by Simon Yu, MD
Lyme disease has been under the scrutiny of the medical community for over diagnosing when the test does not meet all the criteria set by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the patient is prescribed an aggressive antibiotic treatment. Lyme disease seems to be one of the most over diagnosed and also often mis-diagnosed medical conditions.
Why is Lyme disease diagnosis controversial? The crux of the problem is the reliability of the laboratory test for Lyme disease. Lyme disease experts don’t agree on the interpretation of the test results. I have addressed this critical issue in my previous article, Lyme Disease Under the Limelight: Are the Diagnoses Misleading?
In that article, I wrote I believe there are two distinctive diseases: Lyme disease caused by Borrelia burgdorferi and a Lyme disease like syndrome caused by many other underlying problems. Borrelia burgdorferi belongs to the spirochete family. One of the most famous diseases caused by spirochetes is not Lyme disease, but syphilis. Syphilis is caused by Treponema pallidum, a spirochete species. The other common spirochete infection comes from dental and periodontal disease and it has been known to cause carditis, neuropathy, arthalgia, fibromyalgia and severe fatigue and can very much mimic Lyme disease caused by Borrelia Burgdorferi.
Lyme disease patients often have co-infection with protozoa, an intracellular red blood cell parasite called Babesia, and intracellular bacteria, Ehrlichia. The state of Missouri has a few Lyme disease specialists who treat aggressively with multiple oral antibiotics and IV antibiotics with anti-fungal medication. They have reported a great success rate for remission of Lyme disease.
The latest medical hypothesis indicates that Lyme disease is linked to over 300 diseases including Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, MS, ALS, brain fog, dilated cardiomyopathy, anxiety and a wide spectrum of physical and psychiatric dysfunctions including Autism. The good news is that any stage of Lyme disease may respond to appropriate antibiotics treatment. Sometimes, the response can be dramatic.
I am one of the Lyme disease skeptic physicians. I believe there are more Lyme-like mimics of the disease than true Lyme disease. We need to differentiate and treat accordingly. Otherwise, once you are diagnosed with Lyme disease, those patients become victims of the mis-diagnosis, obsessed with Lyme disease, Borrelia infection and prolonged, multiple antibiotic therapies including IV antibiotics.
Some of my patients have been diagnosed with Lyme disease. One of the hardest parts of my job is convincing the patient to let go of the diagnosis of Lyme disease regardless of the test results. They often have more than Lyme disease. They may have significant hidden dental infections from root canals, cavitations from old extracted tooth sockets, heavy metal exposure, chronic allergies and parasite infections. Even when their symptoms respond by correcting the dental infections and parasite problems, they still have a hard time letting go of the antibiotics. The antibiotics became their security blanket.
Dietrich Klinghardt, MD, Ph.D., a pioneer in the field of Alternative Medicine from Seattle, originally from Germany, who specializes in Lyme disease and Autism invited me to give a lecture on parasites at his conference, called A Deep Look beyond Lyme, in May 2011. Before this event, I had a chance to give a lecture on parasites two years ago at Baden Baden, Germany at the Medicine Week conference. At that conference, I had a chance to meet and discuss with Dr. Klinghardt some of the incurable medical problems caused by un-recognized parasite infections and how to treat them with appropriate medications.
He reported there has been a dramatic improved response rate on Autistic children and Lyme disease patients when they were treated with anti-parasitic medications before starting the antibiotic usage. He even gave me credit for aggressively using parasite medications. He calls it “Modified Dr. Simon Yu’s Parasite Protocol.” The patient may not require many months or years of antibiotics but only requires a few weeks of antibiotics after the parasite medications.
I had the privilege to share my experience with about 150 medical professionals at the Seattle conference through my lecture titled, “Think Parasites and Dental When the Latest Medical Therapies Failed.” Dr. Klinghart recognized the importance of the missing link for improved response rates for his Autistic children and Lyme patients was treating their parasite infections. We became a team teaching how to treat hidden parasites. He uses ART (Autonomic Response Test) and I use AMA (Acupuncture Meridian Assessment) to detect and treat parasites.
For me, the conference was a great experience to learn more about Autism and Lyme disease. There is a link with Autism and hidden Lyme disease. The latest information from Dr. Klinghardt reports that KryptoPyrrolUria (KPU) or HemoPyrrolLactamUria (HPU) are a major piece of the puzzle in overcoming chronic Lyme disease as well as Autism.
The HPU is a bio-marker and neurotoxic substance frequently identified in the urine of patients with Autism, learning disabilities, alcoholism, substance abuse, schizophrenia, ADHD, Down’s syndrome, bipolar disorders and even criminal behavior. The original study was done by a Canadian psychiatrist, Abram Hoffer, MD, PH.D, the father of orthomolecular psychiatry, looking for the origin of schizophrenia.
Dr. Klinghardt also found the association to KPU and HPU of patients with heavy metal toxicity, Autism, Lyme disease, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s. HPU levels can be measured from urine by a Vitamin Diagnostic lab in the USA. The crux of the problem might be that HPU in the urine is not a stable compound and the test results may not be as reliable as the interpretation of the Lyme test.
What have I learned by attending his Seattle conference? Yes, Seattle is always cloudy, rainy with a few minutes of sunshine in between. Symptoms of Lyme disease and Autism are our latest controversial medical conditions. They can be labeled as a new, latest fad and fit into another MUS (Medical Unexplained Symptoms) like chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia or irritable bowel syndrome. If we continue to ignore the true cause of the problems, it may turn into a new modern plague.
Dr. Simon Yu, M.D. is a Board Certified Internist. He practices Internal Medicine with an emphasis on Alternative Medicine to use the best each has to offer. For more articles and information about alternative medicine as well as patient success stories, and Dr. Yu’s revolutionary health book Accidental Cure: Extraordinary Medicine for Extraordinary Patients, visit his web site at www.PreventionAndHealing.com or call Prevention and Healing, Inc., 314-432-7802. You can also attend a free monthly presentation and discussion by Dr. Yu on Alternative Medicine at his office on the second Tuesday each month at 6:30 pm. Call to verify the date. Seating is limited, arrive early.