There are basic steps that everyone with Lyme disease should take to remove toxins. Toxins come from Lyme germs, yeast and bacteria in the intestines, food and air, and chemical reactions in our cells. Herbal and prescription anbtiotics and other medications can have toxic effects too.
When the immune system sees toxins it makes inflammation chemicals called cytokines. Cytokines cause fatigue, immune system dysfunction, hormone problems, body pain, thinking dysfunction, and many other problems. This article describes the fundamental steps to take for detoxification. For most these are the only detoxification steps that are necessary. In certain situations where these fundamental steps are not enough then one could consider using coffee enemas, saunas or hot baths (see Far Infrared Sauna Detox: More Than Sweat), or toxin binders like cholestyramine, chorella, or fractionated pectin (see Mold and Lyme Toxin Illness).
Don't put toxins in. Start with your diet. Eat organic foods. These do not contain harmful poisons. Also use green cleaning supplies. The fumes and gasses of toxic cleaning supplies get absorbed into the blood stream through the lungs.
It's about the liver and intestines. From the blood, toxins are cleaned out of the body by the liver. The liver transforms toxins from fat-based forms to water-based forms by tagging them with water-based chemical groups. In the intestines the tagged toxins are then moved out of our bodies through the stools. However, if a person does not have regular bowel movements, bacteria in the intestines can remove the water-based tag. If this happens the now fat-based toxins can be reabsorbed into the blood. Fiber in the diet and water intake promote regular bowel movements. In addition fiber can bind the fat-based toxins so that they do not get reabsorbed.
This recording is a Lyme Byte from our webinar Conversations with Marty Ross MD recorded 05/28/2014.
Liver detoxification requires adequate micronutrients and glutathione the master detoxification agent found in all of our cells.
Support liver detox with a good multivitamin, increase glutathione using liposomal glutathione or if not tolerated then N-Acetyl Cysteine and Alpha Lipoic Acid. Take 5-MTHF and Methylcobalmin if you also have an MTHFR detoxification defect.
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