Lyme Disease is a very complex illness and is different for each patient due to the amount of co-infections associated with it. If diagnosed early enough, it can be simple and easy to treat, but since there are not many Doctors who are properly informed about its complexities, that’s often not the case, especially in my experience.
After 18 years of struggling with an absurd amount of seemingly unrelated symptoms, I was finally diagnosed with the use of Bio-energetic testing, which you can read about in my first post here. However, today I’m going to talk about why a therapeutic substance like Cannabis, something usually pain relieving, actually makes me feel worse. To understand this, one must be informed about Lyme and the healing process a chronic patient like me must go through in order to improve. This leads us to the Herxheimer Reaction.
Me suffering a Herxheimer Reaction after consistently taking too much medicine, thinking I could speed the process up
Herxheimer Reaction
By definition, a Herxheimer Reaction is a short-term (from days to a few weeks) detoxification reaction in the body. In short, you feel worse before feeling better. Nevertheless, in Chronic Lyme patients like me, one can be “herxing” daily for months to years depending on the severity of the illness. This is because there are layers within layers of infection in this type of parasitic disease, each protected by a type of film called Biofilm. Biofilm is defined as a complex structure adhering to surfaces that are regularly in contact with water, consisting of colonies of bacteria and usually other microorganisms such as yeasts, fungi, and protozoa that secrete a mucilaginous protective coating in which they are encased.
Basically, each layer of disease is protected by a Biofilm, and once that layer of film is broken down, the body and the anti-biotic used can then penetrate and kill the parasitic organisms. Without some sort of "Biofilm buster," antibiotics are usually ineffective in such chronic cases. As the Lyme Bacteria and parasites die off, symptoms temporarily increase and this can produce extreme discomfort/pain if too much is killed at once.
Cannabis
Finally, this leads us back to Cannabis. Why would a pain killer like Cannabis make one feel worse? Here's your answer, Cannabis isn't just a pain killer. It's a disease killer. It kills parasites, bacteria, cancer cells and activates the immune system all at once.
Simply put, smoking or vaporizing does too much good at once for a chronic Lyme patient like me to handle (a lot depends on the strain also). After 18 years of accumulation, I can't heal this all at once, it's just too many toxins being released into the body due to the die off AND activation of the immune system at the same time. Saying that, smoking/vaporizing is off limits for me at the moment, and I must take my time with detox to avoid any extreme reactions.
Ingesting Cannabis Oils
However, ingesting cannabis oil is much easier because it is not processed by the body all at once like smoking is, and it helps me sleep at night. Many Lyme patients are now using Cannabis-infused coconut oil to help with symptoms, as well as to treat the disease itself. Since coconut oil is anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-parasitic, and easily crosses into the nervous system where Lyme and co-infections exist, this creates a sort of "smart anti-biotic", with the cannabis activating the immune system at the same time.
Cannabis and Parasites
Always remember, if you smoke cannabis and experience anxiety afterward, it could be that it is attempting to kill parasites (it could also be the strain/quantity ingested). Making the parasites uncomfortable also makes the one hosting them uncomfortable. Parasites are more common than ever these days, and the tests used by mainstream medicine are not always reliable. My Doctor actually advised me that most people have parasites in some shape or form, and that everyone should cleanse at least once a year. Actually, in an African study, it was found that those who smoked marijuana actually had a smaller parasitic load than those who didn't.
Terpenes are essential oils found in the Cannabis plant
With all that being said, there is a lot more to my treatment plan than this. I personally have around ten different homeopathic medications that I will probably share soon. I am fortunate enough to be nearing the end of my 18 year battle thanks to Nature's medicines, but I hope this post proves to be useful for those who are struggling with any similar illness. There are more of us than most know.
With Love and Hope,
Marco
Hi @macolonna. My wife is a long-term Lyme sufferer and I've stumbled upon your post here as part of general research.
Thank you for sharing your story and observations. It's a very difficult illness as it's the perfect storm of a combination of issues including the detection difficulty & the inability to find practitioners willing and able to help.
Many thanks.
Great post, I found infused coconut oil very helpful when treating Lyme