As a part of traveling to a developing nation, we are often required to take medical precautions. This generally includes a line-up of shots for various diseases, a few other tests, and various regimens of prophylaxis for possible diseases. I have often left these doctors appointments with a line of band-aids on my arm, a handful of prescriptions and a little weakness in my knees. However, I will readily admit that my malaria prophylaxis is often pushed to the back burner; in fact the last time I went to a developing nation, I didn’t even get the malaria prophylaxis until I was in the country and I didn’t even bother taking it for the prescribed amount of time. However, as I readily admit my shortsightedness in the past, I have become more aware of the chronic conditions that can be caused by a single malaria infection,anemia, enlargement of the spleen, emaciation, mental depression, sallow complexion, edema of ankles, feeble digestion, muscular weakness,
Acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans (ACA) is the third or late stage of European Lyme borreliosis (LB). This unusual, progressive, fibrosing skin process is due to the effect of continuing active infection with Borrelia afzelii. Buchwald first delineated it in 1883; Herxheimer and Hartmann described it in 1902 as a tissue paper–like cutaneous atrophy. It is evident on the extremities, particularly on the extensor surfaces, beginning with an inflammatory stage with bluish red discoloration and cutaneous swelling and concluding several months or years later with an atrophic phase. Sclerotic skin plaques may also develop. Physicians should use serologic and histologic examination to confirm this diagnosis.
Pathophysiology: B afzelii is the predominant, but may not be the exclusive, etiologic agent of ACA. Another genospecies of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex, Borrelia garinii, has also been detected.
ACA is the only form of LB in which no spontaneous remission occurs. Its pathophysiology is not yet fully understood. ACA appears to be associated with long-term persistence of Borrelia organisms in the skin; several nonspecific reactions together with a specific immune response may contribute to its manifestations.
The persistence of the spirochetes despite a marked cutaneous T-cell infiltration and high serum antibody titers may be connected with resistance of the pathogen to the complement system; the ability to escape to immunologically protected sites (eg, endothelial cells, fibroblasts); and the ability to change antigens, which may lead to an inappropriate immune response. Lack of protective antibodies, with a narrow antibody spectrum and a weak cellular response with down-regulation of major histocompatibility system class II molecules on Langerhans cells, has been observed in patients with LB.
Neuroborreliosis often presents with cranial nerve palsy, aseptic meningitis or meningoencephalitis. Cerebral arteriopathy has rarely been reported as single cases. Here we present a retrospective analysis from 1997 to 2005 in the Berlin area. In this period neuroborreliosis was confirmed in 47 children through the finding of specific antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi in CSF.
22 (47%) suffered from facial palsy as a presenting symptome, in one of them the palsy was bilateral. Four children (9%) had palsies of other cranial nerves, and four patients (9%) presented with paresis of an arm, hemiparesis, or spastic paraparesis. 16 children (34%) reported headache on admission, 15 (32%) presented with myalgia and/or arthralgia. Two patients (4%) had paraesthesia, another two (4%) were atactic. Ten (21%) had unspecific symptoms such as fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, or nausea. Other symptoms included general slowdown, sensoric or motoric aphasia, agitation, confusion, incomplete Horner’s syndrome, and mucosa haemorrhage, each in one patient.
In 19 patients (40%) cerebral imaging was performed. 13 (68%) were found to be normal, or rather revealed typical lesions in a patient with an underlying neurofribromatosis type 1. In one child with hemiparesis, and in one with multiple cranial nerve palsies, arterial subtraction angiography (DAS) confirmed multifocal vasculitis and dissection of the left Aa. vertebralis and basilaris, respectively. In one girl with hemiplegia, MRI revealed an infarction of the according internal capsule. Although angiography was not done this finding is suspicious of focal arteriopathy. The girl also had a homozygous mutation of factor V Leiden.
Linda’s comment:Dear Doctors, colleagues, friends and family……
PLEASE share this information with all you know and VOTE daily….share with your patient base, church, other doctors…..This is a wonderful opportunity to help us get the education and awareness needed to help all understand this devastating disease….Autism families are in need of people understanding their needs and their children. With the proper treatment of detox, modalities, supplements, speech, OT, etc., etc., etc., these children can be productive happy children and can become productive happy adults. However, it takes a village to raise a child and it is going to take ALL to help these families to accomplish what is needed….
How many times have you seen a child at the play ground, church, airport, etc., etc., etc., that appear to have behavior problems? Have you given any thought that these children might be on the autism spectrum and leaning life skills to be normal children? Instead of making rude comments to their parent and/or caregiver about their behavior stop and think, perhaps this is a child with Autism? How can I help this child?
Help this brave mom win her audition with Oprah, so she can continue her mission to bring education and awareness to the world about children/adults who need our love, compassion and understanding what they are living.
PLEASE VOTE daily for this mom and get this into the hands of everyone you know who will take the time to vote for this courageous mom.
My name is Prather Harrell. I am a parent of two children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (one PDD-NOS, the other Autism). I have decided to pioneer a journey to get autism the well publicized national and global attention it deserves by entering a contest hosted by Oprah Winfrey to pitch a show idea to her network producers. I am hoping I can get your support.
The video link above is an online audition video I’ve posted on Oprah.com about my idea to host a reality show/talk show about families living and dealing with autism everyday. I need to generate as many votes as possible between now and 11:59pm July 3, 2010. That is not a lot of time, so I am hoping you would be willing to send this email with the attached link to your families, friends and constituents to request their support by voting. Below is the email I’ve sent to my immediate circle of influence, but now I need to stretch my resources. Will you help me???
I appreciate anything you can do to help get the word out about voting. I promise this will be the only email you receive unless you respond with question or comment. If you decided that you WILL send this email to parents, friends and constituents, here is the letter to them:
Hello Friends,
Thank-you for taking time to read this email and view the video. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Prather Harrell, and I have your information due to either our own acquaintance (past or present) or through that of a friend or family member that knows you and has forwarded your info onto me.
I have a 5 year old son named Jonah who has autism. Our journey with him has been both a challenge and a blessing. I have learned to view the world very differently because he sees the world very differently. It is because of him that I was inspired to participate in a contest hosted by Oprah Winfrey.
The contest is to pitch a show idea to her network producers for her new network OWN – the Oprah Winfrey Network, that will launch in January 2011. My show idea is to be the host of a reality show/talk show about families living and dealing with autism everyday.
I would love your support by clicking on the link below, viewing my video audition (just 3 min), then clicking on VOTE! Then, I would request you to forward this email along to all of your contacts to view and VOTE as well. The contest ends 11:59pm July 3, 2010, so I have from now until then to generate as many votes as possible. YOU CAN VOTE AS OFTEN AS YOU LIKE!!! You do not need to watch the video to vote. Remember, I’m trying to give children and adults with autism the voice they’ve never had before – a national platform on the Oprah Winfrey Network. It doesn’t get much bigger than that!
An 11-year-old boy presented in February 2008 with a facial
erythematosus was repeatedly suspected and the boy was
referred for further examinations. A detailed medical history
did not reveal any arthralgia, fever, malaise, exanthema,
intense exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light in the period one
to three weeks before onset of the rash.
A 56-year-old woman was referred to our department for an
eruption on the front side of the left thigh present for 6 months,
accompanied more recently by arthralgia and localized subjective
neurological symptoms.
The eruption started a few days after an insect bite by a red papule which secondarily enlarged.
The erythema was of variable intensity. Clinical examination revealed
peripilar red papules of the thigh from the groin to the knee( fig. 1 ).
The patient had no remarkable contralateral keratosis pilaris.
As experts from around the world met in New York this week they discussed the need for greater understanding of the threat posed by ticks, fleas and sand flies. Leading scientists called on veterinarians and dog-owners around the world to take action to protect dogs and humans from potentially lethal diseases.
Ticks, mosquitoes, fleas and, in some countries, sand flies are critical in the transmission of diseases to both dogs and humans, including life-threatening conditions such as Lyme Disease, Leishmaniasis and other important diseases such as Ehrlichiosis.
After listening to this Video by Dr Ritchie Shoemaker, makes me more determined to reduce my total body burden of pathogens and toxins…..This is all the more reason why I want to stick to my daily detox lifetime protocol FIGHT.
We must find ways to stop the mutations and to stop the continuous assault on our bodies with lifestyle, environmental toxins, more specifically arsenic, lead, mercury, and uranium…..Then we must stop using the chemicals we use/put in our bodies. Have you looked under your cabinet lately? What is in your laundry room? What is in your bathrooms? What chemicals are you washing your clothes in that are then transferred to our bodies? How many of you are still using perfumes and colognes ? What about your toothpaste and mouthwash? How about your deodorant? Then think about the foods you are eating and drinking….Toxins and pathogens LOVE to be fed, GMO foods, pesticides, herbicides, gluten, sugar, caffeine, etc., etc. etc. Don’t be their feeder. MAKE CHANGES in your lifestyle.
Many say they can’t afford to go organic and to make wiser purchases, but folks YOU CAN NOT afford to continue on the path you are on and ignore facts. YES, YOU CAN afford to make these changes…..I live on a fixed income and I manage to find the safe products. Search out your local “farmer’s market”….make sure you ask for the vendors that sell organic…give some thought to starting your own organic garden on your patio….You can use big clay flower pots or better yet, find a farmer that grows organic hay and purchase a could of hay bundles and use that for your organic veggies. Yes, it works….you might be surprised what is available in your area to teach you how to do these things. Farmers markets are the best place to ask….our government doesn’t want us to know we can do these things, so those who teach, tend to keep it quiet. So, don’t be shy, ask around.
Fighting the battles of bio-toxins is not all gloom and doom, however, Ritchie is on the right track, and believe it or not, many of the LLMD’s are on the same wave link, but tend to keep it to themselves, as they already have enough problems with medical boards and the FDA with their treatments of Lyme and its
co-infections.
Education and awareness are important things for us all to think about…research, research, then research again, until you find what is right for you. I have lived these battles with (5) Cancers and (2) Lyme infections and FINALLY woke up on the lifelong daily detox idea….I use the FIGHT protocol, which has proven to me that I can reach good health. So many make the mistake of trying this product or that product and if they don’t notice change in a couple of days or weeks, then they assume it doesn’t work…..WRONG….I found out that it is the combination and the commitment to a lifelong daily protocol is what works. A couple of weeks on any products is not a for sure test. Unless, you are having some type of allergic reactions, stay with it. Don’t confuse a “die-off” reaction with allergic reactions….there are many things you can do to lessen that die-off reaction..
Fighting toxins and pathogens in today’s world is not as easy as it was ten even five years ago. There are viruses like the XMRV that are surfacing, as well as the Insanity Virus, which have the western docs stumped. They are having problems getting their heads wrapped around the fact that reducing your total body burden of toxins and pathogens will make healing their patients much easier. This is not to say many are not learning, but they must do so “underground” for fear of medical boards and in many cases their own colleagues. They can not be blamed for not being taught in medical schools, what the integrative/holistic doctors have already learned. Patients have self-taught themselves many of the alternative modalities, supplements and herbals. They are much more educated than their doctors.
Unfortunately I have to admit, that there are many people and companies out there who are jumping on the alternative bandwagons and selling sub-standard products, which can make you sick. I have found if it is “cheap”, chances are I am not getting what I want out of the product, plus I would have to take 1/2 the bottle to get what I get from one pill of a quality product… Quality products are not cheap, BUT I know I’m getting the correct dosing and there is no garbage in the product….. I refuse to purchase my supplements from Cosco, Sam’s, Pharmacies, Walmart, discount stores, etc., etc. etc., as I can not be sure I am taking what I want to take….PLUS, so many of these products are full of corn, lead, mercury, fillers and Lord knows what else, that I don’t care to put in my body. Most of the products I recommend I have either taken, are taking or know the manufacturer’s personally. It is important to know the ingredients, where they are made, how they are made, how they are transported, where they come from and how they are stored. When people react to supplements/herbals sometimes it is a reaction to the contents of the products, so READ LABELS AND KNOW THE COMPANIES YOU ARE PURCHASING FROM….
Stay tuned as I will be posting more educational and awareness articles and proper choices to make for a safer wellness journey.
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