Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.
Lyme disease is a difficult condition to diagnose. Testing
is often ordered incorrectly, or the tests ordered are not the best available.
Most commercial tests designed to detect chronic infections
are based on measuring your body’s immune reaction (the presence of antibodies)
to the microbe. The problem with Lyme is that the primary cells it infects are
white blood cells themselves. Why is this a problem? Because if white blood
cells are infected, they lose the ability to produce antibodies, which is what
the tests are looking for. This is a false negative test result.
There are direct blood tests for the co-infections
associated with Lyme, such as Babesia. But, the blood tests have difficulties
too. For example, the FISH test for Babesia is done on blood, but it lives
primarily in the central nervous system, joints and connective tissue. It
doesn’t live in the blood stream, at least in significant amounts, so it is
easily missed when looking in the blood.
Dr. Klinghardt, an expert on Lyme, relies on his initial
workup of the patient for a tentative Lyme diagnosis. He then treats for 6 to 8
weeks, then does a Western Blot to measure for an immune response to the
treatment.
The gold standard for testing the blood is done by the
IGeneX lab in Palo Alto, California, and Fry Labs in Arizona is used for direct
microscopy testing by Dr. Klinghardt.
IGeneX lab testing is different than other labs in that they
test for two different antigens instead of just one. The Western Blot test and
the FISH test for Borrelia are done at this lab by Dr. Klinghardt.
Bartonella, another co-infection, is tested by Fry Labs,
because they look for it in the blood, where it usually does not live. If they
find it there, then it has over whelmed its normal host sites in the nervous
system, and is spilling into the blood.
Another indirect test for Lyme is the CD57 test. CD57 is a
specific group of natural killer cells, made by the body, that become
particularly damaged by the Borelia (Lyme) spirochete. Therefore, if the
numbers of these cells drop ff, it is an indicator of the presence of Lyme.
This is because Lyme is the only known infection to suppress the production of
the CD57 killer cells.
Dr. Klinghardt has very specific treatment protocols for his
approach to Lyme. You can go to his website at www.Klinghardtacademy.com/Lyme-disease.
You see, the conventional treatment of Lyme disease using
long term antibiotics can be effective. This approach disrupts your gut flora,
which exposes you to many other pathologies.
A more natural approach is possible, says Dr. Klinghardt. An
approach that treats the whole person, eliminating toxic metals, molds,
electrosmog, insulin resistance and other toxicities can not only help you
recover from Lyme, but help you resist a host of other maladies such as cancer,
diabetes, and Alzheimer’s.
One other distinction I must make is that of where you get
your information on Lyme disease. The IDSA, the Infection Disease Society of
America, publishes a guideline for Lyme disease. Its authors claim Lyme is
easily cured in 2 weeks with antibiotics, with some cases rarely needing a full
28 day course. They also claim there is no evidence for chronic Borrelia
infection. They do not take all the current literature into account, and are
not a good source of information.
There is a much better source of information. A group called
ILADS, or the International Lyme and Associated Disease Society, is by far the
best and most responsible group. Visit them at www.ILADS.org.
You must look for an ILADS trained doctor at the very least.
Another good source of information is put out by the IGeneX
labs. This can be found at www.LYmeDiseaseAssociation.org.
Upon embarking on this series of articles on Lyme, I was
contacted by one of the first people I remember who, after much misdiagnosis,
was finally diagnosed with Lyme. He has become an expert on Lyme, and its
treatment. Mr. Doug Stettler, who has given me permission to use his name, runs
the Central Pennsylvania Lyme Disease Support Group. They meet the first
Wednesday of the month at Evangelical Community Hospital at 7:00 p.m. You may
call him at 570-286-6918 for more information. As a disclaimer, I do not know
precisely all of the information they put out, but I believe he has more
contacts and knowledge of where to proceed than I do, simply because he has
gone through the process himself. I am in the information gathering stage of my
search into Lyme disease, so I don’t have great answers on direct treatment
locally at this time. I’m still learning, just like you.
I hope this series of articles has pointed you in the right direction in looking
for answers about Lyme disease. Like I said, I’m no expert. I’m always learning
new things, and I hope I never need to experience Lyme, in order to talk about
it with some knowledge. This series of articles has spawned the most interest
of any I have written. Thank you for reading “2 Cents 4 Health."