At the November 2009 meeting of the Lymelighters Support Group, Dr. Raj Patel spoke on the topic of "Biofilms, Methylation, and Heavy Metal Detoxification in Lyme Disease". The presentation was insightful and discussed numerous topics involved in the treatment of chronic Lyme disease.
The presentation slides speak for themselves and are available below, but some key points that I noted:
- "Heavy metal detoxification is critical in recovering from Lyme disease" was a comment made by Dr. Patel. I fully agree with this and believe that many practitioners overlook this area entirely.
- Biofilms protect the organisms such that it would require 100-1000 times the amount of antibiotics to have the same effect in the presence of biofilms as compared to no biofilm formation.
- Dr. Patel has a very specific and well-outlined treatment for biofilms that includes enzymes, EDTA, antimicrobials/anti-fungals, binding agents, pre/probiotics, supportive nutrients, and drainage. More details are in the presentation slides.
- Mercury can lead to autoimmunity.
- Methylation blocks may be caused by SNPs themselves, by viruses, or by heavy metals or a combination of any of the three. Once these blocks are properly identified, treating them often leads to a more significant release of heavy metals and other toxins than what can be attained with chelation therapies.
- Dr. Patel generally approaches treatment in this order: Coinfections, Borrelia, Biofilms and Methylation, and finally repairing damage.
The entire presentation can be downloaded here.
Until next time....
In Better Health,
P.S. If you have problems viewing the presentation, you may need to download the PowerPoint Viewer.
