ACAM Conference May 2006
The Scientific Conference of ACAM, the American College for Advancement in Medicine, which I attended May 4th-7th.
The conference title was:
Infection and Chronic Illness: Integrative Approaches to Lyme Disease, Stealth Infections and Inflammation
the Scientific Conference of ACAM, the American College for Advancement in Medicine, which I attended May 4th-7th.
The conference title was:
Infection and Chronic Illness: Integrative Approaches to Lyme Disease, Stealth Infections and Inflammation
Many of the nation’s leading Lyme’s Disease experts presented their research findings and impressions of the best approach to its evaluation and treatment.
Well-known Lyme’s expert Joseph Burrascano, MD presented a talk entitled,
“Pearls of Wisdom in the Diagnosis and Management of Lyme Disease. In his talk and those of other doctor’s who gave presentations, several important points were repeatedly emphasized and I would like to share them with you.
1. Lyme’s Disease as a ‘stealth” infection
This means that the signs and symptoms that Lyme’s disease may manifest itself as make it difficult for their doctors to diagnose. Patients may receive testing and treatment which overlooks the presence of Lyme’s disease. Thus, the diagnosis is overlooked for a long period of time, and any successful treatment-achieving outcome is made much more difficult.
We should be alert and suspicious of the possibility of Lyme’s disease when the following symptoms occur:
- Migratory joint pains- pains which come and go, appearing at different sites in the body, including heel pain.
- Muscle twitching.
- Cardiac manifestations include arrhythmia and palpitations.
- Sleep problems, psychiatric manifestations
- Bell’s palsy, headaches, and TMJ.
2. Co-infections
The tick, which transmits Lyme’s disease, may transmit infections other than the borrelia organism, which causes Lyme’s disease. These must be checked for and properly treated. Otherwise treatment of the patient will be incomplete and unsuccessful. These co-infections are babesiosis, erlichiosis, and bartonella.
3. The importance of False negative results in lab testing
Some of the biggest labs in the country are known to produce negative results for many people subsequently found to have Lyme’s disease. I highly recommend that if anyone has been suspicious of Lyme’s being a possibility, a specialized lab be used to recheck for Lyme’s disease as well as the “co-infections” which may be present.
4. The Role of Supportive Therapies
Many patients who need antibiotic treatment will seemingly get worse and simply not respond if their treatment consists only of antibiotics. Patients are affected in a number of ways which must also be evaluated and treated. Simply trying to rid the person of the infection with the use of antibiotics will often not result in a positive outcome if the patient’s immune system, hormonal balance, and other factors are not addressed. Taking into account nutritional support, and gastrointestinal factors (including yeast overgrowth from the use of antibiotics), can be vital to recovery.
Mark Levine, MD of the NIH (National Institute of Health) presented information related to Intravenous Vitamin C and spoke of his plans for an NIH associated study. Seeing this topic studied at NIH is something all of us in the nutritional Medicine community are all very excited about. Dr. Levine reviewed studies in the literature with regard to the use of Intravenous Vitamin C for support of cancer patients and its ability to inhibit cancer cells.
For more information about intravenous Vitamin C, I will remind my readers of a book that I did a review of in this newsletter a couple of years ago, “Vitamin C, Infectious Disease and Toxins, written by Thomas Levy, MD.” Anyone who would like a copy of that newsletter is welcome to call our office, and we will be happy to send it to you.
Patrick Quillan, PhD. author of Beating Cancer with Nutrition, spoke about the possible role of infection in cancer. This is particularly timely in view of the public’s growing awareness of the link between a virus (the papilloma virus) and cervical cancer which has led to the development of a vaccine that is hoped will be a lifesaving advancement. Nutritional approaches aimed at reducing the effect of toxic exposures, enhancing a person’s immune status and overall vitality, play a role in maintaining our optimal health to ward off any degenerative disease, as well as cancer.
SPRING, SUMMER, AND ALLERGIES.
It is being reported that the allergy season underway is one of the worst we’ve seen in years. Available at our office is testing and allergy desensitization without the need for “allergy shots.’ Please call for more information.