Re: Another Doctor Referral Request ( B, Lyme disease)

December 8, 2008

>

> B (and anyone else who has a suggestion),

>

> My husband's doc wants him to see a functional medicine doc for a

screening

> for toxins and diseases that produce toxins, including lyme

disease. Who

> would you recommend he see? Can you suggest anyone locally? I

believe you

> travel to see your doc. Who is that and where are they?

>

> Also, I just read briefly about Lyme and saw the note about skin

lesions.

> He has an area on his body where he gets a red, irritated looking

raised

> skin rash that comes and goes. Would that fit the description of

lyme skin

> lesions?

>

> Thanks,

>

> Grace

>

December 8, 2008

I think I just inadvertently posted a blank message - I haven't had

my tea yet!

There is one functional medicine doctor that I know that has an

inkling of an idea about Lyme and he does lots of detox stuff -

Idemudia Smart in ville. BUT, he knows nothing about Thyroid

nor Celiac. And, your husband's rash sounds a whole lot more like

Dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) than it does Lyme - my son had that

and will still get that reaction when he inadvertently consumes

gluten. And, of course, enterolab is the best test for that.

The Lyme rash isn't particularly irritating - the only time I ever

even noticed it (other than visual) was when I was on abx I was

having die off reactions as there is obviously a concentration of

bacteria and toxins near the site of the bite. Also, Lyme rash

typically will only reappear if you are aggressively treating.

Per my note on the TMB, there isn't a single Lyme literate physician

in Texas - there might be some that claim such (alot of alternative

docs), BUT the depth of knowledge required is about 10 fold of what

one needs from a good thyroid doc (and we know the problems in

finding a good thyroid doc).

Overall, Lyme is entirely a clinical diagnosis. The tests are all

far from accurate - in particular ANY that are done through main

labs as they're testing for a lyme bacteria from Europe rather than

any that is prevalent in the U.S. The only reason I got a positive

test was because I was tested at the optimal time - 7 weeks post

tick bite. A local supposed Lyme literate doc uses Igenex. You can

order a test kit from them to take to your local doctor, but it's

very expensive ($500+) and is not covered by insurance.

The tests for past Lyme are by far the most inaccurate. There are

some that look for DNA in the urine. But, the reality is that a high

percentage (majority) of the population has been exposed to Lyme. It

only causes problems in a much smaller percentage - again the gene

connection and it's typically not the bacterial infection, but the

toxins that contributes to the majority of symptoms. That all said,

the judicious use of abx can be helpful, but dosing is extremely

tricky as is length of treatment.

And, back to thyroid, the majority of Lyme patients are low thyroid.

Based on my experiences, it's actually the hypothyroidism that

causes many of us to get so ill with just about any infection we're

exposed to. The good Lyme doctors will go through a thorough

process of evaluating for other far more common conditions, such as

low thyroid and celiac. That's not to say one can't also have Lyme,

but my experience (and that of alot of Lyme doctors) is that if you

don't get the thyroid properly treated or remove the gluten, then

you will not recover from Lyme no matter how much abx you dump in

your body. I've seen this time and time again with folks (and

experienced it myself) in our local Lyme support group and among the

many I've met at Lyme conferences (in DC area). Obviously, the

concentration of best Lyme doctors is on the East coast. Dr.

Shoemaker (the biotoxin doc) knows Lyme (he's had it 3x himself) and

will do some testing for it, but again, he knows it's a clinical

diagnosis. In my opinion, you'd be wasting a whole lot of $s using a

local doctor.

Note, I will add some files and links to the website if it's okay

with Jan on Lyme - including info about DFW Lyme support group -

although I have some words of caution about them since most refuse

to consider that alot of their symptoms are low thyroid or based on

lifestyle, etc.) There are some exceptional treatment guidelines

that any good Lyme doc will follow - and again, I don't think you

can find a single doc in Tx that would follow them properly - some

will piecemeal.

Also, Lyme folks are reluctant to share in print or openly their

local Lyme doctor that might be able to help them due to TMB, so

someone from the group can contact you offline.

B

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