Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.
This week, we will start a series of articles on Lyme
disease. Much of this information was compiled by Dr. Mercola in a recent
article he penned for his email newsletter. In my research, the data I’ve found
on many internet sites points to Lyme disease as an epidemic just now being
recognized for the horror it has become.
Lyme disease was named after the town of Lyme, Connecticut,
where it was first identified in 1975. (Yes, it is Lyme, not Lyme’s disease.)
Initially, it was named “Lyme arthritis” due to the presentation of atypical
arthritis in children of that town. It took until 1977 to discover the “deer
tick” was linked to the transmission of the disease.
It wasn’t until 1082 that the bacteria responsible for the
disease were discovered by Dr. Willy Burgdorfer. The Spirochete, Borrelia
Burgdorferi, named after him, and a cousin to the bacteria which causes
syphilis, was the culprit in this disease.
Borrelia Burgdorferi has been found to be amazingly
difficult to detect in the body because it does not exist solely as a
spirochete. It has the ability to live within cells as an “L-form”, and also
can live as a cyst, which is encoated with a protective protein barrier. In
addition, it can live in biofilm communities, which are colonies of germs
protected by a glue- like substance which is very difficult for the body to
unravel It is a stealth disease. Just because a Western Blot test is negative
means virtually nothing.
Since the blot test is so unreliable, the actual reporting
of Lyme disease is vastly understated. The latest numbers, released by the CDC,
show they believe actual cases of new Lyme disease are around 300,000 each
year. That number is about 10 times higher than the officially reported cases,
indicating major under reporting and misdiagnosing.
The latest research is showing that chronic inflammation is
a significant underlying factor in most chronic illnesses. Diseases such as
Parkinson’s, gastritis, cardiomyopathy, chronic fatigue and even multiple
sclerosis are all turning out to be expressions of chronic inflammation.
Lyme disease appears to be a major, undetectable in many
cases, cause of chronic infection or inflammation.
I am new to studying Lyme disease. I see and hear of more
and more people in my office complaining of the multitude of symptoms
associated with Lyme infection. There is such a huge variation in presentation,
that almost all long term symptoms have been shown to be tied back to Lyme
infection in one or many cases. Everything from flu like symptoms, with fever,
chills, headache, stiff neck, achiness and fatigue, to hard core neurological
problems, heart involvement, vision and hearing problems, migraines and muscle
and joint pain have all been proven to be possible symptoms of this disease.
As usual, there are many theories out there on the internet
about where or how this disease originated. One of the more interesting
conspiracy theories is that the United States government actually created Lyme
as a bioweapon. There is an island off the coast of Connecticut called Plum
Island. Researchers say the US hired one of Hitler’s scientists, named Himmler,
to operate a bioweapons lab on Plum Island. He, apparently, wasn’t careful to
contain his diseases, and they escaped the lab and were brought to mainland
Connecticut via birds and animals. Sounds a little far-fetched, but would it
really surprise you with the government revelations of recent years? Hey, we
intentionally inflected black men with syphilis just to see how the disease
process works? Muskeegee Syphilis study anyone?
Ok,
back to what we can prove. Over the next several articles I’m going to try to
touch on the controversial side of Lyme (there is one?), and then on the
diagnosis, prevention and treatment options that are most effective. Stay tuned.