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(First published December 21, 2010)
Where can the truth be found?
It has been eight months since I was first diagnosed with "possible" Lyme disease. My last report in June discussed how the conditions had settled in with swollen joints, numb hands, odd behavior from my neurology system and frustration finding the truth about the bacteria.
As for the treatment, nothing seemed to be doing anything more than keeping me from getting worse so I then turned to the Eastern and ancient medical treatments and I found a 76 year old Chinese Doctor who has been practicing traditional Chinese medicine for over 55 years.
Dr. Shi-hua Wu, CMD, OMD is a professor of Traditional Chinese medicine, a US licensed Acupuncturist & Herbologist and a Clinical Consultant in Acupuncture & Herbology, quite a list of credentials for the diminutive doctor from China who works out of Chinatown in Washington, DC.
According to the professionals who came to my rescue in late November, Dr. Wu probably saved my life because unbeknownst to me, at the time I found him after several months of no progress in getting better, the weakness throughout my body was causing my organs to begin failing. That was in late September.
The numb hands led to nerve problems and two areas of pinched nerves in my spine which started after I got the disease and left me with occasional problems standing, walking and climbing steps. By October it had been months since I was in public and I had no intention of being seen as I looked like a drunken sailor trying to walk and I didn't even drink.
Dr. Wu formulated an extra-ordinary herbal tea for my condition using 24-28 Chinese herbs and requiring me to follow a full page of preparation instructions taking several hours to make a weeks supply. He also began twice a week acupuncture at his Chinatown office. He would study my condition each visit and put in 35-65 needles depending on what he found. He also gave me some other herbs to take daily.
If you know ancient Chinese medicine, to over simplify it, the intent is to restore your body to full functioning by bringing your body into balance. With a history of 2000 to 3000 years, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has formed a unique system to diagnose and cure illness. The TCM approach is fundamentally different from that of Western medicine. In TCM, the understanding of the human body is based on the holistic understanding of the universe as described in Daoism, and the treatment of illness is based primarily on the diagnosis and differentiation of syndromes.
The TCM approach treats zang--fu organs as the core of the human body. Tissue and organs are connected through a network of channels and blood vessels inside human body. Qi (or Chi) acts as some kind of carrier of information that is expressed externally through jingluo system. Pathologically, a dysfunction of the zang-fu organs may be reflected on the body surface through the network, and meanwhile, diseases of body surface tissues may also affect their related zang or fu organs. Affected zang or fu organs may also influence each other through internal connections. Traditional Chinese medicine treatment starts with the analysis of the entire system, then focuses on the correction of pathological changes through readjusting the functions of the zang-fu organs.
Evaluation of a syndrome not only includes the cause, mechanism, location, and nature of the disease, but also the confrontation between the pathogenic factor and body resistance. Treatment is not based only on the symptoms, but differentiation of syndromes. Therefore, those with an identical disease may be treated in different ways, and on the other hand, different diseases may result in the same syndrome and are treated in similar ways.
The clinical diagnosis and treatment in Traditional Chinese Medicine are mainly based on the yin-yang and five elements theories. These theories apply the phenomena and laws of nature to the study of the physiological activities and pathological changes of the human body and its interrelationships. The typical TCM therapies include acupuncture, herbal medicine, and qigong exercises. With acupuncture, treatment is accomplished by stimulating certain areas of the external body. Herbal medicine acts on zang-fu organs internally, while qigong tries to restore the orderly information flow inside the network through the regulation of Qi. These therapies appear very different in approach yet they all share the same underlying sets of assumptions and insights in the nature of the human body and its place in the universe. Some scientists describe the treatment of diseases through herbal medication, acupuncture, and qigong as an "information therapy".
The work performed by Dr. Wu became far more important as October rolled around and there were strange environmental factors that came into play. A persistent but undetected propane leak filtered into my house over several months and the silent gas, which cannot be smelled, poisoned me. At the same time a year of extreme rain had left the area filled with mold from the standing water and the fact the Potomac River was running at extremely high tides since early spring. Yet another complication for my weakened state.
Then there was the torrid heat wave starting when I got sick last May and extending through the entire summer meaning constant air conditioning in a closed in house that was contaminated by leaking propane and mold spores. Add to that the tragic death of my 250 pound Irish Wolfhound after two weeks of infection whose cause has never been identified, an infection so powerful it caused a 107 degree fever and stopped my dog from being able to stand in spite of the best treatment possible from his vet. After nearly two weeks in which I had to treat him, move him and feed him by trying to shove his massive weight around as I was too weak to lift him, he died in my arms.
By that time I was unable to even stand from the sheer exhaustion and dual emotions of fighting my own serious health problems while trying to save my best friend and protector. When he died it was the lowest point I can remember in my life. Though Dr. Wu was keeping me alive, the new environmental issues and death of Coolin magnified everything that was going wrong.
Sensing my rapidly weakening condition just before Thanksgiving my brothers came out from Kentucky and took me back for extensive treatment that would finally help me turn the corner and start healing. Once in Lexington and under the care of Debbie Alsheimer, a functional medicine practitioner and founder of Prospect Health Solutions.
It is the belief of people like Debbie that diet, nutrition and exposure to environmental toxins play a central role in the function of the body because they may predispose your body to illness, provoke symptoms and modulate the activity of biochemical mediators. What does that mean? Here is my lay person interpretation of what Dr. Debbie does after spending three weeks under her intensive care.
She uses a very sophisticated bio-feedback machine with the ability to analyze 10,000 frequencies in the cells of your body. It is based on earlier work of Nikola Tesla and Royal Rife in using electrical frequencies to destroy invasive cells in our bodies and bring our bodies back into balance. Her work involves the extraordinary combination of Eastern Traditional Chinese Medicine with Chinese herbology, acupuncture, Western Medicine and Intuitive analysis.
The result is a microbiologic analysis of the cell structure identifying cells and organs that are damaged or corrupted and then developing a protocol to return your body to balance. Sickness or disease resulting from abnormal cell activity caused by bacteria, virus, fungi or parasites is her passion and specialty and there is none more mysterious than the Borrelia bacteria found in Lyme.
Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are microscopic, unicellular, and cell-cluster organisms. This includes eukaryotes such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes. Viruses and prions, though not strictly classed as living organisms, are also studied. Microbiology typically includes the study of the immune system, or Immunology. Generally, immune systems interact with pathogenic microbes; these two disciplines often intersect which is why many colleges offer a paired degree such as "Microbiology and Immunology". Microbiology is a broad term which includes virology, mycology, parasitology, bacteriology and other branches. A microbiologist is a specialist in microbiology and these other topics.
Previous articles I have written on the subject have detailed the difficulty of Western Medicine in identifying Lyme, the common misdiagnoses of Lyme as one of the 100 or so diseases it can mimic, and the failure to recognize and destroy the parasites that protect the Lyme bacteria from antibodies. I have also written about the incredible explosion of drug resistant cells now attacking our bodies as a result of the failure of our immune systems to operate properly due to the inability of Western Medicine to protect us.
The very nature of life in America requires a broad based approach to the diagnoses and treatment of diseases, especially in light of the proliferation of drug resistant illnesses rapidly affecting Americans. Add to that the severe environmental deviations we may encounter including physical location, exposure to air and water pollution, long term effects of fertilizers and pesticides on food supply, radiation exposure from television, cell phones, cell towers, computers, x rays, MRI, Cat scans, and excessive prescriptions for antibodies and vaccination protocols.
That still leaves the biggest sin of all - our personal health in America - our lack of proper diet and healthy eating. Every one of these factors contributes to the destruction of our immune system and it would be nearly impossible to find someone with a fully functioning immune system. Because of the over-prescription of antibodies and other drugs our bodies have developed a resistance to traditional Western medical treatment for diseases and these drug resistant cells that evolve are the greatest danger yet to successful health treatment and health maintenance.
People like Debbie Alsheimer understand the changing nature of our microbiology and the need to attack the problem from multiple disciplines using the best of Eastern Chinese medicine and acupuncture along with ancient herbs and Western Medicine techniques if we are to have a chance to rebuild our immune systems and be healthy again.
As a result of her efforts and that of Dr. Wu I am finally reversing the trend and recovering. Both found that Lyme was not the only problem I had in spite of my relatively good health before I got sick. It had been 26 years since I last saw or needed a doctor.
The remnant nerve problems and some parasite presence are the last of the Lyme issues to resolve and both are being treated with Chinese herbs, acupuncture and physical therapy. My goal is to be completely free of Lyme and other problems detected within four months, to have restored my immune system to be much stronger than before I got sick, and to be back on the golf course by spring.
If you are a victim of Lyme, or have fallen sick from some unidentified disease or "bug", you should contact Debbie or Dr. Wu for help. Of course if you were really smart you would contact them before you get sick. Both have the ability to read signs of impending problems in your body before they are detectable by conventional medical exams. You can reach them at the following.
Dr. Shi-hua Wu
Phone (202) 789-5466
Debbie Alsheimer
Phone (502) 290-9070
Email http://www.prospecthealthsolutions.com
Finally, I have created a blog containing the complete Lyme Disease series of seven articles I wrote so you can read them in one place. The link is
http://lymediseasesecretpandemic.blogspot.com/ /
and please share this link with anyone who might benefit from the series.
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