Linda’s comments:  This was written by a Lyme friend of mine….it is beautiful and speaks volumns…  Please read the rest of her poems in the Poem section….Thank you Laura this is beautiful….

Excerpt:

I know that there’ll be a better day

When the clouds break and the sun shines my way

When all my troubles are kept at bay…

But that day is not today

 

I know that better times are ahead

When I will feel like getting out of bed

When my body wont weigh so heavy like lead…

But for now those are just words to be said

 

I know there will be a better time

When I wont spend my life living on a dime

And every moment I’ll be feeling fine…

But of “better days” I have seen no sign

 

I know that there are battles to be won

Like a stroll on the beach in the bright hot sun

Or going shopping with my daughters and having some fun…

But of victories I have not seen a single one

 

But still I keep pressing on each day

Hoping a cure will come my way

And all that happened in my adversity….

Will one day be just a sad memeory

 

So here’s to “better days” ahead

For all of us whose lives are led

By the hope that all the dreams that be…

WILL ONE DAY BE REALITY!

By: Laura Moore

 

Dr. Gordon’s comments:

Probiotics are beginning to get the attention they deserve. 

Garry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
President, Gordon Research Institute
www.gordonresearch.com

Link: http://www.nutraingredients.com/Health-condition-categories/Cognitive-and-mental-function/Could-probiotics-affect-behaviour/?utm_source=Newsletter_Product&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%2BProduct

Excerpt:

Could probiotics affect behaviour?

By Stephen Daniells, 23-Jun-2009

Increasing knowledge of how the gut and brain is opening up the possibilities for probiotics. At the 5th International Yakult Symposium in Amsterdam, Stephen Daniells met Professor John Bienenstock from McMaster University to find out where the current thinking is with probiotics and brain health. 

 In their publication “Science Now.”  Hedging their bets?

Linda’s comment: So as I see it, it is just another pathogen that chronically ill people need to deal with….Is it really a virus, parasite, bacterial?????  Don’t feed it, get on the FIGHT program and stop it in its track. All of these critters like the spirochete love feeding off GMO, toxic chemical sweeteners, heavy metals, etc., etc., etc.,  This gives them their energies/food supply to wreak havoc on our bodies.  Healthy people have an advantage over chronic illness.  The FIGHT program is one of the best prevention programs I have ever experienced.

Listen up as the XMRV is just one of many new things that are attacking our bodies.  Scientists are having a difficult time keeping up with all the new tragedies attacking our bodies because of our toxic environments.

Excerpt:

A theory linking chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) to an infectious mouse virus known as XMRV has taken a second major hit. First proposed last October in Science, the virus-CFS connection was quickly challenged by a British group. Now a second team of British virologists reports that, after examining tissue from 170 CFS patients, they have failed to find evidence of XMRV.

Patients with CFS often report that their condition–a mix of symptoms including unexplained pains and excessive fatigue–began after an otherwise normal viral infection. And scientists in the past have preliminarily linked CFS to a few viruses. However, those links have fallen apart under scrutiny, and without a firm biological cause for CFS, victims continue to face skepticism that their condition is a “real” disease.

Excerpt:

We are excited to present information from the forthcoming book by Martin L. Pall, PhD, who shows that all these conditions – and probably many others – involve the same key biochemical response: elevated levels of nitric oxide (NO) and its oxidant product peroxynitrite (ONOO–), which initiate a biochemical vicious cycle. Although the mechanisms underlying this ongoing NO/ONOO– cycle are well-documented, Dr. Pall presents new information about how this cycle interacts to produce patterns of symptoms. The theory elegantly answers many questions, including: If CFS, MCS, FM, PTSD and GWS have a common biochemical link, why is there such a variety of symptoms? Why do symptoms vary among sufferers of the same condition? What roles do infection, chemical exposure, physical trauma, and severe psychological stress play? How do short-term stressors initiate chronic illness? What are the common symptoms and signs? What is an approach that corrects the cause, rather than treating the symptoms? How does the biochemistry of the NO/ONOO– cycle produce chronic illness? What are the principles underlying the NO/ONOO– cycle mechanism? Can the NO/ONOO– cycle explain other previously unexplained properties of these illnesses? How might 14 additional illnesses/diseases also be caused by the NO/ONOO– cycle etiology? And many more… All this is backed up with more than 1,500 references to scientific literature.

Key Points Symptoms are generated by elevated levels of nitric oxide, peroxynitrite and several other consequences of the NO/ONOO– cycle, such as elevated activity of NF-kappa B, superoxide, inflammatory cytokines and activity of two transmitter systems, the vanilloid receptor and the NMDA receptor. Therapy should focus on down-regulating the NO/ONOO– cycle biochemistry. Peroxynitrite is a potent oxidant, and it or its products initiate oxidative chain reactions, causing damage to both proteins and DNA. When its levels are sufficiently elevated, it can cause programmed cell death (apoptosis), an important mechanism in neurodegenerative diseases. Peroxynitrite attacks several of the important proteins in mitochondria, acting along with superoxide and nitric oxide in lower energy metabolism. Such energy metabolism dysfunction lowers the availability of ATP, the energy currency in cells, and is an important part of NO/ONOO– cycle biochemistry. Much of the mechanism of the NO/ONOO– cycle is local, impacting one tissue but not necessarily impacting an adjacent tissue. Different people suffering from these illnesses may have distinct tissues impacted by NO/ONOO– cycle biochemistry, and this variation in tissue distribution leads to an almost infinite variation of symptoms and signs. This is proposed to be responsible for the extraordinary variation in symptoms and signs reported in comparisons of one patient with another. Conditions caused by the NO/ONOO– cycle are best treated by using agents that are expected to down-regulate NO/ONOO– cycle biochemistry. At least 30 therapeutic agents or classes of agents are available today that are expected to down-regulate cycle biochemistry. Of these 30, clinical trial studies have been performed on 12, and all 12 show evidence of efficacy in treatment of these multisystem diseases or closely related illnesses. Clinical observations and/or anecdotal reports suggest that six additional agents or classes of agents are also effective in treatment.

Regards, Linda

http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Probiotic-research-needed-to-fulfill-gut-health-potential

By Guy Montague-Jones, 02-Dec-2009

Related topics: Probiotics, Research, Probiotics and prebiotics, Gut health

Probiotics should be considered as living drugs rather than “simple good bacteria” in order to become effective treatment options for IBS, according to Joseph Haddad, medical director of Institut Rosell-Lallemand.

Following a recent seminar on probiotics and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), hosted by Institut Rosell in London ahead of Gastro 2009, Haddad gave NutraIngredients.com a progress report.

Delegates at the seminar, which focused on the potential of the Lactobacillus plantarum 299v strain, were agreed on the potential of probiotics to treat IBS, but acknowledged that more work is needed to develop effective treatment strategies.

Probiotic potential

Haddad said a lot of scientific work has been done on the therapeutic potential of some specific strains. This work, Haddad, said: “Is now starting to draw a lot of interest from the medical community, which is very promising.”

The medical attraction of adapted probiotics is that unlike traditional drugs, they may not only treat the symptoms of IBS, but also the cause.

However, the development of a consensus on treatment strategies is still some way off.

Haddad said consensus building is a very long process, beginning with initial clinical evidence that is then reviewed and discussed by the specialist community, who ask for more clinical evidence. And finally, after many years, a consensus can emerge and some common guideline scan be defined.

“Many probiotics are not even at the first stage of this process,” said Haddad. When it comes to IBS, he identified three areas where more work is needed.

1. All IBS mechanisms are not completely elucidated yet.

2. Not all probiotics have the same therapeutic potential so it is very difficult to determine the perfect bacteria for IBS.

3. Even though probiotics have been known and used for a very long time, a therapeutic approach with probiotics is still considered innovative in the medical community.

Recommendations

To help build a treatment consensus, Haddad said more in vivo clinical trials are needed in order to validate in vitro data. This will allow those promising strains that are most effective in alleviating abdominal pain and discomfort to be recognised as truly efficient.

As for the probiotics industry, Haddad said it needs to invest more in R&D and state-of-the-art clinical trials to find out and support the most efficient strains. He said: “Some companies are already well positioned, but overall a lot of investment is still required.

“The challenge is really to demonstrate that the industry is not dealing with ‘simple good bacteria’ but that probiotics should be considered as living drugs, backed up by strong clinical evidence.”

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Clinical trials validate the severity of persistent Lyme disease symptoms.
Med Hypotheses.  2009; 72(2):153-6 (ISSN: 0306-9877)
Cameron DJ
First Medical Associates, Mt. Kisco, New York 10549, USA. Cameron@Lymeproject.com