In his report, Dr. Scott Taylor explains some of the quandaries regarding the reporting procedures for the CDC regarding Lyme disease. Additionally, he explains the problems with finding a "Lyme Literate Doctor" or an LLMD. Adding to this, one of the main correlations with finding the correct doctor will be asking whether they have a background in Parasitology or parasites. If they have not dealt in that area, they are not going to help you get rid of Lyme disease or its co-infections.
Lyme disease expresses itself much the same as Sarcoidosis. That is that it presents itself as inflammatory disorders.
www.nhlbi.nih.gov
"What Is Sarcoidosis?
Sarcoidosis (sar"koi-do'sis) involves inflammation that produces tiny lumps of cells in various organs in your body. The lumps are called granulomas (gran"u-lo'mahs) because they look like grains of sugar or sand. They are very small and can be seen only with a microscope.
These tiny granulomas can grow and clump together, making many large and small groups of lumps. If many granulomas form in an organ, they can affect how the organ works. This can cause symptoms of sarcoidosis."
Because of the similarities between the two disease presentations, Dr. Trevor G. Marshall, Ph.D, and Frances E. Marshall, Grad. Dipl. Pharm, have a theory that there may be the possibility that both could be treated with the same medications.
"In summary, Dr. Marshall’s discovery reveals that during the pathogenesis of borreliosis the BLPs of borrelia trigger inflammation via TLR signaling pathways or by other intracellular activation of NF-kappa B, which stimulates the gene expression for inflammatory cytokines. When the inflammatory cascade goes chronic, it eventually goes into the self-perpetuating cycle described by Marshall. This cycle will continue to produce disease until it is stopped by intervention.
In my opinion, Dr Marshall’s discovery that A-II perpetuates a TH1 inflammatory cascade is nothing short of major medical breakthrough.
Dr. Marshall’s work has not only given us the model for the pathogenesis, he has also given us the therapeutic approach that breaks the perpetual cycle that maintains the inflammatory cascade.
Angiotensin II type 1 receptor blockade. The angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) called Benicar (olmesartan medoxomil) has specific ARB properties that block this self-perpetuating inflammatory cascade.
Benicar therapy is a medical miracle for those suffering with chronic borreliosis."
I have yet to find this being used as a therapy in the forums, blog journals and other sites I've investigated. It would be interesting to find feedback regarding this method of therapy. I will do more research for another post on this therapy.
Another interesting point made in his report...
"Killing of Borrelia burgdorferi by macrophages is dependent on oxygen radicals and nitric oxide and can be enhanced by antibodies to outer surface proteins of the spirochete."
"Borrelia lack the microbial toxins called lipopolysaccharides (LPS) however, they have over 150 genes that encode for the BLPs that are the key to their pathogenicity. This is over 50 times greater than other pathogenic bacteria. That is, other bacteria usually only have 3 genes for lipoproteins, while borrelia have 150!
With this many BLPs [Bacterial Lipoproteins] triggering an imbalance of the immune system and other innate responses in the body, it’s not hard to see how a cascade of chronic problems can arise from this."
The above terms may seem extremely complicated. However, later he goes through a question and answer sequence that is very interesting. One of the question and answer items is particularly interesting.
Q: It seems that many people are not even symptomatic until years after the original tick exposure.
A: This is true with borreliosis...(this happened in my case). It's also true with syphilis.
This may be due to borrelia's ability to code for so many different BLPs. They have the genetic code for over 150 different BLPs.Depending on which ones and how strong the expression of these BLPs genes are may determine how virulent the borrelia is at different times.
We know that borrelia change the expression of these genes when exposed to different environmental factors such as temperature.
They express different BLPs in ticks since they are in ambient temperature, but once inside a mammal, they begin to change the BLPs that they express.
They also have an effective ability to accept plasmids and pick up other pathogenic genes in this way.
Work has shown that removing certain BLPs from virulent strains makes the borrelia avirulent.
The evidence is very suggestive that BLPs determines the pathogenesis of borrelia."
There are so many fascinating aspects to this incredibly detailed report.
"Gulf-War-Syndrome (GWS) has very similar symptoms to chronic borreliosis."
Dr. Taylor states that the bacterial lipoproteins of borrelia "have the ability to turn our own immune system against the extracellular proteins of our body".
What does that mean? It means that our immune system is fighting against the very "mortar" that holds our cells together. Borrelia "have the ability to grow slowly and avoid attack by the host's immune system", as well as suppress the host's immune system.
For many, Lyme disease is characterized by the "bulls-eye" rash, along with flu-like symptoms. However, when there has been no rash detected (only detected in 50% of Lyme cases), Lyme can remain dormant for months to years before presenting itself with "mystery illness"-type symptoms.
"Lyme disease is an extremely challenging infectious/toxic disease for both doctor and patient. It can exhibit many different symptoms. The clinical picture of LD can be similar to fibromyalgia, including: chronic fatigue, joint pain (arthralgias), muscle, fibrous tissue and tendon pain. Lyme disease can also manifest primarily as a neurological disorder, including fatigue and many neurological symptoms. It is important to remember that there are hundreds of symptoms that are caused by LD and it can mimic many diseases; for this reason, LD is often called, "the great imitator."
Because there is so much to this report, I am continuing this information in next Friday's post.
Note: I've been on Doxycycline for 5 months. I was having headaches whenever I wore my contacts (my glasses weren't so bad because the prescription was outdated). I went to my eye doctor and my vision has improved considerably in both eyes. If you are experiencing headaches while being treated, please visit your eye doctor to see if your vision may be a contributor.
Sources:
www.autoimmunityresearch.org
www.nhlbi.nih.gov
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