Sunday, April 21, 2013

An Update on my Health: 6 Month after Returning from Germany

It's been over 6 months since my return from Germany.  I have received on a number of occasions emails from readers of the blog inquiring about my state of health since my last blog entry.  As such, I will try to address those questions through this post.

Unfortunately, I do not have any good news to report -- I have not felt better and did not noticed any lasting benefit from the treatment I received in Germany last year.  Does that mean the photon treatment and Dr. Woitzel's clinic was a scam?  No, far from it.  As I mentioned previously, I knew going into the treatment that it is not a silver bullet.  In fact, I don't think there is ever going to be a silver bullet when it comes to Lyme disease treatment.  I have witnessed the treatment having helped a number of patients with my own eyes while I was there, so I know for a fact that it works.  But does that mean it works 100% of the time?  Of course not; and neither did the clinic make that claim.

Does it work 95% or even 90% of the time as claimed by some literature in my research prior to the trip?  From what I have seen, I doubt that is the case.  I think the number is probably closer to 50%.  Regardless, 50% is still a very good number of people who have tried everything and nothing seem to have helped.

In any case, the point that I'm trying to make is that the treatment did not work for me, but it doesn't mean it is a scam as some would argue.  I have a suspicion that heavy metal toxicity (i.e., mercury, lead, etc.) might have a central role to play in blocking the treatment's effectiveness.  Since returning from Germany, I have spent quite some time on researching the causes and treatments for mercury toxicity -- not just the common knowledge on the subject such as silver amalgams and large fish being the sources, or chelation through the various protocols such as the Cutler protocol or DMPS IV chelation (I've done them all), but the deeper reasons and mechanisms for one to accumulate heavy metals and the ways to reverse that.

I stumbled upon the subject of methylation during my research, and I think this is it.  For starters, please check out an excellent report written by Scott Forsgren from a few years ago.  Here is another helpful article on methylation and Lyme.  It is a very good primer on what the methylation cycle is and why it is important.  The subject of methylation is a very complex one, and currently I am in the process of arranging for the various blood and urine tests to give me the roadmap on how to tackle any deficiencies.  I am convinced this is a hugely important piece of the puzzle for the chronic Lyme sufferers in their search for recovery.


All in all, I have not lost hope yet.  Despite having suffered for some 12 years and failing almost all Lyme disease treatments under the sun, there is still hope.  At one point shortly after coming back from Germany last year, I was overwhelmed by a sense of loss, sadness, and disappointment due to the lack of any improvements, despite having spent a significant amount of saving to make the trip.  In the abyss of hopelessness, I prayed to the Lord for His guidance.  Shortly afterwards, I came across the subject of methylation and it stuck out to me for some reason I couldn't explain.  After digging into the subject further, I now believe this was the answer to my prayer that the Lord has prepared for me.

I will continue to keep you posted in the days to come on my journey.  Stay tuned.