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Cowden Protocol: Month 1

By swollenmystery On January 21, 2013 · 4 Comments

After diligently watching all of the livestream videos from the 2012 ILADS Boston Lyme Disease Conference a month ago I still wasn’t convinced that long-term antibiotics were the way to go for treatment of chronic Lyme disease. Why? Perhaps it’s my nutrition classes teaching me about the importance of gut flora and maintaining a healthy gut terrain to allow the body to successfully fight off infection the way it was designed. Antibiotics tend to destroy large portions of bacteria that make up the gut terrain and don’t stop to ask whether specific bacteria are helpful or hindering. Or maybe it’s that some doctors and patients claim to have success with antibiotics, yet I still see so many instances where the drugs only seem effective while taking them, causing patients to relapse with symptoms again after finishing treatment. Or it could be the idea that multiple infections make it so difficult to target infections with the correct antibiotics–the idea that specific antibiotics may work well against a particular strain of borrelia burgdorferi but not as well for that unknown, non-Lyme spirochete hiding out in the deep recesses of the jaw. Those thoughts bring me to my latest method of treatment–the 6 month Cowden Protocol or Cowden Support Program as Nutramedix calls it. At my last visit with Dr. Yu in St. Louis a month ago, all of my meridians finally checked out normal yet I still had swollen [...]

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Is It Really Lyme?

By swollenmystery On October 8, 2012 · 13 Comments

I was going to title this post, “There and Back Again” because of all the traveling back and forth from Des Moines to St. Louis lately but I didn’t want to risk any copyright infringement on The Hobbit. Not too long ago, a friend recommended I take a look at a book called The Accidental Cure, by Dr. Simon Yu, MD. With a gracious offer to borrow the book for a couple weeks I decided to read it in between classwork and see what it was all about. I didn’t expect to find so many references to nutrition and holistic approaches to healing in a book authored by a doctor trained in traditional medicine. The book is easy to understand and I got a good sense of Dr. Yu’s unconventional methods of practicing medicine pretty quickly. I was enlightened to read that he looks at the whole picture when seeing a patient, and takes a holistic approach to treatment, whether by traditional medicine or alternative therapies. I was also pleased to read about his experience with nutrition, Lyme and dental issues. Since my Lyme disease diagnosis a little over a year ago, a new symptom appeared as I began treatment with natural treatments (Samento, Enula, Banderol, Houttuynia, ACS200 Silver). Second to the inflammatory arthritis in my knees, I began to experience pain in the left side of my lower jaw. It started as a minor pain near the spot where a wisdom tooth had been removed [...]

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Diagnosis Solved?

By swollenmystery On April 22, 2011 · 2 Comments

During the past three years I’ve developed an enormous amount of skepticism, caution and indecisiveness when it comes to the medical world. I’ve felt that every path has led to a dead end. Often the treatments I experienced have made my symptoms of inflammatory arthritis worse. Yet I now look back at those events as learning experiences. Perhaps God was showing me something, giving me knowledge and experience with those events for a purpose. A purpose which I may never understand. But that’s ok. Through an unexpected chain of events, meeting new people, finding new doctors and growing closer to Him, I finally have a diagnosis. Last week my western blot test came back CDC positive for lyme disease. Along with that I tested positive for several coinfections including Bartonella, Chlamydia Pneumonia, Mycoplasma and HHV6. Wonderful? Yes! In fact, I’ve never been so happy to have a diagnosis. A diagnosis that can be treated. Better yet, a diagnosis that can be treated with a possibility of complete remission! So that’s it. I have lyme disease. More specifically chronic lyme disease, as it’s apparently settled in for quite some time. The greatest part of all this is knowing what to treat and having confidence that there is an end in sight. So what will I do with this blog now that I have a diagnosis? I will continue to post progress during my treatment. I’m continuing the natural detox protocol while introducing other all natural treatments aimed specifically at [...]

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Healing Inside Out: Green Smoothies & Bone Broths

By swollenmystery On April 10, 2011 · 7 Comments

Two weeks ago I felt so much despair. So helpless. So much like I was traveling down the wrong path. So I prayed. I talked endlessly with my wife and family and friends about what to do next. And then I prayed some more. Now I know God works in mysterious ways, but I never expected answers to fall right in my lap so suddenly. Of course I was praying for healing, but I was also praying for direction. And that’s exactly what I got. At this time I was facing more mysterious blood tests, showing signs of continued inflammation, increasingly painful symptoms all over my body, fears from my rheumatologist that I may have Chron’s disease or worse yet, lymphoma. Additionally, I was working with my LLMD to test for Lyme disease and a number of other coinfections. I was worried about what to do next. Then out of the blue, an endearing stranger, in another part of the country found our story and contacted my wife about helping us out. Through a series of emails I was introduced to Tim and Terry at Life Fitness Academy In Nashville. They agreed to take on my case and give me the best hope I’ve felt in all the years of suffering with inflammatory arthritis. I could tell from the start, their goal was to help me heal naturally from the inside out. For my particular healing, it was necessary that I should start with the gut. Over [...]

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Going After Lyme This Time

By swollenmystery On April 6, 2011 · Add Comment

Loss of sleep each night due to new symptoms: 7 out of 10. Pain and inflammation levels last month: 8 out of 10. Frustration with taking Plaquenil and Sulfasalazine for a year with no results: 10 out of 10. It’s been a year since finding a new rheumatologist. Last week was my latest 3 month appointment and I was dreading it. It’s been a month since I tapered completely off Prednisone and a few weeks after having a tongue biopsy due to ulcers I believe were side effects from the medications. While the biopsy results came back negative I closed the door on another dead end. Meanwhile, my symptoms grew worse. I started experiencing things I hadn’t felt during the entire time I’ve been stickered with inflammatory arthritis. Every night I began waking up every hour or two, finding my knees and my entire back in so much pain it was hard to roll over. Sleeping on my side wasn’t even an option anymore. Mild fevers each night and chills all day became the norm. Headaches behind my eyes, neck stiffness, flu-like aches all over, night sweats, constipation, muscle twitches, extreme fatigue, muscle weakness and jaw pain also became a regular occurrence. I was at a crossroads. I was about to set up an appointment with my primary care doctor but had an upcoming visit with the rheumatologist in only a week so it seemed logical to wait and see what he had to say. That same week, [...]

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About Me

I'm a freelance web designer with a background in graphic design. I'm also a part-time nutrition student. When I'm not creating or designing, I'm studying nutrition. When I'm not doing either of those I'm usually eating or talking about food. I've been interested in health and fitness for a long time but it wasn't until I became seriously ill with a mysterious chronic autoimmune condition in my early 30s that I realized how intricate and complex the human body is.

Along my journey to healing from chronic illness and Lyme disease, I discovered that eating healthier has improved my life the most. This blog is not just a journal of my progress but is also intended to help anyone that might be suffering from an autoimmune illness. My goal is to learn how to support the body's natural healing process holistically so that it has the resources to fight off illness the way it was designed. As I learn more every day, I write about my journey here at Diagnosis Unsolved. Read more about how all this started and my story here.
-Brad Linberg-
Now Reading
Planned books:
- The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food by Kaayla T. Daniel
- Recipes for Repair: A Lyme Disease Cookbook by Gail Piazza, Laura Piazza
Current books:
- Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price
- Folks, This Ain’t Normal: A Farmer’s Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World by Joel Salatin
- The Salt/C Plus Protocol for Lyme Infection by M. Fett
- Seamus Mullen’s Hero Food: How Cooking with Delicious Things Can Make Us Feel Better by Seamus Mullen
- The Candida Cure: Yeast, Fungus by Ann Boroch
Recent books:
- The World’s Healthiest Foods, Essential Guide for the Healthiest Way of Eating by George Mateljan
- Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dict by Sally Fallon, Mary Enig
- Accidental Cure: Extraordinary Medicine for Extraordinary Patients by Simon Yu
- Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic by Pamela Weintraub
- The Top 10 Lyme Disease Treatments: Defeat Lyme Disease with the Best of Conventional and Alternativ by Bryan Rosner
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Cowden Protocol: Month 1

Is It Really Lyme?

Diagnosis Solved?

Healing Inside Out: Green Smoothies & Bone Broths

Going After Lyme This Time

Categories

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Good Sites about Health, Lyme and Living

About Me

Now Reading

Planned books:

Current books:

Recent books:

Lime Disease – Story of Recovery

Cowden Protocol: Month 1

Is It Really Lyme?

Diagnosis Solved?

Healing Inside Out: Green Smoothies & Bone Broths

Going After Lyme This Time

Tags

Categories

Archives

Good Sites about Health, Lyme and Living

About Me

Now Reading

Planned books:

Current books:

Recent books:

Lime Disease – Story of Recovery