Dr. Nicola’s 3N Program for Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is a complex and multi-factorial illness, affecting all systems of the body. It is so much more than a simple bacterial infection, as it impacts hormone balance, digestive function, cognitive function and many other systems within the body.
Dr. Nicola recognizes the complexity of Lyme disease, and the tremendous impact it can have on a person’s life. Many chronic Lyme patients have had careers impacted, family lives strained, personal goals put on hold, tremendous financial strain and perhaps worst of all, a complete lack of support and understanding from much of the medical community.
Therefore Dr. Nicola’s approach is a whole person approach. Everyone has a different story, a different journey, and different challenges. Everyone’s symptoms are slightly different. There is no cookie-cutter approach and Dr. Nicola aims to personalize her treatments as much as possible.
With extensive training in holistic medicine, Dr. Nicola’s approach is centered on supporting the body, not only to fight the infection itself but also to address other areas such as toxicity, coinfections, hormone imbalance, yeast overgrowth and food intolerances.
Her work takes a three-tiered approach –
Nutrition
Nutritional intervention can make a significant difference in Lyme treatment outcomes. RestorMedicine’s nutrition program includes evaluation for gluten intolerance and food sensitivities, advice on which foods minimize inflammation and support immune function, and consideration of the dietary choices involved in preventing yeast overgrowth and promoting healthy gut flora. Dr. Nicola’s book The Lyme Diet: Nutritional Strategies for Healing from Lyme Disease has helped many Lyme sufferers improve their nutritional status, and her clinical work expands on these precepts.
Naturopathic Medicine
Natural medicine offers solutions for many different aspects of Lyme treatment – ranging from anti-microbial therapies, hormone support, and treatment of digestive issues, to heavy metal detoxification and anti-fungal therapy.
Naturopathic approaches may include individually-tailored nutritional supplementation, herbal medicines and homeopathics. Dr. Nicola designs protocols for her patients to address the multi-faceted nature of this illness and aims to remove the underlying cause of illness, not just mask symptoms.
Neurofeedback
Neurofeedback is a therapy that stabilizes central nervous system function, by providing information about the brain to the brain in a way that it learns to regulate and balance itself.
The therapy involves being hooked up to a sophisticated computerized device that measures brain wave activity. The patient sits quietly and listens to music. When the brain wave activity falls within healthy, efficient ranges, the music plays without interruption. When the brain waves go into unhealthy, chaotic ranges the user will notice tiny breaks, or interruptions, in the music. The brain is trained into the healthy, efficient ranges through that “feedback” loop, as it figures out that it is rewarded with uninterrupted music when it produces more stable, balanced brain wave activity. Over a number of sessions, the new more balanced brain wave activity becomes the norm for that individual, bringing with it a sense of calm, less anxiety and depression, improved sleep and improved cognitive function.