I’ve just taken a hike outside with my family, when — shoot! I spot a tick on my leg. Do I have Lyme Disease now? Is it time to freak out?
No. Stop. Take a step back.
If I saw the tick, then get the bull’s-eye rash and feel feverish and fatigued, I’m within my rights to suspect I may have contracted acute Lyme disease.
But three years ago, when I wrote my original blog on Lyme, I had no idea that Chronic Lyme Disease (CLD) would become the medical specialty that it is today. With so many practitioners becoming “Lyme literate,” they are now ordering blood tests whenever certain symptoms present.
I never imagined that so many diseases and symptoms would be blamed on Lyme.
If I wanted to identify myself as sick and to believe these symptoms were due to a single underlying cause, it wouldn’t be hard to fit them into the CLD framework.
Want my opinion? With a homeopathic perspective, it needn’t be that complicated or even worrisome.
We’re told that there are 100 trillion cells in the human body. And that only 10% of them are actually human. That means 90% of the cells in our bodies are squiggly microorganisms.
Now don’t panic and head for the shower to douse with a bottle of peroxide! This is the way we were designed. This is the way we work. But, this also means that when we submit to specific blood tests, all manner of microorganisms will naturally appear.
And, unfortunately, we can easily get caught up in what I like to call the disease du jour syndrome. You know what that is …
When they said the new enemy was SARS, everybody freaked.
When they said the new enemy was Ebola, everybody freaked.
When they said the new enemy was Swine Flu, everybody freaked.
When they said the new enemy was West Nile, everybody freaked.
This year, they are saying it’s going to be a bad year for ticks and Lyme disease.
But this time, let’s not freak.
Before you consider Lyme disease as a scary, new phenomenon, consider Ötzi, or as you may know him, “The Ice Man.” About 25 years ago, Ötzi’s frozen remains were discovered in the Alps.
He lived 5,300 years ago until he was murdered with a flint arrowhead (early Jihadists?)
Anyway, scientists have performed numerous tests on him — and guess what? It is believed that Ötzi tested positive for the Lyme disease bacterium! He is now the earliest known human in which Lyme has been discovered.
This means Lyme Disease has been around for at least 5,300 years.
Now, if the test shows positive (showing that one of the 90 trillion cells in the body has Lyme), the chances are that CHRONIC Lyme disease may be diagnosed, especially if you go to a Lyme-literate doctor who is focused on such.
What follows are prescriptions for antibiotics. A LOT of antibiotics. For a LONG time. And this method is not generally being used by conventional, AMA-type MDs but the alternative medical community, such as functional doctors.
My concern is that there is an attempt to attribute medically unexplained symptoms to infections and in particular, Borrelia (Lyme bacteria). Oddly enough, even the CDC agrees that Post-Treatment Lyme Disease should not be treated with long-term antibiotics.
You have to understand; I generally don’t see people when they first fall ill. As I often say, people don’t walk in to see me — they crawl in. Everything else has failed them, and they finally discover homeopathy.
So, the people who come to me with symptoms attributed to Lyme Disease have already been down that road of antibiotics. It either didn’t work to relieve their symptoms or — worse yet — they are now experiencing life-changing side effects from taking strong antibiotics for long periods of time.
I’m not saying that these conflicting opinions are right or wrong. But what I am saying, again, is let’s take a step back.
Can it be proven that Lyme Disease is definitively WHY certain symptoms are being experienced? More importantly, does it really matter?
Some medical paradigms, especially non-conventional practitioners, try to determine the why behind the symptoms by using tests. They are going two layers into the illness — past the symptoms and conventional diagnosis— handling whatever disease is believed may be under the symptoms.
The why is considered paramount while the what and how it presents is not. Meanwhile, homeopathy sees it differently.
In homeopathy, the why may sometimes offer useful information, but with the method of homeopathy that I teach, what is paramount is a conventional diagnosis and symptoms.
Yes, by using a garden- variety diagnosis, such as fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue, in conjunction with how the symptoms of these present, we inadvertently treat the root cause, without ever having to concern ourselves with which microorganism is at work.
We focus on the first layer of illness. I have noted time and again that the whys can often confound the picture because it’s not certain that that particular spirochete is the cause of the condition.
I say, “Just the facts, Ma’am.” Let’s not muddle the situation by searching for a potential cause. We need to know what the person is currently experiencing. What are the facts? I want the conventional diagnosis, not the theory behind the cause.
Hence, if I am certain that I was bitten by a tick — I saw the creature — then my immediate remedy is Ledum palustre 200C.
If a sufferer is 100% sure that they were bitten by a tick — they saw the little critter — then, their immediate consideration for a first-aid remedy is Ledum palustre 200C.
If they just received your tick bite — if this is a first-aid situation from a current bite — using Ledum can be both a prophylactic remedy (a preventative for bites and their potential microorganisms) as well as a corrective medicine.
On the first day that the actual tick bite is discovered, we generally take one dose every 3 hours Then, take one dose twice daily for a week. After that, use it twice a week for a month, and then reduce down to one dose a week for another month. (The number of pills/drips per dose is printed on the outside of the remedy bottle.)
Important: If the bite happened in the past — meaning the condition is no longer a first-aid situation, but rather a chronic condition — we would not begin with several doses on the first day we begin to address the issue. Instead, Ledum 200 is generally taken twice daily for one week to start. After that, twice weekly for a month, and then reduced to one dose a week for another month.
These distinctions are important, my friends. An older bite does not require several doses in one day.
Remember to scroll to the bottom of this page to receive your free remedy card containing this information in an easy-to-reference form.
My family has used Ledum for a myriad of bites from animals, ticks, and insects … and it has worked every time. For over 30 years. Living on a working farm. For our pets and livestock.
And my clients and students consistently report the same.
Having this tool keeps me from worry. In fact, to be honest, I’ve never taken or given any family member more than just the first few days of Ledum and called it a day.
In my previous Lyme Disease blog, I also discussed Aurum arsenicum 200C as an additional step (especially if the tick wasn’t discovered immediately and there is clear association between the bite and disease).
Unfortunately, as of this writing, that medicine is now difficult to find. In fact, the only way I know to get it is reserved for my students and clients on a non-retail basis from an American pharmacy.
Instead, let me share with you my variation on this, which can serve as a second step. It may be used, in addition to giving Ledum. It is Hypericum perforatum 200 mixed with Arsenicum album 200, twice daily for a week, then tapering in the same manner as the Ledum method. I’ve not personally gone this far, but if you’re freaking (and you needn’t), you’ve got a second level of action.
By “mixed,” I mean a dose of Hypericum 200 is placed in the mouth, followed by a dose of Arsenicum album 200 so that the pills are absorbed together.
While we’ve established that Lyme Disease is not new or voracious or even necessarily scary, having these remedies on hand during tick season is the best way that I can ensure my family’s safety.
If you want to learn more about an upcoming Lyme Summit, where I’ll be featured, please click here [Editor’s note: The producers of this summit have since removed the recording, but you may still download one of my valuable infographics, entitled Chronic Lyme Disease.]
And remember, homeopathy is a method that has served humanity for over 230 years, regardless of identified or unidentified microorganisms.
Warmly,
P.S. Want to know how to treat diseases we hope you never have to face? Diseases such as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever or Ebola using homeopathy? Check out my Survivalist Guide to Homeopathy. It’s an entire course that took me years to compile and covers remote diseases and extreme first-aid situations.
Your personal copy of Joette’s Chronic Lyme Disease infographic will be instantly emailed to your inbox.
