Past Treatments and a lot of Pills!

As you know, I have been treating my Lyme disease and co-infections for a few years. In my last post I said I was going to list all of my past, today is the day!
Most of the bottles I saved are herbs/supplements, but I have a few prescriptions like nystatin and doxycycline. Here it goes, its long...

For chelation-
3 bottles of Total Chelate by nutriwest, Started March 2015, 1 pill 3x daily, worked up to 2 pills 2x daily
2 bottles of DMSA Synergy from GS nutrients, 100mg 1 pill once daily, 3 days on 11 off(Doctors protocol)
2 bottles of King Chlorella from Nutricology, 10 pills spread throughout the day
2 bottles of DMSA from living supplements, followed the Cutler protocol, first bottle was 12.5mg, 1 pill every 4 hours, 3 days on, 4 off. I started this June 12, 2015, finished midnight September 5, 2015
A total of 560 pills

Probiotics-
Culturelle while I was taking Doxy, 1-2 daily, 180 pills
3 bottles of Body Biotics SBO's, I started at 1 two times a day, ended with 2-3 twice a day, started early 2015, finished May 24
Bowtrol Probiotics, 1 bottles, 2 daily, September 2015
2 Bottles Innate Flora 20-14, 2 per day(IIRC)
1 bottle NOW Probiotic-10,1 3x daily
1 bottle Biotics research S.Boulardii 2 daily
1 bottle Colon Plus also biotics 1tsp daily
=710 pills, not counting powder
I know a few of these are missing, I took more culturelle, another probiotic from Natures Sunshine, and at least 1 other. Plus I consume goat kefir and yogurt often(not pasteurized), but those don't count here

Vitamins-
Vitamin K2 from NOW, 4 bottles(from memory, only saved two), 600mcg daily, started early 2015, finished in June.
B-Complex, 1 daily, Metabolic Maintenance 1 Bottle, Started around August 2015, ended October 2015
5-MTHF Metabolic Maintenance, 1 bottle, 1 pill a day. Started with B-Complex, 2 bottles
Active B12 Folate, Prothera 1 pill a day, 3 bottles, started with Doxycycline
2 Bottles of Esther C, doses varied the ND had me doing 10g at one point, end of 2014/beginning of 2015
Active MTHF Complementary Prescriptions, 3 bottles, 1 pill a day.
1 bottle of Liposomal vitamin C, 3 pills a day, started in Oct.2015
1 bottle of CoQ10 from Metabolic Maintenance, 1 pill a day, Started with B-Comp.
2 bottles of Lithium Orotate. 1 bottle from Swanson and 1 from Advanced Research, 1 5mg pill a day, started after 1st hair test.
Custom Multivitamin Powder from Metabolic Maintenance, 1.5 tsp per day, 1 bottle, Started end of January 2015
3 bottles of NOW vitamin D-3, 10,000 IU per day, Started with K2
Calm Magnesium powder, 2 tsp per day, started with doxy, I only saved 2 bottles but I have continuously taken it since Aug.2013. I am going to estimate 6 bottles.
1 bottle of Green pastures Blue Ice Cod liver/butter oil, 8 per day, same as K2
There is definitely more, this is just what I coudld remember plus what I saved.
=2,350 pills not counting magnesium and vitamin powder!

Herbs(another big category!)
Grapefruit seed extract, nutribiotics, 3 per day(IIRC), 2 bottles
1 bottle of Swanson Grapefruit seed extract liquid, both of these were spring 2015
4 bottles of Swanson Milk thistle, 2 pills 3x daily, Started June 5, stopped end of Oct 2015
3 bottles of NOW Eleuthero capsules, 3 pills 3x daily, same as grapefruit seed extract
13 bottles of Swanson Andrographis Paniculata, 3 pills 3x daily, I started this early 2015
1 bottle of NOW Andrographis, same dose
2 bottles of Natures Sunshine Black Walnut, bottle one Aug., b.2 October 2015
2 bottles Artemisia Combinations, started 8/20 ended 9/5, 2015 B. 2 same as b2 black walnut
3 bottles of NOW Cats Claw, 3 pills 3 times a day, same as andrographis
2 bottles POA Phytolens, 2 pills 2x daily, 2015

2 bottles NOW black walnut/wormwood complex tincture, Feb. 2014
10bottles cryptolepis tincture from Montana Farmacy, first dose 15 drops, ended at 1/2 tsp 3x daily, started May , ended August. 2015
3 bottles Alchornea Cordifolia, 1/4 tsp, June-July 2015
1 bottles Sida Acuta 1/4 tsp, August-Sept.1
1 bottle Houttuynia tincture, Montana Farmacy, 1/4 tsp, June-July 2015
1 bottle Nutramedix Cumanda, started June 5
1 bottle Nutramedix Quina, started June 5
1 bottle Nutramedix Pinella started May 15
1 bottle Nutramedix Burbur started May 15

3 bottles of Biocidin from Bio Botanical Research, started around December 2014
2 bottles of Humaworm, bottle 1 January 2015, b.2 May 2015
1 bag of Houttuynia powder, I started at 1/4tsp and worked up to 1 tsp 3x daily, finished in Sept.15'

=2,270 pills, not counting liquids
This isn't counting the herbs I took first round with the ND for candida.

Other Misc. from the ND

Nutriwest-
1 bottle L-Glutamine
2 bottles methyl renew
2 bottles Total Cort
4 bottles DSF herbal
=630 pills

Metabolic Maintenance-
3 bottles Melatonin 9mg at night
3 bottles of L-Theanine
= 780

NOW-
2 bottles L-Ornithine 6 pills daily
1 bottle L-Theanine
2 bottles L-Arginine/Ornithine combo, 6 pills daily, 1 bottle 2014, 1 2015
=860 pills

Wellbrain-
2 bottles Adrestore
2 bottles Dopalift
=480 pills
1 bottle of Immuno gG from biotics research(idk when I took this, it was 2012)
2 bottles Sleep Deep from Dancing Willows, 2014
1 bottle Adrena Calm by Apex Energetics
= 100 pills

Other Misc.
4 bottles of Nystatin pills, 2 pills 2x per day
2-3 bottles Argentyn 23, 1 tsp 5x, 2014
Odorless garlic, 1,000 mg, 2014
4-5 Bottles Doxycycline, 4 liquid 1 pills, 100mg 2 times daily
= 580 pills

Homeopathics
4 bottles Ledum Palustre 30C. 5 pills 3x daily
1 bottle Boiron Silicea 30C
1 bottle Arnica Montana 30C
1 Bottle Calc.Phos. 6x
1 bottle Ruta Graveolens
1 bottle Calc.Phos 30X
2 bottles Mediral Rocky Mountain Spotted fever
1 bottle Physica Relax Milieu
=880 pills

This comes to a total of 9,160 pills!!! Except for 3 bottles(Artemisia, 5MTHF, and Dopalift), I didn't count anything I am taking currently. I didn't even count the liquids which includes the doxy and cryptolepis.
Almost 10,000 pills and I am still sick! This is just wrong. Most of these were in the last 1.5 years. What the heck.

 

I know some things aren't even included, like Dr.L had me take 3 rounds of mebendazole, 2 weeks each, and 2 rounds biltricide. IV drugs aren't counted. Essential oils weren't counted. And a few other miscellaneous things weren't counted. All of these have also been significant in my treatments.

Looking back, only a few of these were helpful. The cryptolepis tincture, DMSA, Ledum, and IV drugs made anything lasting. Houttuynia was also helpful, it was definitely killing something, I started at 1/4 tsp once a day and it made me feel horrible. I felt like I was going crazy. I would get this spacey feeling, I would become depressed at night, and I couldn't focus. It was one of the worst herxes I have ever had. The sad part is, idk if it gave me any lasting effects. It is traditionally used for Bartonella, which I have never been positive for. I decided to try it to see if bart would start showing up positive at the ND. Babesia never showed up until I started taking cryptolepis, I started taking it and I started testing positive on the bio machine. I thought the houttuynia would do the same for bart if I have it.


The ND has tried to push several of these products on me, especially several of the vitamins and Nutriwest. They are fine products, but they aren't what I need. What I need is to strengthen my body and get my body to kill the bacteria.
The probiotics definitely helped my stomach and candida. Before I tried the modified GAPS diet I had extremely high serotonin, which is made in the gut. After the diet and probiotics, its now too low actually. All of my neurotransmitters are low now. I will be making a post about this in the future. I just have to figure out....where did I put those test results...

In my next post I am going to highlight my current protocol and possible changes.

I wanted to right more...but it took about two hours to type all of this out.
 I.am.toast.

Heavy Metal Toxicity and Mineral Levels

     When I started researching detoxification and which toxicities cause what symptoms, heavy metals stood out to me.
In this day in age people are more toxic with heavy metals than ever before. Fracking has contaminated our water systems, mercury is found in amalgam fillings and energy efficient light bulbs, lead is still found in paint (lead paint is legal for outdoor use) and many other sources, and aluminum is used extensively in the kitchen. Nearly everyone has had mercury fillings at some point, everyone uses metal cookware, and we have all inhaled contaminated air (think cigarette smoke), metal is not easy to avoid.
    The symptoms of mercury poisoning are extremely similar to the symptoms of tick borne diseases. Common mercury poisoning symptoms are-neuropathy, fatigue, memory loss, brain fog, depression, tremors, and food sensitivities, just to name a few. Sound familiar? All of these are hallmark lyme disease symptoms.
     Heavy metal detoxification is a part of several lyme treatment protocols, including but not limited to those used by Dr.Burrascano and Dr.Horowitz. So, I went online and ordered myself a hair minerals and toxic metals test.

These are my results.

High-Mercury, lead, silver, nickel, copper, and barium.

The high lead was a shock to me. Mercury and copper are found in dental amalgams ( I had 4 when I took this test) so this was expected. What about the lead? Where did the it come from? Lead isn't found in amalgams, shouldn't be in cookware, the kitchen somewhere maybe?

The water pipes...the lead soldering that attaches the copper water pipes. Bingo, that must be it. My water must be contaminated with lead. My ND advised me to start on EDTA as soon as possible to chelate lead. I used a product called Total Chelate, a mixture of minerals and Ca-EDTA. I started at 1 pill 2x a day to 2 pills 3x daily.

Within a few days of starting this protocol, brain fog and fatigue improved. Finally a breathrough!

 Ca-EDTA mainly, if not only, chelates lead. So the copper, mercury, etc were still untouched left to ravage my system with their toxic affects.

To chelate mercury I wanted to follow the Cutler protocol. To do this correctly I had to have those darn mercury fillings removed.

 I only had 4 so it wasn't too bad. I found a mercury free dentist who followed the correct safety procedures for removing and disposing of the metal. In two visits plus a consult, they were out.

 

A few days after the last two were removed, I started DMSA chelation. Following the Cutler protocol, I started on 12.5mg. I would take DMSA every 4 hours, 3 days a week. This also helped my symptoms to reduce further. I started this protocol in June of this year.

Three months after starting the DMSA and being amalgam free, it is safe to add another chelator called alpha lipoic acid. Alpha lipoic acid (ALA for short) is naturally produced in the body as a precursor to glutathione. ALA and glutathione are used by the body (especially the liver) to remove toxins from the cells. A three month wait is needed so the DMSA can clear mercury and other metals from the tissues. According to the protocol, DMSA should be used to chelate the body and ALA should be used to chelate the brain.

I began ALA  in September, at a 100mg dose. In the beginning I had a strong herx reaction that knocked me down for several days. I would cut the 300mg pill into 4 pieces and take 2 each day slowly working up to 100mg 3x a day.

 

Later on in September, I repeated the test. Here are the results.

 

The results improved

in only a few months! Test #1 was taken in March, #2 in September, only 6 months.

The lead is way down. Nickel and copper also decreased. Mercury increased, possibly from detoxification- the mercury leaving can go out through the hair. No worry there.

Tin jumping up I thought was interesting. I don't have an explanation for that. It could also be detoxification.

 

Then looking at the changes in minerals, you can see that magnesium and iodine are high. I have been taking magnesium for years. I first started on calm magnesium the first visit with Dr,L., this spike was a surprise to me. I don't even take it religiously anymore, just a spoonful every few days. On the first test I had nearly no lithium whatsoever. So my ND advised me to start supplementing that, now it is nearly in range. Another little victory :) I read this book called "Feel Good Nutrigenomics" By Dr.Amy Yasko. She stated lithium was often found low in Lyme patients. No reason given, just that its typical. I wonder if a certain toxin from the bacteria displaces it.

The biggest surprise to me was the iodine. I didn't start taking iodine until after taking test #2, but before I received the results. I don't even eat an iodine rich diet. Its a mystery to me. Personally I do not believe my iodine is actually that high. I believe one of the toxins, whether it be a halogen or metal, is displacing it, into my hair. Chlorine, bromine, and fluoride, the halogens, are known to displace iodine. Halogens have the ability to displace each other in our bodies. Bromine, for example, is know to block iodine from the thyroid. I believe my iodine is being displaced. There is no way it could jump over 70 points without supplementation. It will be interesting to see what its at on test #3 next year.

 

Calcium and phosphorus levels also improved, possibly as a side effect of removing mercury. Another little victory :)

 

This has been the journey of detoxifying heavy metals from my body. Unlike my lyme protocol, this one changes very little. I only take ALA now, the DMSA just stopped giving me results.

 

This was a fun post to write, I think so many of our common diseases today are caused primarily by toxins. I feel like these tests back up this opinion at least to some degree.

 

Until tomorrow, God bless.