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NERVOUS SYSTEM DAMAGE and Lyme Disease, Parkinson’s, ALS, Alzheimers, Multiple Sclerosis, PLDS (Post Lyme Disease Syndrome), and other Nervous System diseases ( including possibly Autism, and ADD/ADHD )
Nervous System (“NS”, henceforth) damage caused by bacteria is HUGE, folks. Huge.
And making it worse is our present-and-future environmental influence, that being “all bad”. But, before you turn me off because ALL of you have been SO barraged by “bad news” that you don’t want to hear any more, let me say— THERE IS A WAY OUT, if you want to look for it through the kind of information I am about to give you.
In at least 20 of my 30 years as a herbalist, I have tried to help people to treat Lyme Disease, and during that time I have found nothing more pronounced than Lyme’s effect on the Nervous System. In the course of RE-reading through Stephen Buhner’s book, “Healing Lyme”, and Donald Yance’s book, “Adaptogens”, I am getting a clearer picture of how our NS’s are being assaulted from many sides.
So put on a pot ‘o coffee (Snowy Owl Coffee, I hope ! ), grab a yummy gluten-free Fall pumpkin bread from Karma Foods, put a pillow under yer butt on your favorite easy chair, send the kids out to play with fire (ahh.. just kidding ! ), and let’s get down TO it !
Bacteria, especially Lyme bacteria, damage the NS both directly— through trying to eat the NS (they LOVE to eat our collagen ! )— AND by triggering our body’s immune response. The invader-fighting immune cells are the first on the scene and they start hacking away killing the invaders. But in that killing process little fragments of the slain bacteria remain in the body AS WELL AS fragments of the body’s own neuronal tissues—like MYELIN which surrounds our neurons and protects them ! Yikes. … The immune system then “learns” to recognize myelin as an invader and begins attacking not only the fragments, but the myelin sheath as well.
So now we have the ‘body attacking the body’, or your classic AUTO-IMMUNE response. And as our immune systems are now attacking our own myelin sheath and creating inflammation, it also damages the nerves that the myelin surrounds, thus creating NERVE DAMAGE ! This leads to not only NEUROBORELIOSIS, but to Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, Dementia, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), and most likely Schizophrenia, Bi-polar, PLDS (Post Lyme Disease Syndrome), ADD/ADHD.
And to tie this in with my recent Newsletters on VACCINES, we will recall that vaccines ALSO stimulate the release of inflammatory cytokines, and this further exacerbates the extreme stress on the body.
It has been shown in animal studies that borrelial spirochete’s initiate amalyoid deposits in brain. THUS… if an infection has been going on for a LONG time— even decades in the case of some PLDS (Post Lyme Disease Syndrome)— the bacteria have created amyloid plaque, which is the root-cause of several (if not all) of the above diseases. Nasty business, indeed.
HOW TO STOP OR LESSEN NERVE DAMAGE
FIRST of all— PHARMACEUTICALS probably will not help you. As a fellow herbalist once said to me 30 years ago— “Name a pharmaceutical drug that nourishes the body”. Ask yourself the same question. And try to understand that—
A. the medicines of Big Med and Big Pharma can be extremely effective for ACUTE / emergency situations, including Lyme Disease, BUT that they
B. are very questionable for treating CHRONIC / long-term conditions…. like those mentioned above.
Thus, as in ALL healing, synthesis/symbiosis/harmonizing is better than the “magic bullet” fantasy. The ‘Medicine of the Future’ is COLLABORATIVE medicine.
SECOND— there are botanical medicines, natural substances, and foods that ‘may’ help… considerably. (Note that I do not use the word “can’, as I do not wish to put myself in the crosshairs of those who dismiss natural approaches to healing )
NATURAL, UN-PATENTED, MEDICINES TO CONSIDER
I will not, in this dissertation, go into the specifics of why and how these substances can be effective. That will be in my next text (had to say that…), so “stay tuned”.
PLANT MEDICINES to consider --
Baical and American Skullcaps (Scutellaria baicalensis and laterifolia) Red-rooted sage, or “Dan shen” (Salvia miltiorhiza), Ginkgo biloba, Gotu kola (Centella asiatica), Schizandra berry or seed, Artemesia annua, Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidata), Cat’s Claw (Uncaria tomentosa ).
“Tonics” for the Nervous System. We call these “nervines” as they have an affinity for the Nervous System. Milky oat seeds and organic oatmeal, Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), Hops, Wood betony (Stachys betonica) are a few.
“NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS” to consider --
SELENIUM is necessary for thyroid health, and is quite deficient in most USA soils subjected to Industrial Agriculture. There is a LIQUID Selenium that actually has a hint of the taste of our most Selenium-rich food— Brazil nuts. I take a swig of this liquid Selenium almost every night before bed, and I love the taste.
TYROSINE is also necessary for thyroid health, and, as Yance says, “ it supports brain function by enhancing catecholamine biosynthesis, specifically the activity of the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and dopamine… N-acetyl tyrosine is preferable to L-tyrosine because of its increased solubility and stability, which makes it more available to cells” (pg.122)
NADH (Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide) is extremely useful when combined with N-acetyl tyrosine in treating dopamine-dependent health conditions like Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s, and other forms of dementia. “In the diet, NADH is found in fish, meat, and poultry.” (pg.121). As a supplement Yance suggests 350 to 700mg (pg. 121)
FINAL NOTES :
CBD oil is now available at the shop, but the company that hosts my online store, Shopify, has blocked anyone from posting CBD products. Must be some legal restrictions from our dear Federal government-- NOT our State government because everything is now allowed in Massachusetts. So CALLthe shop if you want to order it. Do NOT try to order online.
Call. 508 896 5900
Ok— I am wrapping up for now, but “stay tuned” for more in my NEXT NEWSLETTER ! (be sure to have someone interested in these topics sign up HERE. )
As always-- "Help one another. Recycle/reuse/rebuild. Be conscious. Eat well. Know who your plant friends are--get to know them. Love health and one another"-- Stephan
Poem of the day... whew, a long one... about men and women and longing for the, perhaps, unreachable :
Three beers and a five mile drive
Three beers and a five mile drive to the end of the beach—
This— my White Horse tavern . This — my Prufrock.
This — my Harry Kemp in a gentle, crescent moon dune at land’s end.
I live the sea. And I miss you dear drunken Dylan.
Your Caitlin was your sea, your love, your need , your feeding breast.
Mine was Xiaowen, and a friend, from an ancient land across the sea.
Lovers of words. Lovers of passions inconsolable .
Richard and Robert— your Elizabeths. Dylan— your Caitlin.
Oh dear spirits of earth and sky-- how we are possessed
by our diffuse passions for that ancient and ingrained and insatiable ‘mother love’.
Is there ever help for this inconsolable hole in our wholeness ?
Those of such sadness and need return to the sea….
Seeking the salty and healing and annealing embrace of comforting arms
surrounding the empty soul of loneliness reeling in weeds.
Help us ! sweet and gentle and soft-loving women !!
We need you in our beds! We need your in our temples,
you priestesses of completion, of sorrow, of deepest fulfillment !
There is no help. For the dictates of Life, Love, growth are the impossibilities
of this human experience, this so-brief candle of love on Earth.
In what small chamber of soil, beneath an ancient stone wall, can we hibernate
From the hazard of hawks at dawn ? terror of the owl on silent wings of night ?
Within what tiny patch of brambles may we sleep in a green safety ?
Oh, how we men long for this succoring refuge !
The staid North Star shines bright above the sea.
The drone of sea waves sings us down to the blessed forgetfulness of sleep,
here upon the beach of dreams… and drownings.
I know that ye women pine also for this harmony of being !
I know that you, as well, enter your beds with heart-emptying tears of loneliness,
drawing soft blankets to chin, warming the aching breasts and fertile womb
beneath what-is-not-man, not male, not hard, and strong,
and musky, and spraying seed in its complimenting need.
"And in the rooms the women come and go, talking of Michaelangelo…." *
(* T.S. Elliot, of course...)
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