Lyme disease and co-infections

Eric chronic fatigue, lyme disease, medical doctors, parasites, testing

Yep, I’ve got everything but the kitchen sink, so we might as well add in Lyme disease and co-infections, the more the merrier!

My first Lyme disease test was 10 years ago (Igenex) and one of my blog readers said it was possibly positive even though the MD who ordered it never mentioned that to me. So my current MD asked me to retest and she tells me that it shows a high degree of probability for Lyme disease (test results at bottom). Here’s her Lyme symptom questionnaire you can use to evaluate how likely you are to have Lyme.

I remembered that one of my blog readers mentioned he had done live blood analysis in Boulder where I live and highly recommended it. I remembered too that a friend of mine mentioned he had a microscope. So, I borrowed it and I have not been able to look away for days on end. Examining the blood in dark-field microscopy is astonishingly interesting — it’s like looking at a new planet with continents and oceans and strange creatures you’ve never seen before. Of course many of the creatures I wish  I never had the pleasure of seeing.

live blood microscopy
my microscope and camera

Why did I wait so long to look at my blood under a microscope? It doesn’t help that if you search “live blood analysis” on Google, you find  lots of trolls telling you not to fall for the scam. Well let me tell you my friends, it’s just science. If you’re one of those trolls, let’s inject a drop of my blood in you and you’ll change your tune.

It appears that my whole family is infected. It’s heartbreaking to look at your 14-year-old daughter’s blood and see massive infestation. But on the other hand, now we know why the past year or so have been such a struggle. To give you an idea, I’d guess she only attended school maybe halftime over the last year.

Here’s what her blood looks like under the microscope. Unfortunately the magnification is not as good through the camera as it is through the eyepieces:

What kills me is that you can see these bugs with a $600 microscope but no MD ever suggested it or did it. I spent a week at the Mayo Clinic which cost almost $20,000 and while they performed thousands and thousands of dollars worth of lab tests, probably using equipment worth millions of dollars, they were too smart to look at my blood under the microscope your kids use in high school.

Do you know how long it took me to discover my wife and daughter’s blood is infected? Well it takes about 30 seconds to prick the finger  and prepare the slide, and another 30 seconds to focus the microscope. One minute. One stinking minute. As it turns out, my MD was diagnosed with Lyme herself about a year ago and is studying under one of the best Lyme literate MDs in Colorado (who charges $400 an hour and doesn’t accept insurance), and I bet now she’s going to get a microscope if nothing else to see her own blood.

The fact that I have Lyme didn’t surprise me much — I’ve always assumed I probably did. But it really had not occurred to me that Lyme might explain why my whole family is ill. So this is a really momentous discovery.

Don’t get me wrong, I am still on board the nutritional balancing program and I believe Dr. Wilson when he says that most Lyme victims recover without special treatment when their minerals are balanced through the program. I’m intending to do a long post showing the progression of my hair tests which is starting to look miraculous after adding sauna…

BUT, knowing about the Lyme layer, is very very helpful, not just for my family but for me also. When I went to see my MD this week, it wasn’t just to talk about my diagnosis. I also wanted to talk about Strongyloides and Ivermectin, because I believed that my treatment was ended prematurely (after three months). This is kind of a long story and I’m not sure how to summarize it…

So here’s a copy of the note I sent my doctor last week:

I’ve been keeping a daily log for about four years and have been jotting down some key items from it on a calendar for that whole time. One of the things I keep track of is how long my first stretch of sleep is during the night. The longer my first stretch is, the better I feel the next day. If my first stretch of sleep is less than three hours, even though I go back to sleep,  I feel awful the next day. Three hours is what I need to keep me functional. If my first stretches five hours long I feel remarkably better. So I’ve tracked this metric very carefully always looking for something that would improve my sleep.

Those five hour stretches used to be very rare and only came after I got sleep deprived or push myself too far for several days in a row. It used to be that after sleeping well one night, I was guaranteed to sleep poorly the next night. So for example, if I got a five hour stretch one night, I would feel good the next day, but that following night, my first stretch would be three hours or less, throwing me back into the cycle of sleep deprivation.

Prior to taking Ivermectin, it’s possible that I never had two good nights in a row, and I’m absolutely certain that I never EVER had three good nights in a row. But after taking Ivermectin, I suddenly slept well for three nights in a row and the number of good nights in a month jumped from something like 3 to 12.

After stopping Ivermectin, my sleep slowly but steadily deteriorated and I’m back to feeling sleep deprived virtually all the time.

So I would like to discuss the idea of pursuing a longer Ivermectin treatment, maybe as long as a year. Below is some information on human toxicity from this book. I’ll bring my calendar with notes so you can see how much Ivermectin I took and when along with my sleep record…

Well, after getting my Lyme diagnosis, I did a Google search on Ivermectin Lyme Babesia and bingo, I discovered Ivermectin, is not just good for strongyloides, but also Lyme (borrelia burgdorferi) and babesia which I can see under the microscope.

If you’ve been following me, you know I don’t like pharmaceuticals at all but make some exceptions. Ivermectin is going to be one and I restarted today.

Here’s the treatment plan I intend to pursue:

  • Ivermectin
  • Doug coil
  • Essential oils
  • Sauna
  • Nutritional balancing

There is so much more to say… and I will plan to expand this post over time.

I’ll leave you with some videos that have influenced my thinking:

And this one which I can’t embed.

My Igenex test results:

Igenex Lyme disease test results Igenex Lyme disease test results Igenex Lyme disease test results

79 thoughts to “Lyme disease and co-infections”

  1. Wow, lots of great information here Eric. I only did a search for one or two words after watching another unrelated video and I got a lovely plethora of information.

    I had the mercury removed from my teeth awhile ago.

    The only thing I can contribute is something that I found on a voyage of discovery after my uncle passed away from cancer.

    The three main ones are
    The Gerson Therapy
    The Budwig Protocol
    and book called ‘The Water of Life’ (1944), the latter of which has the extraordinary ability to cure virtually everything, here’s a link to a pdf version
    http://whale.to/a/Water-of-Life-Treatise-on-Urine-Therapy-by-John-W.-Armstrong-1971.pdf

    Martha Christy’s ‘Your Own Perfect Medicine’ shows the incredible scientific research conducted into it.

    For the psychological trauma, anxiety and low moods due to illness, the optimum method of getting rid of them in the fastest, easiest possible way, one that de-links the physical memories from the brain centres where they are stored for future reference is a technique called ‘Faster EFT’, the developer of which has put up 1,500 videos for all manner of issues, not just PTSD but Lyme Disease, Chemical Sensitivity.

    It’s far more information than I ever intended to discover, but once a thread of information is pulled, others appear.

  2. Hi Eric

    So interested in hearing about looking at your blood under the microscope yourself. What strength of magnification would the microscope need to be? Also, with no background in this sort of thing, is it obvious if there is a problem with the blood that suggests Lyme infestation? Any tips would be really appreciated. Best wishes, Helen

    1. You can see Borrelia easily at 400x. I’m less enthusiastic about the microscope now. It’s good for evaluating progress, but so are your symptoms and energy level, and they count the most, right? I’m going back to focusing on my mineral balance with Morley Robbins Root Cause Protocol. It may be a better place to put your money. See https://therootcauseprotocol.com

  3. Hey eric, just wondering how your doing with andy cutler chelation? I see a lot of his followers think that mercury suppresses the bodies immunity and ability to keep lyme and cos in check. I myself have lyme and cos and am unable to pay for a llmd so im looking into his chelation protocol…

    1. Kyle, I stopped ACC a few years ago. Might restart again eventually but I’m not ready yet for sure.

  4. Hi Eric!
    I’m sorry if I missed this somewhere – but I’m wondering if you’re able to see which practitioners you see or have seen and most recommend? I’m looking for someone to put all the pieces together (lyme, heavy metals, viruses, mold) and willing to travel anywhere!
    Thank you so much and hope you’re well!

    1. Hi Keira, my MD can help you with lyme, mold, and maybe viruses too and she accepts insurance and might do skype appointments – look up Dr. Nancy Brown in Laffayette or Louisville, CO. For heavy metals, I’d join the Facebook group for Cutler Chelation…

  5. Mate, I’ve read your two testimonies, and my illness is basically the same as yours and suffered since 1960. I hear all of these diagnosis that you had received, and all I can see is that your illness is caused by exposure to microwave non-ionised radiation and electric-magnetic fields. Between ME, CFS, FMS, MCS and Lyme’s Disease—all you symptoms are the same as a person who uses wireless technology. The illnesses before then was called microwave illness.

    1. Thanks George, I have worked hard to minimize my EMF exposure but it is quite difficult and expensive as you know…

      1. I have a question regarding fish fenbendazole dosing. How much Fish Fenbendazole equals a one gram packet of panacur c? Thank you!

  6. Research lyme remission through full extract cannabis oil. Best to source organic and create with non GMO alcohol or organic grain alcohol that is sugar cane derived.

    I’ve had Lyme my entire life. I’ll be 39 in a few weeks.
    Put it in remission the first time at 20 through diet and lifestyle. I stayed well for 15 years.

    I too am +\+ MTHFRc677T and the same mess in SOD, IRON, CBS… all that. It’s the chronic lyme pattern of mutated SNPS.

    I am typing on an old device at the moment – my apologies for the choppiness of this response, but I have been in the holistic health community since 1999 and please do not take the information in stride about cannabis. It is putting folks in full remission after they have had decades of journeying as detailed and life consuming as so many in the boat of chronic Lyme and all the complications of which. Canada already has Lyme specific cannabis formulas that folks are having great success with (remission). Don’t fret though bc anyone anywhere can make FECO. join the Fb group green oil machine users group and it will simplify everything. Also Lyme disease – treating with cannabis is e name of another Fb group. Also I HUGHLE recommend searching Kemal Lyme Disease on Fb and here if you look you will find 2 or 3 different videos with Kemal Evans – a fantastic cannabis consultant with experience healing others with in Lyme Disease.

    Research the endocannabanoid system.

    For anyone reading this in excruciating pain from Lyme, know that many folks go off opioid within days if not immediate when beginning FECO – so not only does it address & heal the actual infection at its root cause but gives you DRAMATIC & fast relief from some of the worst lyme symptoms like horrid excruciating pain, migraines, insomnia, etc… As your body heals.

    FOX dispensary in Denver is organic & clean to source the flower.
    420 extractor alcohol is NON GMO and very affordable otherwise google search organic non GMO grain alcohol for other options
    The green oil machine makes the FECO

    FECO Is NEVER smoked. It is taken by ingestion. You can also make suppositories.
    Folks are healing stage 4 metastasized cancer in 100 days on 60 grams.

    I’ve put all the links anyone could need to research further and find the answers – right down to the how to make & where to source organic. That being said, if anyone reading this please know sourcing organic is SO important and the majority of dispensaries are not. Do NOT expect dispensary employees to know anything about this or guide you in medicinal treatment with cannabis – #1 they legally can not and #2 I was SHOCKED to find out after many visits to many dispensaries that the industry to date is oblivious to the actual HEALING capability and power of the plant. They are versed in symptom relief via inhalation or edibles and I found every single one had no extensive knowledge whatsoever on the true medicinal cure that it is.

  7. Hi Eric,

    Interesting stumbling on your website tonight as I dig further into my genetic mutations and my healing journey. I was diagnosed with Lyme (CDC positive via Western Blot) August 14, 2017 after getting lost in the woods in Central FL in 2012. After drastically changing my diet, my supplements and intense herbal and antibiotic regimen I am back to 90%. I had two pregnancies not knowing I had Lyme, and now trying to get my entire family healthy while assessing the damage and hoping to intervene while my children are still young. My daughter is 4, after changing her vitamins we noticed a world of difference in her mental comprehension and clarity, but my son (2) has significant speech delay and we’re dealing with a possible apraxia diagnosis. For your children, did you treat with antibiotics? Or have you just worked to change diet and supplements? Would you suggest getting the kids genetic testing done and meeting with a specialist?

    Also, I keep finding myself baffled, I am homozygous for MTHFR C677T and several detox ones but the ONLY positive test I’ve had is my Lyme Western Blot. My ANA is always normal, no co-infections show up, no heavy metals, and even my blood work is fairly normal aside from my CD57 being very low (30). A year before being tested for Lyme, I has on hardcore IV antibiotics fighting several abdominal infections after birth then catching staph and Pseudomonas from the hospital which is the only thing that I think may cause my results to be off. But every Lyme patient I know are hit hard with autoimmune and toxins, with my genetic makeup I should be lighting the tests up with positives. So i’m grateful I’m not but I feel something is being missed, it doesn’t make sense to me. Any insight?

    1. We have not used antibiotics Lauren but as luck would have it our homeopath wants us to use antibiotics with my youngest daughter who was bitten on the back of the head about four years ago. Her Lyme is a little worse than her older sister who seems to be making progress with natural remedies. I have a good handle on what supplements my kids need because I know their genetics and do hair testing on them but they don’t take the supplements I give them. Very frustrating.

      Have you followed Dr. Klinghardt nd studied your EMF environment? Have you seen the documentary Under Our Skin? This is a long road…

      1. I wish you and your family well. I hope you find wellness in this journey. I’m about to start mine and I have lots to learn even though I research 6 hours a day for the last 3 months

        1. Thanks David and I hope yours goes well too. There is so much info available now that didn’t exist just 10 years ago, it’s a great advantage!

  8. Fl is not a good location for environmentally sensitive folks. Non stop mosquito spraying, look at the formulas, chems added to block p450 in bugs so pesticides are more effective. Lots of agri, plus humidity and very high mold counts.

    http://paradigmchange.me/loc

      1. We get awful reports from Boulder. Not sure what is going on, folks say it feels toxic. New nuclear dumpsite discovered south…wether related or not do not know. The US is drenched in pesticides and other chemicals and apparently pristine areas can make people sick. I am sure you are aware of Tahoe CFS theories.

    2. Eric: Last year I could call myself a ND and Board Certified Naturopathic Doctor, but this year it is just Naturopath and Herbalist. Try Teasel Tincture and consult The Book of Herbal Wisdom by Mathew Wood. Also the herb Rhodiola and the book The Rhodiola Revolution,by Richard Brown MD
      These two herbs have worked for me. Regards, John
      You can find me on Facebook Let me know how you do.

  9. Hello Eric:
    I can’t help writing to tell you of the transformational help I received from two things. After a 20 year struggle with cyclical illness of myself and the 5 kids I think I gave Lyme to at birth (never my husband — he just didn’t get all the sicknesses the rest of us cycled through) these two gifts came to me through Louise at lymesymptoms (she had to remove the info on Cinnamon Leaf Oil because people are not careful and hurt themselves — I would think she could speak privately about it):

    Cinnamon Leaf Oil – 2 drops a day for 110 days kills Lyme and associated co infections
    – it is a powerful dangerous pure essential oil which must be used with great care
    -herx reactions are powerful and must be managed
    -we had to work up to being able to tolerate 2 drops a day and then we had to count off the 110 as we were able to take it consistently
    – for less than 80 CDN dollars I treated 5 people and have enough for another 40!! I got an organic litre online.
    – 2 weeks of Cinnamon Leaf Oil 2-3 drops a day will deal with a fresh tick bite — no more fear of re infection!

    Alfon Ven has an incredible personal health journey (he died in 2012) which resulted in his discovery of how to reorganize the energy surrounding our immune system which is scrambled by many things. Try to find the two stories of his journey both on Myriam Mathee website, especially the second one called “Salt of the Earth“ . Using homeopathy and other hard won discoveries he created CHIM a 28 day treatment for the immune system. His daughter in law Myriam Mathee has a website dedicated to using CHIM for Lyme treatment and there are three parts. I used this for a year and a half (this one is pricey but I was spending lots trying to mange all the sickness naturally and now I do not have to anymore — the financial investment is sound) I have received : good night sleep, an immune system that actually fights off illness, terrible ache in my pelvic bone for my entire adult life: gone, beginning to remember things from my childhood (I had almost no long or short term memory only brain fog), healthy breast tissue for first time in my life etc. etc.

    I put this out there to extend hope that there are simpler answers that are do-able for those who are unwell.

    1. thank you Ingrid! I’ve heard great things about cinnamon leaf oil and my overall impression and experiences that there is no shortage of techniques for killing these pathogens – the real issue for me and my family is managing the herxing. It is so very difficult to take it slowly enough to have the strength and capabilities to keep living “a life” but fast enough to get well before all of our best years are gone 🙂

  10. While I find your blog to be very in depth and quite helpful in terms of the complex topics that are addressed and the exchange of ideas between patients, dont you think it is somewhat disingenuous to call this site “how I recovered” when you clearly have not recovered and are just now adressing and treating Lyme?

    1. Not really Luke, this is the story of how I recovered, you’re just reading it in real time and it’s unfolding slowly. Do I wish I was healing faster, of course. Compared to where I’ve been, I am leaps and bounds stronger, so I accept the trajectory. As for the title itself, I like to stay focused on the recovery end of the business and not the illness itself. I will agree that when I am 100%, the title will then be perfect.

  11. Hi Erix, been following your blog for a while and upon re-reading this after having live blood analysis done myself, those snowy bits you see seem to be food particles. I had them weekly over 5 weeks to track my progress through IV Ozone and had to make sure I wasn’t eating before the analysis because all my food particles would be swimming through my blood. Also worse when you have leaky gut. Just thought I’d chip in with that knowledge. I realise it’s been nearly a few months since you wrote this but I hope things are making more sense for you and your family of what to do next.

    1. THANK YOU Anthony! that was very helpful 🙂
      I looked at my blood under the microscope before breakfast and noticed much less ‘snow’. Then again afterwards and saw the increase in ‘snow’.
      Next, I decided to be more religious about using my digestive enzymes especially at bed and during the night when I eat to go back to sleep. Looked at my blood again before breakfast and it was even cleaner!!
      I really need to put some better microscopy videos on this page because the old ones are garbage…
      How did the ozone work for you?

  12. Hi Eric, I’ve followed your posts a few years back when my health was not very good. I later discovered a way of eating that helped me tremendously. It’s like a special diet though there are no food restrictions. It mainly has rules about when one should intake food vs. water, hence the name Food Without Water diet. It’s totally free and very simple to implement though it requires one to make a change in eating and drinking habits. I wrote an article explaining the concept here: https://medium.com/@lanlanonearth/food-without-water-an-introduction-d552ed0afaee?source=linkShare-d9800dff582b-1498148447 I thought you might be interested in learning about it. Best wishes to your health!

    1. Well done Lesley – I also try to follow these practices, but I should probably try harder! I’m hoping that a reasonable substitute or complement is to take digestive enzymes like the ones I use that include HCL…

    1. hi Leah, I suspect the science is not advanced enough to know what came first Lyme or CIRS. I just looked it up and found this at http://www.betterhealthguy.com/cirs2016:

      “Borrelia may create a toxin that creates a CIRS picture. It is not known yet whether or not Lyme co-infections create similar toxins.”

      I would like to keep taking cholestyramine because it will help me lower my iron as well. But I am a little bit put off by the fact that it contains sugar and it also causes constipation.

      Right now, I’m in a little bit of a holding pattern as I have an appointment coming up with a German homeopathic practitioner on July 4…

  14. Congrat on your diagnosis.
    Do you have a page (link) where I can read an outline or summary of supplements/treatments you have tried?

    thank you!

      1. Have you considered taking Chlorella Spirulina for your gut issues? It alkalinizes the system and would probably replace multiple supplements that you are currently taking, since it’s an algae super food. It also binds with mercury and other heavy metals (http://www.naturalnews.com/044369_chlorella_heavy_metals_mercury.html is one discussion on that). I’ve been taking a supplement of chlorella spirulina for about 3.5 months now, and I believe that this is a miracle supplement. For me, it’s stabilized my digestive system, reduced any hunger pangs I ever have, and made it possible for me to no longer have constant heart burn. I feel better taking this one supplement than I have felt taking anything else in my life.

        1. glad you found something that works for you… I have thought about it but It’s high in iron which is a problem for me. Dr. Cutler also warns that many people with mercury toxicity have been severely harmed by it as it is a weak chelator and can redistribute mercury. on the other hand, Dr. Klinghardt recommends it highly.

  15. Hi Buddy great post,
    I also followed dr wilsons protocol for a while, one of the best diets out there.
    Cos of him I did a lot of coffee enemas and ship loads of ropeworms came out.
    My mate is recovered from Lyme doing bioresonatie therapy, not all bioresonatie praticeners here in Holland are the same quality, but the one in my area is one of the best, I send my mum overthere and see first hand that it works, I just did my first session, he found 4 kinds of parasites, he was suppriced I have not so much symptoms carrying 4 different kinds of parasites. He still need to test me for heavy metals and fungus.
    Dit you ever have used mms?, I no someone who has so much benefits of it to control his Lyme
    Do you have seen this docu? Under our skin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWFFiIZgr6U
    Thank you for your wonderfull blog, Corrie

    1. Thanks Corrie, I have not used MMS although I believe it works. I purchased some but could not get beyond the smell 🙂

      My impression is that there are many many ways to treat Lyme effectively but we are all unique and ideally we look for the best way to treat each person individually… I’m still working out what I think that is for me and I’m letting Naturopaths decide that for my wife and children. I’m adopting some of their treatment for myself such as the Pekana drainage package (Itires, Renelix, apo-HEPAT).

  16. Hi Eric, what an epic post. Thank you for it and all comments.
    re your sleep (or lack of) I saw a programme in UK by Dr Mike Moseley, a very poor sleeper, where he greatly improved his sleep by taking a prebiotic powder just before bed. He took his in warm water (looked vile!); I take mine on fruit/yogurt, not for sleep but just for gut health.
    Worth a try?

    1. thanks Margie 🙂
      I have tried prebiotic at bedtime without much luck… I’m pretty hopeful that getting rid of strongyloides (threadworms) will do the trick. if not then maybe I will have to knock out some other infections. But the main thing is I know I’m a breeding ground for bugs right now!

  17. Hi Eric,
    Just found your website, thanks for sharing your experience. I also live in Colorado and recently found out after years and years of being sick and not knowing the reason why, that I have the HLA gene and issues with my detox and meth pathways as well. I have been diagnosed with CIRS and Lyme, as well as other co-infections that seem to go hand in hand. I haven’t even looked into heavy metals or parasites yet. Although it’s a relief to finally have a diagnosis, this is all a bit overwhelming to me right now. Just wondering who you are seeing for treatment out here and if you’d recommend them? I am actually seeing a doctor in who is not certified by him, but seems to be following the Shoemaker protocal. She is not as literate in Lyme or with heavy metals.

    Thanks!

  18. Very similar issues, differences being: I was a super healthy athlete before I got sick, sunshine makes me feel better, and I can sleep….boy, can I sleep! 16-20 hrs every day at my worst fatigue a few yrs ago. It was like I only had enough energy to sleep (not even enough to be awake).
    Tried everything under the sun. On Nutritional Balancing Program as well, and it has DEFF helped! Juicing organic had helped tremendously (that’s how I get most of my veggies, because I hate them in general). Farm eggs, grass-fed milk, and wild meat. Recently tried colloidal silver and for the first time in YEARS felt my internal organs relax. Taking big doses. Indicates to me that maybe my source is bacterial, viral, or fungal (which is more progress than any Drs made!)
    My husband seems to be having energy issues, too now, so I wonder of what I have is contagious. ….or if the whole world is just getting sick because of all the chemicals and poisons in our food and environment–it’s just about impossible to escape, and so many people are getting fatigue issues. I have made tremendous progress, but I still don’t think I have located the root cause. We’ll research the live blood as you have recently discovered, and see if it’s related to our issues.
    Have you considered connections to root canals? Recently read The Toxic Tooth and now looking for some thermo imaging before I make the big decision to get my root canal teeth extracted.
    Just started the hydrogen peroxide protocol today, and I found your sitem while trying to locate better instructions than in the audio book we had. Thank you, your instructions will be easier to follow.

    1. Hi Cindy, I have read about the root canal problem in many many places. I’m fortunate not to have any but my wife does have, so definitely concerned. You may want to read Dr. Lawrence Wilson’s comments on dental issues. He says five minutes of near-infrared exposure on the jaw five times a day has cured all kinds of old unseen dental infections in his experience. It seems to provoke a flareup with healing afterwards.

      I do envy your sleep, wow!

  19. Eric did something go wrong with your comments section. I cannot get to your response to me.I can only see it at the side bar of “recent comments” and therefore cannot read it in its entirety.

    1. I see there was a problem – I made a change and you should be able to see my reply if you refresh the page now 🙂

  20. Hi Erik,

    I have what might seem like a weird question. I’m wondering what else was going on in your life when you moved to Florida and got sick? I realize this might be too personal of a question, so will understand if you’d rather not answer.

    I ask, because I’m wondering if there’s something else — besides infections, environmental exposures, etc — that hasn’t been addressed that MIGHT be playing a role.

    Thanks.

    1. Lots of big exciting things and stress – raised an angel investment for my Internet startup, hired friends, first child born, then the NASDAQ crash and had to fire my friends. First home purchase.

      1. Thanks for your speedy and honest reply Erik. We don’t know each other, but that’s kind of what I thought you’d say.

        Why? Because like you, I’ve been sick for a long time. Yes, I had a couple of remissions, but when things got bad, stress-and-pressure-wise, (especially when I ran out of $ and had to go on medicaid), no matter what protocol I tried — and believe me — I’ve tried many of those dozen or so you’ve tried — I’ve never been able to get back to, say, 80-90%.

        (I figure being sick for so long that it’s probably unwise to expect 100%, but I do believe I can get back to at least 80%.)

        I guess my point is that it’s not going to make much difference what you try next, unless you (and your family members) can work big time on both lowering stress levels, letting go of past traumas (forgiving yourself, your friends, the situations, etc) and maybe most importantly, letting go of the pressure we put on OURSELVES to get well (or reach any sort of goal) within a particular time-frame.

        I hope you don’t find this insulting, or feel that I’m suggesting it’s all in your head. Nothing could be further from the truth.

        I’m not saying you don’t have chronic lyme (despite Igenex’s controversial reputation), or any of the other diagnoses. I’m just saying that stress, especially chronic, low-grade, maybe even subconscious stress — will block or at the very least, strongly inhibit healing. And that perhaps by working on that ‘elephant in the room’, we may all find we’re getting better. Actually getting better. And it doesn’t have to cost a cent, which I find empowering.

        One caveat: One thing chronic stress does (besides the ol’ cliche of stressing out the adrenals), is stressing the gut, which as you know affects the immune system, digestion, assimilation, neurotransmitters, and on and on. So perhaps addressing and/or supporting the gut with various nutrients and/or specific high-dose probiotics and prebiotics will be essential to help stabilize things to help bring things into balance.

        But I’m broke right now, so until I can raise some funds, the gut, well, I guess I’ll have to work on that by working on lowering stress. The irony is that not only does stress affect the gut, but the gut microbiome helps to regulate the stress response. Here’s just one study:

        http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352289515300370

        Anyway, stress is rarely talked about because we can become so defensive about it. You know, “Everyone has stress in their lives!” But it might be something to consider. Getting better might just be a little “easier” than many of us thought.

        1. yes Kelly, I’m very aware of the stress problem and ‘healing deadline’ trap and I hope you’re not right! in the meantime I’ll hope for a miracle or two for all of us 🙂

  21. I came across your website a while back but there was no way to contact you. I was really appalled at the misinformation about Vitamin D that I saw here and feel that you did your entire family a grave injustice taking it away. Not having read everything on your website because I already do enough medical research, I am not sure why you think it is a bad thing. Did it give you symptoms? if so what were they? Sometimes people have a hypersensitivity to Vitamin D and it raises calcium levels and yes that is not good. Other times people are deficient in magnesium (this CANNOT be found on blood work) and Vitamin D will then give you symptoms which can be rectified by taking magnesium supplements. I too have Lyme and was diagnosed many years ago after having it for nearly 10years. I only wished I had known about Vitamin D then and how important it is to the immune system, helps repair DNA and many other things to numerous to mention here. During that time I also read that Lyme “replicates” using magnesium. Although my standard blood work was fine, a specialty test that actually looked at how much magnesium was in my “cells” showed that there was very little. Lyme sufferers can also get what is called “Herxheimer Reaction” when they take antibiotics and it would NOT surprise me if this may happen when you take Vitamin D because of its antibiotic qualities. Lyme can also give you hypothyroidism and how they diagnose and treat that is “another entire medical community screw-up”. If you need any further information, please feel free to contact me by email.

    1. Ivy, it’s complicated because we have copper toxicity and metabolism problems which may be aggravated by Vitamin D supplementation. That’s because Vitamin D supplementation lowers ceruloplasmin which reduces bioavailable copper and iron… Vit D gave me migraines which I now believe might have been through stimulation of my immune system resulting in a herx. You can read more about these vitamin D issues here: http://howirecovered.com/its-the-iron-stupid

      Still, we take some through cod liver oil, albeit little. Mostly we try to get as much sunshine as possible.

      1. So the following may help your wife. https://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitamin-d-supplementation-may-decrease-thyroid-autoimmunity-among-women-undergoing-treatment-for-hashimotos-thyroiditis/.
        “A recent study published by the journal Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology & Diabetes found that vitamin D supplementation reduced thyroid autoimmunity among women receiving levothyroxine treatment for Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.” (Unfortunately you have to be a member to read the entire post.) If she feels unwell, even if being treated for the Hashi’s , then the rest is either from a D deficiency or she is most likely not being treated with the right type(s) of medicine or she is not being treated with enough medicine. Any TSH result over 2.0 is hypothyroidism. Endocrinologists like to refer to it as subclinical.
        Now Morley Robbins had a 30 year career as a hospital administrator. He now promotes the importance of “magnesium” for the human body which he learned from the work of Dr. Carolyn Dean MD ND. This is a good thing. The bad thing is that without a science or medical degree he seems to think he knows Vitamin D (and some other things) better than the Vitamin D experts themselves. Dr. Robert Heaney, Dr. Michael F. Holick and Frank and Cedric Garland, just to name a few, have over 130 years of “combined” experience. On average each has 43 years of experience. Mr. Robbins has 0.
        Were you taking any supplemental magnesium when you got the headaches when taking Vitamin D? How much Vitamin D were you taking when it happened? (Yes, it could have been a Herx also but more likely magnesium deficiency.)
        You said “Still, we take some through cod liver oil, albeit little.” “Mostly we try to get as much sunshine as possible.” Warning on the Cod liver oil. It contains preformed A (retinols). Taking too much may not get eliminated from the body. As for sunshine make sure you expose “large amounts of skin”. Arms and face are not enough. If you do live in CO, then at that latitude you cannot make enough Vitamin D to properly sustain (keep healthy) the human body during the months of November thru February.
        So since medical science screwed us all up by telling us it was bad to ingest large amounts of Vitamin D and that sunshine was bad for us and we must slather on sunscreen, which blocks Vitamin D production, now they have come up with a whole new set of “new diseases and disorders”. For example see my posting under Outdoor Lady April 29th.
        Iron overload has a connection to Metabolic Syndrome and Metabolic Syndrome has a connection to low Vitamin D levels.

        1. I was taking more than a gram of magnesium daily and 2000 IU of vitamin D was enough to give me a migraine after a couple days to a week. I’ve since had my active vitamin D form checked and it is not low even though my storage form is. Ever heard of the Marshal protocol? Check this out: http://lymemd.blogspot.com/2008/05/whats-deal-with-vitamin-d.html – seems to me that Lyme disease is a special case and that using the active form of vitamin D for guidance is very reasonable…

          1. At https://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter-vitamin-d-questions-and-answers/ you may like to read the first one entitled “Professor Marshall’s recent “discovery”, if you have not done so already.
            The doctor in “lyme blog” has it wrong in the article you mentioned. (I have no idea if he corrects himself later somewhere else on the blog.) He says the following. “This form (meaning 25OHD) has little to no biological activity.” (In recent years this has been negated by science in that there are receptors all over the human body that use 25OHD.) He goes on to state “When you measure the 1,25 form of vitamin D the level is usually in the high normal range or even in the toxic range.” “This is the form of the hormone that is biologically active.” Eric “The simple fact is that when Vitamin D stores are low (25-Hydroxy levels), then 1.25 D goes “high”. Here is an explanation as to the why at https://www.vitamindcouncil.org/activated-vitamin-d-vs-25ohd-levels-what-should-you-measure/.
            I mentioned a “hypersensitivity” to Vitamin D when I first posted. You can read about that here at https://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitamin-d-hypersensitivity/. If or when you read it you will notice that under the heading “Other granulomatous diseases”, it lists “cat-scratch disease”. It says that hypercalcemia is usually rare under these conditions in this section but not impossible. Cat-Scratch also goes by the name Bartonelle. This is also carried by ticks. So if Vitamin D causes symptoms in someone with Lyme, maybe this is the angle. They have Lyme and Bartonelle.
            The symptom that you seemed to “add” when you took the Vitamin D or that you stated was the “migraines” and nothing else. So it really does not seem like hypercalcemia. You did say that it happened “after a couple days to a week” which to me seems like you could be running out of a vitamin or mineral. Many people get diagnosed with B12 deficiencies at the same time they are diagnosed with Vitamin D deficiency. Lack of B12 can give you migraines. You said you “were” taking a gram of magnesium with the Vitamin D”. Does this mean you no longer take any magnesium or take less? I don’t know if it would help but maybe if you approached the Vitamin D very slowly. (Above you said maybe it was herxing.) If so maybe start with 400iu of Vitamin D and see what happens. If after a week or two there are no migraines, then double that to 800iu and see what happens.

            1. THANKS Ivy, those are very good references and reviewing my history of migraines, I’m convinced that every single one was actually a herx, probably Babesia die-off which is known to cause this pain behind the eyes. so that includes vitamin D and I’m going to try to work up slowly sunshine and supplementation… I just had another 48+ hour migraine after an Ivermectin dose which helped me see the light 🙂

  22. Eric, congrats on your persistence to retest the Lyme. I hope the treatment brings you and your family the cure and quality of life that all of you deserve. Should you still be ill after completing the treatment, you might want to consider getting tested for and ruling out Systemic Mast Cell Disease / Mast Cell Activation Disorders. I was born and raised in Miami, Florida, had health issues as a child; lived in So. California ~36 years and moved back to SW Florida ~4.5 years ago. Like you, my health took a drastic nosedive: chronic debilitating fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, pruritis, histamine intolerance, etc. Last month I realized I had remissions in symptoms when visiting a cooler climate and during cold snaps the last two winters here in Florida… I started researching MCAD and discovered “environmental heat” can be a trigger for many people. There is a wealth of info on tmsforacure.org/ if you or any of your readers are interested. It is extremely difficult to find a doctor here to diagnose (esp. if you have esoteric symptoms as I do). As a fairly new recognized medical condition, the doctors are not well versed in it. All the best!

    1. thanks OL 🙂

      I’ve come across mast cell issues from time to time and glad you are on your way to figuring out!

      I do miss the ocean… hope you will be able to stay in Florida. All the best to you!

  23. I live in Boulder, CO and have such a similar story to yours. Would you mind letting me know who your current doctor is – I have been all over the country seeking help – and while some things have truly been beneficial – others were just expensive wastes of time. I would love some guidance and help where i live as traveling only adds to the stress and expense of healing. Thank you so much for this blog.

    1. Lisa, we know a handful of people with interesting Lyme experiences here in Boulder, CO including two families like ours where everyone has been infected. If you need a doctor that takes insurance, I would recommend my doctor – Dr. Nancy Brown even though she will tell you she is not yet Lyme disease literate in spite of being infected herself. She is in training with Dr. Dan Kinderlehrer who she thinks very highly of. Today we are starting with Denise Clark, ND who was also trained by Kindeerlehrer. We also know someone who was treated for several months by him and then switch to Denise Clark. Another family has been treated by Dr. Naylor with mixed success and I’ve heard that he is on the aggressive side. Hope this helps!

  24. Hi Eric

    have you heard of Spooky2 Rife machine? It could maybe substitute the Doug coil or just be an add on. I eradicated ascaris lumbricoides with it and have good settings for it on my site.

    About the live blood analysis, maybe you could have pointed out the spirochetas from the picture so people could better grasp it?

    Btw, in India and many other Asian countries like Malaysia and Thailand live blood analysis is used on daily basis as standard procedure in most integrative clinics.

    1. Yes I have heard of the spooky2, congratulations on making it work! I have noticed quite a bit of Asian lifeblood analysis videos on YouTube 🙂

      I do plan to improve my videos as you suggest!

  25. Hi Eric,

    Not sure if my last comment was blocked due to the links in it…but I did want to make sure you knew about Stephen Buhner and his books on Lyme. Certainly worth a read.

    Ash

    1. Thanks Ash, I have done some reading about the Buhner herbs and will do more! Just started a big book on Lyme too and ordered Samento.

  27. Hi there!
    Sorry to hear about your Lyme dx..
    Am I wrong or did you take mito copper some time ago?
    If I’m not mistaken they claim to be the only Lyme treatment available.
    If you’re still on the copper, would you mind telling how it’s been working/ is working for you?
    Thanks for a great page…
    Best regards Karin

    1. Hi Karin, I am still taking 1 mito activator. I tried increasing to two but my already poor sleep worsened considerably. My nutritional balancing plan calls for a Copper supplement so I will continue regardless of whether it feels like it’s working or not. I did stop taking many of my methylation supplements as a result of the copper, and maybe I went too far with that. Hard to find the right balance. I do hope Charles Barker is not claiming to be the only Lyme treatment, because that would be nonsense.

  28. Oh Gee, Eric. I got your email on Easter… a day when I had hoped to have some of my own answers. My first thought was “no”. I have resisted the Lyme diagnosis forever. It has felt like a fad, like a bad rabbit hole in which there is no end… I told my doctor not to bring this subject up again because he was merciless on my having Lyme. I didn’t want to have the discussion, even though I tested positive several times, even by PCR. I figured, if I have it, all the good things I am doing are the best treatment. (no to the long term IV antibiotics).
    But Eric, sometimes you just need to know… on those days when you feel like crap again, and you just KNOW ‘this isn’t me’. So your blog here has made me think on just accepting the diagnosis, rather than running from it. It wouldn’t change much in terms of treatment, but it might offer some comfort when I am just not able to function the way I want to.

    My doctor sent me home with several Byron White Lyme formulas which your doctor might also suggest. I never took them, of course, because I don’t have Lyme. 😉 But I may pull them off the shelf and start fresh.

    It might also answer the question as to why saunas work so well, and hot parts of the year feel better than cold.

    1. Now that you mention it Lori, I’ve probably been resisting it also, feeling like I had enough on my plate already over the past few years! Apparently spring and fall are more symptomatic for Lyme disease sufferers…

  29. Congratulations on this breakthrough. How exciting! I’m looking forward to seeing images from your new microscope. I can totally understand why you’re obsessed!

  30. Hi Eric. Living in the Northeast I know so many people who have been devastated by Lyme Disease. It is heart-breaking to hear that your family is also infected. On the other hand, I am so glad that you that you finally know now! What a huge relief that must be that you have some answers! Especially for your daughter. My naturopath, who uses genetic testing to aid in treatment told me that he sees a genetic pattern in people with chronic lyme similar to other chronic conditions where detoxification is impaired so maybe all your research in nutrition/ detoxification has not been in vain.

    Btw, my original question for you was if you had any luck treating biofilm with proteolytic enzymes? My guess is probably not since you are dealing with lyme and co-infections. Really curious about how you will feel after long rounds of Ivermectin. Please keep us posted! I am very excited to read about how your new treatment is working in your upcoming posts. God bless and God speed in your healing!

    1. Yes it is a relief, thank you Helen. I looked at my dad’s blood under the microscope yesterday and he’s infected also. Funny you should ask about the enzymes… the first thing I did after seeing my blood under the microscope was to triple my enzyme regimen. Rouleaux or the clumping of red blood cells can be from undigested protein in the blood and I think that is why Dr. Wilson and probably other nutritional balancing experts recommend three enzyme caps (the ones containing ox bile) at every meal. So I’m using this one and I have noticed a difference with the increase: https://www.nowfoods.com/supplements/super-enzymes-capsules – do you use something like that?

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