A June 8 article in the Bangor Daily News caught my eye. It covered the Maine Senate’s approval of an “alternative” treatment for chronic Lyme disease.
I was excited when I read the headline, but my excitement waned as I read the rest of the article. The “alternative” treatment they were discussing? Long-term antibiotic use.
Adding to the controversy is the fact that many medical providers do not consider chronic Lyme a real disease. The research is ongoing in this area.
As a wellness provider, I do not consider six months of antibiotic treatment “alternative” at all. It is just an extension of the usual short-term treatment. A truly alternative approach would be one that supports the body’s own natural immune response, instead of attacking the disease with drugs.
Because Lyme can be such a serious disease, we tend to assume that if a tick infected with Lyme bites you, then you will develop the disease. We also tend to assume our bodies have little or no defenses against it. But this is not the case at all. Many people have been exposed to the disease, but their bodies successfully fought off the infection, often without them even being aware of it. When their blood is tested, antibodies against Lyme disease are found, meaning their immune systems handled the problem, as highlighted in one study of Swedish children.
For some, immune systems are perfectly capable of dealing with the bacteria. This points to a true alternative treatment for chronic Lyme: supporting the immune system naturally. If there are those who can fight off the disease on their own, perhaps we can support the immune systems of those who can’t, allowing them to recover or at least control the infection.
For acute infections, antibiotics are still the best way to go, as far as we now know. They quickly can knock out the bacteria for most people.
But for chronic Lyme, wellness treatments are a multi-step process. First, any major lifestyle problems need to be addressed. This often means improving the patient’s diet. Sorry, no more doughnuts for breakfast. Sugary foods have been shown to weaken the immune system.
Controlling stress is key and, if the patient is up to it, so is regular exercise. If there are sleep problems, they need to be dealt with. This does not mean adding more drugs to the patient’s regimen; there are plenty of natural, wellness-based ways to address this.
Once lifestyle concerns are addressed, then the core functions of the body are evaluated and supported if they were compromised. This includes digestion, the hormonal system and of course the immune system. This can be done with supplements, either food-based or herbal; acupuncture, either with needles or electroacupuncture, without needles; homeopathy; and bodywork, such as manipulation or deep tissue therapy.
A number of different protocols have been developed, but unfortunately little research has been done on them.
Speaking of research, a review of studies on long-term antibiotic therapy for Lyme concludes it is not effective and carries high risk of problems. In one study involving 55 chronic Lyme patients, there was some relief of fatigue; but six out of 55 patients had serious side effects, bad enough that 4 of them were hospitalized. In another study, 26 percent of the subjects had serious reactions to the drugs, with no significant improvement in brain function. The most common problem with antibiotic therapy, even short term, is changes to the normal balance of bacteria in the intestines. This, in turn, affects the immune system — the last thing you need when trying to fight off an infection.
If you are looking for a true alternative to chronic Lyme disease, consider treatment that supports your body and your immune system, instead of attacking the disease with treatments that may leave you more sick than when you started.
Dr. Michael Noonan practices chiropractic, chiropractic acupuncture and other wellness therapies in Old Town. He can be reached at noonanchiropractic@gmail.com.