Helminthic therapy and Lyme disease

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Helminthic therapy can help with Lyme disease-related issues

The following report is from the doctor of a patient (also a physician) with Lyme disease who colonised herself with hookworms.

This case is of a forty five year old woman with severe allergies after being diagnosed and treated for acute lyme… The patient took matters into her own hands and acquired hookworms… Luckily she did not listen to my advice to immediately kill her worms. What I saw in her case was a rapid, consistent improvement over a few months to the point where the patient described herself as cured. This was in a case that nothing else had worked for... The case has continued to improve to the point where the patient feels improvement even after two years. The patient now feels better than even before infecting herself with hookworms. Including symptoms that existed prior to the initial lyme infection. These included joint problems, and hormonal problems and sleep problems, and various food allergies and sensitivities that have been resolved directly as a result of her hookworm use. (Link expired)

Effect on related autoimmune symptoms

My son's Lyme is in remission, he is doing very well. (Now using NA after starting with TSO.) I would say if Lyme disease is accompanied by any autoimmune issues, then HT is worth pursuing. [1]

Effect on related allergies

With our son's raging Lyme infection going undiagnosed for 8+ years, we did not have the luxury of knowing that he had Lyme when he was treated with HW. He had been seeing an allergy specialist for two + years, and that was not successful; we turned to HT in desperation. Six months, almost to the day, he was basically allergy free, and has remained so. I am convinced that the Lyme compromised an otherwise healthy immune system and made him susceptible to uncontrolled allergies. As his HW have aged, we have made progress on the Lyme and I think his system in coming back, somewhat into balance. HT made a huge difference… alleviating some of his suffering. [2]

Overall effect on living with Lyme

(This writer had been hosting NA for several years before getting Lyme.) I can’t say whether I am worse, same or better than I would be if I were not on HT, but I do know that my overall immunity has seemed powerful (yeah, except for the tick stuff!) and resilient ever since I started. I have had one cold and one food poisoning in 8 years. I still get migraines and if I overdo it or get really stressed the tick pathogens bring me low, but I bounce back. I now see them as barometers / self-care canaries in the coal mine! [3]

Possible effect on Post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS)

Ten percent of patients whose Lyme disease has been successfully treated with antibiotics go on to develop Post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS) which has been linked with widespread brain inflammation. [4] Helminthic therapy may provide a safe option for treating this inflammation.

Considerations when using helminths in patients with Lyme disease

There are two problems for anyone with Lyme disease who is considering the use of helminthic therapy.

Firstly, a chronic infection such as HIV, hepatitis, herpes or Lyme disease might actually be made worse as a result of hosting helminths, especially in the early stages after the initial inoculation. (See Helminthic therapy and chronic infections.) For this reason, some helminth providers may be reluctant to supply worms to someone with this disease, although this will depend on the details of each individual case.

Secondly, the treatment of Lyme disease has traditionally involved prolonged antibiotic use. While these drugs would generally not present a problem for users of the two non-human helminths, TSO and HDC, they would render human helminths ineffective. Therefore, if someone with Lyme disease were intent on using NA or TTO, they would need to treat the disease before starting helminthic therapy. However, there are alternatives to the use of antibiotics in the treatment of Lyme disease.

Beyond Antibiotics: Newer Alternative Approaches to Chronic Lyme Disease Treatment

While some alternatives to antibiotics can also be harmful to helminths (see Helminth care), others are not. For example, whole leaf stevia extract is harmless to helminths yet has been shown in test tube studies to be effective against all known morphological forms of the Lyme pathogen and its biofilms, and performed better than antibiotics.

Effectiveness of Stevia Rebaudiana Whole Leaf Extract Against the Various Morphological Forms of Borrelia Burgdorferi in Vitro -- Full text | PDF

Essential oils have also proved to be very effective against the persister stage of Lyme disease, and one study has identified several essential oils that have strong activity against the persisters. The most active of these is garlic, which completely eradicated the dormant persisters that were not killed by the current Lyme antibiotics, and they did so, with no regrowth, at only 0.05%.

Identification of Essential Oils with Strong Activity against Stationary Phase Borrelia burgdorferi -- Full text | PDF

While antibiotics generally have no adverse effect on the non-human helminth, TSO, it is possible that Ciprofloxacin might "slow down" this species somewhat, although the drug should not completely inhibit it. (See Caring for TSO.)