{"id":31588,"date":"2024-07-15T17:15:24","date_gmt":"2024-07-15T22:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/?p=31588"},"modified":"2024-07-15T17:15:27","modified_gmt":"2024-07-15T22:15:27","slug":"first-it-was-lyme-disease-now-its-babesia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2024\/07\/15\/first-it-was-lyme-disease-now-its-babesia","title":{"rendered":"FIRST IT WAS LYME DISEASE, NOW IT\u2019S BABESIA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Oh, these tick borne illnesses! Since we saw three new cases this week of one you may not have heard of, Babesia, I thought I\u2019d share some information. You know, forewarned is forearmed and so forth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s estimated that half the ticks in that summer suburb of Chicago the locals call, \u201cWisconsin\u201d are currently carrying one or more tick borne diseases. Northern Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota also have plenty of infected ticks as well. The tick bites you, burrows deep into your skin, sucks some blood, and evacuates its intestines (yes, it takes a crap) in your bloodstream. In its bowels are: Borrelia (Lyme), Bartonella, Erhlichia, Anaplasma, and Babesia.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve written other Health Tips about acute and chronic Lyme<\/a>, so you can use the Search Engine and look those up. Let\u2019s say you\u2019re lucky enough to have been quickly diagnosed with acute Lyme Disease, treated with antibiotics, and think you\u2019re out of the woods (literally and figuratively).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWow!\u201d, you say, \u201cGlad that was caught early.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But weeks later you\u2019re sick again, this time with some new symptoms: nausea, maybe some vomiting, fever, headaches, shortness of breath. You wonder if it\u2019s related to your recent Lyme infection which was treated. You go back to your doctor. Just like the first time, your Lyme test is negative. She doesn\u2019t give you more antibiotics and lo! in a couple of weeks, your symptoms have pretty much gone away by themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wonder what that was all about,\u201d you mumble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then, a few weeks later, everything starts up again. Fever, night sweats, \u201cair hunger\u201d, fatigue, joint aches, insomnia, nerve pains, mood issues (anxiety, depression), POTS (extreme drop in blood pressure when standing), brain fog (difficulty with concentration, word finding, etc.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you return to your Primary Care Provider (PCP) with these symptoms, instead of circling back to your Lyme, she sends you to different specialists (neurologists, rheumatologists, etc.). The MRI of your brain is negative (more about that later) as are all your other blood tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, you\u2019ve gone online to read everything you can about Lyme Disease and go back to your doctor saying that you might have Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS). Since she has not read everything about Lyme Disease, she is not pleased that you have consulted Dr. Google. However she is willing to order, \u201cLyme and Co-Infections\u201d, and when the test comes back, remarks that you are \u201cpositive\u201d for Babesia. In this situation, you are fortunate, as 50% of patients who do have Babesia also have \u201cnegative\u201d tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She then refers you to an Infectious Disease specialist whose first appointment is in four months. When you yourself call around to different Infectious Disease specialists, it\u2019s the same story, three to four months at best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three quick points to insert:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First<\/strong>: The reason the antibiotics you took for Lyme did not kill Babesia, is that Babesia is a parasite much like malaria. Lyme antibiotics don\u2019t hit malaria or Babesia. Ask a second year medical student the symptoms of malaria and she\u2019ll rattle off \u201cheadache, night sweats, fever, etc.\u201d, just like Babesia. And here\u2019s the best part: the treatments used for Babesia are very similar to those used for malaria. The herb Artemisinin deserves special mention. In 2015, Professor Tu Youyou received the Nobel Prize for her work isolating the active ingredient against malaria in Artemisinin, dropping the global death rate from malaria by 42%. <\/strong>Now, along with malaria antibiotics, herbs, and ozone infusions, we routinely use Artemisinin to treat Babesia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second<\/strong>: Possibly the reason your brain MRI was \u201cnegative\u201d, is that the radiologist did not use the new software called, \u201cNeuroquant<\/a>\u201d, which was originally designed to diagnose early Alzheimer\u2019s but can also diagnose inflammatory changes in the brain caused by long COVID, mold biotoxin illness (CIRS), and tick borne illnesses like Babesia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third<\/strong>: It is pretty much agreed among LLD\u2019s (Lyme Literate Doctors) that Igenex, Vibrant and InfectoLab are the most reliable companies for diagnosing tick borne diseases. What held patients back however was the prohibitive out-of-pocket cost, but now Igenex is covered by Blue Cross. Very handy, indeed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOW, ON TO TREATMENT<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Different LLD\u2019s have different treatment protocols, but if you\u2019re so inclined to read a few, they do follow a similar pattern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your medication will likely be an anti-malarial (Atavaquone) combined with a macrolide (Azithromycin or others) or tetracycline (Doxycycline).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YOUR HERBS MAY BE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n