Danbury: Lyme Conference

I attended this conference at the last moment, to work a PANDAS table (or half of one) with a fellow PANDAS/Lyme mom/advocate. We shared the other half of the table with a very engaging chiropractor/Functional Medicine Practitioner who offers a treatment to manage neurotransmitters. I am very interested in learning more aobut this.

I sat in for Dr. Stephen Phillips' presentation. Sadly, I left just as Dr. Robert Bransfield was about to speak. I admire him greatly; we brought my son to him. Dr. Bransfield has written many important articles about the neuropsychiatric symptoms of Lyme Disease. He even attended a PANDAS Legislative meeting in Hartford, Ct. But it was 8:30 PM and I was already tired (and had to get up at 6 this morning to go teach.) 

Here are some highlights from Dr. Phillips' talk. Any mistakes are mine. All links are mine. Dr. Phillips is quite knowledgeable and presented a good deal of information. He seemed to me to be a doctor who treats aggressively, someone who looks for clinical evidence, and a medical practitioner who is not afraid to risk angering the staid medical community that still abides by CDC guidelines in his quest to heal people.

*It's uncommon to just get infected with borrelia. There are almost always co-infections involved, even if they don't show up on blood tests.

*Erlichea--you can get rid of it.

*Anaplasma--is also more easily treated.

*Bartonella has over 25 strains but we only test for 2! Bartonella is also more drug-resistant than other diseases/infections. Babesia is also more challenging to treat.

*Dr. Phillips has treated over 100 patients who are also doctors since 1996, but only 3 or 4 of the will treat Lyme Disease. Many doctors don't want to deal with Lyme Disease.

*There are many studies, even conducted by IDSA (Infectious Disease Society of America) researchers that prove that Lyme and co. do not leave the body after a few weeks of antibiotics. Electro microscopy and PCR hae found evidence of Lyme. There are several NIH sponsored studies that demonstrate that antibiotics, given for a short time, do not cure the person of Lyme. Yet IDSA doctors still treat with just a few weeks of antibiotics.

*It is "an egregious oversight in the IDSA guidelines," said Dr. Phillips.

*"You don't believe in Lyme? It's not a religion," he said. "You can't ignore the facts."

*Lyme isn't always in the blood. It can be found in cysts, now referred to as "round bodies." Plaquenil kills these round bodies. 

*In one case history, Rifampin, given for 2 months, reduced psoriasis. Why don't rheumatologists use antibiotics more often if so many studies show they work for arthritis (and psoriasis?)

*Fluconazole gets right into the brain.

*There is a high correlation between MS and Lyme and Fibromyalgia and Lyme. Lyme can be indistinguishable from MS, and is a likely cause of MS. There have been many studies conducted that prove this. So, as Dr. Phillips questioned, why isn't THIS on the cover of the NY Times?

Note: it was wonderful to see several of the doctors who are treating my family there. Dr. Charles Ray Jones attended, most probably to give his support to the presenters. He received a standing ovation.