Lyme Disease 101: Interview with Dr. Steven Harris and Dr. Linda Williams

Lyme Disease 101: Video of Radio Interview with Dr. Steven Harris and Dr. Linda Williams who discuss Lyme Disease symptoms which can affect the brain, nerves, eyes, joints, and heart beat. They also discuss antibiotic treatment of Lyme disease, vaccine, diagnosis and bacterial effects of Lyme Disease, ELISA and Western blot blood tests, the Borrelia burgdorferi spirochete, harmful bacterias and tick borne diseases, human pathogens, Lyme disease research, children with Lyme Disease, the comorbidities of Lyme Disease, Bell's palsy, Chlamydia, Bartonella, and ILADS, (International Lyme And Associated Diseases Society)

UNDERSTANDING CALCIUM MAGNESIUM RATIO

According to the National Institutes of Health, approximately 43 percent of Americans (including almost 70 percent of older women) take dietary supplements containing calcium. But failing to balance calcium with magnesium may actually do more harm than good.

Most people, including many medical doctors, do not understand certain key facts about calcium and its sister mineral, magnesium. 

When everything is in proper balance, magnesium helps the body to absorb and metabolize calcium. Unfortunately, American diet and supplementation practices lead to overconsumption of calcium, and soil depletion and processing of foods lead to underconsumption of magnesium. 

The problem with this is that excess calcium intake can cause problems in the body. The National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements reports that less than half of calcium people ingest is actually absorbed in the gut. The rest may be excreted, or it can linger in the body to form kidney stones or cause calcification (hardening) in soft tissues.

In addition, numerous studies have shown that magnesium converts vitamin D into its active form so it can aid calcium absorption. Magnesium also stimulates the hormone calcitonin, which helps preserve bone structure and draws calcium out of the blood and soft tissues back into the bones, lowering the likelihood of osteoporosis, some forms of arthritis,heart attack and kidney stones.

A growing amount of scientific evidence, including a 2004 study published in the British Medical Journal, points to high calcium/low magnesium intake leading to calcification, or hardening, of arteries (also known as atherosclerosis, which can cause heart disease, the leading cause of death in the U.S.), osteoporosis and osteoporotic bone fractures.

Why the imbalance?

Recommendations for calcium intake vary greatly across the globe. In the U.S., adults are advised to consume 1,000 mg (or up to 1,500 mg for women over 50) of calcium daily. The U.K. recommends 700 mg daily, while the World Health Organization recommends only 400 to 500 mg daily.

Many people take supplements providing these high levels of calcium without considering the amount they consume through diet, both from food sources and from water (some tap and mineral waters). The typical American diet, especially when it contains dairy products, is high in calcium. The result? A greater amount of unabsorbed calcium in the body. 

The calcium-to-magnesium ratio commonly accepted by health professionals (and seen in many dietary supplements) is 2:1, but this is based on a flawed understanding of the body’s needs. It traces back to the French scientist Dr. Jean Durlach, who proposed the ratio as an outermost, not-to-be-exceeded level when considering calcium intake from all sources (food, water and supplements). This has been largely misunderstood and is taken as a recommendation of a 2:1 calcium-to-magnesium ratio in dietary supplements.

The fact that most people do not meet the minimum daily requirement for magnesium exacerbates the situation. The high-calcium/low-magnesium diet of most Americans, when coupled with calcium supplementation, can skew the ratio to 4:1 or 5:1—or even higher—increasing risk of impaired bone health and heart disease.

Striking a balance

The key to calcium-magnesium balance is at the cellular level. Calcium’s effectiveness and benefits with respect to bone health and the prevention of osteoporosis are enormously impaired unless the body maintains adequate magnesium levels. Unfortunately, it is difficult to get enough magnesium through diet to even meet the minimum RDA requirements because it has been farmed out of the soil and eliminated from most processed foods. 

I recommend monitoring dietary calcium intake, supplementing with vitamin D3, getting the minimum daily requirement of magnesium and aiming for a 1:2 or at least a 1:1 calcium-magnesium ratio.

If you plan to supplement with magnesium, I recommend building up to 300 mg daily. Magnesium supplements are safer than calcium supplements, because magnesium is excreted more completely and doesn’t build up in the body.

The only people who should avoid self-administering magnesium are those with heart block (the type that requires a pacemaker), myasthenia gravis (because their muscles are already too relaxed) or bowel obstruction, and people who are on kidney dialysis.

For more information on magnesium, visit the nonprofit educational resource site www.nutritionalmagnesium.org.

By: Carolyn Dean, MD, ND

Dr. Dean is a medical doctor and naturopathic doctor in the forefront of the natural medicine revolution since 1979. She is the author/coauthor of 29 health books (print and eBooks) including The Magnesium Miracle, IBS for Dummies, IBS Cookbook for Dummies, The Yeast Connection and Women’s Health, Future Health Now Encyclopedia, Death by Modern Medicine, Everything Alzheimers, and Hormone Balance. Dr. Dean is the medical director of the non-profit educational site—Nutritional Magnesium Association. She has a free online newsletter, a valuable online 2-year wellness program called Completement Now! and runs a busy telephone consulting practice. For more information, visit DrCarolynDean.com.

Candida Die Off

Many Lyme patients also suffer from Candida which can result from long term antibiotics (although even a short course of abx can result in a yeast infection). I came across a forum that discusses this subject and thought I would pass it along. It is located at: Candida Die Off Forum

Some excerpts from the site. . . .. .

Many yeast sufferers, after starting a program for yeast control, have experienced a worsening of their condition. This can of course be a most unsettling and discouraging development and if not understood and addressed effectively, may not only forestall one's progress, but possibly bring it to a screeching halt. We therefore want to share our insights and strategies to minimize the chances of suffering unnecessarily from yeast die-off reactions.

Common yeast die-off symptoms, some individuals may develop one or several of these concurrently

Fatigue, brain fog, gastro-intestinal distress such as nausea, gas, bloating, diarrhea or constipation, low grade fever, headache, sore throat, body itch, muscle and / or joint soreness or pain, feeling as if  coming down with a flu...

[Yeast die-off reactions are] an indication that yeast cells are dying, usually in large numbers, and is more of an indicator of the system's toxic overload. More poisons are being released than the body can adequately cope with at one time. In most cases, yeast die-off is a sign that the system's eliminatory pathways are overburdened or as oftentimes happens, blocked, as in constipation and liver stress...from The Modern Herbalist

Quote

Counteracting Die-Off

When yeast cells are rapidly killed by the immune system, drug treatment, or dietary intervention, a "die-off" or Herxheimer reaction occurs. This reaction is caused by the massive release of toxins from dying candida cells. Toxic proteins from the dead yeasts cross cell membranes, enter the bloodstream, and trigger an intense immune reaction.

Other death-stress chemicals cause direct cellular toxicity throughout the body. Immune/yeast complexes trigger the release of histamine, an irritating tissue hormone which initiates tissue inflammation and causes discomfort. Severe allergic and toxic reactions exacerbate the symptoms of candida. Die-off reactions may last from a few days to a few weeks but usually clear up in less than a week.

Yeast Die-Off Inhibits Treatment

Die-off and the Herxheimer reaction occur when a larger number of yeasts die rapidly, releasing toxins and causing allergic reactions. A die-off reaction is especially pronounced when using powerful antifungal drugs like Nystatin that literally cause yeast cells to burst apart. Even though a strong die-off reaction causes a significant amount of discomfort, it is a sign of a successful treatment.

Perhaps one of the most unfortunate aspects of a severe Herxheimer reaction is that it may cause individuals to abandon a successful treatment prematurely. The Herxheimer reaction keeps many individuals indulging in their pro-yeast lifestyle like the withdrawal reaction keeps drug abusers addicted.

An effective means to reduce the discomfort of die-off is to take the supplement compounds listed under "Other anti-yeast supplements," (at left), drink plenty of fluids, and consume 30-40 grams a day of dietary fiber. That will deactivate, absorb and rid the body of toxic debris from dead yeasts...from Candida Yeast Protection Program

How to interpet the bands on my Western Blot Lyme Test?

(

What do all the bands on my Western Blot Lyme Disease test mean? This is a question that came up recently and I was about to write out a long response to answer this person (their exact question was "Can I have Lyme with only ONE band of Lyme antibodies showing up? Her neurologist told her NO") So I was about to write out a whole essay on what the IgG and IgM antibodies are and what bands are specific for what, and so on, when I came across this wonderful blog called "Life with a Twist of Lyme". The author has a GREAT page that explains exactly what I would have written, so rather than re-invent the wheel, I'd like to direct you to her site (which I've also now included on the left side of my blog because I thought it was written so well). It's under the heading "What do all those bands on my Western Blot test mean?"

The site address is: Life with a Twist of Lyme (A big THANK YOU to the author of this blog - you created a great site that is easy to understand for folks who are just learning about what all this means - like me in the very beginning - I was so overwhelmed with all this technical jargon that it took me a long time to figure out what it all meant. But you put together a great site which has some great information on it for people who are trying to interpret what their Western Blot tests mean!)

One of the segments I chose to re-post here I thought was especially relevant because this question comes up over and over again:

IgM versus IgG is usually interpreted this way: if you have a positive IgM Western Blot, but negative IgG, it may mean that you just became infected fairly recently, because the IgM reaction to infection generally happens before the IgG.  If you have a positive IgG it may mean an established, chronic infection.

OK, finally we need to talk about what POSITIVE means!

How does one decide what constitutes a positive Western Blot test?  In some ways this seems like it would be a fairly easy question to answer, but when you realize that every person's body reacts differently to infection, and one immune system may not make the same antibodies that another immune system might make, then it becomes highly complicated.

In addition, to follow this discussion on all levels, you must realize that most doctors in the United States are NOT well-educated about Lyme disease.  They generally believe that:

a) The CDC and the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) are the ultimate authorities and that anyone who disagrees with them is a crackpot.
(b) Lyme disease is rare, hard to catch and easy to cure (this is the IDSA official "line" and it is WRONG!!!!!!).
(c) Lyme disease should be treated with 2 - 4 weeks of doxycycline and THAT'S IT!  (IDSA guidelines again.  This makes NO sense...there are many illnesses out there that have to be treated very aggressively for months and months.) 

Please understand that there is a political and economic battle being waged in this country with the health insurance companies and the IDSA on one side and many, many Lyme patients who are desperately ill on the other side.  

OK, here are three sets of Western Blot criteria for determining whether or not someone has Lyme disease; let's compare them:

1. The current CDC criteria (used by the IDSA and health insurance companies) for a positive Western Blot are as follows:

      (a) For IgM, 2 of the following three bands have to be positive: OspC
           (22-25), 39 and 41.
      (b) For IgG, 5 of the following ten bands have to be positive: 18, OspC
           (22-25), 28, 30, 39, 41, 45, 58, 66 and 93.  

I will not go into the ins and outs of how they came up with these criteria. You can look at the CDC website for that.  Suffice it to say that when the CDC criteria were first created, they were not recommended for diagnostic purposes.  In fact, there used to be a statement on the CDC website that said so.  I think that statement has now been taken down in an attempt to appease the IDSA. 

2. The criteria used by IGeneX, one of the top Lyme laboratories in the country: IGeneX considers a Western Blot (IgM or IgG) to be positive if just two or more of the following bands are positive: OspC (23-25), 31, 34, 39, 41, and 83-93.  

3. Possible future criteria in China: I recently read an article about Lyme disease testing in China, where Lyme is spreading rapidly through the country.  The researchers quoted by the article recommended considering a Western Blot positive if just ONE single Lyme-specific band was positive.

So the IDSA and the health insurance companies are in cahoots, but ILADS (the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society) is opposed to their anti-patient agenda and their highly restrictive and ridiculous diagnostic criteria for Lyme disease. Our heroes, the Lyme Literate doctors (aka LLMDs in the online Lyme communities) are generally member of ILADS and believe that the using the CDC WB criteria for diagnosis of Lyme disease is incorrect.

So what's so terrible about the CDC WB criteria anyway?  For one thing they don't mention some of the bands which are the most highly specific for Lyme disease, namely bands 31 and 34, aka OspA and OspB. Your body can only produce these antibodies if you have been exposed to Lyme spirochetes!

The main reason these were left out is that several of the doctors who originally decided on the criteria were involved in an effort (at that time) to create a Lyme vaccine, and those two bands were part of the vaccine, so anyone who had been vaccinated against Lyme would test positive for 31 and 34 even if they did not have Lyme.  So they deleted those two bands from the list.

However, the Lyme vaccine is no longer being used because it caused terrible autoimmune reactions in a number of people who received it.   But (oops!!) the CDC forgot to put those two bands back into the criteria after they stopped using the vaccine!

And requiring FIVE bands for an IgG to be positive?  How do you know that everyone will produce a minimum of 5 different IgG antibodies?  And why include bands 45, 58, and 66, which are not specific for Lyme disease?  Why not include bands that are SPECIFIC for Lyme???  Clearly these criteria are too restrictive.

It has been said that the current CDC testing misses at least half of those who truly have Lyme disease.

As to the IGeneX criteria, these make a lot more sense, as the only band in their set that is NOT Lyme-specific is band 41.  Band 41 is usually the first band to show up for Lyme but also is frequently positive for people with other spirochetal infections such as syphilis and certain dental infections.

However, in my humble opinion, the proposed Chinese criteria make the most sense, since your body should not be able to produce even one single antibody to a Lyme spirochete unless you have been exposed to Lyme!

In the opinion of many LLMDs, IGeneX is one of the best places to get a Western Blot done, as their testing is more sensitive and they also report the "indeterminate" results, which means that there was some sort of reaction there, but not a strong enough response to be considered positive.  The indeterminate results can be considered clinically significant if a doctor wishes to include those.

*****************************************

For additional information, I'd also like to include another site by Melissa Kaplan called Interpreting the IgG and IgM Western Blot for Lyme Disease. This is another great site that includes all the bands and explains what they mean (similar to the blog above). 


***(To understand why there is so much controversy over Lyme Disease, you need to watch the highly acclaimed film: Under Our Skin. It will answer all your questions about why it is SO hard for patients suffering from Lyme to A) Get a proper Lyme test B) Get a diagnosis and C) Get proper treatment from a properly trained doctor. - Sandie)