When it comes to chronic Lyme Disease, words make a massive difference in determining the direction of the healing process. 

I feel Mark Twain best highlights the care needed when selecting our words:

“The difference between the almost right word, and the right word, is really a large matter – it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”

The same can be said about the healing process through Lyme disease:

The difference between the right approach, and the almost right approach, is the difference between “how we think” and “what we think.”

To fully restore our health from Lyme disease, we must think differently, not just different. This means changing how we think about supporting the body (solution-focused) versus what is wrong with the body (problem-focused).

The “problem-focused” approach to Lyme places the emphasis on “fixing” a weak immune system. It’s like taking the reins from the immune system and fighting the battles for it.  This is more likely to put the patient into a victim mindset, disrespecting the body’s ability to heal itself.

VS

The solution-focused approach to Lyme disease takes into account an appreciation of the body’s healing capacity. It listens to what the symptoms are trying to say, and facilitates adaptability to stress.

Thinking differently about Lyme means incorporating the following foundational truths that need to be addressed in the healing process:

• Biological Terrain
• pH Balance
• Toxicity

Biological Terrain

Treatment for Lyme disease should not simply focus on killing a bug.  Lyme disease is far beyond a single infection and is, in fact, polymicrobial.  Studies confirm that there are many microbes involved and not just one to blame. For more information on this topic, check out our blog Discovering Valuable Clues in the New Polymicrobial Lyme Research.

However, the bug is actually not the problem.  With what we currently know from studying the microbiome of the body, Germ Theory no longer holds any weight.  Instead, the case for Terrain Theory strengthens by the day as the body of research builds. 

Simply put, Terrain Theory states that the microbes of our body change their behavior based off of the condition of our internal environment.  Microbes are not the cause of disease.  Instead, they only become problematic as the condition of the terrain degrades.  Conversely, the microbes become more symbiotic as the condition of the terrain improves.

“The germ is nothing; the terrain is everything.”  Louis Pasteur

We have far more bacteria in our colon alone that we have human cells.  In fact, bacterial cells outnumber our human cells, 10-to-1. 

Given this ratio, imagine walking down the street with ten other people.  These ten people can be our greatest friends and allies, or they can be our greatest foes. 

The environment we create determines how we relate to, and treat, these ten others, which will determine how they treat us.  This journey could be a fantastic one, headed toward health and vitality; or the onset of a path toward disease and complications. 

The microbes of our body are no different.  We need to culture an environment that drives connection and a healing relationship with our microbiome.

Our biological terrain is sensitive to changes based on our social life, our diet, how we handle stress, the toxic thoughts we tolerate, the quality of our sleep, and every other aspect of our lifestyle. 

Simply put, what we allow into our body, and into our life, changes our biological terrain, which determines the vitality of our body, or the virulence of the microbes.

pH Balance

Imbalances in pH are the single most influential factor to our biological terrain.  The more acidic our internal environment, the more negative and less symbiotic the microbiome becomes.

Our ability to regulate the billions of chemical reactions within each cell on a second-by-second basis, vastly depends on the acid-alkaline balance.  Acidic conditions shut down our biochemistry, inhibit our metabolism, and burden our mitochondria.

When this occurs, we are more likely to harbor toxins, feed pathogenic microbes, experience deeper depression or anxiety, feel more pain, and deliver less oxygen to our tissues.

Acidic environments allow bacteria to shift, via pleomorphism, into more virulent microbes.  Lyme disease is the perfect example of this.  Not only does an imbalanced pH make for a better tick bite target, but also raises the likelihood that our “soil” will allow Borrelia, Bartonella, Babesia, or Mycoplasma to wreak havoc in the body.

There’s a bit of a vicious cycle created when our gut microbes are our strongest allies to detoxify acid, but pH imbalances inhibit their ability to help.  Therefore, improving our terrain helps detoxify acids by leveraging the power of symbiosis between our cells and microbial cells. 

Toxicity

Lyme disease, at any stage, is preceded, triggered, and mediated by the toxic burden we carry.  These toxins are coming from both external and internal sources.

Most of us are plenty aware of the toxin-laden world we live.  Plastics have saturated the ocean water. It can even be detected in the sea salt we use in our kitchens.  The level of mold toxicity awareness is not where it should be. and our foods are becoming more chemical-doused and less nutrient-dense.

It is not a question of “if” we are full of environmental toxins. Rather “how” full we are? And “how” we are excreting them?

Environmental toxins create blockages in our biological terrain that inhibit regulation of our systems as well as communication between cells.  Our tissues and cellular engines don’t respond as well when toxins stand in the way.

If that wasn’t enough, there are a multitude of toxins that are produced within our bodies.  Carbon dioxide, free radicals, and potent acids are the everyday, every-second waste products that we produce.  An imbalance of just one of these may produce dis-ease and loss of function.

Ammonia, LPS, lactate, and hydrogen sulfide are prime examples of microbial-produced toxins that our body has the capacity to handle when systems are in balance.  However, these are some of the most potent and dangerous neurotoxins when optimal function goes awry.

Microbes, mostly living in our gut, produce these toxins as well as many other biochemicals.  Ammonia tends to receive most of the attention in relation to Lyme, but others can be just as neurotoxic.

As living, breathing organisms, the microbes of our body eat, drink, and go to the bathroom.  Not only does our body have to take out the garbage from our own cells, but it must also take care of the microbial garbage.

Negative shifts in the biological terrain further burden the body by creating more work for our detoxification pathways and energy-producing systems.   

Regardless of the source, internal and external intoxication corrupts the biological terrain’s ability to regulate body systems and adapt to stress. These two obstacles are major reasons why the neurological and immunological complications of Lyme are so insidious.

We must remember, there is nothing wrong with our body.  We are not at war with ourselves.  There is no battle to win.  We need to listen to our body as it guides us in the proper direction for complete healing.

We must think in terms of what our body is trying to tell us through its symptoms. What does it need to better adapt to the stressors it is experiencing?

Do you want to work with a practitioner who understands and thinks differently about chronic Lyme disease? Contact us today for a complimentary case review.