Have you ever been told “it’s all in your head”? Under Our Skin, a classic big-pharma conspiracy tale, is the story of what some call an epidemic of misdiagnosed and undiagnosed Lyme disease in America. It follows the lives of several Lyme patients as they seek controversial treatment for their illness by a few doctors whose livelihoods are continuously under fire for believing in the existence of chronic Lyme.
You would think that as someone who spends large amounts of time in the woods, I would be worried about contacting or having Lyme disease, but I never have been. My interest in this film came from my interest in medicine in general, especially those mysterious conditions which baffle modern medical doctors including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, and even Autism. Lyme, often confused with or concurrent with other diseases, seems to fall into the same category as these, having widely variable neurological and immunological symptoms often written off as psychosomatic. As an attractive woman with chronic back pain, I particularly related to the female characters in the movie whose pain was discounted and difficult to convey because they “looked good”.
Much like Autistic Parents have organized around DAN (Defeat Autism Now) doctors, Lyme patients have organized a list of LLMD’s (Lyme Literate MD’s). I was surprised however that the film focused almost entirely on conventional medicine for Lyme which includes ongoing doses of antibiotics. For an example of an alternative protocol see Steven Harrod Buhner’s book Healing Lyme.
The movie seemed to insinuate global climate chance might be the culprit behind the rising incidence of Lyme. I find myself more concerned with increasing environmental toxins which overwhelm the immune system’s ability to cope with additional invaders and are implicated in many of the diseases discussed above.
good info. thanks much.
can i share some scary stuff?
Unit 731
Shiro Ishii
http://www.rense.com/general63/lyme.htm
As a former and perhaps future primitive skills enthusiast, an alternative health care provider, and a husband of a woman whose health is profoundly devastated by chronic Lyme, I have to say that I am very paranoid, these days, about the risk of contracting Lyme in any sort of ‘wilderness’ contact. It’s a quandary, especially because Lyme can be dormant for a long time — my wife contracted it twenty years ago and then it went latent until a sudden flareup last year. I’ve read of people living off the land for decades who now have to live in concrete urban housing to make sure they stay insulated from any possible sources of Lyme aggravation.
A very difficult issue, not easily resolved.
@edgeofgrace how did tomas the german guy at teaching drum get rid of his lyme. when i meet him first he said he had lyme, now he is vivid and alive in the northwoods.
Some get realy mental crazy on the spiritual guru wooh woosh of teaching drum an his selfcalled leader. Others stay relaxed and focus. Dont beleave every old person with a beard.?!
If you read of people living off the land and now in concrete homes. Why not, yeah thats possible the world is diverse and we find different solution for different problems. Find solutions think of solutions, dont overhype in panic, dont beleave all self called gurus if you not feel well like tamarack or other guys. They cannaot prober know everything. Get in contact with real people or read better books.
I’ve had lyme (it’s lyme not lyme’s BTW) for 12 or 13 years.. I guess I’ve lost track and don’t want to figure it out. I lost 25 pounds off an already light 150 pound frame, had trouble with sleeping, severe chronic migrating pain, crushing fatigue, wierd neurological symptoms and a whole list of other problems which I wrote down, but don’t want to ever look at again. Over the first 6 years I probably averaged about 5% of normal functioning. It sucked. I’ve tried intensive antibiotic therapy… not traditional really, but more experimental high doses. Most people take a few zithromax tablets and then stop because it stays in your blood and keeps working long after you stop taking it. I took it for 6 months every day and three months of that in combination with flagyl. I was on one or two antibiotics at a time for two and a half years. I improved, but decided to try rife machines. I did rife for a number of years too. I also improved a little on that, but improvement measured in years, not even months. Then I tried Herbs, like the Buhner protocol mostly. I improved slightly with that too I think. Then came Homeopathy where I’m more inclined to think my improvement was due to me stopping any other treatments or symptom relief rather than the two spoonfuls of nothing that I took during a year long consult and treatment. At this point I am so much better that its like night and day, but it still derails my life on a regular basis, not to mention living with the sorrow and frustration of losing so many years between 30 and 40.
My take on this movie is that it was a good piece of propaganda. I’ve only seen it once and I don’t want to see it again because I’m one of those people standing up there talking and it was somewhat traumatic for me to see. The movie is good documentary/propaganda complete with soft focus interviews of tragic victims and scary music at appropriate times. Being essentially in agreement with the film makers I guess thats Ok by me although its not probably the approach I would have taken had it been me making the film. The only scare tactic I really didn’t like was the sexual transmission implication. There is really no real evidence of that to speak of and I felt like they should have leaned more in that direction if mentioning it at all. I know why they did it though, because I’ve done it myself, to make people take notice and scare them into paying attention. I don’t do it anymore though and I think its a bad idea given the lack of evidence to support this suspicion that some people have.
Diseases involving infectious organisms are an interaction between the organism and its environment. I’ve seen so many conversations where people choose either germ or host susceptibility as if it was only one or the other. There can be this sort of blind, almost religious, acceptance of one and denial of the other and of course then the obvious fact that it takes both to cause disease becomes ignored. Borellia Burdorferi is a highly evolved bacteria which has obviously been kicking some serious butt for a long time. Whether it is actually on the rise because of global warming or anything else or it is just finally being diagnosed more (this is my inclination since the survey methods are ridiculous) is almost more relevant to politics than it is to the personal. The take home message is that its out there, and despite anyone’s efforts at being an un-susceptible host or believing they can find an effective treatment if they contract it, either medical or natural, lyme is a serious risk. Fortunately, people are actually becoming more informed and fewer and fewer will be falling through the gaps in knowlege that have existed among both medical practice and the public. I “knew” more than average about lyme because I felt I was at risk due to my lifestyle. Turns out that much of what I “knew” was wrong. My advice (which I find rarely heeded), Don’t let the possibility of acquiring it hamper your lifestyle too much, but don’t pretend that its not a serious risk either. You wouldn’t strap a raw salmon to your back pack in grizzly country just because you felt like it. Try not to get bit in the first place. If you do get bit, pull the tick out by grasping as close to the head as you can and pulling steadily until it detaches. Better yet, get a tick puller which is this little plastic or metal tab with a notch in it. They work better than tweezers. Save the tick. If you develop symptoms you can have it tested by PCR analysis which is supposed to be very accurate. If it was in you for a long time (full of blood) and you have lots of money, have it tested right away. Watch for symptoms after a tick bite. The symptoms vary, but common early symptoms can include persistent changing rashes at the bite or other sites on the body, stiff muscles and joints, fever and flu like symptoms without congestion. If you have these symptoms and a recent bite, find the nearest LLMD and get on antibiotics ASAP. Do not go to your regular doctor unless you are fully armed with enough knowledge to defer all the misinformation it has likely consumed over the past couple of decades. If you have to go through a regular doctor, make sure they understand the timelines for testing and make them use an experienced lab such as Igenex. My inclination at this point is to use standard medical to help with diagnosis and to treat early cases with pharmaceuticals which has a decent track record. You can work on being less susceptible and more healthy when the little fuckers are dead. For chronic cases, I’ve just seen to many pour out cash into this system for years and years shoveling money in, taking the drugs and peeing them out without great improvement. Therefore, I am really less than enthusiastic about the prognosis when it comes to medical treatment for chronic cases, although it can certainly have a place. I hope there will be more cross over because we need all the tools we can get when it comes to treating this incredibly difficult to treat infectious disease.
Thanks for your comment, Steven. I feel ya, having also had chronic migrating pain and crushing fatigue and other symptoms. I’d guess right about now I would be celebrating the 10 year anniversary of when the pain became chronic and unrelenting rather than intermittent and relievable by relaxation techniques. I’ve tried a zillion and one therapies physical, psychologicial, spiritual western, eastern, shamanism, entheogens, and also often feel best when I do nothing much cause im more stabilized and not wasting money. I don’t really believe in anything anymore medically, scientifically, philosophically, morally… On the other hand I am fascinated with myself to a degree and can’t quit trying. I got a western blot test for lyme recently and all that bands came back nonreactive, I guess I could still have it, but I still don’t “feel like it” intuitively, which may just be stupidity. I tested fairly high for lead poisoning, and that is kind of the kick i’m on now, so we’ll see where the road of chelation therapy leads me…
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Anonymous, I don’t know, I haven’t met Tomas. A number of people say they’ve gotten Lyme and then cured it. Honestly, at this point, I’d have to say, wait and see. My wife was fairly symptom free for many years.
Turkeysong/Steve … Thank you for your long comment, I enjoyed reading. I studied your book a number of years ago when I was getting into hide tanning.
From what I’ve cobbled together, my understanding is that the Borrelia will never completely leave the body, but that the symptoms can be managed; and that the way it manifests is influenced a complex combination of: the Lyme spirochete itself; any of a number of opportunistic co-infections; environmental toxicity, particularly heavy metals; deep emotional trauma or deeply entrenched negative patterns or relationships, especially familial; and of course, the state of your constitution. So it’s never just about killing the bug but about detoxing, circulation, figuring out how to interact with your environment and heal from your past … All-encompassing and totally overwhelming. Yikes.
And of course lots of politics and disagreement over the accuracy of testing not to mention methods of treatment, as the diagnosis itself has become so controversial that some doctors have their licenses revoked and are charged with malpractice for treating it; and all sorts of fringe technology pops up to try to fill the gap, to treat a disease that some doctors say doesn’t even exist. It’s kind of the Wild West out there.
[…] blog comment by primitive skills practitioner and teacher Steven Edholm is also very sobering: I’ve had Lyme […]
I’ve looked into this movie, and I was curious about whether it only focuses on conventional healing methods, which you answered for me. From the preview and clips that I’ve watched it seems like a scare tactic film more than being educational or informative.
I struggled with Lyme disease for couple years, and I am back to a stable state of health now. My main healing method was always the herbal protocol outlined in Stephen Buhner’s book, Healing Lyme, alongside natural therapies like acupuncture and massage. I went this route because I was diagnosed (positive blood test) and self diagnosed late into my infection, and I read that antibiotics were not often effective in chronic conditions.
I highly recommend the herbal protocol.
What has finally got my feet under me to where I feel like I could really get out of the trench is getting my body temperature up with re-feeding ala Matt Stone at 180degreehealth.com I never could get out of the rut until I started drinking fewer fluids, eating more carbs and salt, resting more and chilling out on stress as much as possible. I’ve still got issues, but I feel like I have a physical and emotional base to work from now that I never had before. Lots of stuff I was doing, was just shooting myself in the foot, like drinking a lot of plain water, or dietary restrictions and tweaking. I did Buhner for a while, but it didn’t seem to help much more than other stuff in the long run. Cellular energy is key. If it’s low (low body temp is not just a random occurrence) then that ought to be addressed.