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My Journey Into Lyme Disease Treatment

For several years now, I have been treating Lyme disease using both conventional and naturopathic protocols.  My journey into Lyme disease work started out with a passion for working with autistic children.  Trained in DAN! (Defeat Autism Now) protocols, I worked alongside Kurt Woeller, D.O. at Stillpoint Center in Temecula, CA, also working as a consultant for New Beginnings Nutritionals, and as an outreach physician for Great Plains Laboratory.  During my work with autistic-spectrum kids, I started consulting with their parents also, and wondering why so many thirty-something year-old women were being diagnosed with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndromes by their primary care doctors but not given any real answers for regaining their health.  Of course, having kids on the spectrum is an added stressor, so not only did they think they were just run down because of that, but they also sacrified pursuing their own health care in favor of caring for their children.  There was only so much time, money and energy to go around, after all.

I knew I should test them for Lyme disease, and was surprised at how many times the lab results came back positive.  I tested using IGeneX, and still do today, which while not being 100% spot on is (in my opinion) the most reliable source we have.  I certainly don’t put full credence in testing through large generic labs such as Quest and Labcorp – at least for Lyme-related issues.

At first I only wanted to treat using naturopathic principles, and referred out for the medication protocols.  But over time as I got more familiar and comfortable with the antibiotic regimens, having complete the ILADS physician training program, and with two prominent LLMD’s as mentors, I started doing a combination of both antibiotic and naturopathic protocols.  With such a shorage of Lyme docs in Southern California, I found a group of patients who needed someone to provide a wide array of options, and so my practice morphed into a Lyme-specialty practice covering both ends of the spectrum, and I became very comfortable at handling both aspects.

Now, as I venture into a new practice in Connecticut, I no longer have legal status to prescribe the medications.  And while I thought at first that would be a hardship, I realized today after my first day with patients that it is more of a relief.  I get to be a naturopathic doctor again, which is what I set out to be, helping people using nutrition and herbs and detox and utilizing functional medicine testing to find the underlying contributors to problems (such as heavy metal toxicity and adrenal fatigue).

I think that as a doc who can prescribe antibiotics in California I am in a better position to help my new Connecticut and New York patients as I have a detailed knowledge of the medication protocols.  But here on the east coast I won’t be the one prescribing.  I will be free to do what I do best – using naturopathic principles to assist the body to heal itself – whether that be by giving natural antimicrobials, doing hormone balancing, detox or neurofeedback brainwave balancing – or even by adopting therapies that help to potentiate antibiotics and offset their side effects – whatever it takes, I am committed to helping Lyme patients recover their health.  I look forward to forging relationships with local LLMD’s and getting to know the Lyme disease community here, learning their needs and fulfilling a role that they might not be having fulfilled currently.

Many people ask if I have Lyme disease.  I do not.  In fact, I am committed more than ever to staying fit and healthy so that I can help others.  My passion comes from seeing a large and ever-growing group of people suffer, and suffer unnecessarily.  I get angry about it, but realize that my energy needs to be channeled into helping others, not at the “establishment” for their lack of concern and acknowledgement of this epidemic.

While I will maintain my California practice indefinitely (I’m not leaving my patients there who I truly care about and who desperately need continued help), I look forward to this new venture into the east coast world.