tion. Dr. Jones loves to talkabout his Guatemalan grandsonwhose "Incan" mind, he claims,operates on a higher spiritualplane than the average person's.This precocious boy accuratelypredicts the future and writespoetry with sophistication andinsight beyond his chronologi-cal age. Dr. Jones is clearlyfascinated with his grandson'smystical mind and proud toregale the listener with anec-dotes of the boy's musings.
Despite his 80 years, Dr.Jones puts in hours that wouldexhaust someone half his age.He works seven days a week,seeing patients Monday throughSaturday and conducting tele-phone follow-up visits onSunday. A typical weekdaystarts at 8 a.m. and ends at 8p.m. with a lunch break justlong enough to wolf downsome canned soup. The prox-imity of his dwelling to hisoffice makes it all too temptingfor this devoted doctor to returnto his work after dinner, burn-ing the midnight oil as hereviews medical records andprepares for the next work day.Dr. Jones' hard-working assis-tants - Bonnie, Lisa, Sabra,Tanya, Tina and Toi - arefriendly and competent. Theyare clearly protective of anddevoted to their boss, and afamily feeling is quite evidentin his casual office.
Not one to be guarded,the doctor speaks openly of
some of the more intimatedetails of his life. However, theauthenticity of his statements isnot always reliable as a drysense of humor and love of
pulling the listen-er's leg are hismodus operandi.There were timeswhen I didn't knowwhether a claimwas truth or fic-tion, although adevilish grin andglint in the eyewere often, but notalways, his give-away.
In fact, his drywit is an importantaspect of Dr. Jones'style as a clinician.He teases hisyoung patients,who all appear toenjoy it since thelove behind it isclear. Some of hiscomments might atface value seempolitically incor-
rect, but the children know thathis goal is to make them smile.An example: A recovering 15year old boy reported that for along time he didn't want hisfriends to visit him. He wasafraid they might be alarmed bythe frightening motor disorderhe was experiencing at the time.Dr. Jones' replied: "What doyou mean? You should havecharged admission!"
Every visit includes anaffectionate moment with thegood doctor, who hugs andcaresses the children as thoughthey were his own. He has anamazing memory of all of hispatients, recalling details from apatient's medical history even ifhe had not consulted the chartfor many months. He clearlyloves them all. Dr. Jones isknown to go above and beyondfor his patients' families as well.On one occasion I saw him pro-vide a patient's mother with asecond opinion on the readingof her mammogram!
Lest you be tempted tohurry to the phone and call Dr.Jones' office for an appointmentfor your child, be forewarnedthat he gets up to 30 such callsa day. New patient visits are atleast a 6 month wait. Since timeis of the essence in treatingchildren with Lyme disease, Dr.Jones' staff will happily referyou to other health careproviders who treat pediatricLyme with Dr. Jones' blessing.
“The Master” ...cont’d pg 13
RESOURCES
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FAITH FACTOR
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The Poison Plum is a gripping, chillingnovel exposing the rampaging epidemic ofLyme disease now sweeping across Americaand the disease's connection, if any, to the government's top-secret biological research laboratory at Plum Island, New York.
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Beauty from Ashes
by Linnette R. Mullin
Oh how we Lymepatients crave a normal life! Isometimes wonder what itwould be like to wake up com-pletely unaware of mybody…to feel no pain. Wow! Ican't begin to fathom it.
Chronic Lyme diseasehas plagued me from child-hood. Mom always wondered atthe fact that I rarely wore mywaist-long hair in a ponytail -even during the hot, humidMissouri summers. She didn'tknow the pain it caused me tohold my hands above my headlong enough to put it up. Mychronic headaches were labeledsinus headaches caused byallergies to pollen. My fatigueand feeling cold all the timewas a puzzle since my ironcount was always perfect.
When I was 12, the eyedoctor declared I had strainedeye muscles and prescribed pre-scription glasses for when I did
reading and school work. At theage of 38, I still have goodvision. Oh, I contend withfloaters and my eyes get sorewhen my body needs rest, butmy vision itself is still good.
Growing up in the MarkTwain National Forest, deerticks feasted on me yearly. Irecall having a bad "flu" fromtime to time, but never a rash. Iremember one summer spend-ing a good week on the couch,sick with a high fever, achiness,and other flu-like symptoms.
In college, I spent morethan a month in sick bay withthe worst flu I've ever had inmy life. I had high fevers, bonedeep aches, and my bodyretained nothing. To my knowl-edge, nobody else got this puz-zling "flu" other than the poordorm mother who cleaned upafter me.
In my chronically dis-eased state, I now care for myown Lyme-riddled family. Noone knew I had Lyme. No oneknew I could pass it on to mychildren. It's an unrelentingcycle. What can you do?
It's easy for others tothrow out pat answers. "Keeptrusting in the Lord. Remember,He works all things together foryour good."
Sure. That's in theBible. It's a promise I clung tofor years. But, somewherealong the way it lost its impact.It became clichéd.
Don't get me wrong. It'sstill God's Word and retains itspower. But, in my extreme cir-
cumstances, I felt at the timethat I required something more.
I needed answers. Iwanted to understand the"whys". I'm God's child, sowhy does He allow me to spendmy life in suffering? Why can'tI enjoy a normal life? Whatgood am I to my family,friends, the church, and thoselost around me when I canbarely take care of myself? Ihate being a burden or hin-drance.
So, what do I do? Giveup? As a child of God, that'snot an option.
In desperation, I turnedto the book of Ecclesiasteslooking for the "under the sun"passage. Finding it in chapterthree, I read carefully and madequite a discovery.
"For everything there isa season." I guess that includesaffliction, right? But, that's not all I discovered. Irealized that I'm not the onlyone who suffers. Affliction did-n't begin with me, nor will itend with me. I already knewthis, of course, but I need a bitof reminding from time to time.
As I read through chap-ter three and then the entirebook, I found that I don'talways have to know the"whys" of my life. God gaveme a glimpse of His bigger pic-ture and I began thinking of lifeas a puzzle.
When you look at a boxof puzzle pieces, it's easy tobecome overwhelmed. All yousee is a pile of different shapes,
colors, and sizes. How will youever get it put together? Noneof it makes sense.
As you lay out eachpiece, you find that some arebeautiful, vibrant, and elabo-rately detailed. Many aremuted, plain, and nondescript.Others, well, they're just plainugly.
Some pieces display thebutterfly alight on a flower, thegolden hue of the sun, or asongbird perched in a tree.Other pieces show the craggyrocks that hold the mountainsin place, the rusty hinge onwhich the cabin door hangs, orthe ash heap of the campfire.
Though some pieces areattractive and seem moreimportant than others, everypiece is precious. Each one ispart of the same puzzle. As youput them together, piece-by-piece, a glorious pictureunfolds.
But if even one piece ismissing, the entire picture ismarred and incomplete.
The writer ofEcclesiastes says that Godmakes every thing beautiful inits time. As God puts togetherthe puzzle of life, this is apromise to which I cling.Maybe my life is a piece fromthe ash heap, but I'm no lesssignificant than the golden hueof the sun.
God loves me as I am.He placed me where I am.Whether I see it or not, He usesme even in the weakness andfrailty of my flesh. And I know
in some unfathomable way,God is producing somethingbeautiful from the ashes of mylife.
"For everything there isa season, and a time for everymatter under heaven; a time tobe born, and a time to die…atime to weep, and a time tolaugh; a time to mourn, and atime to dance…a time to seek,and a time to lose; a time tokeep, and a time to cast away; atime to keep silence, and a timeto speak; a time to love, and atime to hate; a time for war, anda time for peace. What gain hasthe worker from his toil? I haveseen the business that God hasgiven to the children of man tobe busy with. He has madeeverything beautiful in its time.(Ecclesiastes 3:1-11a; ESV)
These verses resurrectedthe power of Romans 8: 28-29in my heart, "And we knowthat for those who love God allthings work together for good,for those who are calledaccording to His purpose. Forthose whom he foreknew healso predestined to be con-formed to the image of his Son,in order that he might be thefirstborn among many broth-ers." (ESV)
Many trials haveplagued me in my short life-time, and many more are sureto come. But, whatever Godbrings, I can hold on to thispromise…EVERYTHING willbe made beautiful in its time.
phaaphaa
He Who Has Ears to Hear, Let Him Hear
by Joan Vetter
I love it when, in read-ing a passage of Scripture, itseems to jump out like I hadnever read it before. I knowthe Holy Spirit is endeavoringto tap me on the shoulder say-ing, "There's something here Iwant to reveal to you."
One day as I read aboutpreparations for the Passover, Inoticed Peter and John askedJesus where He wanted them toprepare the Passover. Hisanswer amazed me with thedetail. Jesus responded,"Behold, when you haveentered the city, a man will
meet you carrying a pitcher ofwater; follow him into thehouse which he enters. Thenyou shall say to the master ofthe house, The Teacher says toyou, Where is the guest roomwhere I may eat the Passoverwith My disciples? Then hewill show you a large, fur-nished upper room; there makeready."
I've often joked that Iwish the Lord would downloaddirections for my day like aGPS system (God's PositioningService), but suddenly as I readthe above passage I realizedJesus did speak very specifical-ly to His disciples, even reveal-ing what was to come. So I amHis disciple, and the Word tellsme that Jesus is the same todayas He was then, and that Hissheep hear His voice. Thatmeans I should expect toreceive His counsel and instruc-tions a lot more clearly than Ido.
Like Hansel and Gretel,I follow the scattered crumbs tofind my way. Since Jesus is theBread of Life surely there willbe a path for me. First Ithought about a meeting I
attended the first of the year.We wrote out scriptures, putthem in a bowl and each persondrew one, trusting the HolySpirit to guide us to the one weneeded for the coming year. Well, I drew Proverbs 3:5-6,"Trust in the Lord with all yourheart, and lean not on your ownunderstanding; in all your waysacknowledge Him, and He shalldirect your paths." So, for acouple of weeks I would askthe Lord about many things,trusting Him to direct me.However, I didn't keep it up. AsI began to think about His spe-cific guidance, the words "allyour ways" stood out. He did-n't say when you just don'tknow what to do, but in every-thing.
Reactions to wantingthe Lord to direct your pathvary on the scale - from havingno clue that there is a God whois vitally interested in our lives- to the imbalance of believingonly mentally ill individualshear God speak in bizarre ways.The plume line of the Word ofGod is our instructor.
However, we have allhad traditional teaching that
clouds the Truth. Therefore, weneed to trust the Holy Spirit tobe our compass, and open ourhearts and minds to new under-standing.
I have great delight inrecalling an incident years agowhere I heard the voice of Godso clearly, but argued with him,coming close to missing out ona sweet blessing.
We were preparing tomove to Ohio. "Lord", I com-plained, "I really thought therewould be an opportunity forTed to meet Tom." Tom was mySunday School teacher whoexperienced a dramatic conver-sion, from a millionaire addict-ed to drugs, pornography andadultery to being so in lovewith the Lord that he pouredhis money into mission tripsand shared how God had sethim free to everyone whowould listen.
"Invite them for dinner,"I heard the Lord say. What?We only had a couple moreweeks before Ted would beleaving and we had much to do.Also it was close to Christmas.I gave God all these excuses. "Ted doesn't even know him
and would say no.""It is Christmastime and I'msure they are busy."The clincher was, "God, Theyused to live in a 7 bedroommansion, and we have a 1500square foot house which is noteven decorated much forChristmas."
Can you believe Godwas kind enough to answer thatso specifically? When Tompreached at our church thatweekend, our pastor introducedhim, saying, "For the sake ofthe gospel he has downsized toa 1500 square foot home!" Asyou can imagine, I quicklymade the call to invite them.They were pleased to come. Atdinner his wife said, "I loveyour Christmas decorations - Ihaven't had a chance to do any-thing yet."
So with that remem-brance, today I'm telling theLord, "Lord, I want to hear Youlike that again, but I don'tpromise that I won't argue withyou - just ask my husband. Idon't always listen to him thefirst time either."
phaaphaa
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EDITORIAL
by Barbara Loe Fisher
As many parents headfor the Autism One conferencein Chicago next week to learnhow to heal their children's vac-cine-related brain and immunesystem dysfunction and world-wide anxiety about the swineflu lingers, the NationalVaccine Information Center(NVIC) is opening registrationfor the Fourth InternationalPublic Conference onVaccination. The conferencewill be held Oct. 2-4, 2009 atthe Hyatt Regency Hotel inReston, Virginia near DullesInternational Airport andWashington, D.C. The largestand oldest non-profit vaccinesafety organization in NorthAmerica, founded in 1982, issponsoring the event to providea public forum for open discus-sion about vaccine issues ofconcern to parents and healthcare professionals. The confer-ence theme "Show Us theScience & Give Us A Choice"reflects NVIC's three decade
pro- education and pro-informed consent stand defend-ing the right of citizens to makefully informed, voluntary vac-cine decisions for themselvesand their children.
More than 35 speakersfrom the U.S. and travelingfrom Canada, United Kingdom,Italy, Japan, and Kenya willspeak about the science, policy,law and economics of vaccina-tion; the human right toinformed consent to vaccina-tion; as well as holistic healthcare options for preventing ill-ness and staying well. Pre-con-ference state organizing ses-sions start Thursday evening,Oct. 1, and Friday and Sundayadvocacy training, holistichealth education and vaccineinjury family networking ses-sions precede a post-conferenceMonday, Oct. 5 bus trip toCapitol Hill.
Friday, Oct. 2Highlights: Peggy O'Mara,founder & editor of MotheringMagazine and Jane Bryant,founder & editor of the UKinternet news service, OneClick, start the first day with adiscussion about freedom of thepress. The keynote address willbe delivered by renownedbioethicist George Annas, JD,MPH, Chair of the Departmentof Health Law, Bioethics &Human Rights at BostonUniversity School of PublicHealth. HPV vaccine researcherProfessor Diane Harper, MD,MPH of the University ofMissouri, Kansas City Schoolof Medicine, will examineinformed consent issues involv-
ing Gardasil vaccine. Evidencefor influenza vaccine efficacywill be reviewed by Italian epi-demiologist and physician TomJefferson, MD, CochraneVaccines Field Coordinator.
Coming all the wayfrom Kenya is cell biologistand vaccine researcher BonnieDunbar, PhD, who co- foundedthe Africa Biomedical Center,to inform the audience aboutthe multi-disciplinary approachto meeting unique health chal-lenges in Africa. She is joinedby Canadian pediatrician ColinForbes, MD, who will recounthis more than 40 years of expe-rience caring for children inKenya and how he helpedreduce child mortality in someof the most impoverished childpopulations in the world.
Returning briefly from ahealth research position inJapan, MIT doctoral candidatePeter Doshi will outline theimpact on democracy of U.S.and global vaccine policies.Human rights activist ShivChopra, B.V.Sc., M.Sc., PhD,who was former scientific advi-sor to Health Canada, and isauthor of "Rotten to the Core"will give a presentation entitled"Public Health or CorporateInterests?"
During what promisesto be an historic conference,pediatrician Bob Sears, M.D.offers an alternative schedulefor use of 16 U.S. governmentrecommended vaccines and willdebate pediatrician LawrencePalevsky, M.D., who presentsan alternative view of how tomaintain health and prevent
chronic illness. Holistic healthpioneers Joe Mercola, DO andGary Null, PhD will talk abouthow good nutrition and under-standing how to make healthylife choices is the key to stay-ing well, while holistic veteri-narian and immunologist,Richard Pitcairn, DVM, PhD,will teach the audience abouthow good nutrition and home-opathy can keep pets well andLife University ProfessorMatthew McCoy, DC, MPHwill give a chiropractic per-spective on informed consent tovaccination.
"Will the Law ProtectHealth Freedom?" is the ques-tion that constitutional and fed-eral law experts, along withleading medical privacy andhealth freedom advocates willdiscuss. Vaccine injury andproduct liability law will be thetopic explored by attorneyswho have won vaccine injurycases in the federal VaccineInjury Compensation Program,and also have expertise in vac-cine contamination and use ofexperimental vaccines in sol-diers. Longtime vaccine choicelobbyists like PROVE PresidentDawn Richardson will joinlongtime autism activistsM.I.N.D. Institute co-founderRick Rollens and UnlockingAutism President ShelleyReynolds and others to helpparents organize to educate leg-islators and protect the right tomake informed vaccine choices.
During the past fewyears, there have been calls forelimination or severe restric-tions of vaccine exemptions by
doctors with ties to the vaccineindustry and by governmenthealth officials seeking a 100percent vaccination rate with allgovernment recommended andmandated vaccines. NVIC haslong taken a public stand forthe basic human right to protectbodily integrity and the Octoberconference provides a publicforum not only for those whowant the freedom to make vol-untary choices about usingpharmaceutical products andmedical interventions that carryknown and unknown risks, butalso for scientists, doctors, jour-nalists and health safety advo-cates to present information anddefend their right and responsi-bility to investigate and speakabout improving vaccine sci-ence and policies to protectindividual and public health.
The conference is sup-ported by an educational grantfrom the Albert and ClaireDwoskin Family Foundation,which has made it possible forNVIC to keep the registrationfee for those registering byAugust 30 at $195 for the threeday, three night conference fea-turing top speakers from aroundthe world. There is a low $95per night hotel rate, which isunheard of in the Washington,D.C. area for a fine hotel likethe Hyatt Regency. Meetingand hotel room space is limitedin the only hotel in the villageof Reston. Conference registra-tion and hotel room reservationis on a first come, first servebasis. For more informationabout speakers, sponsorshipopportunities and registration,
NVIC's October 2009 Vaccine Conference:It's About Informed Choices
San Diego, CA -- (SBWIRE) -Lisa Copen, founder of
Rest Ministries, Inc., the largestChristian organization specifi-cally for those with chronic ill-ness or pain, won the OurBodies Ourselves Award forWomen's Health Hero:Audience Choice.
On May 11, 2009 OurBodies Ourselves announcedthe 2009 Womens' HealthHeroes, honoring the work ofwomen's health advocatesworldwide, marking OBOS'sfirst annual effort to spotlightthe diversity of care, education
and activism in communitiesaround the world.
See OBOS's announce-ment, as well as the nominationand kind comments for Lisahere:
www.ourbodiesourblog.org/womens-health-heroes-2009
"Every day millions ofpeople worldwide do incrediblework to improve the health andwell-being of women, and wewant to bring attention to theirefforts," said Our BodiesOurselves Executive DirectorJudy Norsigian. "Many of our
heroes accomplish so muchwith very few resources, partic-ularly on the frontlines of pub-lic health, where gaps in thequality of care and healthcareaccess remain persistent."
The inaugural group,
chosen from close to 100 nomi-nations, represents seven coun-tries: United States (13),Canada (2), Australia, TheNetherlands, Nigeria, UnitedKingdom, Ukraine.
Copen, 40, who beganRest Ministries in 1997 afterliving four years with rheuma-toid arthritis and not finding ill-ness support that was faith-based says, "It's a great honorto win this award, but moreexciting is the opportunity tohave the opportunity for RestMinistries to gain the exposure.We sponsor National Invisible
Chronic Illness AwarenessWeek each September and havea five-day virtual conferenceonline. I hope that this awardwill be a reminder of theresources that are out there toencourage people while livingwith illness."
To find out more aboutRest Ministries visit their website at www.restministries.organd information for NationalInvisible Chronic IllnessAwareness Week is now beingupdated for 2009 at www.invisibleillnessweek.com.
phaaphaa
PHA Staff Writer Wins Women's Health Hero Award
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MEDICAL PERSPECTIVES
this organism was highly dis-couraged." In fact, until theGulf War, the military's ownmedical school had been teach-ing about the dangers of M. fer-mentans for years.
Background
Just years earlier inTexas, prisons emerged inwhich many of the inmates andguards came down with neu-rodegenerative conditions atrates that were far from ordi-nary. In Huntsville, wherethree large State prisons arefound, there were about 70cases of ALS, numerous casesof Multiple Sclerosis, and high-ly unexpected numbers ofRheumatoid Arthritis cases. Atthat time, the term "MysteryDisease" was used to identifythe unusual illnesses that somany seemed to have acquired.
Dr. Nicolson startedtesting prison guards and theirfamily members and found thatvery high numbers of thesepeople were testing positive forMycoplasma fermentans.Furthermore, this appeared tobe a weaponized version of theorganism called M. fermentansincognitus, a specific strain ofMycoplasma that had beenaltered to cause more severesymptoms, to be more virulent,and to be more survivable thanthe naturally occurring M. fer-mentans. Dr. Nicolsonbelieved that biologicalweapons experiments had beencarried out on inmates in theTexas prison system for yearsin which humans had been usedas guinea pigs.
As time progressed,these illnesses did not remainconfined to the prisoners. Soonafter the prisoners unknowinglybecame a part in these experi-ments, the prison guardsbecame ill. Their illnessesgradually became those of theirfamilies. It was not long beforethese Mycoplasma-based ill-nesses became a broader part ofthe surrounding Huntsville,Texas landscape.
The Texas prisoners thatcame down with AmyotrophicLateral Sclerosis (ALS) laterdied. In the state of Texas, atthe time, the state law dictatedthat all prisoners that died werelater to be autopsied atUniversity of Texas atGalveston. However, that wasnot what was happening to theprisoners who had died as aresult of this horrific experi-mentation, according to Dr.Nicolson. Through one of hisformer students who at the timewas responsible for the autopsyservice at UT Galveston, Dr.Nicolson learned that none ofthe bodies had been sent there.Dr. Nicolson had discoveredthat at least six private autop-sies a week were being per-formed on deceased prisonersat a US Army base. The bodieswere then sent to a private cre-matory at a secret location incentral Texas. Additionally,prisoner records weredestroyed. All of this, accord-ing to Dr. Nicolson, violatedstate law.
Though much of theevidence of this experimenta-tion had been destroyed, a doc-ument was found in the base-ment of an Austin building thatwas viewed as the "smokinggun". The document indicated
that the Texas Prison Board,Baylor College of Medicine,and the Department of Defensewere all a part of the experi-ments involving the Texas pris-oners - experiments that laterresulted in the death of many ofthe inmates. According to Dr.Nicolson, some of the experi-ments used Mycoplasma whileothers utilized various "cock-tails of microbial agents" suchas Mycoplasma, Brucella, andDNA viruses such asParvovirus B19. This projectlater became the topic of abook by Dr. Nicolson entitled
Project Day Lily. Dr. Nicolson believes
that Mycoplasma fermentans isa naturally occurring microbe.However, some of the strainsthat exist today have beenweaponized. Dr. Nicolson'sresearch found unusual genes inM. fermentans incognitus thatwere consistent with aweaponized form of the organ-ism. Weaponzing of an organ-ism is done in an attempt tomake a germ more pathogenic,immunosuppressive, resistant toheat and dryness, and toincrease its survival rate suchthat the germ could be used invarious types of weapons.Genes which were part of theHIV-1 envelope gene werefound in these Mycoplasma.This means that the infectionmay not give someone HIV, butthat it may result in some of thedebilitating symptoms of theHIV disease. Indicators of aweaponized organism were evi-dent in the prison guards inHuntsville as well as in militarypersonnel that were likelyexposed to the infections boththrough military vaccinations aswell as through weapons usedin the Gulf War.
The unfortunate realityaccording to Dr. Nicolson isthat "once these things get out,you can't put the genie back inthe bottle". Once these germshave been released, they areairborne infections that slowlypenetrate into the population.In the case of Mycoplasma fer-mentans, Dr. Nicolson believesthat this is exactly what hap-pened. It may be thisweaponized form ofMycoplasma that has led to the
significant increases in neu-rodegenerative and autoimmunediseases over the last severalyears. Those patients withweaponized strains of theseorganisms are generally verysick. They may experience 60-75 signs and symptoms and areeven at risk of their diseasesbecoming fatal.
In looking at the sourceof infection in the Gulf Warveterans who were contractingMycoplasma, Dr. Nicolson sug-gests that vaccinations appearto be the most likely mecha-nism through which the veter-
ans became infected. Manymilitary personnel that laterbecame ill were far from thebattlefields or had received thevaccinations and were neverdeployed. However, biologicalweapons sprayers were knownto have been deployed by theIraqis in the Gulf War and wereused to spray the sand in Iraqand Kuwait. GeraldSchumacher, a Special Forcescolonel in charge of biologicalweapons detection, blew thewhistle on this after he retired.During the Gulf War, his groupwas not allowed to deploy theirbiological weapons detectorswhich led to reports that nosuch weapons were detected orused.
The Iraqis received agreat deal of assistance on bio-logical warfare from the UnitedStates during the Iran-IraqConflict. Both chemical andbiologic weapons were given tothem from the United States.After the Gulf War, rather thantaking inventory of theseweapons, they were blown up.Dr. Nicolson indicates thatsome of his patients have takenvideos standing next to crateswith Hazardous Materials tagsfrom the United States. In thesame videos, the crates areopened and weapons are clearlystriped as having originatedfrom the United States andbeing both chemical and bio-logical weapons.
There were clear indica-tors that Iraq had offensiveweapons in their arsenal. InKuwait, many people hadbecome quite ill. It was esti-mated that 25% of the popula-tion after the Gulf War had
signs and symptoms whichmatched the symptoms of thoseinfected with weaponizedMycoplasma. There were alsoa number of other chemicalexposures and thus, there wasnever a clear indicator as towhether or not the Iraqi illness-es were caused by biologic orchemical agents.
When asking Dr.Nicolson how much he person-ally has been harassed forbringing much of this informa-tion to light, he shared that ithas been "a horrific time".
After Dr. Nicolson
exposed the Huntsville prisonexperiments, the University ofTexas educational systemattempted to fire him from histenured and highly respectedposition. Dr. Nicolson sharedthat a tremendous amount ofpressure was put on theUniversity of Texas system to"shut him up and close his lab-oratory". He was threatened onan almost daily basis with clos-ing his lab as he continued todo his research on Mycoplasma.This became a major subject inthe book Project Day Lily.Fortunately, for many of usstruggling with chronic illness-es, Dr. Nicolson's experienceand knowledge continue to be abenefit in that we understand somuch more than we otherwisewould about this formidable foecalled Mycoplasma.
Symptoms
The signs and symp-toms of Mycoplasma infectionare highly variable and thus itis not uncommon for a diagno-sis to be entirely missed. Apartial list of symptomsincludes chronic fatigue, jointpain, intermittent fevers,headaches, coughing, nausea,gastrointestinal problems, diar-rhea, visual disturbances, mem-ory loss, sleep disturbances,skin rashes, joint stiffness,depression, irritability, conges-tion, night sweats, loss of con-centration, muscle spasms,nervousness, anxiety, chestpain, breathing irregularities,balance problems, light sensi-tivity, hair loss, problems withurination, congestive heart fail-ure, blood pressure abnormali-
ties, lymph node pain, chemicalsensitivities, persistent cough-ing, eye pain, floaters in theeyes, and many others. On Dr.Nicolson's web site athttp://www.immed.org, a fulllist of signs and symptoms andan illness survey form can befound.
It doesn't take long tosee that the symptoms ofMycoplasma infections are verysimilar to the symptoms ofBorrelia infections in chronicLyme disease. Dr. Nicolsonhas looked at some of the morecommon neurodegenerative dis-eases and the infections that areassociated with each.
Mycoplasma is com-monly found in patients withALS, Multiple Sclerosis,Autism, Chronic FatigueSyndrome, RheumatoidArthritis, Chronic Asthma,Lyme disease, and many otherchronic disease conditions.
Characteristics
Mycoplasma are pleo-morphic bacteria which lack acell wall and, as a result, manyantibiotics are not effectiveagainst this type of bacteria.There are over 100 knownspecies of Mycoplasma, butonly a half dozen or so areknown to be pathogenic inhumans. The pathogenicspecies are intracellular andmust enter cells to survive.Once they are inside the cells,they are not recognized by theimmune system and it is diffi-cult to mount an effectiveresponse.
They stimulate reactive-oxygen species (ROS) whichdamage cell membranes. Theyrelease toxins into the body.Infected cells can be stimulatedto undergo programmed celldeath which may result in ALSor other severe neurologicalpresentations. 90% of ALSpatients evaluated were foundto have Mycoplasma infections,whereas Mycoplasma wasfound in 100% of ALS patientswith Gulf War Syndrome,almost all of which wereweaponized M. fermentansincognitus.
They are thought of as"borderline anaerobes", mean-ing that they generally preferlow oxygen environments. Dr.Nicolson has found that airlineemployees are much more sus-ceptible to these types of infec-tions and that symptoms wors-en with frequent long flights atlow oxygen tension.Mycoplasma also have somecharacteristics of viruses.
Mycoplasma tend to beslow growing infections andthey are usually transmittedslowly. Dr. Nicolson states that"Mycoplasma can be sexuallytransmitted, but the infection isusually passed through far lessintimate contact. Mycoplasmacan be obtained through fluidexchange, and it is easily trans-mitted through the air." In GulfWar veterans, the first personbesides the veteran to becomeill was the spouse and, later,other members of the house-hold also became ill. Noteveryone is equally susceptibleto Mycoplasma infections,especially those with strongimmune systems who can resistinfection.
As already discussed, “Mycoplasma” ...cont’d pg 12
“Mycoplasma” ...cont’d from pg 1
Illness Infections Commonly Observed
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
Mycoplasma fermentans (and other species), Borrelia burgdor-feri, HHV6, Chlamydia pneumoniae
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Chlamydia pneumoniae, Mycoplasma species, Borrelia burgdor-feri, HHV6 and other Herpes viruses
Alzheimer's Disease Chlamydia pneumoniae, Borrelia burgdorferi, HSV1 and otherHerpes viruses
Parkinson's Disease Helicobacter pylori, coronavirus, Mycoplasma species
Autism Spectrum Disorders Mycoplasma fermentans (and other species), Chlamydia pneu-moniae, HHV6, Borrelia burgdorferi
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Mycoplasma pneumoniae (and other species), Chlamydia pneu-moniae, Borrelia burgdorferi
Lyme Disease Borrelia burgdorferi, Mycoplasma fermentans (and otherspecies), Babesia species, Bartonella species, Ehrlichia species
Chronic illnesses and infections commonly observed in each according to the work of Dr. Garth Nicolson, PhD
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MEDICAL PERSPECTIVES
AL: The American DentalAssociation (ADA) does notyet acknowledge electrodermalscreening. I am in the midst ofa 10-year, FDA-approved studyon the energetic relationship ofteeth to degenerative disease asmonitored by electrodermalscreening. I have about 500patients in the study. It is cru-cial to recognize that each toothis connected via meridians tothe organs of the body, and theyare all connected energetically.For example, many people withheart conditions will be foundto have a chronic infection atthe site of their wisdom teeth -the third molars. Certain molarsare connected to the heartmeridian and when those teethare stressed with chronic infec-tion, the heart is stressed. Dr.Joseph Issels of Germany wrotethat many cancer patients gotwell, for example, when rootcanals and other infections ofthe oral cavity were removed. Ifind that almost 100 percent ofwomen with breast cancer havea chronically affected upperfirst molar. Likewise, reproduc-tive organs are tied into theupper centrals, male andfemale. My approach is basedupon the Meridian Theory fromTraditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) and The Focal Theoryof Infection.
Both homeopathy andRife frequencies work energeti-cally with Lyme; they are justdifferent sides of the same coin.Both are effective. The differ-ence is that for homeopathy towork optimally, you have toremove as many impedimentsto proper immune function asyou can before using it - suchas removal of dead teeth andmetal fillings of all sorts, andcleaning up chronic infectionsin the jawbone. Rife works bygenerating a frequency specificto Lyme and aiming that at thebody to kill the bacteria. Likehomeopathy, Rife generatorsmay or may nor produce heal-ing crisis. That seems to dependon individual reactions. Neitherone will totally eliminate thevarious forms of Lyme bacteria,but they help manage the dis-ease.
MB: What is the Focal Theoryof Infection?
AL: A focal infection is a localinfection that expands to incor-porate the whole quadrant, thenthe whole side of the mouthand eventually can cross themidline to incorporate the otherside. Basically, the theory saysthe oral cavity is able to gener-ate particularly nasty toxins thatpoison the body when you havehad a root canal or a toothextracted. Most dentists still donot understand the FocalTheory; it was studied more inEurope than here. Dr. WestonPrice's great contribution wasthe discovery that focal infec-tion bacteria are polymorphic,meaning they mutate and adaptand multiply like rabbits in thethree miles of dentin tubulesthat emanate from every tooth.The bacteria become smallerand anaerobic - they can nowlive without oxygen. They alsobecome more virulent, and theirtoxins more toxic. Root canalsand old extractions are commonfocal infection sites.
When you have a rootcanal, a dead tooth is left in themouth. The dead tooth lacks ablood supply to its interior.
Antibiotics circulating in thebloodstream have no way topenetrate this dead tissue. Overtime, the material packed insidethe dead tooth shrinks a bit.Now bacteria come in andmorph. The tooth has both bac-teria and toxins as a result ofbeing dead for so many yearsand these toxins are infiltratinginto the bloodstream.
In extraction sites, thehealing may not take place cor-rectly. If the healing is incor-rect, the space can fill in withfatty tissue, dead bone, improp-
er bone, or it can fill in withinfected material. All of theseprocesses are wrong and theorgan associated with thatextraction site will always showthis improper healing. The rem-edy is to clean out the socket,debride it, and remove the liga-ment that holds the tooth in aswell as the dense bony lining ofthe socket. The other importantfactor is cleaning up the quad-rant (at least) of the mouthwhere the extraction was per-formed - cleaning up all metaland any other extraction sites.This is the best way to assureproper healing from extractions.
Toxins from focal siteinfections are highly virulentand they tend to go to the organassociated with the meridianupon which that tooth lies.Over time, the toxins' assaultwill change the genetics of theorgan. However, it has beenfound that upon proper extrac-tion of a dead tooth and propertreatment of an extraction site,the organ will return to its nor-mal genetics. Bob Jones, anengineer, recently did substan-tial genetic testing whichdemonstrated the ability oforgans to right themselves.
MB: Are tonsils also focalinfection sites?
AL: They can be. Tonsils arebasically nodules of lymph tis-sue. Removing tonsils shouldbe a solution of last resort.Tonsils are part of the immunesystem. Tonsils are a networkof guard posts to infectionbecause the body needs to pro-tect the brain. There are valvesin the veins that prevent bloodfrom flowing backward. In thehead there are no valves, soblood can flow in any directionand an infection in the brainwould be disastrous. The ton-sils, when functioning properly,prevent infections from enter-
ing the brain. There are fourtonsils on each side of the headplus the pair we can readily seeat the back of the mouth. Theyare prone to recurring infec-tions because of allergies andother factors in the body. Withmultiple infections comes scar-ring of the tissue. Hence whenthis has occurred, the tonsilsneed to be dealt with as scarsneed to be dealt with.
MB: Tell us how scars interferewith the body's energy.
AL: If scars are present, theyact as an energetic block, muchthe same way a dead toothdoes. And there are variousways to neutralize scars. A scaris not merely something on theoutside of the skin - it is theskin. The energy flow of themeridians goes right under thesurface of the skin so wherethere are scars, they can act as amajor block to energy flow.There are various other ener-getic blocks, but teeth, the ton-sils, and scars are the majorones. When healing energetical-ly, all three areas are veryimportant to deal with. Thestronger the energetic system,the better you can handle out-side factors like geneticallymodified food and environmen-tal chemicals. Often with Lyme,it is said that you need a strongimmune system to keep theLyme under control. That istrue. But you also need a strongenergetic system and often thatis overlooked.
MB: Can you tell us about oneof the Lyme patients in yourFDA-approved study?
AL: Sure, let's call her "Julie."Her history was one of a nor-mal birth, normal delivery, nor-mal first 6 months of develop-ment. But then she began tohave pronounced joint pains,mobility problems, rashes, andher deciduous teeth - her babyteeth - showed pronouncedmalformation and discoloration.Julie's parents took her to aprestigious California medicalfacility where they were unableto make a diagnosis. She wasgiven pain medication and anti-inflammatories. This went onfor 6 or 8 months with noapparent relief of the symp-toms. When I first saw Julie,she was 18 months old. Herdeciduous enamel was mis-shapen and reddish in color.
This suggested there was adeep underlying condition thatprobably would cause the samethings to occur in her perma-nent teeth. I used electrodermalscreening and determined shehad what looked like borelliaburgdorferi - the main spiro-chete that causes Lyme disease.She tested positive for some co-infections, but Lyme was thebigger factor. I made homeo-pathic remedies for this and wealso used natural anti-inflam-matory remedies. Within aweek, the pain subsided dra-
matically. The swellingdecreased. About one monthlater, the parents reported thatthe symptoms had disappeared.It is too early to tell, of course,but there is every reason tobelieve her adult teeth willerupt normally and be free ofthe red stains and changes inmorphology that came with thebaby teeth. When I saw Julie, Irealized both parents had Lyme.Lyme can be transmittedthrough the placenta.
MB: How much of a role dovaccinations play with childrenwith Lyme?
AL: In general, vaccines lowerone's immune competency andmost would impede immunefunction where Lyme is con-cerned - allow it to get an easi-er foothold. A vaccine does notboost immunity. It gives us atemplate to recognize a specificprotein when it enters the bodyand to be able to attack thatprotein and render it harmlessto the body. Vaccinationsshould not be done until about2 ½ years of age, the point atwhich all the baby teeth haveerupted. It is then that humanshave a fully functional, compe-tent immune system and canbetter handle the introductionof the complex foreign proteinsintroduced in the form of vac-cines. That is not to say theycan handle the mercury andother toxins added for stability.We have to create a culturewhere people realize drugs arenot made to maintain healthy,happy lives. The integrity ofthe terrain is the major factor.Louis Pasteur, remembered fordeveloping vaccines, reversedhimself on his deathbed. Hesaid, "The pathogen is nothing,terrain is everything." If youwant a healthy terrain for chil-dren, then pre-conceptionhealth becomes critical because
we are seeing more and morethat degenerative changes inkids are transferred from theparents. You see teeth malfor-mations in some children. Thatsays something is going onwith the DNA. It has beendemonstrated, for example, thatthere are genetic changes alongpathways where there are rootcanals. Where pathways havebeen interfered with, the genet-ic changes for worse. But whencorrected, the genetic changegoes back to the normal path-way. "Smart conception" meansyou clean up the energetics ofthe body first.
MB: What about mercury fill-ings?
AL: Mercury is about the mostactive of metals. The higher thetemperature, the more it isreleased, poisoning the system.It is tough to rid the body ofchronic diseases when poisonconstantly leeches from themouth. Many people havecrowns with an underlyinglayer of nickel, a very toxicmetal. Unfortunately, dentalschools are not much help rightnow. They do not teach Chinesemedicine and they still consideramalgam (50% mercury filling)a usable material, when eventhe FDA now requires warninglabels on amalgam packaging.Sometimes people tell me theygot worse after they had mercu-ry fillings taken out. I know thewrong material was used in thatperson's mouth. You really haveto test energetically for what touse for crowns or bridges -restorations. The material I likethe best is cubit zirconium, acousin of what you find in thefalse diamond. It is energetical-ly different and has been con-sistently good for restorations.Zirconium is a metal that lookslike clear glass. When youmake an oxide of it, the nega-tive aspects of the metal disap-pear. It loses it crystallineaspect and becomes moreacceptable to the body.
I always felt the internetwould help humanity learn howto live better, naturally. Asmore consumers demand metal-free dentistry, this will createthe change in the profession.When I started 35 years ago, Ihad to talk like a Dutch uncleto get people to remove mercu-ry fillings and root canals - itwas tough. Now people are get-ting more informed. As patientsdemand change, the young den-tists will have to respond. Thedilemma, though, is that whenthey get out of school, youngdentists are in debt. To take ona whole new challenge, tochange your profession, is avery arduous task. They needthe support of the patients.
MB: Would you say somethingabout your own experiencewith Lyme?
AL: Many people in my part ofthe country do not understandthe Sierra Foothills and thecoastal range in which they liveis full of ticks. Many people arebitten and never know it. Theydon't understand that Lyme dis-ease is sexually transmissible,and is passed through breastmilk as well. I got sick becauseI had teeth extracted. Rootcanals, as well as improperextractions, weaken yourimmune competency. In my “Dental Issues” ...cont’d pg 14
“Dental Issues” ...cont’d from pg 1
Dr. Andrew Landerman, a Biological Dentist, practices in Sebastopol, California.
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The Power of Truth Spoken by Joseph G. Jemsek, M.D.Part 2
by Tina J. Garcia
Tina: Dr. Jemsek, what is yourapproach to patients and yourmethod for treating LymeBorreliosis Complex?
Dr. Jemsek: With regard tomy approach to patients, I amunable to accept insurance, sothere is a financial challengefor patients, which I regret andalways appreciate. Almost allpatients completely understandthis situation, and we do every-thing we can to help withHICFA forms for insurance fil-ing and so forth. But we allknow that health insurers areterrified of the 'black box'which LBC represents, and thattheir business model is essen-tially 'anti-patient'.
There is also a travelchallenge in most cases,because I see patients from allover the country and quite afew from Europe and othercontinents. For example, I'vehad patients come from Russia,Lebanon and Australia to visitthe clinic in South Carolina.I've had a dozen to fifteen ormore patients come from theScandinavian countries, as well.
Tina: So despite all the prob-lems forced upon you, patientsstill come to see you for help.
Dr. Jemsek: Yes, because it's aworldwide epidemic. In fact,we get emails from patients,several per week on averageasking, "Can you help me?"People are desperate. It reallybreaks my heart. I currentlyonly see Borreliosis patients,but I'm seeing sicker patientsthan I've ever seen before.
Tina: How does the officevisit unfold when patients seeyou for an appointment?
Dr. Jemsek: A new patientintake is a two-hour visit. Weask that the patients complete aclinical medical history form,and they typically bring in aninch or two of records whichwe review thoroughly. I usual-ly start the patient interviewwith the question, "Are youdoctor referred, or are you herewith your doctor's approval orunderstanding?' Then I ask thepatient which doctors they wantcopied on my consultative note.Some patients say none, somewant several doctors copied,and some decide later, so we'rehappy to do that for them andreally encourage the communi-cation.
For as long as I canremember, I have made a prac-tice of providing a copy of theconsultative note to eachpatient, so the patient gets ourwhole summary with recom-mendations right away, and ofcourse, I copy any physician
who referred the patient or towhom the patient wishesrecords be sent. Ideally, wewant exhaustive but well-organized reviews up front,because if you don't get it onthe first or second visit, youlikely will never have a historythat serves the patient well. Inmost cases, we set severalactions in motion immediatelyafter the visit, and it really isn'tuntil later when laboratory testsand procedures are concluded,that we get a more completepicture. These are extensivedocuments that I create.
Tina: That's a great help tosomeone with cognitive dys-function.
Dr. Jemsek: Exactly.Everyone's from somewhereelse, so if someone's on IVtherapy, for example, they haveto have a collaborating physi-cian at home, no exceptions.And if the patient is going onan oral antimicrobial regimen,we still very much encouragecollaboration with a localphysician, but we don't demandit.
Patients always have thediscretion of taking theirrecords and going to the nextphysician or finding a physi-cian. I am currently able tointerview about five newpatients a week on average.That's about all I can do. Onthe first follow up visit or witha patient that I haven't seen in ayear or two, we devote forty-five minutes. On a routinescheduled office appointment,the scheduled time is thirtyminutes. So as you can see inthat way, from the time allot-ments, I can only see ten tofourteen patients a day max. IfI see more than one new patienta day, it's a really long day.
I just think that doing asmuch up front and doing it asthoroughly as possible paystremendous dividends in termsof patient care, organization,and mutual understanding ofwhat the goals are. We'rebooked out about four monthsnow, but the consistent trendcontinues to be for this periodto grow longer. We haveapproximately seventy-five newpatients on the waiting list andthe list is growing every day.However, very soon I intend tobring in two nurse practitioners,and that should significantlyexpand our new patient intake.As appropriate, we're going tobe able to charge considerablyless for the nurse practitionervisits, which will help ourpatients access the clinic, butI'm going to promise that I willalways see the patient on thenext visit.
Tina: What about your clinicalstaff and other areas of prac-tice?
Dr. Jemsek: I am up to aboutfifteen employees now, whereasat the Jemsek Clinic in 2005 Ihad seventy employees servingthe twin epidemics ofHIV/AIDS and LBC. Some ofthose folks were research PhDsand we really miss them, andnot that we are semi-resuscitat-ed, but we're going to start ourresearch again. I recentlybrought back some really out-standing people who workedwith us before. My head clini-
cal research RN is comingback, along with another RNwhom I worked with in infec-tion control when I was the epi-demiologist at CarolinaMedical Center years ago.With these outstanding individ-uals back on board, we're goingto start doing respective chartreviews and thorough data col-lection. I'm also teaming upwith a Ph.D. in chemical engi-neering who's incredibly brightand very well-connected, andhas this wonderful model fordatabase collections, amongother things.
Our research efforts willfollow two or three differentpaths. One path is basic datacollection and the other pathswill involve much more sophis-ticated research, both clinicaland basic science in orientation.This will require collaborationwith a number of scientists andwe're confident we can makethis happen. What our clinicprovides, above all, is thepatient population and an excel-lent knowledge of which ques-tions to ask. The real trick isknowing how to prioritize whatis most useful now and whatcan wait, since there are literal-ly thousands of potential proj-ects that need to be explored.I'm very anxious to turn oversome of this process to peoplewho are much smarter than mewho can run with it. It's justincredible, because we're at thebeginning of a new frontier. It'sas though we're starting all overagain. The only advantage wehave is that we have the experi-ence of HIV/AIDS, and if thisresearch project ever gets capi-talized, we can jump start thisthing.
We will use theHIV/AIDS epidemic as amodel, although as most recallwhen it first started, no one wasinterested in all the gays whowere dying. But soon itbecame a national agenda,things picked up and the gov-ernment did do the right thingby starting the ACTG groups.That was a really smart thing todo. They asked the clinicaltrial, basic science questionsand did the research, the gruntwork so to speak. Then phar-maceuticals and NIH becameheavily involved, and of coursethey brought in money, and itbecame a multi-billion-dollarenterprise, attracting the bestminds in infectious diseases.
So really, at least from ascientific point of view, oncethe commitment is made, thejump to understanding LBCshould come from a tremen-dous platform built on the backof the HIV/AIDS pandemic, orat least it should work that way.On the realistic side, however,my research associate made theremark that a seasoned immu-nologist recently admitted tohim that we know next to noth-ing when it comes to mostchronic illnesses. And really,nothing is as easy as I have justdescribed, so it may takedecades to fully understand theepidemiology, molecular biolo-gy and nature of the diseasestates associated with LBC.
I expect my experiencein HIV/AIDS and LBC to par-allel each other, if I am aroundlong enough. In HIV/AIDS, Icame from one world where Igrew up and spent the firstdecade or more of my experi-
ence dealing with the humanaspects of a deadly disease, andso I got a crash course duringpart of my career getting intouch with my own mortalityand who I was as a physician.Then, during the next decade,as the money rolled out andthousands more becameinvolved in research and treat-ment, the science was simplyincredible.
I was involved withHIV and attending and present-ing data at very well-fundedmeetings and that sort of thing.Then I went from that world tothe Lyme world, which in thebeginning was pictures of rac-coons and deer ticks on thewall at a meeting in some NewJersey lodge, lectures onpulling out amalgams as a cureand saying that was what wascausing all your troubles andlistening to lecturers who hadnever used a PowerPoint pres-entation. It freaked me out.
Tina: Are you aware of anyresearch that's currently beingperformed or are you planningto do any research with regardto sexual transmission of Lymedisease?
Dr. Jemsek: No, not in thebeginning. That's just too hotto handle. But I'll tell yousomething interesting aboutsexual transmission. Everymarried couple asks me thatquestion. It's at the top of thelist. "Can I pass this on?" So,if something is that high up inthe consciousness, why is it thatwe've never done a study? It'sobvious the CDC has an agendato avoid this issue as long aspossible. People are intimidat-ed from even mentioning thepossibility. What I tell peopleis that, between sex and ticks,we're all infected. And Ibelieve that. I think the spiro-chete is part of our endogenousflora. Our biosphere has sort ofmade that transition, and I thinkwe're all infected. So, we havethis whole new paradigm inmedicine, this whole new jump-shift logic.
And even though peopledon't smoke as much and wedon't have as many smoking-related deaths, we have way,way too much chronic illness. Ithink that between these newinfections that have emerged
over the last several decades,which are relatively new interms of penetrating the society,and what we're doing to theenvironment, we're in for trou-ble. I can't even bear it.Intuitively, we know the stuffwe've done cannot be good forus, and it can only go one way -- it's got to be bad to somelevel. So between all the chem-icals we use in our environmentand the chronic illness, it's awhole new moving paradigm.Right now, all we do is justtreat symptoms with veryexpensive drugs and shut downthe immune system. What ifsome of these things arereversible?
Here's the ugly fact andthe ugly truth: This disease is aTSUNAMI. The disease is soprevalent and it's affecting somany decision-makers and theirfamilies, that this will force thechange. And I predict that inthe next year or so we're goingto get some big namesinvolved. Congressmen andCEO's are being affected, andI've seen doctors and theirpatients for this illness, so it'sbound to happen. And at somepoint somebody with some out-rage will step up and there willbe questions answered. I thinkthe film Under Our Skin hasdone more than anything beforeit, or anything that may come,to change the consciousness ofAmerica about Lyme disease.We all get comfortably numbwith what's going on, but notfor long, and we can't be indif-ferent and ignore it anymore.
We need to change theway we approach medicine, andit's frightening that we're talk-ing about nationalized healthcare. As horrible as our currenthealth care system is, withnationalized health care, medi-cine would be a death knell forany hope in the revolutionneeded for diagnosis and treat-ment of LBC and other chronicillnesses.
Tina: Do you ever see acuteLyme disease infection?
Dr. Jemsek: No, I essentiallyonly see early accelerated ill-ness or longstanding illness. Icheck to see if the patient has adefined tick event, with orwithout a rash, and has an ill
“Jemsek” ...cont’d pg 11
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ness compatible with an evolv-ing, persistent, neurocognitiveand musculoskeletal illnessoccurring within a few weeksof the recognized bite. If so,then they pretty much have adeeply embedded infection, achronic illness, and will need tobe treated like anyone else withchronic illness. Or, I'll seesomeone who got bitten threemonths ago and they're sick,going from doctor to doctor,and they manage to get anappointment because they havean awareness.
Mostly, I see chronic ill-ness. When I get some datatogether, I'll be able to tell youthe mean duration of illness, orgive it a good try. But evenmore fundamentally, when yougo back to determine how thisdisease activates, I think mostof my patients are infected wellahead of the defining or recog-nized clinical event and sus-tained illness is generally asso-ciated with a tipping point froma life stressor. This may ormay not be related to a tick biteor to a defined tick event. Thisis oftentimes related to a pro-longed period of stress, anotherillness, physical trauma orchildbirth, etc. This happensbecause, even though we can'tmeasure it, there is a clear andcertain immunologic frailtyassociated with subacute infec-tion with Bb and co-pathogens.There's a tipping point andsometimes people stair step.
What I tell my patientsto help them understand is thatwe're trapped by this illness intwo ways. One is by the bio-logic nature of the illness, butwe're also trapped by our healthcare system. So, when peopleget really sick, there's no wayout. I see early accelerated ill-ness, and by that time I consid-er the infection to be embed-ded. Spirochetes get in thebrain within thirty minutes. Bythe way, IDSA has no basis fortheir guidelines. This illness isgoing to force people to 'IQ up'with regard to our approach tothis disease and to medicine ingeneral. We need to put medi-cine back on a cerebral andcompassionate plane that worksfor our patients.
Tina: What are some of themost important clinical obser-vations and treatment recom-mendations you have madewith regard to Lyme BorreliosisComplex?
Dr. Jemsek: What I learned afew years ago is that you don'thave to treat every day. Andwith my HIV and infectiousdisease background, I learnedthe virtues of combination ther-apies. When you're dealingwith a complex group of infec-tions, there's no one drug that'sgoing to satisfactorily handlethe infection unless you're notthat sick. It's all about puttingyour immune system back incharge. And to the extent thatyou can eliminate the source ofthe immunosuppression andyour immune system recovers,you've done your job.
Everyone who's trappedby this illness needs nutritionalsupport, metabolic support, andthey need antibiotics. Somepeople are negative aboutantibiotics, but you can't evalu-ate antibiotic therapy in a vacu-um or as 'all the same'…that'spatently intellectually dishon-est. We are, after all, treatingmultiple, stubborn infections inan immunocompromised hostwhere, by definition, theimmune system cannot handlethe problem. And our goal isnot to see how many days ofantibiotics we can administer,but to administer the fewestdays needed in order to restoreimmunologic control. Towardsthat end, we need to understandthe triggers to keep patients outof situations that are going toperpetuate the patient's chronicillness and/or make it unwise toattempt therapy until thesedestabilizing stressors arereduced, whether the stressor isas basic as a bad support sys-tem or involve psychiatric, painor sleep issues.
In treatment models,I've learned that pulsing makessense, and I think everyonewho's really sick has multipleinfections. When I treat thethree major infections, whichare Borrelia, Bartonella andBabesia, and do that in a certainsequence and in a certain com-bination, people get better. AndI think it's very important forpeople to go off therapy on anintermittent basis for one ortwo weeks at a time. Thosewindows are very importanttimes to see how muchimmunologic security theyhave. Patterns develop, and thebetter the patient is, the longerthey can go off drugs. Formany years now, we havelearned to pulse combinationantimicrobial medications in
certain patterns, and I havemodified our clinical approachfrom learning the tempo of thedisease.
Often you learn moreabout your patient when they'reoff treatment than you learnwhen they are on active treat-ment. These 'holidays' providevaluable windows for observa-tion and after a time, you learnthat cycles of therapy and theway they are sequenced showreproducible patterns ofresponse. You also learn a lotfrom aspects of the treatmentperiod, whether it's being ontreatment, when it's the time totake Flagyl, and certainly thetime that they're off treatment isa very important window foryou to see how the patient isdoing immunologically. Andonce you learn patterns andunderstand them, then youknow when to intervene andwhen to back off. One of mypatients said, "You're doing adance with this disease, aren'tyou?" That's not a bad analogy.
I learned a long timeago that the most common rea-son for people not to get betteris inadequate treatment of co-infections. It's very importantto address the co-infections andto do so in an overlapping way,so you're not just treating onething and then going on to treatsomething else. I only treatthree days a week whether it'soral or IV, and have been doingit this way for at least fiveyears, and exclusively this wayfor almost three years. And onall my programs, I give a weekoff of therapy on average everytwo to four weeks. I don't do itso much at the beginning, butafter we get into it, patients getimmunologically revved up.
In treating patients atthe clinic, we are constantlystriving for a balance point interms of clinical efficacy andmanageable toxicity, the latterbeing an inevitable sidebar tothe highly immunogenic andinflammatory lipoprotein stormwe see with Borrelia lysis.When the immune system acti-vates, a patient can actually getmore toxic, so we have to bal-ance that. It's part of the art ofmedicine in terms of learninghow to balance the toxicitygenerated and the fact that thepatients need to detox. And Iprefer to think there's a 'backdoor' to this illness as regardsto the detoxification issues. Ifthe 'back door' is closed,
patients may remain unwell forprotracted periods. Withoutquestion, there are considerablevariations in the segment of thepopulation with this illness whoare going to be very sick, interms of the ability to detoxify.This, in fact, may be as criticalto outcomes as the infectiousload and immunologic/genomicfactors. That's the way it waswith HIV, too, in a sense.
Tina: Dr. Jemsek, you are abeacon of light, a hero, to manyof us in the Lyme community.You are thought of in this way,because you have establishedyourself as a Lyme-literatephysician who is able to guidepatients back to health. Inaddition, you have faced yourdifficult experiences with theNorth Carolina Medical Boardand Blue Cross/Blue Shieldwith a calm demeanor and res-olute determination. What hashelped you to remain centeredand focused during the chal-lenges you have faced with allthese legal battles?
Dr. Jemsek: Thank you forthose kind remarks, Tina. Myresponse would be family andpatients. I get boatloads ofaffirmations every day. Theother day I got four hugs, sohow can you not like doingthis? I really mean this. Wecan help people in such a pro-found way just by our ability tounderstand. It all starts withlistening. I honestly didn'talways have an ear for listen-ing, but I learned this skill incaring for the very ill withHIV/AIDS. When Lymepatients first walked throughmy door, they said, "I hear youtreat Lyme disease." And Isaid, "Well, yeah. So what?"But they kept coming, andbelieve me, I didn't get it for along, long time. It took meabout six to eight months toreally understand.
As a doctor, you havean understanding about howpatients are trying to paint theirpicture for you, and even if youlisten, you may not understandit the first or second time. Butwhen you hear it enough, youbegin to form your own beliefconstructs and interpretation ofit. And then you get reinforcedas your impressions and con-cepts are molded. In manyways, it's like learning a newlanguage, a language with anew alphabet, like Chinese or
Arabic. And you don't learn itovernight. But the patientslearn it and we talk in thisstrange new way with terms notfound in modern medical text.And if another doctor's in theroom and is listening, theydon't know what the heck we'retalking about. The patients getit, but to state the obvious, a lotof the doctors become veryuptight about not understand-ing, and the patient thenbecomes the problem.
So, if doctors would justlet their hair down a little bitand take a big dose of humilityand honesty, they'd be so muchhappier. It would set them free.You know, I never worry aboutnot knowing something anymore. I worry about those whofeel they must always be right.AIDS taught me that, becausewe didn't know anything. Wewere up to our asses in alliga-tors, and we were just trying todo what we could. It was avery creative period for me anda lot of other people. But somepeople look at you like a reck-less cowboy when you dosomething different, because itmakes them uncomfortable,even if they have no answerand even if the patients benefit.
When it comes to mypatients, I always ask, "Whatmade them better? Why didthey get better?" We can growand evolve this way, as ourpatients are our ultimate labora-tory for progress. And so now,as complex as Lyme patientsare with their 150 complaints,their symptoms and physicalfindings now make recogniza-ble patterns. And I can see thepatterns, and I'm very comfort-able with all these complexissues. But I realize how muchwe still have to learn, and that'sreally what's fascinating. I'mhaving a certain amount of suc-cess, and I'm learning whatquestions to ask. But my con-straints, of course, are time andmoney in trying to get answersto everything.
And I see so many neu-rological manifestations in LBCand I use more seizure drugsthan almost anybody, becausethat's what I have to do. I havea whole plate of medications Iuse in terms of seizure, potentantidepressants and mood mod-ifying drugs. You just have to.
But I can tell you this --I think that this is going to befascinating as this thing unrav
“Jemsek” ...cont’d pg 13
“Jemsek” ...cont’d from pg 9
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Mycoplasma fermentans pro-duces numerous symptoms.Those infected are rarely foundto be asymptomatic. In NorthAmerica, M. pneumoniae is themost common Mycoplasmaseen in various diseases. InEurope, M. hominis is far moreprevalent and the incidence ofM. fermentans is much lowerthan in North America.
The potential geneticfactors involved in Mycoplasmaillnesses are not known. Thosewith immune deficiencies andother illnesses, such as cancersand degenerative diseases, areat far greater risk of infection.
Prevalence
In one study looking atMycoplasma in patients withChronic Fatigue Syndrome, Dr.Nicolson has observed someinteresting patterns in hisresearch. Generally, the major-ity of CFS patients haveMycoplasma infections.However, CFS patients infectedwith Borrelia burgdorferi, thepunitive agent in Lyme disease,had an even higher overallMycoplasma infection rate. Asmany as 75% of Lyme diseasepatients appear to haveMycoplasma infections, and yetMycoplasma is often over-looked in the diagnosis andtreatment of chronic Lyme dis-ease, neurodegenerative dis-eases, and many other chronicillnesses lacking clear origins.
Even more startling wasthe finding that of the patientsinfected with Borrelia, over50% of the patients had the M.fermentans infection.Approximately 23% carried M.pneumoniae.
Chronic Fatigue patientsthat did not test positive forBorrelia had much more of amixture of various species ofMycoplasma. Only 28% of thegroup not co-infected withLyme disease had the M. fer-mentans infection. In normal,healthy controls, only 1.7%were found to have M. fermen-tans and at a total Mycoplasmainfection rate of 5% comparedto the 75% group mentionedearlier.
Dr. Nicolson notes thatthese findings are consistentwith the fact that it is theMycoplasma fermentansspecies that is more often iso-lated in ticks collected from theenvironment. The same tickthat serves as the vector forBorrelia burgdorferi often alsotransmits M. fermentans simul-taneously. Once a patient ismultiply co-infected, the dura-tion and severity of their illnessboth increase.
In his experience, Dr.Nicolson has found thatMycoplasma is the number oneLyme coinfection. The rate ofinfection with Mycoplasma inpatients with Lyme disease sur-passes that of Bartonella (25-40%) slightly and that ofBabesia (8-20%) significantly.
According to Dr.Nicolson, a healthy immunesystem can generally clear M.pneumoniae infections thoughwill have a harder time eradi-cating M. fermentans on itsown. Healthy people can oftenhold these infections in check -essentially having the infectionbut not expressing symptoms.
Testing
Dr. Nicolson noted thatMycoplasma infections inchronic Lyme disease are oftenoverlooked by most doctorsbecause they simply don't testfor it. He states that those thatdo test for it find a much highernumber of infected patients.Dr. Richard Horowitz, MD inNew York finds a high inci-dence of M. fermentans,according to Dr. Nicolson.
Sadly, however, even ifpatients are tested forMycoplasma, a similar problemexists here as the one thatalmost all Lyme doctors andpatients are aware of - namelythat reliable tests do not exist.Dr. Nicolson notes that once alaboratory gets a reliable test inplace, the laboratory is oftenshutdown. There are only a
few labs left that test forMycoplasma as a result.
In testing ticks for vari-ous microbial species, Dr.Nicolson has found a very highincidence of Mycoplasma fer-mentans. However, otherMycoplasma species have alsobeen found such as M. pneumo-niae and M. hominis. The inci-dence of these other species isfar lower. "Far and away", it isthe M. fermentans species thatis seen in ticks, and this proba-bly reflects the high incidenceof M. fermentans coinfectionsin Lyme disease.
In terms of laboratorytesting, Dr. Nicolson generallyrecommends Viral ImmunePathology, formerly known asRedLabs. He has found thatthe usefulness of any given labin testing for Mycoplasmachanges regularly. In the past,Dr. Nicolson used MedicalDiagnostic Laboratories (MDL)for testing, but later he andother physicians found that thetesting was no longer reliable.As a result, he no longer rec-ommends MDL.
Dr. Nicolson finds thatlaboratories testing forMycoplasma are highly scruti-nized by federal agencies andthat may affect the way the labstest and report this type ofinfection.
Autoimmunity
Thomas McPhersonBrown, MD studiedMycoplasma at the RockefellerInstitute just before World WarII. He was able to isolate bac-teria from the joint fluid of aperson with autoimmune arthri-tis and believed that the infec-tion could have been the trigger
for her disease. At the time,the organisms were too small toidentify precisely, but it waslater determined to beMycoplasma.
Even then, Dr. Brownbelieved that Mycoplasma wasvery common and not easy toeradicate. He suggested usingtetracycline drugs as an effec-tive treatment for the disease.He later found thatDoxycycline and Minocyclinewere effective at dealing withMycoplasma. Though he gar-nered praise from his patients,he was generally regarded bythe medical community as mis-guided and a trouble-maker.He died in 1989 prior to beingfully vindicated. Fortunately,his work was validated throughan NIH-sponsored study calledMIRA or "Minocycline inRheumatoid Arthritis".
Due to many of thecharacteristics of Mycoplasma,they may be responsible for thetriggering of numerous autoim-mune responses. AsMycoplasma replicate withincells and are eventuallyreleased, they capture antigensfrom the surface of the host celland incorporate these antigensinto their own membranes.This makes it almost impossi-ble for the body to tell the dif-ference between good and bad,between human and microbe, orbetween us and them. As aresult, the immune system maybegin to respond to these anti-gens now incorporated into thecell walls of the bacteria andcreate a condition of self-attack,or autoimmunity.
The microorganisms canproduce mimicry antigens thatmimic the natural host surfaceantigens and trigger an immuneresponse to these antigenswhich may also result inautoimmune conditions throughcross-reactivity. Additionally,Mycoplasma may cause celldeath of host cells through aprocess known as apoptosis orprogrammed cell death.
Treatment
Though various strains ofMycoplasma have their ownunique characteristics and drugresponses, treatment tends to bequite similar. The variations inthe strains do not appear to be afactor in a successful treatmentresponse.
Dr. Nicolson suggeststhat in-vitro differences havebeen found but that it is notpossible to easily extrapolatethese findings to an in-vivoenvironment. Various factors
including drug targeting, drugclearance, and the ability forthe drug to cross into variousbody compartments are impor-tant considerations in treatmentthat cannot be examined in-vitro.
Dr. Nicolson believesthat, like many other coinfec-tions of Lyme disease,Mycoplasma cannot be fullyeradicated, but that once infect-ed, treatment becomes an ongo-ing "management approach".He notes that this is a common-ly understood fact and that thesame is true of other organismssuch as Chlamydia andBorrelia. Mycoplasma have theability to go into a quiescentphase in intracellular locationswithin the body. Once in theselocations, neither antibiotics northe immune system can effec-tively reach or kill the organ-
isms.Many people recover
from Mycoplasma infectionsand are fine for years. Theymay later have an incidentinvolving severe trauma orother significant life stressorand symptoms fully reappearwithin weeks to months.
Dr. Nicolson recom-mends that the physician adoptan initial 6-month course oftreatment with no break fol-lowed by several 6-week on, 2-week off antibiotic cycles.Candidate antibiotics include:Doxycycline, Ciprofloxacin(Cipro), Azithromycin(Zithromax), Minocycline, orClarithromycin (Biaxin). Henotes that antibiotic combina-tions may be required if there isa limited response to singledrug, and most patients requireswitching antibiotics at leastonce during their treatment.Some patients may find theaddition of Flagyl to be a bene-fit to treatment.
In Gulf War patients,once effectively treated, themajority of patients recovered.For civilians, six months is theminimum recommended treat-ment length, and some patientsrequire much longer treatmentin order to recover.
Given that Mycoplasmahave some characteristics ofviruses, some physicians havesuggested that Famvir orGanciclovir may be added tothe antibiotic therapy.
Herxheimer reactions dooccur when treatingMycoplasma infections. Tominimize this die-off effectwhere the patient generallyfeels much worse while ontreatment, Dr. Nicolson advisesusing 50mg oral Benadryl taken
30 minutes before the antibi-otics. He also finds that astrained blend of 1 wholelemon, 1 cup fruit juice, and 1tablespoon of olive oil can behelpful.
Though Dr. Nicolsonbelieves that antibiotics are themost effective approach totreating Mycoplasma infections,he has found some good naturaloptions. In terms of naturalapproaches to treatingMycoplasma, Raintree Nutrition(http://www.rain-tree.com) hascreated several products thatmay be quite helpful forpatients. These includeRaintree Myco, Raintree A-F,and Raintree Immune Support.
Dr. Nicolson has seenevidence that Mycoplasma-spe-cific transfer factors such asthose from Chisholm Labs andothers can be beneficial insome patients. He says thatmany natural options help insome patients, but that hisexperience has been that theantibiotic treatment results inthe best outcomes. In many,recovery requires a push andpull between conventional andalternative treatments.
One of the hallmarksigns of Mycoplasma infectionis fatigue. The infections leadto oxidation in the body thatleads to damage of the cellmembranes. Oxidation acceler-ates the damage to the lipids incell membranes which impactsmitochondrial function. Thisleads to less energy in the celland ultimately to a fatiguing ofthe larger organism due to thefact that there is less energy tosupport necessary cellular func-tions.
In patients wherefatigue is due to cell membranedamage, Dr. Nicolson hasfound NT Factor® to be highlybeneficial. NT Factor®replaces the damaged lipids andhelps to restore mitochondrialfunction. Often, fatigue thenresolves or is reduced.
Dr. Nicolson has foundthat oxidative therapies such asozone can be helpful in thefight against Mycoplasma.However, he notes that this isgenerally palliative and doesnot produce the same results asthe antibiotic therapy in thelong-term. He finds that theoxidative therapies "are gener-ally more cytostatic than cyto-toxic". Hyperbaric oxygenmay be helpful but similarlydoes not appear to be a highlyeffective treatment in thelonger-term.
In other countries, IVdrips with H2O2 (hydrogenperoxide) have been used withsome benefit, but Dr. Nicolsonnotes that these therapies, whilepotentially effective, are highlydangerous and not advised.
In the realm of frequen-cy medicine and Rife therapy,Dr. Nicolson believes that thefrequencies that could be usedto address Mycoplasma are toosimilar to normal cellular fre-quencies. Thus, he is not cer-tain that Rife therapy is aneffective way to approach theproblem.
In the nutritional realm,Dr. Nicolson finds that manypatients with chronic infectionsare immunosuppressed and thatproper nutrition is vital. Hecautions against smoking anddrinking. He suggests avoid-ance of sugars, trans-fats, and
“Mycoplasma” ...cont’d pg 14
“Mycoplasma... cont’d from pg 6
Incidence of Various Microbes in Patients with Lyme Disease - G. L. Nicolson
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The legal ordeal that Dr.Jones has been enduring withhis state medical board hasbecome legendary. The pro-tracted harassment has squan-dered his time, finances andenergy. A Google search of hisname will provide the readerwith details of what appears tobe a shameful political vendettaagainst a man whose life hasbeen devoted to helping chil-dren whom no one else wouldhelp. He has been tolerant ofthe process but is growingweary of the absurdity of it all.
At the last hearing, theusually-patient Dr. Jones had torestrain himself from sayingwhat he was really feeling, lesthe be held in contempt of court.A Walt Whitman poem keptcoming to his mind and hethought of the lines, over andover, written more than a hun-dred years before. The poembrings to mind the juxtapositionof deliberation versus action, oftheory versus experientialknowledge, of ivory towermedicine versus medicine inthe trenches. It provides a
thoughtful ending to an articleabout a thoughtful man.
When I heard the learn'dastronomer; when the proofs,the figures, were ranged incolumns before me;
When I was shown the chartsand the diagrams, to add,divide, and measure them;
When I, sitting, heard theastronomer, where he lecturedwith much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;Till rising and gliding out, I wander'd off by myself,In the mystical moist night-air,and from time to time,Look'd up in perfect silence atthe stars.
phaaphaa
Ginger Savely is a nurse practi-tioner who specializes in treat-ing tick-borne diseases in peo-ple of all ages. She practices inSan Francisco.
“The Master” ...cont’d from pg 2
els. And I'm telling you, peopleare going to discover thingsthat I've known in my head andother doctors, like RichardHorowitz and Bernie Raxlen,have known implicitly foryears. We've all known aboutstuff that hasn't been writtendown yet, all sorts of strangeclinical facts. In five or tenyears, they're going to say "Ohwell. This happens and blahblah blah." And we're all goingto say, "Well, yeeeeaaaah."
For example, I sawsome case reports from Europeon ocular palsies being promi-nent as the presenting sign inearly or advanced Lyme. Andthese were case reports, but onsome clinic days, none of mypatients can coordinate theireye movement. It's things likethat that I know already fromthe clinical setting. The com-plexity of the illness hasprompted many of us to learn agreat deal more about neurolo-gy, endocrinology and derma-tology. And while I know thatthe doctors in these specialtiesthat I've mentioned are incredi-bly bright, they seem sort offrozen and locked into theirideology. And the more intense
the ideology, the more hostilethe specialist becomes whenconfronted with something notin their comfort zone, or some-thing which challenges them.Doctors have lost control oftheir profession in a missionlost, and the prevailing attitudeof false pride is part of thepathology we see contributingto the failure of today's medicalsystem. As I stated in myspeech at the Into the LightGala, arrogance trumps reasonevery time. It's sad really, anddoctors need to break out fromthis or be eternally miserable,because this epidemic is goingto make fools of a lot of arro-gant physicians.
You have to put yourselfin a position to understand thatit's okay to say that you don'tknow something. What's reallyimportant is that you continueto try to learn. If you do that, itall comes together. Patientsreally get that. Then you don'thave posturing and antagonismthat creates a chasm. It's just somuch easier to say "I don'tknow, but let's learn. But here'swhat I do know about this." Iknow doctors are frustrated, butthey turn their anger inward
instead of looking at the realproblems and getting togetherto try to bring the professionback where it should be. And ifyou don't have a passion for it,get out of medicine.
In particular, I think theinfectious disease doctors havebeen hoodwinked, in partbecause their source of infor-mation has been compromisedby the Lyme Cabal. The IDdocs, for some reason, have acharacteristic that I just don'tunderstand. More than anyother specialty in the LBCdebate, they are consistentlyrigid. You just cannot be rigid,for we need to just admit thatwe only know a fraction of apercent of what we need toknow about the human bodyand medicine. Much of whatwe know now is going tochange anyway. So, you justtry to keep learning and if youhave success, you try to under-stand your success and under-stand your failures, too. And ifyou can do that, then you growas a doctor and you get somuch satisfaction out of seeingpatients.
When you get into thisritualistic practice, like having a
certain algorithm for treatingthis or treating that, how bor-ing. I acknowledge that wemust have some guidelines andsome semi-rigidity to ourbeliefs and the way we practicemedicine, of course, but alwaysunderstand that we need togrow and learn every day whenwe go to work. Most doctorswill view a patient based ontheir own experience and theirempiricism rather than what'sprinted in a textbook, I'll tellyou that. I mean the reallygood ones.
My message to doctorsis "Get real!" Learn somehumility, be honest, and it willset you free. Then you will bethe kind of doctor you wantedto be when you started out fromday one. But if you coveryourself up with false pride andarrogance, then you're doomed.It doesn't work, never has,never will. phapha
Tina J. Garcia is a Lymepatient and Founder of LymeEducation Awareness Program,L.E.A.P. Arizona at:www.leaparizona.com.
“Jemsek” ...cont’d from pg 11
Into the Light Gala for Lyme Awareness
Dr. Jemsek with Rhonda & Jack Mathieson Dr. Jemsek with Jamie IsraelDr. Jemsek with Ria HeslopMarch 20, 2009 was a landmark evening in Charlotte, North Carolina! The Into the Light Gala featured the theatre debut of the Lyme disease documentary "Under OurSkin". This award-winning film was produced, directed and photographed by Andy Abrahams Wilson of Open Eye Pictures. The awareness event brought 450 people tothe dual-theatre showing. The evening included awards presented to sponsors and patients. A moving presentation by Dr. Joseph Jemsek of Jemsek Specialty Cinic inSouth Carolina shed light upon the many issues involved in the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme Borreliosis Complex. To see photos and a DVD compilation of this won-derfully successful event, please visit www.intothelightgala.com.
More Information
Joseph G. Jemsek, M.D.received his Doctor of Medicinedegree from the University ofIllinois, Medical Center ofChicago. He served his intern-ship and residency at theMedical University of SouthCarolina In Charleston. Thiswas followed by his postgradu-ate fellowship at Baylor Collegeof Medicine at the TexasMedical Center in Houston.
Dr. Jemsek's practice,Jemsek Specialty Clinic, islocated in Fort Mill, SouthCarolina. For more informa-tion, visit www.jemsekspecial-ty.com.
Please also visitwww.intothelightgala.com,which covers the highly suc-cessful gathering in Charlotte,North Carolina on March 20,2009 and which highlighted thefirst theatrical release of theaward-winning documentary"Under Our Skin".
Also on Dr. Jemsek'swebsite is the complete story ofhis medical and legal battles. Ihighly recommend reading thisfor a clear understanding of thebattles taking place in the LymeWars.
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allergenic foods. He advisespatients to increase their fruits,vegetables, and whole grains.Some dietary winners in sup-porting the immune systeminclude cruciferous vegetables,soluble fiber-based foods suchas prunes and bran, wheatgerm, yogurt, fish, and wholegrains.
Patients are oftendepleted in key vitamins andminerals. Supplementationwith B-Complex, Vitamin C,Vitamin E, and CoQ-10 areoften beneficial. Minerals areoften necessary. Dr. Nicolsonnotes, however, that many peo-ple have poor absorption andmay require sublingual orinjectable forms of these nutri-ents. Amino acids, flax seed,and fish oils can provide addi-tional support, but the bestnutrition for cell membranes isNT Factor®.
Many patients withchronic illnesses have a toxicbody burden of heavy metalssuch as mercury, lead, cadmi-um, and aluminum. Hair, stool,and urine testing is availablethrough labs like Doctor's Data(http://www.doctorsdata.com)and Genova Diagnostics(http://www.gdx.net). Dr.Nicolson has seen reports ofpositive results with EDTAchelation suppositories fromDetoxamin (http://www.detox-amin.com) and oral chelators
from Longevity Plus(www.longevityplus.com).
For patients usingantibiotics, beneficial gut florais often depressed.Supplementation with a highquality probiotic is important,but probiotics have to be takentwo hours or longer after takingantibiotics. Natural immunesupport can be helpful in theform of whey proteins, transferfactors, or immune-supportproducts such as BeyondImmuni-T from Longevity Plus.
Biolfims
Dr. Nicolson believesthat biofilms are a factor in suc-cessfully treating Mycoplasmainfections. In cases that arerefractory to antibiotics,biofilms are likely a major fac-tor.
In men with chronicrefractory prostatitis which isinfection-based, one often can-not be treated effectively withantibiotics. However, whenDetoxamin (EDTA) or otheragents to address the biofilmsare used, it then becomes possi-ble to treat these infections withtetracyclines. Patients quicklyshow functional increases anddecreases in pain other symp-toms.
Summary
In chronic Lyme dis-ease, it is often difficult to know which infections are actu-ally responsible for the persist-ence of illness. However, ingeneral terms, chronic intracel-lular infections that change themetabolism of cells and sup-press mitochondrial and otherfunctions will lead to patientsremaining in a chronically illstate. Dr. Nicolson believesthat these infections must beaggressively treated. "Similarto chronic Lyme disease, thecurrent CDC or IDSA recom-mendations for short-term treat-ment of chronic infections aresimply inadequate," he says.
Dr. Nicolson has foundthat there is a hierarchy ofsymptoms that resolve relative-ly quickly and those thatresolve more slowly whentreating Mycoplasma. Gut-associated phenomenon such asIrritable Bowel Syndrome(IBS) often resolve quickly.Other systemic signs and symp-toms can resolve in an interme-diate period of time from manyweeks to many months.Symptoms associated with thecentral and peripheral nervoussystems such as neuropathy andpain often resolve much moreslowly. Skin sensitivity andburning sensations may takemuch longer to resolve.
Mycoplasma infections doinvade nerves, and nerve-relat-ed symptoms are among themore difficult to resolve.
Dr. Nicolson states "Wekeep seeing the suppression ofinformation on Mycoplasmaand similar intracellular bacteri-al infections. The world ofMycoplasma parallels the worldof chronic Lyme disease interms of the politics involved.Physicians are being persecutedby their medical boards as aresult of bad information. It isimportant for us to do every-thing within our power to getrid of harmful, erroneous infor-mation about these diseases.Both Mycoplasma and Borreliahave been manipulated for bio-logical weapons purposes andas a result, both are politicallyincorrect to discuss, work on,or do anything about. Until thischanges, we won't see any realprogress." phaaphaa
Scott Forsgren is the editorand founder of the websiteBetterHealthGuy.com where heshares his twelve year journeythrough a chronic illness only diag-nosed as Lyme disease after eightyears of searching for answers.Scott can be reached [email protected].
Additional information onN T Factor® can be found at www.ntfactor.com orwww.researchednutritionals.com.
Resources
Professor Garth L.Nicolson is the President,Chief Scientific Officer andResearch Professor at theInstitute for MolecularMedicine in HuntingtonBeach, California. Born in1943 in Los Angeles, Dr.Nicolson received his B.S. inChemistry from University ofCalifornia at Los Angeles in1965 and his Ph.D. inBiochemistry and Cell Biologyfrom the University ofCalifornia at San Diego in1970. Professor Nicolson haspublished over 580 medicaland scientific papers, edited 15books, and served on theEditorial Boards of 30 medicaland scientific journals. He isalso a Colonel (Honorary) ofthe U. S. Army Special Forcesand a U. S. Navy SEAL(Honorary) for his work onArmed Forces and veterans'illnesses. More informationon Dr. Nicolson's work can befound on his web site athttp://www.immed.org.
The book Project Day Lily isavailable at:
http://www.projectdaylily.com/
“Mycoplasma” ...cont’d from pg 12
Dallas - Fort Worth AreaLyme Support Group
Monthly Meetings:2nd Saturday each month 2-4 p.m.
Harris Methodist Hospital- HEB1600 Hospital Parkway
Bedford, TX 76022-6913 We meet in the left wing when facing the front of the building.
Rick Houle, email: [email protected]: 972.263.6158 or Cell: 214.957.7107
case, I had two front teeth andone lateral incisor killed bytrauma. Subsequent root canalsleft me compromised. When I was bitten by a tick, Icontracted Lyme. I have everyreason to believe that had theseteeth been properly addressed,my immune function wouldhave been sufficient to with-stand the Lyme onslaught,because people who exhibithealthy immune function gener-ally do not suffer from theworse aspects of Lyme.Nobody in my family has Lymedisease - mother, father, sister,etc. I was the only one with badteeth as well as the only one tohave had my tonsils removedunnecessarily. I believe this
heavily compromised myimmune system.
When I got bitten, I hadthe textbook bull’s eye rash. Inmy opinion, those who see arash are those who have astronger immune system. Therash is the body's attempt todefeat the bacteria at the site.Then as the rash expands, thatis a sign the body is losing thebattle. Eventually, the rash dis-sipates and is gone. Then youcan assume the Lyme has gonelatent.
I still struggle withLyme. But I don't encouragelimiting anyone's life. I huntand fish less than I used to, butthat's age, not fear. I love theoutdoors and it is such a valu-
able part of my life, I would notchoose to limit that. Lyme canbe treated successfully initiallywith antibiotics or homeopathy- if it is done immediately. Butmost people, like my patientJulie, don't know what theyhave until it is too late for con-ventional treatment to producea result. phaaphaa
Nickel substrate underneath crowns
For More Information:
Andrew Landerman, DDSBiological Dental Center
707-829-0200
145 Pleasant Hill Ave North,Suite 201
Sebastopol, CA 95472
“Dental Issues” ...cont’d from pg 7
John [email protected]
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