A Lyme Disease Blog Sharing Support & Awareness

It's Tick Season! Natural Insect Repellants To Use

5/27/2014

Well, it's that time of the year... Tick season. Of course, if you're me then all year is tick season, but for the general population they usually begin worrying about ticks in the spring when they start spending time outdoors. Every year the tick problem gets worst and worst and this year is NO exception. I have talked to my friends who have all pulled multiple ticks off their dogs from spending very little time outdoors in the grass. You can never be too careful, ticks can be incredibly small and look just like a small freckle or mole. People seem to think ticks are always large and very obvious. In most cases yes, but they can also be painfully small when they are newly hatched larvae (see photo)

That my friends is why taking steps to prevent getting ticks in the first place is crucial. Now most commercial insect and tick sprays include DEET which is a toxic chemical. It's been shown in studies to cause irreparable damage to cells, and if you are using it often then it will build up in the system. People often forget that the skin is our largest organ, and whatever you place on the skin will soak into the blood stream and get into our entire bodies. Just because it's not being ingested doesn't mean it's not causing harm!

With that being said, the commercials sprays without DEET are not that effective against ticks (only mainly mosquitoes). So, what can you do? Well, there are a few chemical and DEET free options which I love. 3 of them can be ordered online, and one is a do-it-yourself at home using essential oils. For all of the insect repellents listed below they all use essential oils as the primary deterrent. So, without further adieu, let's jump into these!

Naturally Northwoods 'Go Away Tick & Mosquito Spray"
This spray comes from an Etsy shop of a lady I know. I met her through my twitter, and she is very kind. She makes the tick spray homemade and uses only 8 essential oils to provide protection. She is a Lyme warrior herself, with her family members being effected by this horrible disease too. So, she spared nothing to make sure this was absolutely perfect. This spray has been sold for 5 years now and has nothing but great reviews! I bought it last year myself and I absolutely love it! She has a buy 2 get 1 free deal going on now!
The oils used are:
Citronella, Lavender, Lemongrass, Cedarwood, Geranium, Tea Tree Oil, Eucalyptus & Water.

Dr. Mercola Bug Spray
This bug spray has actually been put to the test with a study to prove its effectiveness. It contains Vanillin, Citronella, Lemongrass & Peppermint essential oils.

" An Independent study showed Bug Spray to be more effective than a product containing 100% DEET.

According to the lab results, unprotected subjects received an average of 16 bites per hour. Subjects using products containing DEET received an average of 2.78 bites per hour, while the Bug Spray test subjects received less than one bite per hour (approximately 1/5 of one bite per hour).

The test, conducted by BassFan Lab (operated by BassFan LLC), involved three successive test periods over 72 hours.

When tested in rainy conditions, the DEET-based products had to be re-applied to remain effective (re-exposing people to even greater amounts of DEET). But the Bug Spray formulation stayed effective without reapplication."

The Honest Company Bug Spray
I love the Honest Company in general, I use all their products because they are chemical free and free of anything harmful. I am in love with the detergent, soaps, dishwashing liquid etc. A great company all around. Their bug spray smells like Lemon and also uses a blend of essential oils.

Formulated with only the purest & safest certified organic essentials oils to naturally repel insects
Lab tested for proven efficacy against mosquitoes and stable flies — deters up to 4 hours
DEET-free, absolutely no harsh, synthetic, or petroleum-based ingredients!
Pleasant aroma of Rosemary, Citronella, and Wintergreen organic essentials oils
Hypoallergenic / Non-irritating / Vegan / Biodegradable

FREE Of synthetic fragrance, dyes, DEET, phthalates, parabens, pesticides, alcohol, formaldehyde, preservatives & petrochemicals

Either way you go, I hope that everyone is ready and protected for all the outside activities. Mosquitoes are always lurking, especially in the evening time, and it's easy to not even realize you are getting bites all over! Having a spray that is natural, smells good, and you can feel comfortable putting on multiple times throughout the day if needed comes with a peace of mind.

xoxo,
Christina

I have not been paid or endorsed by any of the companies listed above. Opinions are all my own entirely.

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Bargaining With Pain

5/11/2014

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This post originally appeared here. I write bi-weekly for the HealClick blog, and I wanted to share my latest post with you all below.

Pain; It’s such a subjective word. Everyone has a different threshold for it, and sometimes you don’t even realize your ability to handle pain until you’re being faced with it head on. Sometimes I take a step back and I am in awe that I go through my days with this pain that would’ve been intolerable to me five years ago. At the very beginning of this journey it was too much for me to bear, but slowly my body went into survival mode. I knew that I had to develop thicker skin if I was going to get through this. I knew that I had to raise my pain tolerance and it’s almost like my body did it as a second instinct for protection.

It’s funny isn’t it? How this perception of pain can change and our bodies can adapt to handle situations we never thought we were strong enough for. It leads me to ask, where does strength come from? 18-year-old Christina cried over a scuffed knee or the common cold. 22-year-old Christina had gallbladder surgery without a drop of pain medicine & not one single tear. And now at 25 I can honestly say most my tears are simply from sheer frustration. The pain doesn’t bring me to my knees; it’s the inability to stop it or understand it that drives me to break down in my weakest moments.

When it comes to pain I think anyone with a chronic illness learns to negotiate with his or her mind to get through it. “Dear body, if you can just let me get a break, one small tiny break to breathe and get my bearings then I can take on the rest tomorrow.” I’ve laid in bed rationalizing things like that so that it doesn’t consume me. Managing pain becomes a mind game. You can’t let yourself think too much about the facts. You can’t think about the fact that you don’t know when it will stop or else you’ll go mad. You can’t think about the fact that you have no control over it, or else it will take over you. You have to consciously bargain with yourself to only focus on the now, and take it hour-by-hour, day-by-day. It’s the only way to survive.

And when the pain does subside, if even for a moment, you relish it. And you think to yourself, “This I am okay with. If this pain stays at a 3 or a 4 like this I’ll be fine. Just please dear body don’t go back to a 10 again, not today, I can’t take it today.” And sometimes in those moments I think to myself how crazy it is that I am actually bargaining and agreeing to live with a pain on a scale of 4, because that to me almost feels normal. And truth be told the utter lack of pain sometimes feels like an impossible request. It seems like some kind of unattainable fantasy world that I used to live in which I can’t remember anymore. So I settle for the 4… I tell myself, like I have told myself for so many years, that this will be okay. I can get through the minute, the hour, the day on this 4. And when I lay my head down on my pillow at night, after a long day of negotiations, I say a prayer, close my eyes, and know the tomorrow I will have to start the hard bargaining all over again. You see, pain never rests, it never gives up the fight…and because of that neither will I.

xoxo,
Christina

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Protomyxzoa Rheumatica (FL 1953) - Fry Labs Protozoa/Fungal Infection

5/5/2014

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The second Co-Infection I have has easily the most elusive of them all. Protomyxzoa Rheumatics was discovered by Dr. Fry in his laboratory, and just recently got its official name a few years ago. It's a rather newly discovered co-infection, but I use the word new loosely. It's been around for a long time, but has only been gaining research the last say 10 years or so. To this day Dr. Fry has yet to find what we call a "cure" to this bug. This is a protozoa, and is actually a close relative of Malaria. It can be transmitted by Tick and Mosquito both.

It's incredibly hard to treat for a few reasons. For starters this protozoa lives in the blood stream and gets its strength from fats. So every single meal you eat that contains any form of fat what-so-ever is feeding this little guy to get even stronger. That's problem #1. The second problem is that a classic tell tale sign of Protomyxzoa is its ability to make mass amounts of biofilm in a very small amount of time. If you are not familiar with biofilm here is a quick rundown of it. Biofilms are formed when bacteria enclose themselves in a sticky polysaccharide. Once this polysaccharide is formed the bacteria can no longer leave and when new bacteria are produced they stay within the polysaccharide layer. This layer, which is the biofilm, is highly protective for the organisms within it. In fact, it is considered a fact that many bacteria could not survive in the environment outside of biofilms. Basically, the biofilm is like a safe haven for these bugs to hide in. When lots of biofilms form in the body you can get very thick sludgy blood and have coagulation issues. If I stand for longer than 10 minutes my legs get purple-ish and spotted looking. And when I'm cold I always have that splotchy look all over my skin. The reason for that is biofilms that have created coagulation issues and in turn my blood circulation isn't so great.

But I digress.. The trouble with biofilm is not just that it helps these organisms multiply, it's that it also houses other bugs as well. In my case I also have Lyme and Bartonella, so under the biofilm is trapped all 3 of my infections. That's what makes getting rid of them all completely a difficult task to do. The Protomyxoa by nature seems to help all other offending pathogens get a protective shelter. Basically it takes whatever you have and gives it this superpower.

And lastly, the final hurdle in treating this is the fact that there isn't a clear cut drug (traditional or herbal) that kills it the best. Many doctors (including Dr. Fry) uses anti-malarial meds, anti-protozoans, and anti-parasitics, and some doctors use Artemesinin which is a potent herb used to treat Malaria. However, these meds don't do much good if they cant get past the biofilm, or if you continue to feed it fats so it can get stronger and resist being killed off.

It's really kind of insane if you sit down and think about how smart a small tiny organism can be, and the fact that it can evade the human body the way it does. Totally baffles me when I really sit down and think about it. But, this post wasn't meant to be horribly depressing, I hoped it would be educational. There is very little information out there about Protomyxzoa on the internet, and not that many doctors know about it or know how to treat it. But, that's not to say it can not be done. I don't like to hear the word Can't being said to me, because it just fuels me to prove it wrong. I don't believe that it's impossible to cure Protomyxzoa. I believe that it will be a hell of a fight once I start to break down biofilm because God only knows what is going on in there. Once I take away the shield so many of these bacteria are comfortable hiding in I know my body will go into major fight mode, which means I will go into major struggle mode. But nothing scares me at this point. My neurological issues refuse to budge and this is the only thing I haven't got around to treating so it seems very likely that it's the culprit.

I believe the way to approach this Protozoa is a 3 step process. 1. No fat diet (STRICT) 2. Spend a month or two building up on powerful biofilm dissolvers 3. Hit it with pulsed doses of Artemesinin and other meds like Ivermectin, Albendazole, et al.

I have spent hours upon hours reading and journaling everything I could find out about Protomyxzoa. I read Dr. Klinghardt's lecture notes on it, I read Dr. Fry's info on it, and I read up on every treatment protocol I could find. I also spent time finding any patients I could who got into remission or had their symptoms dramatically improve. I think I have about 10 pages of just notes that I scribbled down as I learned new things. I wanted to know my enemy before I went into battle and I wanted to feel 100% positive and ready for it. With that being said I plan to go into attack mode in the next few weeks. I am waiting to speak with my Doctor about a few more things and I will certainly be keeping this updated in the Treatment Tab on what I'm doing, etc.

Oh and PS Happy Lyme Awareness month everyone!

xoxo,
Christina

UPDATE: 5/5/2016

Hi Everyone! It's been 2 years since I have written this post and I have since learned and compiled more information about Protomyxzoa from Dr. Fry himself. It seems he has found a working combination of meds to knock out the Protomyxzoa very recently, and most of his patients respond very well to this method.

Although protomyzoa is a protozoa in nature, Dr. Fry discovered that it also has strong "fungal like" characteristics. He was treating his patients with Doxycycline because although that is an antibiotic (not an anti-parasitic or anti-malarial which I spoke of above), it seemed to work better. The reason why is because Doxycycline works well for organisms that have fungal like properties. The true breakthrough however was rather recently when Dr. Fry learned that Doxycycline in COMBINATION with an anti-fungal called Lamisil was as absolute wonder together. He had a patient who was on Doxy for a few months & got put in Lamisil for an unrelated fungal infection. Within a week this patient took off in terms of symptom alleviation and after a few months was completely well. He studied this theory in depth and since then has had massive success with every patient he put on this specific treatment combo. I do not know the dosage of this, or the frequency, because that is not info that he could give out. However, his enthusiasm for the success of this combo was palpable.

I wanted to share this info as soon as I could, but I myself has not tried this treatment yet. I do not do well with doxy, so at this point it will be a bit of a work around to see what I can or can't do. However, I feel very hopeful because until now there wasn't a huge amount of enthusiasm in terms of treatment for Protomyxzoa Rheumatica.

As always, the low-fat diet is still key, and so are biofilm dissolvers to help the drugs penetrate to the organism. I will continue to update this page with new information as I get any, and if you have tried this treatment yourself and would like to share with others about your success (or lack of success) please comment below! This post has become like a thread where we all speak to one another in the comment section, so definitely chime in if you have anything to add or any questions!

-Christina

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It's Tick Season! Natural Insect Repellants To Use

Bargaining With Pain

Protomyxzoa Rheumatica (FL 1953) - Fry Labs Protozoa/Fungal Infection

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