Contrary to what most traditional media will report, America does not have the best health care system in the world. Our modern "Western" health care system is based on the simple philosophy of Wall Street, where the money comes from to fuel the health care industry.
The code, philosophy and investment model of Wall Street is; "It must meet the return on investment model for profitability." The goal of Wall Street is to get the maximum return on investment.
Not a bad code for money changers. But that same code that pushed Wall Street to become the main financial source for the health care industry by taking companies public starting in the 1940's is stopping the health care industry from meeting the number one goal of the Hippocratic Code.
"May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help."
The "joy of healing", a most noble calling and one that puts doctors at odds with the corporations of the massive health care industry. From the pharmaceutical companies to hospitals, clinics and insurance companies in the industry, healing is inconsistent with a "maximum return on investment".
Therein lies the fault and tragedy of the Western health care system, specifically here in America. In order for health care companies to get investment houses like Goldman Sachs to manage their trading they must get the maximum return on investment and healing people does not achieve it, treatment does.
The cash flow loved by Wall Street and the investors in health care companies comes from treatment of people with their patented drugs or diagnostic tools for the longest time possible. The longer you stay sick the more they will do to help you. Conversely, if you stay healthy you will not benefit from the health care system.
Before we can ever get our health care system working for us we must first educate ourselves. Long before America existed people were getting health care treatment. In China herbal medicine goes back thousands of years and Indigenous people have also practiced it for thousands of years.
While some medical breakthroughs have brought about significant advancement, especially in the diagnostic side of health care and surgical techniques, it is our addiction to modern medicine and constant diagnostic analysis, because that is what the doctors are taught and that is what the health insurance companies will pay for, that has made healing bad for business.
As a result, most of the thousands of years of healing through natural herbs, remedies and techniques by the Chinese and Indigenous peoples has been lost and is not part of our modern health care system. I cannot emphasize enough the tragedy of this change because the ancient way was always meant to heal people, protect them from disease, make them aware of their personal responsibilities toward their health, and make them a participant in the spiritual healing of their soul to help the physical healing of their body.
Today we have been brainwashed into delegating all control over your health, body and lifestyle to those companies financed by Wall Street and those government agencies whose leaders (presidents and congress) are influenced by campaign cash from those companies and Wall Street.
The people have lost their voice in health care, and the ancient cures have been ruled unprofitable by the powers that be on Wall Street and in our nation's Capitol.
No where is this more apparent than in the diagnosing and treatment of Lyme disease.
To understand this first let us look at antibiotics.
An antibiotic is a drug that kills or slows the growth of bacteria. Antibiotics are one class of antimicrobials, a larger group which also includes anti-viral, anti-fungal, and anti-parasitic drugs. Antibiotics are chemicals produced by or derived from microorganisms meaning parasites or germs such as bacteria and fungi.
They do not help the immune system but temporarily replace a function of the immune system if used properly to attack a bacteria. Over use of antibiotics, meaning more than a few days or that they are prescribed to often will weaken whatever part of the immune system they try to help.
Since antibiotics, by definition, are substances or compounds that kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria, it's good to keep two things in mind. First, antibiotics destroy not only bad bacteria but also good ones. Second, antibiotics are only effective against bacteria, not viruses or parasites.
A key discoveries in recent Lyme research done worldwide is that the Lyme bacteria is common to hundreds of other illnesses, and that there is evidence that Lyme disease is not just a bacteria but also a parasite. This means Lyme can be misdiagnosed as hundreds of other diseases, and that to truly wipe out your Lyme disease you must treat the bacteria and parasites.
The Western medicine approach to Lyme disease, when it is correctly identified which may be a very small percent of the time, is a very high dose of antibiotics. This does not effect the parasites which can protect the Lyme bacteria from antibodies. Thus more and more people have reoccurring cases of Lyme and normally each time it gets more severe. Make no mistake, Lyme can kill you. If you have taken antibodies and it comes back it has not been successfully treated.
Each time you take antibodies you are putting more and more germs, parasites or whatever is in the antibody into your body, each time you are potentially damaging your immune system, and each time you are destroying good bacteria your body needs to protect you.
Since antibodies were just discovered in 1929 with the discovery of penicillin from fungi, there have been tens of thousands rushed to market. Yet mankind existed for thousands of years previously with no antibiotics. Lyme was not even discovered until 1975. As antibodies and vaccinations have become more and more common in Western medicine drug resistant cells, more cancer and many drug resistant diseases have been recognized.
Common sense tells us that Lyme must have existed for years or centuries before something triggered it in our bodies. The only logical conclusion is that the destruction of our immune system since the 1940's through the expanded use of antibodies and more recently body scans, MRI, CAT, Mammograms, X rays and other diagnostic tools, with their radiation emissions, have triggered the worldwide outbreak.
Since all the ancient cures are not recognized by Western medicine, we have lost our ability to treat the disease and cannot even successfully identify it. The Lyme bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, has many ways of hiding from a battery of tests by mimicking other diseases and no tests are done for Lyme parasites, parasitic nematomorph.
If you had symptoms like those found in Lyme and began treatment with natural herbs immediately you would not go through the massive confusion, misdiagnoses and lack of adequate treatment for the Lyme. In addition, even if you did not have Lyme but one of the other diseases mimicked by Lyme the treatment would not be harmful because the natural treatments will strengthen your immune system at a minimum, and be may even be effective in treating your actual disease since there is similar bacteria.
I am using three distinct natural treatments. First is Samento, an herbal extract from the Peru rain forest that has been used for 2,000 years to protect the Indigenous people of the rain forest. A second is from ancient Chinese medicine called Dragon's Blood, again natural and again in use for over 2,000 years. The third is intensive doses of salt and vitamin c intended to boost the immune system while making your body an unsuitable host for the Lyme bacteria and parasite.
None of these will be prescribed by your doctor because they are from Eastern and Indigenous medicines and cultures, not pharmaceutical companies. The fact more and more people are being healed with these techniques while more and more people being treated with antibodies are not getting cured because it keeps coming back should open your eyes.
A Plea for Help
I am asking your help in spreading the word about these treatments and hope you will send the links to all my articles to anyone and everyone with Lyme, interested in Lyme, or even being treated for the hundreds of diseases that Lyme can mimic. You can see these lists in Part 1 of the series.
So far many emails have been received from people suffering Lyme disease and I am asking that they all keep in touch with me to compare notes on the natural alternatives and their impact. I will continue to update you with reports on my treatment and condition.
You have a chance to demonstrate for the world to see that our health should not depend on spending $14,000 a year for health insurance to diagnose and treat us but on the ancient wisdom and remedies that kept people healthy an a nominal cost.
Those of you wishing to write my private email can contact me at
ivyonoak@yahoo.com
and let me know your status with Lyme, your current treatment and if you are interested in learning more about the natural treatments I am taking.
I have no financial interest in any company involved in my treatment or supplying the natural herbs and extracts and only want to empower you to take charge of your body, health and life. No one can know the degree you are suffering without experiencing the many ways it attacks your body. The effect on me is far more extensive than what other victims described to me so I appreciate what you are experiencing.
At the same time we need to get the federal government to make meaningful progress toward true health reform by embracing the ancient Eastern and Indigenous herbs, remedies and techniques intended to heal and strengthen, not addict the patient to lifelong treatment.
Part 6. Where
can the Truth be Found?
Where can the truth be found?
It has been eight months since I was first diagnosed with "possible" Lyme disease. My last report in June discussed how the conditions had settled in with swollen joints, numb hands, odd behavior from my neurology system and frustration finding the truth about the bacteria.
As for the treatment, nothing seemed to be doing anything more than keeping me from getting worse so I then turned to the Eastern and ancient medical treatments and I found a 76 year old Chinese Doctor who has been practicing traditional Chinese medicine for over 55 years.
Dr. Shi-hua Wu, CMD, OMD is a professor of Traditional Chinese medicine, a US licensed Acupuncturist & Herbologist and a Clinical Consultant in Acupuncture & Herbology, quite a list of credentials for the diminutive doctor from China who works out of Chinatown in Washington, DC.
According to the professionals who came to my rescue in late November, Dr. Wu probably saved my life because unbeknownst to me, at the time I found him after several months of no progress in getting better, the weakness throughout my body was causing my organs to begin failing. That was in late September.
The numb hands led to nerve problems and two areas of pinched nerves in my spine which started after I got the disease and left me with occasional problems standing, walking and climbing steps. By October it had been months since I was in public and I had no intention of being seen as I looked like a drunken sailor trying to walk and I didn't even drink.
Dr. Wu formulated an extra-ordinary herbal tea for my condition using 24-28 Chinese herbs and requiring me to follow a full page of preparation instructions taking several hours to make a weeks supply. He also began twice a week acupuncture at his Chinatown office. He would study my condition each visit and put in 35-65 needles depending on what he found. He also gave me some other herbs to take daily.
If you know ancient Chinese medicine, to over simplify it, the intent is to restore your body to full functioning by bringing your body into balance. With a history of 2000 to 3000 years, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has formed a unique system to diagnose and cure illness. The TCM approach is fundamentally different from that of Western medicine. In TCM, the understanding of the human body is based on the holistic understanding of the universe as described in Daoism, and the treatment of illness is based primarily on the diagnosis and differentiation of syndromes.
The TCM approach treats zang--fu organs as the core of the human body. Tissue and organs are connected through a network of channels and blood vessels inside human body. Qi (or Chi) acts as some kind of carrier of information that is expressed externally through jingluo system. Pathologically, a dysfunction of the zang-fu organs may be reflected on the body surface through the network, and meanwhile, diseases of body surface tissues may also affect their related zang or fu organs. Affected zang or fu organs may also influence each other through internal connections. Traditional Chinese medicine treatment starts with the analysis of the entire system, then focuses on the correction of pathological changes through readjusting the functions of the zang-fu organs.
Evaluation of a syndrome not only includes the cause, mechanism, location, and nature of the disease, but also the confrontation between the pathogenic factor and body resistance. Treatment is not based only on the symptoms, but differentiation of syndromes. Therefore, those with an identical disease may be treated in different ways, and on the other hand, different diseases may result in the same syndrome and are treated in similar ways.
The clinical diagnosis and treatment in Traditional Chinese Medicine are mainly based on the yin-yang and five elements theories. These theories apply the phenomena and laws of nature to the study of the physiological activities and pathological changes of the human body and its interrelationships. The typical TCM therapies include acupuncture, herbal medicine, and qigong exercises. With acupuncture, treatment is accomplished by stimulating certain areas of the external body. Herbal medicine acts on zang-fu organs internally, while qigong tries to restore the orderly information flow inside the network through the regulation of Qi. These therapies appear very different in approach yet they all share the same underlying sets of assumptions and insights in the nature of the human body and its place in the universe. Some scientists describe the treatment of diseases through herbal medication, acupuncture, and qigong as an "information therapy".
The work performed by Dr. Wu became far more important as October rolled around and there were strange environmental factors that came into play. A persistent but undetected propane leak filtered into my house over several months and the silent gas, which cannot be smelled, poisoned me. At the same time a year of extreme rain had left the area filled with mold from the standing water and the fact the Potomac River was running at extremely high tides since early spring. Yet another complication for my weakened state.
Then there was the torrid heat wave starting when I got sick last May and extending through the entire summer meaning constant air conditioning in a closed in house that was contaminated by leaking propane and mold spores. Add to that the tragic death of my 250 pound Irish Wolfhound after two weeks of infection whose cause has never been identified, an infection so powerful it caused a 107 degree fever and stopped my dog from being able to stand in spite of the best treatment possible from his vet. After nearly two weeks in which I had to treat him, move him and feed him by trying to shove his massive weight around as I was too weak to lift him, he died in my arms.
By that time I was unable to even stand from the sheer exhaustion and dual emotions of fighting my own serious health problems while trying to save my best friend and protector. When he died it was the lowest point I can remember in my life. Though Dr. Wu was keeping me alive, the new environmental issues and death of Coolin magnified everything that was going wrong.
Sensing my rapidly weakening condition just before Thanksgiving my brothers came out from Kentucky and took me back for extensive treatment that would finally help me turn the corner and start healing. Once in Lexington and under the care of Debbie Alsheimer, a functional medicine practitioner and founder of Prospect Health Solutions.
It is the belief of people like Debbie that diet, nutrition and exposure to environmental toxins play a central role in the function of the body because they may predispose your body to illness, provoke symptoms and modulate the activity of biochemical mediators. What does that mean? Here is my lay person interpretation of what Debbie does after spending three weeks under her intensive care.
She uses a very sophisticated bio-feedback machine with the ability to analyze 10,000 frequencies in the cells of your body. It is based on earlier work of Nikola Tesla and Royal Rife in using electrical frequencies to destroy invasive cells in our bodies and bring our bodies back into balance. Her work involves the extraordinary combination of Eastern Traditional Chinese Medicine with Chinese herbology, acupuncture, Western Medicine and Intuitive analysis.
The result is a microbiologic analysis of the cell structure identifying cells and organs that are damaged or corrupted and then developing a protocol to return your body to balance. Sickness or disease resulting from abnormal cell activity caused by bacteria, virus, fungi or parasites is her passion and specialty and there is none more mysterious than the Borrelia bacteria found in Lyme.
Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are microscopic, unicellular, and cell-cluster organisms. This includes eukaryotes such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes. Viruses and prions, though not strictly classed as living organisms, are also studied. Microbiology typically includes the study of the immune system, or Immunology. Generally, immune systems interact with pathogenic microbes; these two disciplines often intersect which is why many colleges offer a paired degree such as "Microbiology and Immunology". Microbiology is a broad term which includes virology, mycology, parasitology, bacteriology and other branches. A microbiologist is a specialist in microbiology and these other topics.
Previous articles I have written on the subject have detailed the difficulty of Western Medicine in identifying Lyme, the common misdiagnoses of Lyme as one of the 100 or so diseases it can mimic, and the failure to recognize and destroy the parasites that protect the Lyme bacteria from antibodies. I have also written about the incredible explosion of drug resistant cells now attacking our bodies as a result of the failure of our immune systems to operate properly due to the inability of Western Medicine to protect us.
The very nature of life in America requires a broad based approach to the diagnoses and treatment of diseases, especially in light of the proliferation of drug resistant illnesses rapidly affecting Americans. Add to that the severe environmental deviations we may encounter including physical location, exposure to air and water pollution, long term effects of fertilizers and pesticides on food supply, radiation exposure from television, cell phones, cell towers, computers, x rays, MRI, Cat scans, and excessive prescriptions for antibodies and vaccination protocols.
That still leaves the biggest sin of all - our personal health in America - our lack of proper diet and healthy eating. Every one of these factors contributes to the destruction of our immune system and it would be nearly impossible to find someone with a fully functioning immune system. Because of the over-prescription of antibodies and other drugs our bodies have developed a resistance to traditional Western medical treatment for diseases and these drug resistant cells that evolve are the greatest danger yet to successful health treatment and health maintenance.
People like Debbie Alsheimer understand the changing nature of our microbiology and the need to attack the problem from multiple disciplines using the best of Eastern Chinese medicine and acupuncture along with ancient herbs and Western Medicine techniques if we are to have a chance to rebuild our immune systems and be healthy again.
As a result of her efforts and that of Dr. Wu I am finally reversing the trend and recovering. Both found that Lyme was not the only problem I had in spite of my relatively good health before I got sick. It had been 26 years since I last saw or needed a doctor.
The remnant nerve problems and some parasite presence are the last of the Lyme issues to resolve and both are being treated with Chinese herbs, acupuncture and physical therapy. My goal is to be completely free of Lyme and other problems detected within four months, to have restored my immune system to be much stronger than before I got sick, and to be back on the golf course by spring.
If you are a victim of Lyme, or have fallen sick from some unidentified disease or "bug", you should contact Debbie or Dr. Wu for help. Of course if you were really smart you would contact them before you get sick. Both have the ability to read signs of impending problems in your body before they are detectable by conventional medical exams. You can reach them at the following.
Dr. Shi-hua Wu
Washington, D.C.
Phone (202) 789-5466
Finally, I have created a blog containing the complete Lyme Disease series of seven articles I wrote so you can read them in one place. The link is
http://lymediseasesecretpandemic.blogspot.com/ /
and please share this link with anyone who might benefit from the series.
Part 7. The Final Chapter
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It has now been 2 years since I began
my personal journey with Lyme Disease and 20 months since I wrote the first of
the "Lyme Disease - the
Secret Pandemic Sweeping America" series
in the Coltons Point Times.
Many people including friends strongly opposed my commitment to seeking out a natural cure for a disease the medical community virtually ignores, a disease that is sweeping the sleeping nation.
The path was far more difficult and painful than I expected in that the practitioners in the various alternative medicine disciplines knew little more than the traditional medical people about the disease, yet they were far advanced in testing potential treatments and cures.
Here in America the entire drug approval system and federal regulation favors the pharmaceutical giants to the extent of making it nearly impossible to get US approval for new drugs including natural compounds from small business or health practitioners.
So here was my personal case history. Lyme Disease markers were found in my system 24 months ago. By June of 2010 I was unable to function physically with numb hands and arms, aching joints, and an inability to balance when I tried to walk. In October and November of 2010 over 100 gallons of propane leaked into my house from the propane tank just outside the kitchen window. It killed my 240 pound Irish Wolfhound and nearly killed me.
I did not discover the propane leak until late December.
By November my only treatment for Lyme was natural and required 15,000 mg of vitamin C and 15,000 mg of salt every day. My nutritionist, Michael Guidry of Alexandria, Virginia, was guiding me through a series of natural treatments and procedures that seemed to be having a positive effect.
At the same time I was going to my Chinese doctor, Dr. Shi-hua Wu in Chinatown, Washington, D.C., who provided a custom herbal tea (24 different herbs) and acupuncture. Dr. Wu is a well known teacher and master of Eastern Chinese medicine, he is a master herbologist, and has performed acupuncture for 55 years since leaving China.
My sudden turn for the worse, unbeknownst to me, was the propane poisoning.
My brothers from Kentucky, sensing I was far sicker than I admitted, came to Maryland and literally carried me to the SUV for a mad dash to Lexington, Kentucky. There waited Debbie Alsheimer, a practitioner of functional health. I had no clue what that meant. Yet in my condition and pain anything would have been better.
She used a combination of bio-feedback, identifying nutritional deficiencies, physical therapy and exercises, and plain old intuition to give me a program to attack the many treacherous tentacles of Lyme.
Because of my inability to exercise, let alone even walk, I found out that between January of 2011 and October of 2011 I also pinched five nerves in my neck to shoulder region, nerves that controlled things like the blood and oxygen flow to the brain and caused false readings from my sensory preceptors. Doesn't that sound academic?
It means my senses went haywire. When my hands touched something hot it felt frigid. Large areas of my torso would suddenly become hot, or cold, for no reason. I could pick up a scalding hot pan on the stove and not feel the heat.
By October of 2011, on another of my trips to Kentucky for treatment and analysis, a chiropractor who specializes in nerves, Dr. Mark Miller, found the five pinched nerves and started releasing them. This will take a few months but I am well on the way to full recovery.
Today, after recent blood tests and physical exams by western doctors, I am free of any Lyme, there is no permanent nerve damage, no traces of the gas poisoning are left in my blood, and a program of traction, physical exercise, very limited dietary supplement and will power has me well on the way to full recovery.
Through it all I remained true to my goal of seeking only a natural cure for the disease.
Why me? I mean why should I get well when millions of people are painfully and often permanently suffering from the little understood Lyme Disease pandemic that is sweeping our nation?
I can't say but this much I know. What I have learned from the hundreds or maybe thousands of readers of my stories is that people need to know there is hope and there is help to conquer the disease.
So many people emailed me after reading the story telling me of the tragedy of the treatments and lack of results they achieved in their own battles against Lyme. Even when a massive dose of antibodies did finally overcome the bacteria of Lyme we are yet to know the consequences of such a massive jolt on our immune system.
Over the years many forms of treatment actually wind up hurting us like how antibodies destroy our immune system, how chemotherapy treatment will destroy your organs and the long term consequences of massive radiation from cat scans, MRI and excessive x rays.
I had a team throughout it all consisting of Michael Guidry, a nutritionist from Alexandria, Virginia; Dr. Shi-hua Wu, Eastern (Chinese) doctor, herbologist and acupuncturist from Chinatown, Washington, D.C., Debbie Alsheimer, a functional health expert from Lexington, Kentucky; and Dr. Mark Miller, a chiropractor who knows nerves from Winchester, Kentucky, just outside Lexington.
On the mystical side I had LaKotahasie Frazier, a powerful Native Medicine Woman, healer and teacher, we call her Lakota. Her Indian name is Buffalo Woman Comes Running and Lakota is of Abanaki, French and Lakotah descent.
I have long been a believer in Eastern Chinese medicine and Native medicine and prayers as a result of my friendship with the Hopi Indians of Arizona. Medicine Wheels, sweat lodges and other Native ceremonies, like the Chinese practices, have been used for thousands of years to heal.
Of course there were others not of this dimension like Jesus and the Holy Mother Mary, endless sources of hope through faith and prayer. Never underestimate the power of faith and prayer in life and healing.
In addition to the aforementioned there was one other thing unusual about my quest. It was the use of an ancient Chinese herb used for thousands of years to heal. Recently it was discovered this natural compound, stefania de cantis, could do what the federal health authorities acknowledge has never been achieved in Western Medicine, provide a mechanism that results in the destruction of drug resistant cells in people.
Ironically, virtually all those members of my team and the natural treatments and herbs they used to heal me ARE NOT ALLOWED OR COVERED under conventional health insurance programs or Medicare in the USA although they are allowed in the rest of the world.
If our politicians are serious about health care reform they will allow such time tested practices and herbs and redirect our health care system to heal the body, not just treat an illness or injury.
If you know anyone suffering from Lyme Disease please let them know about this series of stories and that an announcement is imminent about a natural way to overcome the disease with no harmful side effects. Many suffer, a number have died, and we are all living in a sea of confusion about Lyme. I hope I have helped people get through the maze and I want people to know there is real hope.
As Harry Chapin immortalized in words through the magic of music, we are all just travelers on the road to Kingdom Come. We need not be victims as well.
Finally, I have created a blog containing the complete Lyme Disease series of seven articles I wrote so you can read them in one place. The link is
http://lymediseasesecretpandemic.blogspot.com/ /
and please share this link with anyone who might benefit from the series.
.