I wrote this in response to a posting by Aherantoxologist.

I did leave out something which I will add to what I sent which is that Lyme (if you don't know this already) is a Spirochete that is similar to the parasite known as Syphilis (same family). It is said to be so tiny that it cannot be seen by most microscopes and has a corkscrew head which permits it to burrow right inside our cells anywhere in our body. The adult can be can be cleaned out of the bloodstream by some antibiotics because the adult is not enclosed in a shell. The baby however is enclosed in a very hard shell so a very harsh antibiotic called flagyl must be taken at the same time as the other antibiotic to get the babies. Flagyl dissolves the hard shell permitting the other antibiotic to get at the larvae inside. The spirochetes that burrow inside our cells however are thought by our immune system to be part of us since they are right inside the cells. So they are protected in there. Therefore even if you succeed in getting rid of everything that is swimming around in the bloodstream the ones inside the cells survive and so the disease keeps on progressing. Apparently high temperatures are a possible solutions and I was planning to try to do the two antibiotics at the same time as engaging in heavy aerobics several times a day during the time of the antibiotics however I haven't succeeded in trying that yet. Since the Zapper kills parasites which are touching a cell or vein membrne while the electrical charge is passing through - it is possible that if you Zap enough you might succeed in killing everything but the babies inside their hard shells. I am telling you this, not to discourage you but to let you have the full truth about what we are up against.

Below describes the way I've managed to reduce most symptoms to almost nothing most of the time - since 1992.

I hope this helps you. Please let me know how you are doing and what you try and how it works.

I was affected by your story and wanted to share what I've learned after dealing relatively successfully with managing a severe Lyme condition for sixteen years. I do this hoping my experiences will help you and that you in turn will be able to help others.

I don't really relate to all the symptoms you have described so I have no idea if what you are suffering with is Lyme disease or from the various other parasites that apparently accompany it. My symptoms did involve headaches, foggy brain, sandy feeling in eyes, pains and stiffness, coming and going intermittently in various joints starting with the small finger on my right hand and progressing through all other joints including toes, ankles, shoulders, neck, knees, hips (not elbows or jaw so far though), flu symptoms with all that entails from cramps to the "runs" and extreme fatigue, neuritis inside arms, hands, ankles, feet, legs, back a painful type of red rash sometimes in armpits and other humid spots. On top of that before I found the solution I've written about here a generally miserable and very sick feeling throughout every part of my body.

The solution I've found makes me feel almost normal most of the time as long as nothing interferes with the tiny bit of alternative medication involved. There are no harmful, addictive or mood altering substances involved.

It is a bit of a long story because I don't want to leave out anything that might prove useful for you or others you may pass this on to.

Bitten by something which left me with a perfect thin red circle centred on the exact center of the back of my heel in June 1991 at a KOA campground a physician at a clinic in Phoenix, Arizona confirmed that all the symptoms I was suffering were consistent with someone with a 10 year Lyme disease affliction.

After almost a year the symptoms had progressed to the point where I decided that I would do whatever the doctors told me to get free from this illness, even take antibiotics (which I had long before decided to avoid at all costs).  I asked to be tested and to my amazement I discovered that the medical system in Canada gives a test which shows if you have antibodies indicating Lyme or not, and if you test positive meaning you do have the antibodies (which I did) you are informed that there is a 50% chance that your own immune system has already destroyed the invader and so there will be no more testing done. Twice more I was tested using the same test and each time I was given the same answer. Once I was tested at a leading clinics for tropical diseases but again they used the same test and informed me that they didn't "think" I had Lyme disease. The fact that a US doctor had diagnosed this didn't seem to mean anything to them.

Finally a General Practitioner iwho was also into Alternative Medicine and prescribed a homeopathic remedy for me, which helped a lot. However, I discovered that if I stopped taking it for even one day I became extremly ill and also felt symptoms of withdrawal (which I recognized from attempts to quit smoking).

Then I heard about a herb called Echinacea that the Native American Indians have used it in their medicinal tradition as an antidote to poisonous snake and insect bites. I found that it was as successful as the homeopathic remedy but did not give me withdrawal symptoms if I stopped taking it for a short time - and so I adopted this as my method of managing this condition.

I used a popular brand for a couple of years and it did a good job of keeping the symptoms at bay if I maintained a small dose once a day. A woman who identified herself as a "herbalist' whom I met in a small health food store in a small Ontario town during a trip, had warned me that taking Echinacea over a long period of time could "burn out" my immune system. So, I chose to take only the dose recommended on the bottle - 15 to 30 drops. On that bottle it stated that taking more than that at any one time does no more good (nor harm) than simply taking that small amount. I have since been taking about a half of the length of the typical squeeze ball ended tube that comes in the small sized tincture bottles and that is generally sufficient.

One year after getting a large quantity of the popular Echinacea, I gave some away to a good friend. When this batch ran out, I purchased a new batch of 1000 ml, however, after using this new batch for almost a month I had become gradually very ill beginning shortly after I'd started the new batch. Fortunately the friend to whom I'd given some of the first large batch, had not used up the amount I'd given and returned it to me, and once I started taking that the symptoms subsided after a few days. The company insisted that there was no change in the way they were producing their product but did agree to replace the new batch with still existing bottles of the same batch number I'd been using before which I'd found in a local health store.

I stopped using that brand after that since I did not want to take a chance on a repeat of that situation and I finally found that a Canadian brand called "Clefs des Champs" was always very dependable. I have no connection to that company in any way other than to understand that it grows its herbs in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, and whenever I've been able to get it, it's been effective. Eventually I started growing my own Purple Coneflowers and making my own tincture using Apple Cider Vinegar as a base. I've found that when I make my own tincture, it is as good or better than any I've purchased and is without the alcohal taste which I don't like, and as long as I keep it refrigerated it maintains its potency very well. Unrefrigerated however, it loses its potency quickly. One batch I made with high quality Vodka and kept sealed in a dark cupboard for a year - had deteriorated during that period so as to be much weaker and less effective than the refrigerated version in Apple Cider vinegar.

Once a day I take the small dose of the equivalent of about 30 drops of a dropper that has a very small hole - or as I described above about 1 1/4 " of the tube of the rubber ended dispenser that is inserted into the small size tincture bottle. This keeps me pre-Lyme. If I miss one day - I get flu symptoms (stomach cramps and the "runs") followed by the fatigue, "sandy" eyes, foggy feeling in my head just behind my eyes, joint pain and sometimes i a patch of "rash". It happens very quickly if I neglect to take a dose or if the Echinacea I'm getting is deteriorating, and sometimes it seems to be caused by becoming overtired.

The good news is that a couple of doses of a good supply of Echinacea causes the symptoms to gradually subside.

One other thing that helps against fatigue (caused by anything) is pycnogenol.  For awhile I've only been able to find it in a product produced by Martin Clinic under the brand name: Clinical Gold Series - Navitol - and includes other substances as well (each tablet having 30 mg of Pine Bark Extract - which is the most important ingredient). According to the bottle it is distributed by Maximum Life Nutraceuticals at 754 Falconbridge Hwy, Unit 2, Sudbury, Ontario Canada P3A 5X5. Their web site is
http://www.maximumlifeproducts.com
and the phone number is 1-866-660-6607.

I lost my Echinacea garden spot a couple of years ago and have been again depending on mass produced Echinacea and have found most brands to be effective so far. I do avoid the ultra mass produced versions such as those at Costco so I have no way to know if they are OK, but I did venture to try a Vogel/Bioforce product again last year - Echinaforce which was described in such a way that it sounded as though it should be much more powerful than Echinacea by itself. It was also quite a bit more expensive. However, once again I was disappointed, when as soon as I started taking it the Lyme symptoms returned.

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In 1992- a person lwith whom I connected through a Lyme Support group gave me a great deal of background information. This person whom I will call "Jamie" (as it is neither male nor female) had been given the in-hospital antibiotic treatment twice. Jamie told me many things he/she had learned aabout the illness.

I will list some of these things below:

1- Doctors from Germany were imported to US after ww2 and worked in a lab on a small island off the coast of Lyme Ct where they modified ticks which had been imported from Europe. In Europe the illness had existed for a long time however it was a mild illness which was not as debilitating as the form which has become prevalent in North America. It is believed that this is because the spirochete was modified to permit it to be stronger - perhaps joined with other parasites (none of these details are clear to me). This matter was some sort of experimentation possibly to add to the "germ warfare projects" in the US. Once the work had been completed the resulting new form of parasites were given homes in deer ticks and these ticks were released into the body of water separating Lyme from that island - Jamie told me the name of the island but I don't remember it.  This according to Jamie started the infestation of North America with this new, very potent, form of the illness passed on by spirochete infected ticks which we now know as Lyme. Lyme - for Lyme Ct where the first cases were noticed.

2. Jamie had discovered that whenever he/she could convince the members of a support groups  (CFS, Lyme, Fibromyalgia) to get a valid Lyme test as a group - at least 70% of the group (no matter which one) tested positive for Lyme.

3. Jamie's experience with in-hospital antibiotic treatment (both times) involved about three weeks of treatment with two different powerful antibiotics leaving Jamie terribly ill due to the destruction of so much of the immune system and with a terribly strong overgrowth of yeast. The Lyme symptoms however were gone at the end of the treatment. Unfortunately in both cases within three weeks of returning home from the treatment the lyme symptoms gradually returned to become as strong as ever within a short time.

4. Jamie told me that it seemed that especially with children if the antibiotics were given immediately after the tick bite - it "seemed" that the infection was destroyed, however it didn't seem to be the same for adults or for anyone who did not identify the problem and begin treatment within hours of infection.

I have since learned more. I've learned that there are many serious illnesses that may actually be the result of infestation of certain organs and/or glands by the spirochete that causes Lyme and/or the other parasites that apparently come along with it.

I've also been informed that medical professionals regularly misdiagnose lyme symptoms as arthritis, rheumatism or rheumatoid-arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigure syndrome, or depression.

I was sorry to read on Cure-Zone today of how much this illness has advanced lately - although I was relieved that at least the facts are being published, however I feel bad for the majority of people suffering from these symptoms who don't have the understanding of how to keep it from progressing.

I hope this will help you. Please let me know if you try this and what the results are for you - either way.


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I've written the most pertinent treatment information on Lyme-Net a couple of times over the years and each time there appeared to be an extreme and intense stand against the treatment method I use, although some of the members of that group wrote to me privately to say that they also had found the treatment to be effective and shared their experiences with me. I won't put this information out there in that way again because the extreme reaction mounted in those two situations against this helpful method could be more harmful for those who could benefit than not mentioning it. They might find it on their own and not be prejudiced against it by the misinformation.

One doctor connected to that site responded that Lyme disease sufferers are allergic to alcohal and discounted Echinacea tincture for that reason. I have found that the version suspended in apple cider vinegar is just as effected as that in alcohal, however it must be kept refrigerated. The type in the little glass vials (10 ml ampoules are suspended in purified water with natural orange flavoring) I've found to be just as good as the bottled type.

I hope you get some help from reading all this.

Good Luck