Natural Heath Research Institute

Podcast with Elwood Richard

2006-06-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

Elwood Richard from NHRI and NOW foods speaks about several areas of importance to him:

The Natural Health Research Institute
Media Misinformation
Quality Standards in the Natural Health Industry
Cost Savings Via Supplementation

What can be done for the country about Lyme Disease?

2006-05-23T13:43:00.000-07:00

Yes! Please call your Congressperson and ask him or her to sign on as co-sponsor to HR 3427, The Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Bill that was originally sponsored by Chris Smith and Sue Kelly, and please ask your Senator to co-sponsor S.B. 1479 that was originally sponsored by Chris Dodd and Rick Santorum, bills that are backed by over 100 patient and professional organizations nationwide.

These bills authorize an additional $20 million a year for Lyme disease research, education and prevention over the next 5 years. These bills will establish a Tick-Borne Disease Advisory Committee to ensure interagency cooperation. They will improve surveillance and prevention of Lyme disease, will support the development of accurate diagnostic tests and will fund additional research to develop more effective treatments.

How do I avoid getting bitten?

2006-05-23T13:38:00.000-07:00

Avoid tick habitats: try to stay away from areas that are know to be tick havens, especially in spring and summer (when nymphal ticks feed). Spots favored by ticks are moist, deer- and rodent-heavy areas, especially shaded areas with a lot of leaves on the ground and low-lying vegetation in wooded, brushy or overgrown grassy habitats. If you are in a tick-infested area, walk in the center of the trails.
Wear the right clothing: wear light-colored clothing so that ticks can be spotted more easily and carefully removed before becoming attached. Wearing long-sleeved shirts and tucking pants into socks (not fashionable but important!) or boot tops may keep those nasties away from your skin. Wearing high rubber boots may also provide additional protection, especially since ticks are usually located close to the ground.
Use insect repellents (see below)
Shower: Dr. Michael P. Zimring, director of the Center for Wilderness & Travel Medicine at Baltimore, Maryland’s Mercy Hospital, said that, “Usually it is best to take a shower when getting in from the woods, which would also be a good time for a tick check (see number 5).
Perform a tick check and remove attached ticks.
Antibiotics after tick bite? According to the CDC, “the relative cost-effectiveness of post-exposure treatment of ticks bites to avoid Lyme disease” in Lyme-prone areas is a personal choice, with your Lyme-savvy doctor, although it is not recommended by CDC. According to Dr. Zimring, however, “I believe there is now documentation that if one gets a 200 mg dose of doxycycline, one can avoid the disease.”
Make your property Lyme-unfriendly

What about supplements?

2006-05-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

Probiotics are one example of the key role that dietary supplements play in helping improve the health of people with Lyme disease, from reducing symptoms to counteracting unwanted medication effects to helping rid the body of toxins as detoxification strategies are employed.

According to Joseph J. Burrascano, Jr., M.D., studies in patients with Lyme disease have shown that some of the symptoms are “related to cellular damage and deficiencies in certain essential nutrients.”

Here are supplements that almost all Lyme-literate experts recommend:
Probiotics
Multi-vitamin/mineral
Antioxidants (including CoQ10 and vitamin C)
Acetyl-L-carnitine
Glutathione
Magnesium
Chromium picolinate (recommended by CF)
B-complex (including B-6 and B-12)

What about treatments?

2006-05-23T13:35:00.000-07:00

There is a huge controversy between the conventional medical establishment and Lyme-literate physicians on antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease—how long, how much, how often repeated, etc.

Advanced medicine approaches to Lyme disease by “Lyme literate” doctors frequently call for sometimes long, and frequently repeated, courses of the right antibiotics may, especially for those who have chronic, relapsing disease who appear to get better but who eventually experience a relapse of symptoms when off the antibiotics.

Another important point is, that as crucial as antibiotic therapy is in Lyme disease treatment, one huge failing of a “Borellia only” approach is a lack of acknowledgement (or understanding) of the fact that patients with chronic Lyme disease are almost universally also co-infected with other tick-borne nasties at the same time.

According to Dr. Burrascano, “These patients have been shown to potentially carry Babesia species, Bartonella-like organisms, Ehrlichia, Anaplasma, Mycoplasma and viruses.”

Studies have shown, explains Dr. Burrascano in the 15th edition of his now-classic monograph, Advanced Topics in Lyme Disease: Diagnostic Hints and Treatment Guidelines for Lyme and Other Tick Borne Illnesses (September 2005), that co-infection with other organisms at the same time makes patients a lot worse and leads to more organ damage.

There is a huge controversy between the conventional medical establishment and Lyme-literate physicians on antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease—how long, how much, how often repeated, etc.

Advanced medicine approaches to Lyme disease by “Lyme literate” doctors frequently call for sometimes long, and frequently repeated, courses of the right antibiotics may, especially for those who have chronic, relapsing disease who appear to get better but who eventually experience a relapse of symptoms when off the antibiotics.

Another important point is, that as crucial as antibiotic therapy is in Lyme disease treatment, one huge failing of a “Borellia only” approach is a lack of acknowledgement (or understanding) of the fact that patients with chronic Lyme disease are almost universally also co-infected with other tick-borne nasties at the same time.

According to Dr. Burrascano, “These patients have been shown to potentially carry Babesia species, Bartonella-like organisms, Ehrlichia, Anaplasma, Mycoplasma and viruses.”

Studies have shown, explains Dr. Burrascano in the 15th edition of his now-classic monograph, Advanced Topics in Lyme Disease: Diagnostic Hints and Treatment Guidelines for Lyme and Other Tick Borne Illnesses (September 2005), that co-infection with other organisms at the same time makes patients a lot worse and leads to more organ damage.

Dr. Burrascano adds: “Therefore, real, clinical Lyme as we have come to know it, especially the later and more severe presentations, probably represents a mixed infection with many complicating factors.”

What do I do if I think I have it?

2006-05-23T13:31:00.000-07:00

If you remember having been bitten by a tick or not, it is very important for you to immediately contact a licensed physician if an unusual rash appears or develops on your body.

If you can’t get to your doctor’s office right away, Karen Vanderhoof-Forschner, co-founder of the Lyme Disease Foundation, recommends the following:

Mark the outer edge of the discolored rash area with a pen.
Take a photograph immediately and again two or three days
later so that you can document the rash’s expansion. An [EM]
rash is the only sign that by itself allows your doctor to diagnose
Lyme disease with certainty.

If I have a weird rash… As mentioned in the previous chapter, the calling card of Lyme disease is most often a characteristic “bull’s-eye” rash, Erythema migrans (EM), accompanied by other symptoms like fever, malaise, faigue, headache, muscle aches (myalgia) and joint aches (arthralgia).

The incubation period from infection to the start of the telltale rash is usually seven to 14 days but can be as short as three days or as long as 30 days. Some people who have been infected have no recognized illness or have only non-specific symptoms such as fever, headache, fatigue and myalgia.

Who's most at risk?

2006-05-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

As far as who is hit by Lyme disease, people of all ages and both sexes are at similar risk, although the highest attack rates are in adults aged 40 to 64 and in children up from age five to 14.

The worst Lyme months in terms of reported cases are July (4,094), August (4,032), December (2,282), September (2,195) and June (2,136). The high incidence in December was a surprise to us.

How do ticks transmit the disease?

2006-05-23T13:29:00.000-07:00

The deer tick feeds on humans, small mice, deer, and other animals that it is able to latch onto. After latching on, the deer tick takes a blood meal and, in so doing, transmits the Lyme disease-causing spirochetes to the animal's blood stream. The tick must remain attached for up to two-to-three days in order to take a complete meal, and is able to transmit the spirochetes during this time.

In addition to deer carriers, experts now also believe that infected ticks are also getting a free ride via about 100 species of migrating birds, not to mention other non-deer carriers, including: the white-footed mouse, chipmunks, foxes, hedgehogs, rabbits, sheep and voles.

Why is Lyme disease running rampant?

2006-05-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

Environmental change is one reason. According to the NIH, “Urbanization, road and dam construction, deforestation […] and pollution can all play a role in diseases such as Lyme disease.”

One important contributing factor to Lyme disease emergence, says the NIH National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, is fragmentation of forest habitat into tracts smaller than five acres. In addition, species diversity appears to play a role.

The more types of animals, including squirrels and opossums, the less incidence of disease; the less animal diversity, and the greater numbers of shrews and white-footed mice, for example, the greater incidence of disease.

How Prevalent is Lyme Disease?

2006-05-23T13:23:00.000-07:00

In 2003 there were 21,273 cases of Lyme disease reported to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Although there have
been over 157,000 cases have been logged since 1982, it is known that
there is considerable underreporting.

Over ninety percent of the reported cases were from the northeastern
and north-central U.S. Specifically, the mid-Atlantic region (not New
England) did worst, with 14,016 cases, followed by New England
(4,079), South Atlantic (1,370), East North-Central (914) and West
North-Central (609).

Specifically, most of the cases were from the following states, listed
by highest-incidence down:

1.Pennsylvania (5,730)
2.Upstate New York (5,179)
3.New Jersey (2,887)
4.Massachusetts (1,532)
5.Connecticut (1,403)

According to Denise Lang in her book, Coping With Lyme Disease (3rd
edition, 2004), “Lyme disease has been called the fastest-growing
epidemic of the 20th century, now surpassing AIDS.”

What Symptoms Does Lyme Disease Cause?

2006-05-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

Lyme disease is a devastating illness which masquerades as multiple
sclerosis (MS), arthritis and brain cancer and can cause meningitis,
congestive heart failure (CHF), depression, schizophrenia and a host
of other psychiatric disorders? In fact, 93 percent of people with
chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and most with fibromyalgia have this
disease.

What is Lyme Disease?

2006-05-23T08:24:00.000-07:00

Lyme disease is a devastating disease transmitted by tick bite that is running rampant worldwide.

In 1982, spirochetes (a type of thin, spiral-shaped bacteria) were identified in the mid-gut of the adult deer tick, Ixodes dammini (originally referred to as Ixodes scapularis) and were given the name, Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb), after Willy Burgdorfer, PhD, MD, who discovered that the Bb bacteria was the probable cause of Lyme disease.

It is known today that Lyme disease is caused by one of several hundred known strains of the parasitic bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, bacteria that are transmitted to people by the bite of infected ticks.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began surveillance for Lyme disease in 1982 and the U.S. Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) designated Lyme disease as a nationally notifiable disease in 1991.

2006-05-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

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