Author: gregg.kirk@gmail.com

When treating Lyme disease, many patients, doctors and practitioners look to traditional vitamin supplements and herbal supports to aid in their healing journey. But ancient Greek and Asian cultures have been using medicinal mushrooms for literally thousands of years and Lyme patients and doctors are just now getting on board with their powerful medicinal properties that rival the most popular pharmaceutical and herbal remedies.

While all of these mushrooms might seem “magical,” none in this collection are of the variety that cause strong hallucinations or distorted reality. However, the mushrooms mentioned below can curb inflammation, support nervous system repair, shrink cancer cells, and fight viruses & bacteria.

You may have heard of something called the Miracle Mineral Solution or MMS. As a Lyme patient you may be trying to make sense of all of the posts and articles that either call it a substance that lives up to its “miracle” label or articles that compare it to bleach and is therefore dangerous to ingest. What’s the truth? We did some personal research and answer a few basic questions.

MMS (which stands for Miracle Mineral Supplement or Miracle Mineral Solution) is a solution made from 22.4% Sodium Chlorite and distilled water that is mixed with an activator that ultimately become Chlorine Dioxide. Sodium Chlorite is not a natural product but is a manufactured chemical. It has no real viable use by itself but is manufactured solely as a precursor to the generation of Chlorine Dioxide.

When you factor in variables like multiple pathogens, genetic traits that can hinder treatment, and environmental factors in a person’s living space, people stricken with chronic Lyme disease are getting the picture that this is a custom disease. Because of this, a treatment or detox approach that might work well for one individual might cause a dangerous reaction in others. In other words, no one approach is a silver bullet or panacea. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Why is this and what makes things so complicated with this disease?

Have you ever woken up with extra “bags” or discoloration under your eyes the morning after a great night out with very little sleep?  Of course, most of us have at one point or another, but unfortunately many chronic Lyme patients are noticing this issue without the benefit of any of the fun associated with the previous night. It’s the way many patients wake up first thing in the morning as a matter of course, and we refer to them as “shiners.”

What are shiners and what is this reaction? It’s an inflammatory response called an IgG (Immunoglobulin G) reaction, and in the case of Lyme patients, it is almost certainly a reaction to particular foods the patient has eaten as many as 3 days prior. This reaction is also very similar to the way your body reacts when it detects foreign bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungus (candida).

If you’ve been paying attention to posts in the Lyme community, the word “stevia” has been a hot topic for the last few years. You’ve probably seen comments like… “Stevia can cure Lyme disease!”; “No, stevia causes cancer and infertility!”; “Stevia can’t be absorbed in the human body!”; I’ve been putting it in my coffee for years, so why am I not cured of Lyme?”

In this short and admittedly non-comprehensive guide, we attempt to put some ideas to rest and to offer a small bit of common sense regarding this plant that various cultures have been using as a food additive for more than 400 years.

Many Lyme disease and chronically ill patients are probably aware that Ionic Foot Baths can be a non-invasive and natural way to help the body remove toxic substances quickly.

For the uninitiated, most typical ionic foot baths consist of a tub of salted, clean water (usually distilled) with two stainless steel plates placed in the foot bath that pass a low-amp electrical current (usually 3-7 amps) through the water to dislodge toxins in the body that are pulled out immediately into the ionized wate

Our body is designed to naturally eliminate toxic materials, and the two main types of toxins it encounters are water-soluble and fat-soluble. Toxins that are water-soluble, are relatively easy to flush from one’s body via the blood and kidneys by drinking about 3 quarts of water, evenly space throughout the day.

But fat-soluble toxins are more difficult for the body to remove. They tend to be the heavy metals, pesticides, preservatives, pollutants, plastics, and other environmental chemicals we encounter in our daily lives, and they must be converted to water-soluble toxins before the body has the ability to eliminate them.

Greek physician Hippocrates, who is considered the “Father of Modern Medicine,” is famously quoted as saying, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” When it comes to treating chronic Lyme disease most patients find that paying strict attention to what they put into their body besides medicine and supplements can play a major role in their recovery. And beyond this, food can become a major factor in dictating whether a patient improves or declines based upon how their body reacts to their food intake.

When seeking treatment for Lyme disease, most chronic Lyme patients understand the need to take a number of supportive substances to help them repair damage from the bacteria, stave off further infection and to improve cellular function and protection. The bacteria attacks healthy cells and weakens one’s bodily defenses, and without some kind of supportive measures imbalances can occur.

We polled a number of chronic Lyme patients across the country and asked them to reveal the contents of their personal medicine cabinets.

Everything is connected, and we are all multifaceted beings. But as we go about our daily routine, we seldom think about it until some obstruction or jarring event comes into our lives to rattle our cages and make us look at ourselves more closely. Such is the case with chronic Lyme disease, and as I talk to more and more Lyme patients across the country, I’m finding that their experiences frequently match my own when it comes to moving through the illness to complete healing.