Self-Cured and Ignored, the Struggle for Acceptance: Emerging Science behind Self-Cured Lyme Disease Victims When the initial two or three weeks of standard antibiotic therapy don’t work to eradicate Lyme disease, or if the disease is misdiagnosed or missed entirely, many patients go on to develop Chronic Lyme Disease. For these people, it is the beginning of going down a rabbit hole of pain, confusion, and costly treatments that do not work. Generally, doctors treat Chronic Lyme with antibiotic therapy alone. Some people are fortunate enough to find a Lyme Literate Doctor; these doctors understand that a mixture of western medicine and alternative therapies is the only treatment option that works. Other sufferers go on to do heavy research and draw the same conclusions: the only cure for Chronic Lyme Disease is a hybrid cure, consisting of elements from several approaches. For those familiar with Chronic Lyme Disease, the name Joseph Burrascano M.D. is synonymous with well thought out research, unique approaches, and venturing far beyond what is “acceptable protocol” in the treatment of the disease. His recommended therapy is combining multiple antibiotics to tackle the problem in its many forms, as well as many herbal supplements and lifestyle changes. His peer, Dr. Eva Sapi, was herself a Lyme disease sufferer. She discovered that a common household sugar substitute was more beneficial than antibiotics in eliminating all forms of Borrelia Burgdorferi, (BB) the parasite that is responsible for Lyme disease. She also was integral in helping to discover the role of biofilms and how they complicate the cures for Lyme disease. In her findings, it was discovered that treating biofilms with conventional antibiotics not only didn’t kill them, it made them replicate. Rob Matthies, an award winning inventor from Vancouver, was a Chronic Lyme Disease sufferer who stumbled across Will Wiegman, boasting a degree in biochemistry, on a forum. Will claimed to have been cured in just 60 days because of a protocol he designed called Pulsed Therapy, which used several antibiotics in a cyclical fashion, each antibiotic aimed for a different form of BB. Will mixed in some herbal and alternative therapy approaches for a completely integrated cure. Rob Matthies took lessons from this approach, and was cured of his Chronic Lyme in 53 days, which has been heralded as a world record. Rob Matthies and Will Wiegman stand out as success stories because they refused to accept “business as usual” in the treatment of their Chronic Lyme Disease and were cured in record time. Meanwhile, there are many failures to conventional treatments of Chronic Lyme disease. Yolanda Hadid, for one, tried the normal antibiotic route for her cure, but found that she was no better. She has turned to alternative therapies, and at last is in remission. There is a lot of valuable research on effective treatment of Chronic Lyme Disease that can be found from ILADS and the Johns Hopkins Hospital. The findings of Hopkins’ own Dr. Ying Zhang make it clear that Lyme disease can become antibiotic resistant, just as any bacteria does. When it becomes resistant, it is called a persister, and conventional therapies won’t touch it; again, this is the same as any antibiotic resistant bacteria. Dr. Zhang explains these findings and what they mean for Chronic Lyme sufferers here. Additionally, Dr. Richard Horowitz explains why his treatment plan for Chronic Lyme is aimed at healing the body as a whole, and why traditional antibiotic treatment alone is not sufficient to
cure the disease. He takes a multifaceted approach that includes antibiotic treatments, herbal supplements, and lifestyle changes. Will Wiegman has been so successful that his protocol is mentioned in several GoFundMe campaigns such as Matthew's, where the protocol was mentioned as a factor in the fight to save a little boy’s life. His successes and protocol are in Lyme Forums from one end of the internet to the next, like this one. Additionally, Rob Matthies took elements of Will’s findings and went on to practice his own protocols. Again, Rob Matthies succeeded in curing his Chronic Lyme Disease in 53 days, which is a world record, while Will Wiegman cured his in 60 days. Joseph Burrascano was actually taken to court by irate doctors who didn’t appreciate his approach. The result? He was backed in court by throngs of other physicians and at least 400 of the 7000 patients (up to that point) that he had successfully cured. The evidence against him was the medical file of nine patients, four of whom claimed they had had never consented to have medical records used against Burrascano, and that to the contrary of the direction of the hearing, they were cured with his protocol. Clearly, traditional medicine has failed many people in many ways, and the answer seems to lie in a hybrid of conventional medicines and alternative therapies.
Rebecca Bevard Woodstock MD, USA Chronic Lyme Victim for over 14 years (Contact beccachow@yahoo.com)