In medicine, it is essential to get to the root cause of the symptoms. In addition to an infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease agent that can cause fibromyalgia, we find that patients often have multifactorial causes of their illness.

Currently, ticks carry multiple bacterial, viral and parasitic infections that can be transmitted simultaneously. Among these is Borrelia Burgdorferi, the agent of Lyme disease. Patients infected with Lyme disease and associated co-infections are much more resistant to standard therapies. This is one of the infections that can cause chronic fatigue and musculoskeletal pain.

The early stages of Lyme disease can be very difficult to diagnose, even with a blood test. In addition to physical examination findings, most physicians rely on environmental factors, such as tick exposure and the patient’s medical history. It should not be forgotten that some of the symptoms of fibromyalgia overlap with those of Lyme disease, especially muscle pain and fatigue.

Lyme disease can affect the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in two ways: through neurotoxins and epigenetic changes. Imbalances in this axis can lead to chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, insomnia and widespread pain, which is related to fibromyalgia. There appears to be a strong link between Lyme disease and its co-infections and fibromyalgia.

Lyme disease involves a multitude of infections that can also include other complications such as heavy metal and chemical toxicity. If you really want to atomize Lyme disease and its co-infections, it is ideal to have a combination of advanced immunotherapy, aggressive natural antiviral, antifungals, IV antibiotics and biodetoxification. When all of these are provided by the properly trained integrative physician in a personalized treatment plan, these therapies will help bring the patient back to optimal health.

80% of fibromyalgia is Lyme disease.

Most often, 80% of fibromyalgia cases are actually Lyme disease, which is not fibromyalgia as such, but the manifestation of a mosquito or tick bite disease due to borrelia burgdorferi infection. A symptomatic treatment will not solve the problem.

At IAH Wellness we try to discern whether the patient is suffering from Lyme disease, which manifests itself with symptoms similar to what is now known as fibromyalgia and is characterized by very specific pain at the muscle level. The scientific community has localized the points where these pains occur, but has not found the cause of the pains.

The necessary treatment will be the one applied by IAH Wellness for Lyme disease, since apart from specific treatments for pain, it is necessary to look for the cause. When fibromyalgia is compounded by fatigue, we speak of chronic fatigue syndrome, and many of these cases also find their origin in Lyme disease. Our Lymy treatment will be indicated in these cases.

The biggest difficulty is that being an infection, everything that is acidification of the body and tissues, ie, everything that produce anti-inflammatory, will increase or maintain the infection, ie, fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome will not be cured until they are not treated with an anti-infectious and personalized treatment.

There is undoubtedly a relationship between Lyme disease and fibromyalgia. It is absolutely advisable to rule out the first disease if you have symptoms or even diagnosis of the second. At IAH Wellness we offer the possibility to have this information and to approach an effective treatment against Lyme disease.

La entrada Fibromyalgia and Lyme: the existing relationship se publicó primero en IAH Wellness.

Antigens are substances considered harmful by the body because once they enter your bloodstream, they start to multiply. This process is what we call infection. When the body senses an antigen, white blood cells, or the immune system is triggered to seek out the foreign substance and get it out of the body. To do this, the body produces antibodies that travel through the body until it finds and destroys the antigen.

Lyme Disease Antigens

For those with Lyme disease, the antigens like to hide in the blood cells near scar tissue around joints, as well as muscles, tissues, and other spots. Lyme bacteria are excellent at hiding. They can also become inactive, making it challenging for inflammation to locate and eliminate them.

However, the inflammation doesn’t stop seeking antigens just because they go dormant or find a good place to hide. Inflammation antibodies continue searching, causing pain and swelling in your joints, muscles, and other body parts.

There is a secret weapon, though, that can help inflammation complete its job of destroying Lyme bacteria with the help of dendritic cells.

What Are Dendritic Cells?

Dendritic cells capture bacteria or antigens and present them to the immune system, producing antibodies that kill them. For Lyme disease, dendritic cells would capture the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria that can be hard to locate when hiding or dormant. Then, the bacteria are presented to your immune system.

Dendritic cells are like a blinking neon arrow pointing to the bacteria. They are like whistleblowers, moles, or mafia rats, but in the best way.

When your immune system detects a threat and activates antibodies, they find the dendritic cells holding the bacteria and eliminate them from your body. Some antibodies remain in your system for future protection. They remember the bacteria, and if ever detected, they can start fighting it much sooner, protecting you from getting sick or developing a chronic illness like Lyme disease.

There is an even more powerful way, using dendritic cells, to protect you from disease. It’s with the use of vaccines.

What is a Vaccine?

Scientists create vaccines to help you develop immunity without getting sick first. It is a way to prevent disease and the spread of disease. Typically, vaccines are made from the bacteria or virus you are trying to avoid, but they are diluted enough that it doesn’t cause you to get sick.

When the vaccine enters your system, it starts making antibodies and practicing how to fight the infection. Your immunity builds and becomes more robust so that when protection is needed, it is ready. For infections related to Lyme disease, researchers have developed a dendritic cell vaccine. While it is not an actual vaccine, it does cause a similar reaction to a vaccine.

Dendritic Cell Vaccine

Leading doctors in the field of infectious diseases, like Dr. Morales at Lyme Mexico Clinic, understand the power of this new treatment for Lyme disease. Hear him discuss the dendritic cell vaccine at the International Lyme Associated Diseases Society conference.

The dendritic cell vaccine is created using cells from your blood that contains Lyme bacteria. A Lyme-literate doctor will extract dendritic cells from your bloodstream. They will be mixed with immune cell stimulants and then exposed to antigens. The mixture of antigens and dendritic cells is injected back into your body.

When taken, the vaccine travels to the lymphatic system, activates white cells, and kills bacteria. The dendritic cells are matured so they can help the immune system capture antigens such as Lyme bacteria. Then, as new cells develop, they are trained to capture antigens also. This process is repeated, making your immune system stronger and more prepared.

Other Immune System Therapies

Dendritic cell vaccine is not the only immunotherapy. Lyme-literate doctors may also prescribe one of the following to help fight Lyme disease:

• Intravenous Immunoglobulin Therapy (IVIG) is a procedure that strengthens the immune system by adding healthy donated plasma. The plasma is administered through an IV. If you have Lyme disease, it may become difficult for your body to make enough antibodies to fight bacteria. Receiving donated plasma can strengthen your immune system.
• Low-Dose Immunotherapy (LDI) and Low-Dose Allergen Immunotherapy (LDA) are used to train the immune system to be less sensitive to bacteria and allergens. A tiny amount of Lyme bacteria is injected into your body to slowly build up your tolerance and desensitize your immune system’s reaction to antigens.

Immune system therapies can reduce Lyme disease symptoms because your immune system no longer reacts to perceived threats. Before, your body stays in a constant state of inflammation. After, inflammation is reduced.

La entrada Dendritic Cell Vaccine Therapy for Lyme Disease se publicó primero en IAH Wellness.

Borreliosis is an infectious disease which is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and may be transmitted by a bite or sting from ticks, horseflies or mosquitoes.
This awkward, often difficult to diagnose disease is transmitted in our latitudes almost exclusively by a type of tick known as the deer tick (in rare cases also by mosquitoes or horseflies).
Borreliosis (also called Lyme disease or by other names in subcategories thereof) is a multisystemic infectious disease which can attack any organ, the human nervous system, the joints and various tissues.

Unlike the viral infection tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), there is no vaccination against infection with the Borrelia bacterium.
Depending on weather conditions, most infections occur between March and October.
In Germany there is a marked North-South divide in terms of the risk of infection and transmission of the bacteria strains carried by the deer tick: Borrelia burgdorferi, Borrelia in the narrow definition, Borrelia garnii, Borrelia afzelii and Borellia spielmanii.
In the North German states, only 6% to 10% of ticks are infected with Borrelia bacteria, whereas in the middle and south of the country, these rates can be as high as 50%.
Unfortunately, it often happens that a case of borreliosis is not recognised as such for years after infection by the tick, after many other diagnoses have been suggested, so valuable time for initiating effective therapy is lost.

Progression of a borreliosis infection

A few days after the tick bite, a reddened ring often appears on the skin surrounding the original wound, this is called “erythema migrans”.
In the first stage, infection with the Borrelia bacteria is still treatable with antibiotics because the spyrochaetes are still in the blood and readily accessible to antibiotics.

But since the expanding red patch does not always appear, and the first stage is often missed, in the subsequent stages the bacteria retreat to the cooler peripheral tissues such as the joint capsules and ligaments, where they may cause spontaneous ruptures and other damage.
Evident physical reactions such as fatigue, headaches, cardiac arrhythmia and fever are often interpreted as “the flu” by patients.
So the correct diagnosis of borreliosis is not made.

If borreliosis progresses to this chronic stage, patients can often expect a long ordeal before they receive medical relief, because there is often no trace of an acute bacterial infection in the bloodstream, and the bacteria, which have withdrawn into the cells, are difficult to reach with antibiotics.
Moreover, the Borreliosis bacteria can imitate many different clinical pictures, which only makes diagnosis harder.

The borreliosis infection develops very slowly in the body, and it is often several months or years before the patient feels certain manifestations of Lyme disease.
Various organs, such as the skin, the nervous system and joints are attacked by the Borreliosis bacteria.

Borreliosis is divided into three stages:

• Stage I – local infection
• Stage II – disseminated infection (spread throughout the entire organism)
• Stage III – persistent infection (chronic and lingering)

Frequent symptoms include:

• Chronic tiredness (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome)
• Neuropathy pain all over the body
• Cramps
• Extreme night sweats
• Cardiac arrhythmia
• Concentration disorders
• Forgetfulness
• Arthritis in knee or ankle joints, hands and shoulder

Treating borreliosis – Total body hyperthermia

According to a study carried out by the Max-Planck Institute, Borreliosis bacteria die off above a temperature of 41.6 °Celsius.
Evidence of the thermolability of the bacteria was reported in a Scandinavian study as early as 1996, which also revealed that all Borrelia strains died off at 41.6 °C.

We take advantage of this knowledge with total body hyperthermia therapy, in which the patient lies on a bed inside a tent for two to three hours and is exposed to a temperature between 41.6 and 41.8 °C, always under the closest medical supervision.
At the same time, this elevated temperature also activates the body’s own macrophages (scavenger and killer cells), which can then eliminate the bacteria.

La entrada Total body hyperthermia in cases of chronic borreliosis se publicó primero en IAH Wellness.