Welcome To Lyme Bytes!

April, 2014- HELLO ALL! I am no longer posting to this blog. For the latest on me and my work, I invite you to subscribe to my NEW blog: www.conniestrasheim.blogspot.com where I share my latest findings on how to heal from chronic illness involving Lyme and other conditions. Thanks!

Greetings and welcome to my Lyme disease blog, a comfy cozy (and sometimes crazy!) place for cutting-edge information, encouragement and insight into the fastest-growing epidemic disease in the United States. In this blog you will find everything from bug-killing strategies to immune system and hormone help, as well as lifestyle and spiritual suggestions for healing from chronic illness involving Lyme disease. The information contained within this blog is based upon my own healing journey and what I have learned over the past eight years as I have been diligently digging and researching my way back to a better state of health. May you find it to be a source of hope, inspiration and wisdom in your own journey towards wellness.

About "Insights Into Lyme Disease Treatment"

About the book:

443 Pages - $39.95
Published August, 2009
Written by Connie Strasheim
Learn More - Bulk Orders - Table of Contents














Thursday, September 20, 2012

Adrenal Fatigue or Lyme Disease?

"It's not all about the bugs"-You might say that this is one of the themes of my upcoming book, Beyond Lyme Disease: Healing the Underlying Causes of Chronic Illness in People with Borreliosis and Co-infections. As mentioned in my previous post, my new book- which will be available for sale in approximately two weeks, Beyond Lyme Disease describes what's making people with Lyme sick- besides infections!

For example- adrenal fatigue. Lyme disease causes adrenal fatigue, but adrenal fatigue also creates susceptibility to symptoms from pathogenic infection, because the adrenal glands play a crucial role in immune function. And when the adrenals (or more accurately, the HPA-axis), becomes dysfunctional, due to stressors of all kinds- physical as well as emotional- immune function is compromised because adrenal hormones such as cortisol play a crucial role in the body's inflammatory and other immune responses.

Interestingly, symptoms of adrenal dysfunction mimic those of chronic Lyme disease, so it can be difficult to distinguish how much each one is contributing to the overall symptom picture (taking into account that Lyme causes symptoms of adrenal fatigue). Dr. Lam, author of the incredibly well-researched and informative book, Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome, writes in his book, "Symptoms of Lyme disease and H. Pylori infection, in particular, can mimic adrenal fatigue syndrome." He also writes, "Adrenal fatigue syndrome, particularly stage 3 (adrenal exhaustion) is related to many recognized diseases, such as hypothyroidism, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), fibroids, hypoglycemia, depression,Lyme disease, IBS, autoimmune diseases and many other defined and regularly diagnosed and treated medical conditions." He states that people will sometimes be diagnosed with conditions (such as these) which are really not the root cause of their symptoms. His book, which was just published this year, confirms something that I have suspected for many years- adrenal fatigue can be what causes Lyme infections to gain a foothold in the body, and is sometimes more important in the overall symptom picture than infections.


Consider this- many people harbor Borrelia, Babesia and Bartonella- as well as other tick-borne infections (which aren't just "tick-borne" anymore!)- but are unaware of it because they don't have symptoms from these infections because their immune systems keep the infections under control. A person with severe adrenal fatigue is less able to do that.

So when adrenal fatigue is primary in the symptom picture, or the trigger for disease from infections, toxins and other factors, it requires more than just taking some Vitamin C and pantothenic acid to heal it. As I mentioned in an interview today with my publisher, Bryan Rosner, healing requires addressing all of the factors that caused the adrenal fatigue to happen in the first place; from unhealthy beliefs and behaviors, to bad eating habits, relationship problems, environmental toxins, and so forth. Adrenal fatigue represents, at its core level, a mishandling of, or accumulation of, life's stressors. Sometimes, it can be triggered by one thing- such as a major trauma, and of course, infection.

Knowing this matters because it determines the level of priority that will be given to treating the adrenal dysfunction. Often, Lyme-literate doctors and people with Lyme will invest a fair amount of energy and effort into treating infections, while regarding adrenal fatigue as an "incidental" problem that can be dealt with by simply taking some Vitamin C, adrenal glandular products, or pantothenic acid. But taking a few supplements will not correct the condition for many people.

And if adrenal fatigue isn't adequately addressed, then the immune system may not be able to effectively eliminate the Lyme disease infections. When adrenal fatigue occurs, all of the body's processes slow down- from metabolism to energy production, cellular detoxification, and waste removal. The latter is because the liver,kidneys and other organs cease to function properly. And if the body cannot remove toxins, then antimicrobial treatments for infections can make a person worse.

I wrote Beyond Lyme Disease because I realized that conditions such as adrenal fatigue, among many others- were major causative factors of illness in people with Lyme, along with Borreliosis and co-infections, and I wanted to provide solutions that would help people to heal from these conditions.

It is my hope that by "going beyond"in my new book, people who have not found healing from chronic illness involving Lyme, will encounter new hope, answers and practical solutions for wellness.











1 comment:

Unknown said...

I first had symptoms when i was 17 and was told that i had PCOS (thin people type PCOS) and was officially diagnosed at 22 ans now i am 35. I have always had regular periods and unless on birth control pills were they irregular at times and I had a hard time getting pregnant because of the absent periods. I was always told by doctors that I would have a hard time conceiving so I would only go on the pill periodically which i did for more than 4 years, not for protection against getting pregnant, but just to get a period (since I was told it's not healthy to have less than 4 or so periods a year). Last time I went on a 3 month birth control pill and then stopped again because the medicine was not curing my pcos nor making me get pregnant. I went in search for a cure and ended up with so many drugs, medicine and even soaps that didn't work. I actually thought at a point that i was cursed that there is no cure for it, i was prepared to live like that till i read a testimony of a patient who suffered from pcos whose case was even worse than mine and how she was cured completely, I was amazed and at thesame time anxious and curious so i had to contact the doctor with the contact details that she left on the note. The doctor gave me so much hope and confidence with her kind words of encouragement to believe in myself and i was lifted because no one has ever given me hope like that before. I ordered the medicine, took it for 8 weeks and to my complete surprise, all the facial hairs, weight gain and all disappeared within 4 weeks and I ended up getting pregnant within a few weeks of completing the treatment! I was in shock. I think the main reasons it happened was that I never gave up and was ready to try alternative treatment so my body was back to normal. Before now i never enjoyed sex because it was very painful but now i do and my husband is the best thing that ever happened to me.. I hope this inspires some of you because I never in a million years would have thought that I would get pregnant and was getting frustrated and now our baby is due next month! You too can reach her on [aletedwin@gmail.com] for more information, advise and also how to place an order for yours.