Lyme Ninja Radio - Lyme Disease & Related Health Topics

Host: Mackay Rippey

Dr. Nicola's Socials:

Restore Medicine: restormedicine.com

928 Fort Stockton Drive Suite 213 San Diego, CA

(619) 546-4065 928

Lauren Lovejoy's Socials:

Lyme Warrior: lymewarrior.us

Facebook: @LymeWarriorUS

Instagram: @lymewarriorus

Twitter: @lymewarriorus

Mackay's Socials:

Website: www.beyondprotocols.org

Website: www.thelymeacademy.com

Facebook: @beyondprotocols

Instagram: @beyondprotocols

Twitter: @beyondprotocols

This podcast is now available on all major podcast platforms!

>>DISCLAIMER<< This show contains the opinions of the hosts and guests and is meant for entertainment and education purposes only. We are not your doctor. You are not our patient. Always consult with your actual medical provider before changing any aspect of your mental or physical health care. Viewer discretion is advised.

Host: Mackay Rippey

Guest: Nikki DiSalvo

Dr. Nicola's Socials:

Restore Medicine: https://restormedicine.com

928 Fort Stockton Drive Suite 213 San Diego, CA

(619) 546-4065 928

Lauren Lovejoy's Socials:

Lyme Warrior: https://lymewarrior.us

Facebook: @LymeWarriorUS

Instagram: @lymewarriorus

Twitter: @lymewarriorus

Mackay's Socials:

Website: www.beyondprotocols.org

Website: www.thelymeacademy.com

Facebook: @beyondprotocols

Instagram: @beyondprotocols

Twitter: @beyondprotocols

This podcast is now available on all major podcast platforms!

>>DISCLAIMER<< This show contains the opinions of the hosts and guests and is meant for entertainment and education purposes only. We are not your doctor. You are not our patient. Always consult with your actual medical provider before changing any aspect of your mental or physical health care. Viewer discretion is advised.

Join us every week as we explore strategies to become relapse proof.

We are surrounding by stressful and often triggering messages and conversations. Find out how gratitude is the antidote and join the Lyme Ninja Gratitude Challenge.

Mackay gives the 20,000 foot overview of his roadmap for staying relapse-free, going from "better" to "bulletproof."

We're back. This episode is a rambling apology and roadmap for the future of Lyme Ninja Radio. Listen at your own risk. As Dave Asprey like to say, It's "Dangerous."

Mandy Roome is a Research Scientist at the Bassett Research Institute in Cooperstown, NY. She has performed extensive field and laboratory research on tick-borne diseases in New York state since 2012, and has recently begun expanding her research throughout the Northeast. Her research explores the ecological risk of Lyme and other tick-borne pathogens, risk factors associated with infection, quality of life changes resulting from acute or chronic Lyme infection, and the occupational hazards of tick-borne disease exposure.

Somer is a veteran board certified pediatric nurse practitioner and member of ILADS. She currently practices as a Pediatric Lyme Specialist utilizing ILADS methodologies. Somer trained in some of the top pediatric hospitals in the country including Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Children's of Dallas, Texas, Penn State Children's in Hershey, PA and most recently Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte, NC. Her passion is within Integrative pediatrics combining Eastern and Western medicine modalities. She completed a lyme disease internship with Richard Horowitz of Hyde Park, NY. She currently works with Ken Bock, an expert in Autism and PANS/PANDAS. Somer specializes in the treatment of autoimmune, neuroinflammatory conditions, lyme and other tick-borne illnesses and mycotoxicosis/ mold exposures. She has served as a clinical preceptor to numerous PA and NP programs. Somer currently is a medical writer/blogger for bockintegrative.com and has served as an editorial board member for professional publications. Somer also provides clinical consultation to other providers regarding integrative medicine and difficult Lyme or other tick-borne disease cases.

Somer is a veteran board certified pediatric nurse practitioner and member of ILADS. She currently practices as a Pediatric Lyme Specialist utilizing ILADS methodologies. Somer trained in some of the top pediatric hospitals in the country including Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Children's of Dallas, Texas, Penn State Children's in Hershey, PA and most recently Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte, NC. Her passion is within Integrative pediatrics combining Eastern and Western medicine modalities. She completed a lyme disease internship with Richard Horowitz of Hyde Park, NY. She currently works with Ken Bock, an expert in Autism and PANS/PANDAS. Somer specializes in the treatment of autoimmune, neuroinflammatory conditions, lyme and other tick-borne illnesses and mycotoxicosis/ mold exposures. She has served as a clinical preceptor to numerous PA and NP programs. Somer currently is a medical writer/blogger for bockintegrative.com and has served as an editorial board member for professional publications. Somer also provides clinical consultation to other providers regarding integrative medicine and difficult Lyme or other tick-borne disease cases.

In 2009 Keith developed pain in his neck after a fall from a horse. He did all the usual things to heal a sore neck but didn't improve. The pain lingered and started to travel to other parts of his body. At this point we suspected there might be something else going on.

After seeing a number of different doctors over two years, Keith was finally tested for Lyme in 2011. He tested positive and was given the usual 3-week course of antibiotics. He improved for a short time but then his symptoms returned.

Several doctors denied he was still sick and told us there was nothing they could do. He continued to decline. Then Keith saw a top infectious disease doctor at Columbia Hospital, who re-tested him. The doctor said the test was negative for Lyme (with one band showing) and that there was no such thing as Chronic Lyme. He suggested that it was all in Keith's head. It was totally demoralizing.

Once we re-grouped from that experience, we continued to look for help. Keith saw an osteopath and the treatment was helpful but he was still in a lot of pain. The osteopath agreed that there are some people with Lyme who, even after the 3-week course of antibiotics, are still sick. Just this validation was huge for us. The osteopath was willing to give Keith 6-weeks of antibiotics to see if it would help but he wouldn't give more, as he was afraid to lose his medical license. The antibiotics seemed to help for awhile but then Keith got worse again.

Then we heard of a Chinese herbalist who was having good luck treating Lyme patients. Keith would drive several hours once a month for his appointments, to get herbs. Keith tried this for several months with some improvement but no lasting results.

Thankfully, before we could try any of those, I stumbled upon two books that helped set us on the right path, Cannabis for Lyme Disease & Related Conditions: Scientific Basis and Anecdotal Evidence for Medicinal Use by Shelley M White and Healing Lyme: Natural Healing of Lyme Borreliosis and the Coinfections Chlamydia and Spotted Fever Rickettsiosis by Stephen Harrod Buhner.

Out of desperation, I designed a protocol for Keith from what I learned.

Within couple weeks of starting this new protocol we knew we were on the right track. He stopped getting worse and actually started to improve. He stopped taking antibiotics and then after a year, stopped taking the herbs. His health had stabilized and but his health had not been restored.

Still in research mode, I read about the Keto diet, which sounded crazy at first but we took a leap of faith and decided to give it a try. Within a few weeks Keith started to feel better.