Lyme and Chronic Illness Resources

Hello Loves!

I created this page to offer any help I can to those going through Lyme or other chronic illnesses or pain, and to share the things that have helped me.  After a year of mostly detox and gut treatments, I am just beginning my actual direct treatment of the Lyme, but over the years prior to diagnosis and in this first year I have learned some totally life-changing things about how to heal from Lyme and have much to share!

Brain Fog Note:

I know how it is.  It can be hard to read a lot, keep up with details, and be on the computer.  Additionally if you are at the beginning of your journey all the information can feel totally overwhelming and you may not be sure where to begin or what is worth really investing your energy checking out.

Also, if you have been at this for a long time you may feel so burnt out, but this information could give you a new avenue to explore that could massively contribute to or bring about your healing.

So, to help with overwhelm and brain fog if you are feeling it, a recommendation would be printing this page out if you can and reading it offline, then putting a star by the items or links that you want to come back and check out.  After that just come back again and again until you have checked out everything you wanted to.  The link to get back here is: www.jenniferposada.com/lyme

One more note:

Please know that I deeply respect that each person’s journey healing from Lyme is different, and my way may not be your way in some or all areas!  A lot of this information would help anyone, anywhere, but I wanted to say that I always, always tell people to check in with what feels right to them, about everything.

Ooh wait, one more note…just to be sure you know I am not a doctor or health practitioner of any kind and please talk to whomever you need to, when you feel like you need to, before implementing any major health changes.

Step One: Love, Self-Love, Intuition and Sexuality…

The first thing you should know that saves me every day is the love of my beautiful husband, and living my very own teachings.  Practicing the self-love I teach, being deeply in touch with my intuition, and tapping my life force and sexual energy has all been more profoundly helpful than I can possibly say.

You can view all of my courses here, but I most highly recommend my Essential Self-Love Course (which is also pay-what-you-want…so helpful when you have enough expenses as it is!)

More of my Story:

If you want to know more about my journey with Lyme, and my deepest approach to healing, you can curl up with a cup of tea and read:

The Pearl Ring

Off the Hook

In my Blood

You can also watch my video:  Spirituality and Illness/Suffering

Furthermore, on the healing power of love and self-healing, check out these books:

Mind Over Medicine by Lissa Rankin

(note: this is the most important book I could possibly recommend on the subject of healing.  I can’t speak highly enough of what a good starting point this is for your journey or continued journey.  It is also the perfect context for why what I teach about self-love and pleasure is so healing for anyone who follows my work.)

Love 2.0 by Barbara Fredrickson

This book will show you why loving connection is so healing and how to have it even if you do not have close loved ones right now.  When you understand the body’s definition of love, positivity resonance, and how it can heal you life will never be the same.

Step Two: Hydration, Gut, Detox, Diet, Movement, Lymph

Hydration:  I know you have probably heard all about how important water is, especially when you are detoxifying.  But did you know that some people don’t even consider it hydration unless you add electrolytes?  Drinking about half your body weight in ounces of electrolyte-enhanced water could change your life and is a crucial first step.  I love the Eidon electrolytes, or the MicroMinerals and Matrix Electrolytes mixed together from Biopure, but you can easily accomplish this deeper hydration and the addition of electrolytes by simply adding pink himalayan salt to your water (to taste)!  You could start right now and get that hydration deeper into your cells right away!  : )

Bowel Movements and Gut:  Next, it is super important to be having regular bowel movements and address the gut.  Your gut treatment will depend on what your health practitioner may find that needs addressing (parasites? fungal or bacterial overgrowth?  leaky gut?)  In terms of your daily bowel movements, one is crucial and three is ideal.  Adjusting your diet if needed (see below), eating high fiber foods, and hydration are key.

A key for my husband and I has been enemas, coffee enemas, and colonics.  These can SAVE THE DAY if you are really suffering during treatment.  Apparently already having regular bowel movements and ideal hydration is important before moving from water enemas to coffee enemas, but coffee enemas are so powerful that I always feel like I get a little bit of myself back from toxicity every time I do one.  Colonics have been absolute game-changers.  Look for a colon hydrotherapy practitioner who is experienced and who you feel comfortable with for sure!

Diet:  So, basically a clean diet is SUPER helpful for healing Lyme (and healing in general of course!)  Whether you want to go more in the raw vegan or paleo direction is a super personal choice.  For me, going back to eating meat was a crucial step during healing though I would prefer not to eat it, but either way the most important thing is to see if you can adopt a low-allergenic diet and/or avoid your particular food sensitivities (which you would discover either through testing, or an “elimination diet” which is the most effective way.)

I started by coming off gluten and dairy six or seven years ago and have explored coming off of just about everything at different times since.  I am currently trying and really liking The AutoImmune Paleo Diet (the book The Paleo Approach is the “bible” of this diet from what I understand…I am only a few chapters in at the moment.)

If all that detail is overwhelming I recommend just trying to eat as many whole foods as you can…(foods that are still shaped the way they grew, and fewer things from packages.)  I like to eat intuitively most of all (it just so happens that my intuition is currently telling me to do the AIP diet mentioned above! : )

Having said that I have to mention that I have met people whose entire pain syndrome went away coming off of gluten.  (Like really off it completely, checking for it in unsuspected places like sauces, etc.)  These people didn’t even have celiac disease!  The same can go for other major allergens at times.  Another important note though, is that once you heal your gut you may not be sensitive or allergic to the foods you once were! So if it helps to know that you may not be removing certain foods permanently, it’s often true!

Detox:  Here is the secret to not herxing…detox!!!  The more detox support you have the less you will have the herxheimer (die-off) reactions that can make Lyme treatment so harrowing.  (you may need your health practitioner to test you for any genetic variations that relate to detoxification to provide optimal support)

Detox Therapies I use:

Water or Coffee enemas  (see my note about the helpful “pre-requisites” for coffee enemas above)

Colonics  (aka Colon Hydrotherapy)

Dry Skin Brushing

Neti Pot

Castor Oil Packs

Oil Pulling

Sauna (most people say infrared saunas are the best, I use the regular one I have access to.)

Binders (that bind toxins to move them out of the body) such as Chlorella, Clay, and Charcoal (helpful to have guidance with which ones are right for you and when.)

Lymph Support (see below)

Your Amazing Lymphatic System

I wish someone had told me long ago about the power of the lymph system, or how many of my symptoms have pointed to congested lymph (including all-over body pain,) but I am SO glad I know about it now!  In fact I heard someone use this term the other day and I have to say it fits…I am a lymphomaniac now!  : )

Basically your lymph system not only flushes toxic waste from the body but is crucial for immune function.  Stagnant lymph can cause, among many other things, widespread pain in the body.

Learn more about Lymph in the “Core Program” at LymeLessLiveMore.com where there is a great interview about the Lymphatic System.  You can also do their late-summer cleanse (which has a lymph focus) or they have other seasonal cleanses as well which I haven’t tried.  (Just a side note, there was a time that things got uncomfortable in the online group and I felt that the organizers weren’t very sensitive…I feel it wouldn’t be right to refer people to this program without mentioning it, but the material itself and the spirit with which it is generally shared is incredible.)

What I do to move my lymph:

Rebounding (see notes about this below)

Movement daily (I like Nia) and short movement breaks after I have been sitting.

Dry Brushing

Self-Lymphatic Massage

Sauna

Lymphatic Drainage with a professional

There are some herbs which may be helpful depending on each person’s case.  Good to check with your holistic health practitioner.

About Movement:

I know, for some of you it hurts or isn’t always/at all possible to move and exercise.  But one thing this illness has taught me is that there are more options than I thought, and the way it can get your lymph moving can be life-changing.  I used to think I needed a routine or super-padded shoes (which certainly for some activities you do.)  I had always loved the simple beauty of walking or free-style dancing in my living room, but now I am even more aware of just being able to do a simple walk-in-place, or dance moves on the way as I get what I need in the kitchen.  I have just incorporated more movement as and when I can to my life in general.  I take breaks when I sit a long time to just ever-so-gently move for a few minutes, and then use my most lubricated time of day (late afternoon/evening for me) to do more of my dancing and longer walks then.  I am also in love with my rebounder (mini trampoline) to help move my lymph.  I started SUPER gentle with 10 or 20 seconds per day and built up to two minutes several times a day.  The reason to start gentle is that it can create a strong detox (you’ll know if you feel dizzy or nauseous that you need to do less and build up really slowly…)

If you can hardly move:

I have heard some fantastic suggestions about doing gentle bouncing just sitting on a yoga ball, or if you can’t sit it helps to wiggle your toes or just move your big toe back and forth since, as I understand it, 80% of the lymph pumping action in the body happens in the big toe hinging.

Also it is possible to start by moving gently in water if you can arrange that, since that has zero impact and makes you weightless.  Some people in extreme pain and with almost no ability to move have rehabilitated themselves by starting to barely move underwater and building from there.

More Pieces of the Puzzle:

The following items can be super crucial in Lyme treatment, especially if treating your Lyme has not been successful here are some things that might need to be addressed before you can heal:

a.  Cavitations or other dental infections.  This is critical.  Find a holistic dentist who ALSO diagnoses and treats cavitations (also called “focal infections”) and get checked out.  For a lot of people addressing these infections gives their bodies the edge to finally allow Lyme treatment to be effective.

b.  Parasites…they are not just intestinal and the testing for intestinal parasites is frequently super ineffective.  See this article:

Parasites and Worms: The New Lyme Disease Coinfection?

(p.s. of course you’ll be looking at other coinfections you may have with your Lyme, such as babesia or bartonalla, and their treatment with your health practitioner.)

c.  Learn about HPU/KPU as almost all Lyme patients apparently have it and it can impede healing drastically.  See this article:

KPU/HPU: A Major Piece of the Puzzle in Overcoming Chronic Lyme Disease

d. Metals

Your health practitioner may test you for heavy metals and set up a protocol to clear them…it is super important to have guidance when detoxing heavy metals so you don’t just displace them into your organs which is more damaging.  Also, see a holistic dentist if you have mercury fillings that need to be replaced, and make sure your health practitioner agrees that it is a good time for you to do it and gives you a protocol to detox while you go through that process.

e.  Mold

Make sure you don’t live somewhere moldy or have dealt with any ongoing issues from past mold exposure…this article is excellent at giving you the picture of mold illness and treatment and also how to truly test your home.

Mold and Mycotoxins: Often Overlooked Factors in Chronic Lyme Disease

The Public Health Alert site, which my friend Shelley founded, is incredible as a resource in general.

What has helped me with pain and inflammation:  (my saving graces)

Desert Bloom Nopal Cactus Juice

Soooo…this stuff tastes awful, is super expensive, and has preservatives in it, but it’s true that this fermented form is more powerful and the anti-inflammatory and adaptogenic properties are incredible.  I would say this reduces my pain by 50%.  You can see it here or buy it on amazon.

CBD

Okey dokey…cannabis is a whole huge area of healing I will mention below in more detail, but CBD is a cannabinoid extracted from the cannabis plant that is very anti-inflammatory, and because when extracted on its own it has no THC it is legal in all 50 states.  Lidtke is a brand that has some great products you can order from anywhere:  http://store.lidtke.com/collections/cannabidiol-cbd  (I like the one with tumeric. : )

Also, medical marijuana patients get a variety of choices that may be stronger, and some of these options might be at recreational cannabis shops as well in states where they are legal.

The Biomat

The biomat is pricey but a god-send.  It is incredible for pain, healing and detoxifying.  No more sleepless nights of pain for me (though those have reduced in number greatly anyway) because I can always go to the biomat if things get bad.  So incredibly helpful.

Zyflamend and Zyflammend Nighttime supplements by New Chapter

For daily inflammation support.

Lyme and Cannabis

Apparently cannabis and cannabis products can not only help with symptoms for Lyme, but in some forms can even treat it because its bactericidal properties.  This is revolutionary news.  Check out these videos:

Find a second amazing video about a woman’s journey with Lyme and cannabis here…

The best resource possible on the subject is my friend Shelley’s (from the video above) amazing book:  Cannabis for Lyme Disease and Related Conditions (you can also get it on Amazon, etc.)  I can not overstate how incredible this book is and how many conditions it talks about as well…it is unbelievable how much this maligned plant could heal our bodies and world.

Tapping

I have found tapping (aka “Emotional Freedom Technique”) incredibly helpful for any times of anxiety, working through old trauma (though if it is particularly traumatic it can be helpful to work with an EFT practitioner) and even help with physical pain, insomnia and more.  I particularly enjoy the videos (and book) of Nick Ortner which you can find here.  You can learn to do this in minutes (though you refine your skills as you go) and it can be an easy, low-impact, free and beautiful way to heal and find relief.

More Books, Articles and Videos:

Healing Lyme, by Stephan Buhner

This is the go-to book for healing lyme with herbs and one of the cornerstones of my current treatment.

Freedom from Lyme, by Bryan Rosner

I have not completed this book but it has great chapters on parasites and the most clear info in book form I have ever seen on HPU/KPU (see my mention about that above.)

Why Can’t I get Better?, by Richard Horowitz, MD

I haven’t finished this one either, but everyone seems to agree that it is a foundational work on the many angles from which Lyme must be treated.

Articles:

It’s super helpful to know why some Lyme patients call themselves “spoonies”…

The Spoon Theory

This is a great article to share with loved ones…