For people with bloating, indigestion, or gut toxicity from Lyme and co-infections
by Greg Lee

Have you ever had a small flood in your basement? My washing machine leaked a lot of water from a burst hose. After reading about how people getting sick from moldy buildings, my worst fears were giving me nightmares after I found several square feet of mold growing out of sight under some shelves.

How is a hidden mold colony similar to recurring digestion problems?

Just like a spreading mold problem, inflammation in the gut can develop in people with Lyme disease
Similar to mold that grows slowly out of sight, digestion discomfort can evolve slowly over time until it creates significant symptoms. Bertie experienced bloating, gas, and indigestion when he ate carbohydrates, greasy or sweet foods. After most meals, his belly was swollen, tender to the touch, and felt excessively full. After feeling worse after eating, he decided to give up those foods that increased his Lyme disease symptoms. Not only food but also medications for Lyme disease made his symptoms worse.

His symptoms would worsen on his antibiotic protocol
Bertie’s gut problems were aggravated whenever he rotated antibiotics. The toxic die off from drug treatment dramatically increased the tenderness and swelling in his gut. Biotoxins from Lyme disease and other tick infections have also been shown to increase the production of inflammatory compounds called cytokines¹. Some days the swelling would spread down his legs. He felt that his immune system was over-producing inflammation in response to his infection. Unfortunately, over the counter medications did little to relieve his symptoms.

Over the counter medications weren’t much help either
Antacids like Zantac and Prevacid didn’t help him to feel better. Gas-X and Bean-o helped a little with the gas. Dietary changes helped reduce symptoms however they would flare up with trigger foods or randomly for unknown reasons.

What else can help to relieve gut problems from a Lyme infections?

Here are five strategies that can help with reducing gut inflammation and discomfort
A combination of supplements, herbs, and treatments can help to reduce infection, toxicity and inflammation in the gut from a Lyme infection.

Strategy #1: Increase HCL to fight off microbes in the gut
As people age, they produce less hydrochloric acid (HCL)². Supplementing with HCL helped Bartie to better digest his trigger foods and reduce bloating, gas and inflammation. With HCL, he noticed a significant decrease in his symptoms that normally flared up with these foods. Aloe vera gel also helped to relieve inflammation and soothe his gut. Herbs also helped him to reduce the tenderness and swelling.

Strategy #2: Take herbs for reducing gut inflammation and detoxification
The herbs cnidium fruit and sophora have been used for hundreds of years to help people with gut problems due to multiple chronic infections.

Cnidium fruit, Chinese name: She Chuang Zi³
The properties of this herb are acrid, bitter, and warm. This herb treats weeping, itchy skin lesions in the lower part of the body, eczema, fungal skin infections, trichomoniasis, genital itching, vaginal discharge, hemorrhoids, scabies, and ringworm. Cnidium also treats low back pain, impotence and infertility.

This herb is contraindicated in patients with deficiency and excess heat in the lower part of the body. Cnidium inhibits Trichomonas vaginalis and some dematophytes. At the time of publication, no cautions or contraindications with medications have been discovered.

Sophora root, Chinese name: Ku Shen Gen⁴
The properties of this herb are bitter and cold. This herb clears heat and reduces inflammation and discharge in the lower part of the body. Sophora is also used to treat diarrhea, dysentery, foul smelling leukorrhea, genital itching, bleeding hemorrhoids, jaundice, and bleeding disorders. This herb is also used to treat dematological disorders, including itching, seepage, abscesses, urticaria, genital sores, leprosy, dysuria, and burning and pain with urination.

In clinical and animal studies, Sophora has been helpful in reducing arrhythmia characterized by excessive adrenaline, 62% of patients with arrhythmia successfully treated in another study, the alkaloids of this herb dilate blood vessels and increase blood perfusion to the cardiac muscles, lowered blood pressure and protected the heart from ischemia in one rabbit study, injections of d-oxymatrine increased white blood cells in mice, insomnia patients treated with 20 ml of a syrup of this herb reported greatly improved sleep, and relieved asthma in as short as one hour by stimulating the beta receptors of the sympathetic nervous system which relaxed the bronchioli. Sophora inhibits Bacillus dysentery, E. coli, Bacillus proteus, B-hemolytic streptococcus, and Staphylococcus aureus, and trichomonas. This herb is contraindicated in patients with coldness in the stomach. At the time of publication, no cautions or contraindications with medications have been discovered. In addition to herbs, gentle hand-on manipulation of the abdomen reduced inflammation.

Strategy #3: Move the inflammation out of the cells through visceral manipulation
Developed by osteopathic physicians, visceral manipulation uses gentle hands on pressure in the abdomen and over organs to relieve swelling, tenderness, and pain. When Bartie received visceral manipulation on his abdomen, he felt a tremendous increase of heat where he was being touched. After several minutes, the heat subsided and the tenderness to the touch was greatly reduced. His stomach felt less inflamed and less bloated. Not only does manipulation help, so does microcurrent treatment.

Strategy #4: Use Frequency Specific Microcurrent to reduce toxicity and inflammation in the gut and intestines
Bartie received Frequency Specific Microcurrent treatment to help his stomach and intestines, along with frequencies for neutralizing toxins, killing spirochetes, and reducing inflammation⁵. The swelling in his abdomen reduced fairly rapidly during his Frequency Specific Microcurrent sessions. Adding probiotics also helped reduce inflammation and improved elimination.

Strategy #5: Increase the amount of healthy probiotics through retention enemas
Bartie’s least favorite and yet a highly effective form of treatment was to give himself retention enemas at home. Inspired by the success of increasing healthy probiotics and reducing inflammation in the colon using fecal transplants⁶, Bartie was instructed to take an over-the-counter saline enema and dump out half the contents. He would add into the enema bottle over fifteen strains of over-the-counter probiotics and waited till they dissolved before self-administering his enemas. He held the enema in his rectum as long as he could. Since antibiotic therapy tends to wipe out probiotics like acidophilus or lactobacillus, he also included probiotic strains of S. boulardi and pediococcus which survive much better during antimicrobial drug treatment. He would sometimes add freeze dried garlic and tinctures of anti-parasite meds like clove and teasel root. His stool moved much more easily after each enema and he reported significantly less abdominal discomfort and inflammation. Multiple approaches help clean out inflammation, toxicity, and infection that can produce gut symptoms.

Using multiple approaches, patients report a significant reduction of gut discomfort
Similar to cleaning up a basement mold colony, the proper combination of treatments and herbs can help you to relieve gut inflammation and discomfort. Since some of these treatments come with cautions on their use, work with a Lyme literate complementary practitioner to develop a safe and effective strategy for healing gut problems.
– Greg

P.S. Do you have experiences where treatment or remedies helped you reduce gut discomfort and inflammation? Tell us about it.

>> Next step: Come to our evening lecture: Getting Rid of Lyme Disease in Frederick, Maryland on Monday September 9th at 6pm to learn more about treatments and remedies for digestion difficulties, troublesome infections, natural methods for reducing neurological problems, inflammation, and pain caused by Lyme disease, co-infections, and yeast. https://goodbyelyme.com/events/get_rid_lyme

1. Shoemaker, R. The Biotoxin Pathway. https://www.survivingmold.com/diagnosis/the-biotoxin-pathway
2. Payne, M. The Use of Bio-Photonic Modulation in Complex Conditions., Physician’s Round Table (PRT) in Tampa, Florida, January 26, 2012. https://lymebook.com/vogan-blog/?p=39
3. Chen, John K., and Tina T. Chen. 2004. Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology. City of Industry CA: Art of Medicine Press, Inc., pp. 1055 – 1056. https://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Medical-Herbology-Pharmacology-John/dp/0974063509
4. Chen, John K., and Tina T. Chen. 2004. Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology. City of Industry CA: Art of Medicine Press, Inc., pp. 150 – 152. https://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Medical-Herbology-Pharmacology-John/dp/0974063509
5. Frequency Specific Microcurrent Advanced Summary Protocols. https://www.frequencyspecific.com/faq.php#protocol
6. Kruis W. Specific probiotics or ‘fecal transplantation’. Dig Dis. 2012;30 Suppl 3:81-4. doi: 10.1159/000342611. Epub 2013 Jan 3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23295696

Image courtesy Chuck Marean and Coyau of wiki commons