Young 20 year old Raw Paleo Newbie with Severe Health Issues

[NinjaNight]

Hi guys,

I'm totally new to the forum and just discovered the existence of raw paleo and I have some questions. I've read a lot of posts already and I am continuing to learn.

First, a little bit about me - I'm 20 years old and have been on a gradual downhill slope health wise for 3 years for totally unknown reasons. It all started my freshman year in college a little over 3 years ago. At first I was very healthy weighing about 155-160 pounds and 8% bodyfat, doing bodybuilding and my diet was mainly lots of rice protein shakes, legumes, salads, a little bit but not much animal meat (back then my mom convinced me that all animal products were bad b/c of the China study and such - thats why I did rice protein instead of the standard whey protein), some almond butter, hemp seeds, rice cakes, wheat bread w/ smart balance (vegan version of butter),  etc. I was eating 6 meals a day and forcing food down even if I was full to get at least 2k calories to build muscle. At some point I couldn't keep it up - I was too stuffed all the time and started eating less and less. For unknown reasons (that I still don't know) I became chronically constipated - at first I would use prune juice and/or magnesium to have a BM but after a couple weeks that stopped working and I couldn't figure out how to get un-constipated. I would go 2 weeks without a bowel movement at times and when I went it would be unbelievably massive like you can't even believe its possible for that to come out of a person. I'm talking 9+ inches long and 4 to 5 inches thick and I've been constipated intermittently and had abnormally large BMs all my life. Never any diarrhea. Sorry for all the detail but I suspect it's very important. I hadn't yet started developing any real health issues outside of the constipation and a general sense of malaise. Eventually I started developing a whole range of symptoms - very gradually and slowly - starting with skin rashes, evolving into constant heart palpitations, chest pain, joint pain and popping, panic attacks, stiff neck, insomnia, back pain, etc. I had to stop doing bodybuilding because my joints were hurting way too bad and I ended up losing a lot of weight (almost all muscle) that year at college.

I've been on a constant downward slope since then without any answers. I am very skinny now weighing about 110 with 7-8% bodyfat (that means I've lost about 45 pounds of muscle over the course of the last 3 years - I've always had extremely low bodyfat), lots of digestion issues - distended abdomen, bloating, no appetite whatsoever (I'm sure I could go a couple weeks without eating anything and still never feel the slightest bit hungry), all muscles are very weak and sore, joints hurt, most days it feels like someone is constantly taking a drill and drilling into my knuckles, wrists, knees, ankles, etc. and I get a lot of sharp/tingling pains all over my body constantly along with lots of muscle twitching, sharp shooting pains in my ears, chest pain, abdominal pain, dry hands, dry mouth, dry eyes, cold hands and cold feet, etc. It feels like my body is constantly under some huge assault.  I strongly suspect some kind of autoimmune disorder (what else could it be?), but ANA test has come back negative along with negative result for rheumatoid arthritis, sjogrens, etc. I'm starting to wander if the tests are somehow missing something or if I have some other rare autoimmune disorder that hasn't been tested for. I have seen a lot of doctors and specialists and most tests have come back normal except low testosterone at about 150 - normal is 500+ (which I'm getting injections for now from the endocrinologist), slightly elevated DHEA, slightly elevated cortisol, and nutrient deficiencies. I am deficient in vitamin E, copper, zinc, B12, B5, chromium, selenium. I was diagnosed with IBS. An alternative practitioner did a scan on me called electrodermal screening and it found that my gallbladder is very weak and working excessively hard, the pericardium around my heart is dangerously weak, and there are problems with my central nervous system. My family doctor is very confused - says I'm one of the most difficult cases he has ever seen and hasn't really been able to help at all. I had a live blood cell microscopy done which showed low level of toxins, parasites, and candida in the blood (note - that doesn't mean I don't have these things in other parts of my body - just that they're low specifically in my blood at the time) - all were 1 on a scale of 1-5 but my immune stress was extremely high at 4+ (4 plus is higher than just plain 4) and red blood cells were all clumped together. Tests have revealed a very low white blood cell count.

My gastroenterologist was not able to find anything - endoscopy, colonoscopy, and small intestine barium test all were totally normal. Adrenal, thyroid, and pituitary all supposedly normal according to endocrinologist tests. Although, my Dad read a book that said there's a fool proof adrenal test that's always 100% accurate to determine whether someone has adrenal issues or not. You stand in a dark room, let your eyes adjust, and then have someone point a flash light in your eyes. If the pupils fluctuate then the person has adrenal problems. If the pupils shrink and stay steady then the adrenals are strong. Mine fluctuated. In another test you lay down, measure your blood pressure, and then stand up and measure it again. The blood pressure should go up about 20 points if the adrenals are strong and if they're weak the blood pressure goes down. Mine went down about 20 points. My mom who is extremely healthy and happy excelled on both tests - her eyes stayed very steady and blood pressure went up on the second test. So I think there is much more to this than the endocrinologist's blood tests can reveal.

I had emergency appendix removal in the summer of 2012 via laproscopic surgery and was given antibiotics briefly just to prevent infection. This was about a year to a year and a half after my health issues began.

I suspect I may have leaky gut, but I have no way to really know for sure. Certainly I must have significant intestinal dysbiosis as after doing a lot of research I've come to the conclusion that digestive problems cannot occur if the gut flora is healthy and balanced. It's extraordinarily important and huge variety of serious health issues seem to stem at least in part from a dysfunctional gut flora.

I'm in really rough shape at the moment and had to drop out of college temporarily because I do not have the health to continue at the moment. It's really amazing to me how I went from virtually perfect health - thriving and extremely happy - to very dangerous levels of illness just over the course of a few years without knowing what the fuck is going on. I was almost completely bedridden about a month ago - I barely even had enough energy to turn my body over in bed! Luckily, somehow managed to get myself out of that predicament and now I at least have enough energy to function albeit at a low level.

In researching leaky gut I found Aajonus Vonderplanitz' website which had some testimonials of people healing their leaky gut with his diet including some guy who apparently dwindled down to 80-90 pounds (even worse than me!!!) and regained a normal weight and reversed his health issues. That led to me looking further into raw paleo as I'm very open minded and willing to do practically anything to regain my health. I've also never been picky about taste when it comes to food. I'll eat anything you care to name if it truly makes me healthy.

From what I've read it sounds like raw meat is much easier to digest than cooked meat. If so, this could be the key to building my body back up. I've eaten raw egg yolks for a long time without any obvious ill effects, yet I still have some doubts about raw meat probably partially because it's not protected from the outer elements by a shell like eggs are.


Finally, some questions:

1) I went out and bought some fresh raw grass fed Wagyu beef sirloin from this place: http://localyocalfarmtomarket.com/. Is it REALLY totally safe to just start eating it completely raw? I really can't afford to get some kind of powerful infection right now... I'm too weak. Should I start with cooking it rare and gradually cooking it less and less to get my body used to whatever bacteria is in there until I'm eating it 100% raw?

2) What about parasites? Supposedly according to Vonderplanitz the parasites in raw meat are actually beneficial for us, but I'm very skeptical of this. There's some information from alternative sources that parasites are much more common than allopathic medicine ackknowledges and are responsible for many forms of chronic illness whereas the allopathic paradigm only acknowledges obvious acute parasitic infections involving fevers, vomiting, etc.  For example: http://www.nairaland.com/903693/how-parasites-cause-chronic-disease. Quote: "These foreign invaders overload the liver and accumulate in the organs, muscles, lymphatic system and nervous system, thereby creating a wide variety of disease conditions like arthritis, asthma, eczema, chronic fatigue and memory loss. Parasites are also capable of migrating from the intestines to organs, joints and muscles. A type of parasite known as Entamoeba Histolytica has been found to migrate to the liver and is capable of causing weight loss and insomnia. In some cases of ulcerative colitis, elimination of this parasite resolved the condition. Parasites also depress the immune system by excreting toxic waste products into the body."

There is a parasite check list here and I have experienced almost every single symptom listed: http://www.thewolfeclinic.com/index.php/information-and-tools/self-evaluation-tools/154-parasite-check-list

I definitely want to avoid introducing new parasites into my body as much as possible. That's one of the main reasons I'm hesitant to start eating raw meat and looking for assurance here.

3) Are frozen and then thawed raw meats good to consume too or does the freezing damage it in some way?

4) Are all grass-fed raw meats safe to consume? Examples of things I bought from local yocal: frozen grass fed short ribs; frozen pasture raised young chicken livers, frozen pasture raised chicken thighs, fresh wagyu sirloin, fresh wagyu bistro fillet, frozen pasture raised beef liver, frozen lamb rib chops. Are these all things that you guys would consume totally raw and believe to be safe? Would coating them in coconut oil and/or raw honey be a good idea since these both have anti-bacterial/anti-viral/anti-parasitic properties? Ie. lauric acid in coconut oil.

5) What do you guys think about Vonderplanitz? I want to believe him but the thing about him suffering over 300 heart attacks seems like total fairy tale bullshit. Is that even possible? Surely at least one of those would have killed him? How many attacks can a heart really withstand without death? That alone makes me wary of anything else he says...

I gather Tyler at least is very opposed to his recommendation to include raw dairy. My experience so far is that milk - both raw and pasteurized (especially pasteurized) cannot be tolerated, but raw whipped cream/butter seem OKAY.


Thanks guys - sorry for the huge wall of text, but this is very important to me!

[edmon171]

Sounds like lyme disease with possible coinfections and parasites from a bug bite.

Have you had any tick/spider/mosquito/horsefly bites before your symptoms began?
Do some of your symptoms seem to cycle every few weeks getting better then worse again?
Do you live or ever go in the woods or on grassland near the forest?
Do you have pets that go out in the yard and then back in the house?

If you answered yes to any of these you should get tested. Most doctors will be reluctant to test for lyme depending on where you live and whether you present a bullseye rash or not and the standard test misses most cases anyway. You should find a lyme specialist who will test you thoroughly and accurately. If you show positive I would try to avoid taking doxycycline, this drug made me get skin rashes when I'm around wireless devices and computers.

Whatever your issue may be, the raw paleo diet will only make you stronger and make your body better able to fight and heal. I always suggest a vey high fat and very low carb or ketogenic version of raw paleo to achieve the most healing, but that is for advanced dieters and can be harmful if done incorrectly. One step at a time. Don't be afraid of raw saturated fat, this is the best fuel for your body. And don't live in fear of bacteria and parasites in meat, they are unavoidable in life and trying to constantly disinfect yourself, your food, and your surroundings will do more harm than good. I wouldn't worry at all about any 100% grass fed meat, go ahead and have it fresh never frozen. The grain fed stuff is more likely to have a poor balance of bacteria and contain bad parasites so if you want to include that in your diet you should freeze it to kill the parasites and weaken the bacteria.

Having lots of raw organ meats is very wise for healing. Especially the specific organs you are trying to heal. Its good to have a wide variety but you should focus on raw tripe, heart, and brains.

I would recommend cutting out the dairy, but definitely don't replace it with smart balance. If you must have dairy, try to minimize the milk proteins by having butter or double cream if you can find it. Heavy whipping is too milky.

You mentioned that you took antibiotics. If you didn't take a probiotic after that you may have worsened your gut problems. Look into a probiotic with sbo (soil based organisms). This is supposed to be very good at fighting anything pathogenic in the gut. For an advanced probiotic you might look into making "high meat" out of the cleanest 100% grass-fed and never frozen meats.

Aajanous was a great man for bringing attention to the safety and health benefits of raw food, especially raw meat. Why he chose to surround his wisdom with so many tall tales, I'll never know. I wouldn't trust his specific recommendations and recipes or his theories about disease. Instead just see the underlying theme that helped people was raw food including large amounts of raw animal fat.

[goodsamaritan]

Your colon has been worn out due to your drastic diet and your taking of prunes and other fiber aids and low fat diet.  Enormous stools.

You can get relief for yourself with oral castor oil 30ml.
Relief with warm water enemas.
Relief with olive oil enemas.

Pick your tools.

You need to rebuild your colon muscles. Raw paleo diet is good at that.  Fruit and raw meat and raw fat, little vegetables or juiced veggies, raw starches.

Tried and tested colon rebuilding herbs for me, my son, my daughter... in just 60 days, LBB capsules... read below.

http://curezone.com/upload/PDF/Lower_20Bowel_20Balance.pdf

Buy here

http://oldfashionedspices.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=445

Support forum of the herbalist who makes that here:

http://curezone.com/forums/f.asp?f=626

Find your activation dose (number of capsules to take just before getting diarrhea), take that dose every day for 60 days.  Your colon will become a CHAMPION.

And learn to squat when you poop.

[TylerDurden]

1) Some people like cooking the meats and then gradually reducing the cooking temperature by 1 degree every so often, using and then gradually reducing any extra processed sauces, until they can eat it raw at room-temperature on its own. Others like to go cold turkey. I don't think it matters but some people may find it easier on a psychological level to transition slowly.

2) There are some very paranoid theories about parasites being everywhere - Hulda Clarke is a big guru on those fears. They are, however, groundless. Take me, for example, I only ever once got some parasites in my system(harmless tapeworms) and quickly got rid of them via a prescription from a local doctor. The point is that, despite my eating many tons of raw wild game over the years, I only ever got infected once and, even then, that was not from raw wild game but from  raw, grassfed meats. The point is that very few RPDers ever report incurring parasites, and on the very rare occasions they do, the symptoms are generally harmless and easily gotten rid of.
3) Freezing damages the cell-membranes which means nutrient-loss occurs much more quickly after thawing. So, once you thaw a food you should eat it immediately rather than refreezing it.
Aajonus claims that freezing is c.25% as bad as cooking. Not sure that is correct. Freezing does reduce the taste of the raw meats, once thawed, of course. Enzymes get slightly denatured by cooking. One long-term RPDer claims that enzymes are gradually destroyed by freezing until, after 10 weeks, they are fully destroyed - not sure if that is true as no evidence was shown to support this.

4) Yes, they are all fine. Do NOT bother to smother such foods in coconut oil or whatever nonsense. You should try eating them all on their own.

5) Aajonus was half-charlatan/half-genius. Some of his claims were so obviously out-of-this-world that they just had to be lies(the coyote story, for example, which included Biblical references re 40 days in the wilderness etc.) Yet so many other ideas(eg:- "high-meat") he put forward turned out to be right even though I had scoffed at them in the beginning.

[raw]

Hi Ninja, I have been dealing with a 17th yrs old boy who is suffering from severe depression and anxiety. Past 7th months on and off on orthomolecular irregular treatment with controlled diet, which  did not help him. But past month, he actually visited his orthomolecular doctor and within a month his doctor detected 3 causes. 1)severe D3 deficiency, 2)pyroluria 3)hypoglycemia.

the reason i m writing this to u, it looks similar ur sufferings to that boy

[raw]

Also my 1st doubt is lyme disease. specially after reading ur 1st paragraph . In that case. please, take a lyme disease test and use H2O2 therapy with rife machine

[raw]

i would say that if u consume pineapples , it can kill ur 75% pain . Because recently I m dealing with two lyme patients. and one of them is my son. I also suggest u to supplement 1st. Going for nude sunbathing and sun gazing. please, take B12 mithyle cobalamine injection. All other vitamins that u r deficient . I usually against of supplements, but for u it could be life saver. Yes, u can start slowly to eat half done meat with fats on it. Eating half done organs. Cause, it will be risky just start eating raw specially with ur condition. I really do not worry about parasites stuff. Raw protein and fats clean up my body. But my only fear of totally rare meat is that, u should not try right away. Cause raw meat is too good for our body and the way our body response, that it could stimulate ur body to get energy 1st and u r extremely weak. So u need slow energy stimulation.

[raw]

After removing appendix, u r taking even more risk to NOT to have more beneficial microbs in ur colon. So u need constant supply of those.

[raw]

I know a doctor in NYC, Dr Majid Ali, he is the good one for u. Cause he does exclusively therapy and intravenous treatment with H2O2. He is an expert on other things too. Seeing him could be very helpful for u. Here one of his videos
Majid Ali, M.D. * Sugar Makes Cells Sticky ** Childrens Health Corps * Ali Academy

[sabertooth]

I seem to have gone through a similar experience, becoming ill out of the blue. There can be multiple factors that involved , so it may be impossible for you to ever get a proper diagnosis.

Often times the combined effects of deficiency, environmental toxicity and food intolerance's can build up until the body hits a breaking point.

Its important when attempting to heal and rejuvenate from an unknown condition, to do so holistically.

What is your current diet? Is there any foods that may be causing you issues?
I was personally intolerant to dairy, and gluten, and was sensitive to all starches.
Vegetable oils would clog up my liver and gall bladder.

You must first element any foods which may be causing you problems. Then you can work on rebuilding with nutritional healing, and other lifestlye changes which would be beneficial.

[NinjaNight]

Sounds like lyme disease with possible coinfections and parasites from a bug bite.

Have you had any tick/spider/mosquito/horsefly bites before your symptoms began?
Do some of your symptoms seem to cycle every few weeks getting better then worse again?
Do you live or ever go in the woods or on grassland near the forest?
Do you have pets that go out in the yard and then back in the house?

If you answered yes to any of these you should get tested. Most doctors will be reluctant to test for lyme depending on where you live and whether you present a bullseye rash or not and the standard test misses most cases anyway. You should find a lyme specialist who will test you thoroughly and accurately. If you show positive I would try to avoid taking doxycycline, this drug made me get skin rashes when I'm around wireless devices and computers.

Whatever your issue may be, the raw paleo diet will only make you stronger and make your body better able to fight and heal. I always suggest a vey high fat and very low carb or ketogenic version of raw paleo to achieve the most healing, but that is for advanced dieters and can be harmful if done incorrectly. One step at a time. Don't be afraid of raw saturated fat, this is the best fuel for your body. And don't live in fear of bacteria and parasites in meat, they are unavoidable in life and trying to constantly disinfect yourself, your food, and your surroundings will do more harm than good. I wouldn't worry at all about any 100% grass fed meat, go ahead and have it fresh never frozen. The grain fed stuff is more likely to have a poor balance of bacteria and contain bad parasites so if you want to include that in your diet you should freeze it to kill the parasites and weaken the bacteria.

Having lots of raw organ meats is very wise for healing. Especially the specific organs you are trying to heal. Its good to have a wide variety but you should focus on raw tripe, heart, and brains.

I would recommend cutting out the dairy, but definitely don't replace it with smart balance. If you must have dairy, try to minimize the milk proteins by having butter or double cream if you can find it. Heavy whipping is too milky.

You mentioned that you took antibiotics. If you didn't take a probiotic after that you may have worsened your gut problems. Look into a probiotic with sbo (soil based organisms). This is supposed to be very good at fighting anything pathogenic in the gut. For an advanced probiotic you might look into making "high meat" out of the cleanest 100% grass-fed and never frozen meats.

Aajanous was a great man for bringing attention to the safety and health benefits of raw food, especially raw meat. Why he chose to surround his wisdom with so many tall tales, I'll never know. I wouldn't trust his specific recommendations and recipes or his theories about disease. Instead just see the underlying theme that helped people was raw food including large amounts of raw animal fat.

That's interesting. What do you mean by "the standard test"? Do you mean the presence of a bulls-eye rash or the blood test that doctors usually use? My doctor already tested me for lime and it came back negative - are you suggesting that lime patients usually show a false negative and it requires a lime specialist to pinpoint?

As for your questions:

1) Not sure about the bug bites.

2) My symptoms are very complicated and seem to rotate from one set of symptoms for a period of time to a new set of symptoms or things stay the same and some new symptom gradually creeps in. I wouldn't really say they get better and then worse - more like it stays constantly about the same and then changes to something new that's equally annoying/debilitating. For example maybe one month the main symptoms are throbbing headache, sharp shooting pains in my armpits, constipation (although this symptom is always there), insomnia, drilling pain in my joints, etc. and then the next month the main symptoms are tingling pain in my feet, dull migrating pain in my ears, sharp chest pains, radiating jaw pains, itching all over, constipation, etc.

3) No, but I used to sun tan in my backyard a lot and different kinds of bugs constantly landed on me.

4) Yes I have a dog that comes in and out from the backyard constantly every day


Lol I haven't eaten smart balance in a very long time - that's back when I was still brainwashed that eating anything animal related is harmful and thought smart balance was much healthier than butter.

Where do you guys get such a variety of organ meats? The only ones I have been able to find at farmers markets/stores are liver and heart so far.

Thanks for your help.

[NinjaNight]

Your colon has been worn out due to your drastic diet and your taking of prunes and other fiber aids and low fat diet.  Enormous stools.

You can get relief for yourself with oral castor oil 30ml.
Relief with warm water enemas.
Relief with olive oil enemas.

Pick your tools.

You need to rebuild your colon muscles. Raw paleo diet is good at that.  Fruit and raw meat and raw fat, little vegetables or juiced veggies, raw starches.

Tried and tested colon rebuilding herbs for me, my son, my daughter... in just 60 days, LBB capsules... read below.

http://curezone.com/upload/PDF/Lower_20Bowel_20Balance.pdf

Buy here

http://oldfashionedspices.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=445

Support forum of the herbalist who makes that here:

http://curezone.com/forums/f.asp?f=626

Find your activation dose (number of capsules to take just before getting diarrhea), take that dose every day for 60 days.  Your colon will become a CHAMPION.

And learn to squat when you poop.

I haven't taken prunes or other fiber aids in a long time and I still have issues with constipation - my stools aren't usually massive like they used to be.

I tried the recommended dose of castor oil - it didn't do anything for me. No bowel movement. Haven't used it since.

I'm hesitant to do enemas anymore - the last time I did one was a coffee enema a few months ago and I felt really weak and dizzy afterwards. I had done them before in the past and never had a bad reaction, but after that bad reaction I decided to discontinue them. Warm water enemas are okay, but my stomach/intestines/whatever feel heavy or just weird/off for a few days afterwards.

Never tried an olive oil enema before.

I tried LBB capsules for a few days, but they didn't seem to do anything at all for me and stopped taking them. Maybe I should've given it longer?

[NinjaNight]

1) Some people like cooking the meats and then gradually reducing the cooking temperature by 1 degree every so often, using and then gradually reducing any extra processed sauces, until they can eat it raw at room-temperature on its own. Others like to go cold turkey. I don't think it matters but some people may find it easier on a psychological level to transition slowly.

2) There are some very paranoid theories about parasites being everywhere - Hulda Clarke is a big guru on those fears. They are, however, groundless. Take me, for example, I only ever once got some parasites in my system(harmless tapeworms) and quickly got rid of them via a prescription from a local doctor. The point is that, despite my eating many tons of raw wild game over the years, I only ever got infected once and, even then, that was not from raw wild game but from  raw, grassfed meats. The point is that very few RPDers ever report incurring parasites, and on the very rare occasions they do, the symptoms are generally harmless and easily gotten rid of.
3) Freezing damages the cell-membranes which means nutrient-loss occurs much more quickly after thawing. So, once you thaw a food you should eat it immediately rather than refreezing it.
Aajonus claims that freezing is c.25% as bad as cooking. Not sure that is correct. Freezing does reduce the taste of the raw meats, once thawed, of course. Enzymes get slightly denatured by cooking. One long-term RPDer claims that enzymes are gradually destroyed by freezing until, after 10 weeks, they are fully destroyed - not sure if that is true as no evidence was shown to support this.

4) Yes, they are all fine. Do NOT bother to smother such foods in coconut oil or whatever nonsense. You should try eating them all on their own.

5) Aajonus was half-charlatan/half-genius. Some of his claims were so obviously out-of-this-world that they just had to be lies(the coyote story, for example, which included Biblical references re 40 days in the wilderness etc.) Yet so many other ideas(eg:- "high-meat") he put forward turned out to be right even though I had scoffed at them in the beginning.

Thanks for your post!

[NinjaNight]

Hi Ninja, I have been dealing with a 17th yrs old boy who is suffering from severe depression and anxiety. Past 7th months on and off on orthomolecular irregular treatment with controlled diet, which  did not help him. But past month, he actually visited his orthomolecular doctor and within a month his doctor detected 3 causes. 1)severe D3 deficiency, 2)pyroluria 3)hypoglycemia.

the reason i m writing this to u, it looks similar ur sufferings to that boy

Thanks.

My D3 levels are normal and actually well above average. Never heard of pyroluria - I'll take a look at that. Blood sugar levels are normal.

[NinjaNight]

I seem to have gone through a similar experience, becoming ill out of the blue. There can be multiple factors that involved , so it may be impossible for you to ever get a proper diagnosis.

Often times the combined effects of deficiency, environmental toxicity and food intolerance's can build up until the body hits a breaking point.

Its important when attempting to heal and rejuvenate from an unknown condition, to do so holistically.

What is your current diet? Is there any foods that may be causing you issues?
I was personally intolerant to dairy, and gluten, and was sensitive to all starches.
Vegetable oils would clog up my liver and gall bladder.

You must first element any foods which may be causing you problems. Then you can work on rebuilding with nutritional healing, and other lifestlye changes which would be beneficial.

Agreed, I don't expect to ever get an official medical diagnosis at this point. I feel like it's mainly up to me to figure this out.

I don't really have a current diet. I've tried many different food combinations and dabbled a little with different online diets like Ray Peat (only extremely briefly - I don't think it can work for me. The biggest thing I took from him is the potential dangers of PUFAs), Perfect Health Diet, Free the Animal dietary guidelines, Norm Robillard's Fast Tract Digestion, primal blueprint, general paleo, plan/recipes from musclehack.com, general bodybuilding recommendations, etc.

Totally agree with the importance of holistic healing when dealing with unknown conditions.

I've been totally gluten free for a really long time and ironically when I first went gluten free is right around when my health started going downhill. Go figure. I've heard/read from so many different sources about the damaging effects of gluten that I figured I'd just remove it from my diet completely to eliminate one major potential source of issues. Never consumed much dairy in general my whole life.

It's often very hard to tell if a certain food is causing me problems because my symptoms are totally out of control and so random/complicated. Luckily some things are obvious though like when I tried orange juice and milk under the Ray Peat dietary guidelines - joints really flared up, I got very bloated, intense itching all over, etc. I also may have some level of sensitivity to starches, especially sweet potato. I probably really need to buckle down and do things more gradually. I tend to change things pretty quickly if I'm not noticing any significant difference. It's hard not to and takes massive amounts of discipline to go slowly when you've been suffering constantly for so long.

[edmon171]

That's interesting. What do you mean by "the standard test"? Do you mean the presence of a bulls-eye rash or the blood test that doctors usually use? My doctor already tested me for lime and it came back negative - are you suggesting that lime patients usually show a false negative and it requires a lime specialist to pinpoint?

The standard test is outdated and checks only for a few most common antibodies and all antibody tests may miss the case if you are tested too soon after exposure before your body had a chance to develop an immune response. Some people with weak immune systems may not show up on the test until they have taken antibiotics. Specialists will at least send for a lab called igenex which tests for a much wider variety of antibodies that have recently been associated with lyme. They will also check for the common coinfections such as babesia, bartonella, mycoplasma, etc. If you have the money, they can do more advanced testing, such as polymerase chain reaction which will prove by dna what infections are present

2) My symptoms are very complicated and seem to rotate from one set of symptoms for a period of time to a new set of symptoms or things stay the same and some new symptom gradually creeps in. I wouldn't really say they get better and then worse - more like it stays constantly about the same and then changes to something new that's equally annoying/debilitating. For example maybe one month the main symptoms are throbbing headache, sharp shooting pains in my armpits, constipation (although this symptom is always there), insomnia, drilling pain in my joints, etc. and then the next month the main symptoms are tingling pain in my feet, dull migrating pain in my ears, sharp chest pains, radiating jaw pains, itching all over, constipation, etc.

.

Yes, that is exactly what I meant. Now I'm nearly 100% sure its lyme. When my dog had it the vet knew it because he would be limping on a different paw every couple weeks, then his skin would break out or he would start acting sick or throwing up for no apparent reason. You just described the effects of chronic lyme. The infection will sequester itself in your joints, brain, nervous system, and intestines to hide from the immune system. Basically as far away from your circulatory system as it can get. It also steals the "skin" of your cells to mask itself which sensitizes your immune system to your own tissues, causing various autoimmune reactions. Then it has a life cycle of 3-4 weeks where it is spreading and causing symptoms before it goes dormant into a cyst for a while before multiplying. Different locations may become activated at different times, or they may go dormant for a while and you think you are fine then bam something comes back maybe next month, maybe 2 years later, and its worse than last time. If you take antibiotics, but they weren't strong enough or you didn't take it long enough to nearly wipe it out it will go into "defense mode" and you will enter into a rapid decline in health. This happened to me, my primary gave me 2 weeks of pills and I was eating junk food the whole time with a cell phone in my pocket 24/7 and didn't take a probiotic after. When I told him the symptoms came back as soon as I ran out of pills he told me to take some tylenol because he wasn't prescribing any more. When I started getting worse than I was before I sought out a specialist.

What the infection is doing is it is corkscrewing itself through all of your tissues and dumping neurotoxins everywhere. Especially in your muscles, nervous system, and intestines. This will leave the sheathing of your nerves looking something like swiss cheese or a lamp cord that a mouse thought was lunch. You can probably feel this effect when you stretch or twist your arm or wrist the "wires" will get crossed and you will feel like you had an electroshock shooting up your arm as you lose your grip and drop things all the time. The cartilage in your joints will be eaten away. When its in your brain, you will have anxiety and depression, you will begin to wonder if you are not half autistic and why you have the short term memory of a goldfish. I used to walk out of a room and have no clue where I was going or what I wanted to do. I'd be driving and suddenly be lost and have no idea where I was or where I was going until I saw the next sign. Scary stuff, but god forbid it goes into your heart muscle, then your very life may be at risk. Let me not say what happens here but its only a short google away.

This is the fastest growing epidemic right now and that's with less than an estimated 10% of cases are being reported. There is a huge controversy surrounding chronic lyme. Some dare even say conspiracy to keep people sick and taking drugs they don't need.

The longer you go untreated, the harder it is to get rid of. Most people who progress to stage 2 or 3 have an extremely hard time getting better. I was in stage 2 and I don't think I would have made a full recovery were it not for committing myself to being healthy through ketosis, paleo style eating, and raw animal foods. You seem to be late in stage 2 which is lucky for someone who had it for 3 years, but you are still young. Another thing is that the lyme can make you sensitive to emfs when it eats away the myelin that shields your nerves. This is different than the skin rash I got from doxycycline. This is felt as muscle pain and stiffness, and tingling in your extremities, or severe sharp headaches when making cell phone calls. Also getting sleepy during the day and having insomnia at night.

I'd say the most important things to speed your recovery, after getting your diet in order, are getting rid of wifi, bluetooth, and cordless phones, and keeping all cell phones in the home forwarded to the house line and in airplane mode. This can be hard for a young person, just get a computer that can be hardwired to your modem and learn to talk to your friends over the internet instead of texting. Its especially important that all the phones are off overnight. When you are out try to keep the phone off and just check your messages periodically or better yet just let the home answering machine get it. If the phone must be on, never ever keep it in your pocket and try not to hold it in your hand. Wired headsets and speakerphones are key. Also be aware of your proximity to electrical wiring and cords, especially overnight. Try to stay away from walls in general. Switches and outlets are a good guideline, but if you are not in the basement, consider the lighting fixtures in the floor beneath you. Never use any lighting with a dimmer switch or fluorescent tube if you can help it. Replace them with standard switches and LED if possible. I just keep the circuit breakers for the lights and outlets in my bedroom shut off and open the shades and use an led lantern or flashlight at night. If I lived alone I would just shut off the whole panel at night.

About the organ meats, I can find most of them online in mail order or can have them delivered from a farm co-op. Whatever I can't find at all I supplement with raw dessicated capsules. Try northstarbison.com they have the widest consistent selection I've seen online. Or Eatwild.com to find a farm you can go to or get deliveries from.

I apologize if I am being too thorough in my recommendations and some of this stuff is over your head. But I think you have a unique opportunity to get better, having found this forum. Some of the wisest conversations on the internet happen right here. Before I joined here, for years it was like every smart and interesting health topic  I would type into google to research would pop up as a topic here or at least be mentioned.

[goodsamaritan]

I haven't taken prunes or other fiber aids in a long time and I still have issues with constipation - my stools aren't usually massive like they used to be.

I tried the recommended dose of castor oil - it didn't do anything for me. No bowel movement. Haven't used it since.

I'm hesitant to do enemas anymore - the last time I did one was a coffee enema a few months ago and I felt really weak and dizzy afterwards. I had done them before in the past and never had a bad reaction, but after that bad reaction I decided to discontinue them. Warm water enemas are okay, but my stomach/intestines/whatever feel heavy or just weird/off for a few days afterwards.

Never tried an olive oil enema before.

I tried LBB capsules for a few days, but they didn't seem to do anything at all for me and stopped taking them. Maybe I should've given it longer?

If 30ml of castor oil does not work, try 60ml.

Don't do coffee enemas if you are allergic to coffee.  Or if you do, you need to take 2 tablespoons of molasses first to load up your liver.

Olive oil enemas and VCO enemas worked well for my boy to dislodge the impacted feces in his pockets of diverticulitis.

Cannot see why water enemas make you feel bad... there must be something else.

High meat... probiotics...

[cherimoya_kid]

If you're worried about raw meat safety, you should probably warn the Japanese. Tens of millions of them eat raw meat and fish every day.  They're in grave danger.  ROFL

[sabertooth]

The standard test is outdated and checks only for a few most common antibodies and all antibody tests may miss the case if you are tested too soon after exposure before your body had a chance to develop an immune response. Some people with weak immune systems may not show up on the test until they have taken antibiotics. Specialists will at least send for a lab called igenex which tests for a much wider variety of antibodies that have recently been associated with lyme. They will also check for the common coinfections such as babesia, bartonella, mycoplasma, etc. If you have the money, they can do more advanced testing, such as polymerase chain reaction which will prove by dna what infections are present
.

Yes, that is exactly what I meant. Now I'm nearly 100% sure its lyme. When my dog had it the vet knew it because he would be limping on a different paw every couple weeks, then his skin would break out or he would start acting sick or throwing up for no apparent reason. You just described the effects of chronic lyme. The infection will sequester itself in your joints, brain, nervous system, and intestines to hide from the immune system. Basically as far away from your circulatory system as it can get. It also steals the "skin" of your cells to mask itself which sensitizes your immune system to your own tissues, causing various autoimmune reactions. Then it has a life cycle of 3-4 weeks where it is spreading and causing symptoms before it goes dormant into a cyst for a while before multiplying. Different locations may become activated at different times, or they may go dormant for a while and you think you are fine then bam something comes back maybe next month, maybe 2 years later, and its worse than last time. If you take antibiotics, but they weren't strong enough or you didn't take it long enough to nearly wipe it out it will go into "defense mode" and you will enter into a rapid decline in health. This happened to me, my primary gave me 2 weeks of pills and I was eating junk food the whole time with a cell phone in my pocket 24/7 and didn't take a probiotic after. When I told him the symptoms came back as soon as I ran out of pills he told me to take some tylenol because he wasn't prescribing any more. When I started getting worse than I was before I sought out a specialist.

Although I was never diagnosed, I often suspected lyme during my flare-ups of inexplicable illness. I know for a fact that I have chronic babesia, having seen the blood parasites myself during an analysis. Lyme, babesia, and mycoplasm often occur together( I often wonder about if the condition is a result of the experiments done on plum island,) though we may never know for sure 

You could spend thousands of dollars on these expensive test and possibly get a diagnosis, but from my own experience you would be better off spending that money on nutritional rejuvenation treatments. Because as far as I can see modern medicine is not capable of treating these conditions effectively. Treatments such as high dose long term antibiotics are only marginally effective at best, and often lead to much worse conditions down the road.

Its also important to note that not everyone who is exposed to the agents comes down with an illness, In fact 90 percent of dogs have antibodies to lyme disease without showing any symptoms. There must be other factors which contribute to the fact that only some people actually become ill from these pathogenic organisms. This ties into BeChamps theories of how microbial infection is most likely a symptom of an environmental imbalance and not the direct cause of illness.

The approach I would advocate is to nourish the body with optimal nutrition, and once the glands, organs, and other tissues of the body are cleansed and rejuvenated, the immune system will  re-activate itself and begin to clear out any chronic lingering pathogens.( This has been my own personal experience.)

[edmon171]

Although I was never diagnosed, I often suspected lyme during my flare-ups of inexplicable illness. I know for a fact that I have chronic babesia, having seen the blood parasites myself during an analysis. Lyme, babesia, and mycoplasm often occur together( I often wonder about if the condition is a result of the experiments done on plum island,) though we may never know for sure 

You could spend thousands of dollars on these expensive test and possibly get a diagnosis, but from my own experience you would be better off spending that money on nutritional rejuvenation treatments. Because as far as I can see modern medicine is not capable of treating these conditions effectively. Treatments such as high dose long term antibiotics are only marginally effective at best, and often lead to much worse conditions down the road.

Its also important to note that not everyone who is exposed to the agents comes down with an illness, In fact 90 percent of dogs have antibodies to lyme disease without showing any symptoms. There must be other factors which contribute to the fact that only some people actually become ill from these pathogenic organisms. This ties into BeChamps theories of how microbial infection is most likely a symptom of an environmental imbalance and not the direct cause of illness.

The approach I would advocate is to nourish the body with optimal nutrition, and once the glands, organs, and other tissues of the body are cleansed and rejuvenated, the immune system will  re-activate itself and begin to clear out any chronic lingering pathogens.( This has been my own personal experience.)

I would say if someone's health is clearly declining then its important to find out for sure what he is up against. I used to have this attitude of invincibility, which is what got me in trouble in the first place. When I got the bite I just ripped it out myself, detaching the head in the process and not even bothering to swab it with a disinfectant. I didn't go to see a doctor. Several weeks later I became extremely sick, worse than any cold or flu I had seen. I could barely breathe enough to say the word "hospital" when I woke my parents at night. The doctor there told me I had asthma and an infection that was not the flu. They got me breathing and sent me home with an inhaler and a 3-pak of Zithromax. I never used the inhaler or the antibiotics because I did not trust the evil pharmaceutical companies and doctors just throw antibiotics at you when they don't know what you have. I figured it will be over in a few days, like every other cold and so it was. What I did not know was that the 3 pills would have remained in my system for 3 weeks and wiped out the lyme easily in that early stage. Several months later, I started having severe back pain without any previous injury, then a bee-sting somehow "activated"  my bulls-eye rash and made it clearly visible, whereas before it was just a bit itchy where the center turned out to be. When the rash appeared it was already the size of my entire back, maybe 24 inches in diameter. This was a very lucky turn of events, because had I not gotten stung, that would have been me complaining online years later that I keep getting sicker and I don't know whats wrong.

If I could do it over again I would not have done the long-term high dose AB, but with what I knew then that seemed to be the best option.

This infection has ways to shut down and screw with your immune response, so thinking you can beat it only by eating well when it has already become established is ill-advised. I agree there is an x-factor here to explain why some get sick and others control it. I think that x-factor is the emf exposure. This infection is extremely sensitive to emfs. Something about its size and shape picks up resonance in the microwave range and people experiment with rife devices to try and kill it without drugs. I think its more important to avoid aggravating it in the first place by being constantly inundated with non-ionizing radiation. This will probably put it into a more docile form that the immune system can more effectively deal with. Wild animals are probably all walking around with the bacteria and never get sick. But besides their natural diet, they are also not walking around with cell phones and vaccine-damaged immune systems. The diet is an enormous factor in health but it is not everything in every case.

Two drugless therapies that sound promising to me are bee-sting therapy and the salt and vitamin c megadosing as described at lymephotos.net I think the rife devices have a sound concept, but will be worthless if you still walk around with a cell-phone in between treatments. Bee venom has been proven to destroy the bacteria safely as effectively as antibiotics. The salt/c thing is based on two theories. One is the old linus pauling observation that megadoses of vitamin c will boost the immune response. The other theory is that the infection hides out in the gut by infecting the parasites that live there (or becoming parasites that live there) and the salt will dessicate them and allow them to be expelled.

I would agree that the evidence strongly suggests this complex of infections has been genetically engineered and weaponized. But not the kind of weapon that sickens an army, the kind that weakens and demoralizes a population. Some geneticists have claimed that they isolated DNA from lyme that could only have come from a strain of bacteria that only lives in thermal vents many miles beneath the ocean floor and survives extremely high temperatures.

[NinjaNight]

The standard test is outdated and checks only for a few most common antibodies and all antibody tests may miss the case if you are tested too soon after exposure before your body had a chance to develop an immune response. Some people with weak immune systems may not show up on the test until they have taken antibiotics. Specialists will at least send for a lab called igenex which tests for a much wider variety of antibodies that have recently been associated with lyme. They will also check for the common coinfections such as babesia, bartonella, mycoplasma, etc. If you have the money, they can do more advanced testing, such as polymerase chain reaction which will prove by dna what infections are present
.

Yes, that is exactly what I meant. Now I'm nearly 100% sure its lyme. When my dog had it the vet knew it because he would be limping on a different paw every couple weeks, then his skin would break out or he would start acting sick or throwing up for no apparent reason. You just described the effects of chronic lyme. The infection will sequester itself in your joints, brain, nervous system, and intestines to hide from the immune system. Basically as far away from your circulatory system as it can get. It also steals the "skin" of your cells to mask itself which sensitizes your immune system to your own tissues, causing various autoimmune reactions. Then it has a life cycle of 3-4 weeks where it is spreading and causing symptoms before it goes dormant into a cyst for a while before multiplying. Different locations may become activated at different times, or they may go dormant for a while and you think you are fine then bam something comes back maybe next month, maybe 2 years later, and its worse than last time. If you take antibiotics, but they weren't strong enough or you didn't take it long enough to nearly wipe it out it will go into "defense mode" and you will enter into a rapid decline in health. This happened to me, my primary gave me 2 weeks of pills and I was eating junk food the whole time with a cell phone in my pocket 24/7 and didn't take a probiotic after. When I told him the symptoms came back as soon as I ran out of pills he told me to take some tylenol because he wasn't prescribing any more. When I started getting worse than I was before I sought out a specialist.

What the infection is doing is it is corkscrewing itself through all of your tissues and dumping neurotoxins everywhere. Especially in your muscles, nervous system, and intestines. This will leave the sheathing of your nerves looking something like swiss cheese or a lamp cord that a mouse thought was lunch. You can probably feel this effect when you stretch or twist your arm or wrist the "wires" will get crossed and you will feel like you had an electroshock shooting up your arm as you lose your grip and drop things all the time. The cartilage in your joints will be eaten away. When its in your brain, you will have anxiety and depression, you will begin to wonder if you are not half autistic and why you have the short term memory of a goldfish. I used to walk out of a room and have no clue where I was going or what I wanted to do. I'd be driving and suddenly be lost and have no idea where I was or where I was going until I saw the next sign. Scary stuff, but god forbid it goes into your heart muscle, then your very life may be at risk. Let me not say what happens here but its only a short google away.

This is the fastest growing epidemic right now and that's with less than an estimated 10% of cases are being reported. There is a huge controversy surrounding chronic lyme. Some dare even say conspiracy to keep people sick and taking drugs they don't need.

The longer you go untreated, the harder it is to get rid of. Most people who progress to stage 2 or 3 have an extremely hard time getting better. I was in stage 2 and I don't think I would have made a full recovery were it not for committing myself to being healthy through ketosis, paleo style eating, and raw animal foods. You seem to be late in stage 2 which is lucky for someone who had it for 3 years, but you are still young. Another thing is that the lyme can make you sensitive to emfs when it eats away the myelin that shields your nerves. This is different than the skin rash I got from doxycycline. This is felt as muscle pain and stiffness, and tingling in your extremities, or severe sharp headaches when making cell phone calls. Also getting sleepy during the day and having insomnia at night.

I'd say the most important things to speed your recovery, after getting your diet in order, are getting rid of wifi, bluetooth, and cordless phones, and keeping all cell phones in the home forwarded to the house line and in airplane mode. This can be hard for a young person, just get a computer that can be hardwired to your modem and learn to talk to your friends over the internet instead of texting. Its especially important that all the phones are off overnight. When you are out try to keep the phone off and just check your messages periodically or better yet just let the home answering machine get it. If the phone must be on, never ever keep it in your pocket and try not to hold it in your hand. Wired headsets and speakerphones are key. Also be aware of your proximity to electrical wiring and cords, especially overnight. Try to stay away from walls in general. Switches and outlets are a good guideline, but if you are not in the basement, consider the lighting fixtures in the floor beneath you. Never use any lighting with a dimmer switch or fluorescent tube if you can help it. Replace them with standard switches and LED if possible. I just keep the circuit breakers for the lights and outlets in my bedroom shut off and open the shades and use an led lantern or flashlight at night. If I lived alone I would just shut off the whole panel at night.

About the organ meats, I can find most of them online in mail order or can have them delivered from a farm co-op. Whatever I can't find at all I supplement with raw dessicated capsules. Try northstarbison.com they have the widest consistent selection I've seen online. Or Eatwild.com to find a farm you can go to or get deliveries from.

I apologize if I am being too thorough in my recommendations and some of this stuff is over your head. But I think you have a unique opportunity to get better, having found this forum. Some of the wisest conversations on the internet happen right here. Before I joined here, for years it was like every smart and interesting health topic  I would type into google to research would pop up as a topic here or at least be mentioned.

Thanks man - very useful info. No need to be concerned about being too thorough or anything like that. I've read sooooo much on all kinds of different health subjects from tons of different sources and I'm reading more every day. Nothing you could say would be too thorough or over my head .

I'm not quite as confident as you about it being lyme as it seems there are a lot of other things that cause similar effects, but it's definitely a serious consideration.

Interesting about the EMF's. I spend hours on a wireless laptop every day, but I've never noticed any symptoms from EMFs. I felt the same when I was on vacation for a week with my family away from most sources of EMFs as when I'm at home on my laptop. I wonder how doxycycline made you sensitive to EMFs.

Northstarbison looks good.

[NinjaNight]

I would say if someone's health is clearly declining then its important to find out for sure what he is up against. I used to have this attitude of invincibility, which is what got me in trouble in the first place. When I got the bite I just ripped it out myself, detaching the head in the process and not even bothering to swab it with a disinfectant. I didn't go to see a doctor. Several weeks later I became extremely sick, worse than any cold or flu I had seen. I could barely breathe enough to say the word "hospital" when I woke my parents at night. The doctor there told me I had asthma and an infection that was not the flu. They got me breathing and sent me home with an inhaler and a 3-pak of Zithromax. I never used the inhaler or the antibiotics because I did not trust the evil pharmaceutical companies and doctors just throw antibiotics at you when they don't know what you have. I figured it will be over in a few days, like every other cold and so it was. What I did not know was that the 3 pills would have remained in my system for 3 weeks and wiped out the lyme easily in that early stage. Several months later, I started having severe back pain without any previous injury, then a bee-sting somehow "activated"  my bulls-eye rash and made it clearly visible, whereas before it was just a bit itchy where the center turned out to be. When the rash appeared it was already the size of my entire back, maybe 24 inches in diameter. This was a very lucky turn of events, because had I not gotten stung, that would have been me complaining online years later that I keep getting sicker and I don't know whats wrong.

Good points.

This infection has ways to shut down and screw with your immune response, so thinking you can beat it only by eating well when it has already become established is ill-advised. I agree there is an x-factor here to explain why some get sick and others control it. I think that x-factor is the emf exposure. This infection is extremely sensitive to emfs. Something about its size and shape picks up resonance in the microwave range and people experiment with rife devices to try and kill it without drugs. I think its more important to avoid aggravating it in the first place by being constantly inundated with non-ionizing radiation. This will probably put it into a more docile form that the immune system can more effectively deal with. Wild animals are probably all walking around with the bacteria and never get sick. But besides their natural diet, they are also not walking around with cell phones and vaccine-damaged immune systems. The diet is an enormous factor in health but it is not everything in every case.

The bolded is so true. Diet is very important, but certainly not the be all end all when dealing with dangerous conditions like these.

[raw]

Edmon, 'I'd say the most important things to speed your recovery, after getting your diet in order, are getting rid of wifi, bluetooth, and cordless phones, and keeping all cell phones in the home forwarded to the house line and in airplane mode. This can be hard for a young person, just get a computer that can be hardwired to your modem and learn to talk to your friends over the internet instead of texting. Its especially important that all the phones are off overnight. When you are out try to keep the phone off and just check your messages periodically or better yet just let the home answering machine get it. If the phone must be on, never ever keep it in your pocket and try not to hold it in your hand. Wired headsets and speakerphones are key. Also be aware of your proximity to electrical wiring and cords, especially overnight. Try to stay away from walls in general. Switches and outlets are a good guideline, but if you are not in the basement, consider the lighting fixtures in the floor beneath you. Never use any lighting with a dimmer switch or fluorescent tube if you can help it. Replace them with standard switches and LED if possible. I just keep the circuit breakers for the lights and outlets in my bedroom shut off and open the shades and use an led lantern or flashlight at night. If I lived alone I would just shut off the whole panel at night.'

You made a good point. getting rid of all electronics or shut them down at night would be a significant factor. Also cell phone use in public should be banned

[NinjaNight]

Hey Edmon (or anyone else who may be reading this), I just came across this for the first time yesterday and wondered what you think about it? Have you ever heard of it? It's called Inflammation Therapy:

https://chronicillnessrecovery.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1

Snippet from the home page:

"Our website was created to share information on resolving symptoms of autoimmune and other chronic inflammatory diseases with a novel treatment we call Inflammation Therapy. This therapy is based on the theory that non-resolving inflammation is caused by the immune system's futile attempts to eradicate occult infection caused by intracellular pathogens.

Cell wall deficient bacteria are known to  invade nucleated cells and it appears they interfere with immune system function by down-regulating the vitamin D receptor (VDR). Thus, the sabotaged immune system is less capable of transcribing antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) which kill bacteria and other pathogens, allowing the parasitic bacteria to reproduce while hidden within the cells. The immune system increases production of 1,25(OH)2D (calcitriol) in an effort to up-regulate the VDR and eliminate the bacterial invaders. Production of cytokines and endotoxins also contribute to the end result which is persistent, low-grade inflammation, tissue damage and disease."


Seems to have a lot of promise for treating Lyme and other chronic illness.