How wonderful that many of Dr. Murakami's Lyme disease presentations were well-attended. His presentation in Kingston had 175 attendees. Impressive! My city only had about 60 from what I could judge, and although I was disappointed with this turn-out, I need to look at the big picture. Hundreds of Ontarians were better educated about Lyme Disease after last week. Thank you, Dr. Murakami!
I took notes during the presentation, and I've been wanting to post them since the presentation last week. Our session lasted for almost 3 1/2 hours, with individuals asking questions at the end about their own situations.
Notes from Dr. Murakami's Presentation
Dr. Murakami began his presentation with a little history about his family, why he decided to pursue medicine, and how his medical career began as a GP in a small town in B.C. It was a very interesting story which helped us to better understand who Dr. Murakami is, and why he's doing what he's doing for the Lyme community.
Here are some jot notes I took about Lyme disease:
- The IDSA is deeply entrenched in their ideas, and this is why the 2 sides are unable to talk. The IDSA sees chronic Lyme disease as a 'syndrome', not an 'infection'.
- Yet, peer-reviewed studies have proven that it is an infection!
- To say that Lyme can be cured with 30 days of antibiotics is a lie.
- Lyme has similiarities to syphilis; they are both spirochetes. They invade every organ of the body.
- Doctors don't recognize that it is a multi-system illness. What do you do if you have one of those family doctors who says, "One symptom/complaint per visit"?
- Lyme is more resistant than syphilis.
- One moose in B.C. had 200 000 ticks on it!
- The nymphal (baby) stage of the tick is the size of a dot.
- The rash from a nymph bite is so small you wouldn't even notice it.
- In one study, one tick layed 10 000 eggs.
- When Lyme statistics are stated, multiply that by 10 to come up with the actual number. This is because Lyme testing is so inaccurate.
- Lyme cysts can be frozen and later thawed and injected into mice who will develop Lyme disease.
- The increase of Lyme is due to global warming.
- B.C. was the last place in North America to get Lyme.
- Very few illnesses give you a perfectly circular rash that goes out from the point of the bite.
- After a bite, Dr. Murakami recommends 3 weeks of antibiotics to kill the spirochetes and eggs (cysts).
- The rash for Ehrlichiosis looks more like a dot, not a bulls-eye.
- Manitoba Ministry of Health is the only province that recognizes that Lyme is a 'clinical diagnosis', and that longer term antibiotics may be necessary.
- There is a difference between what the government says and what the College of Physicians there says.
- Normally, IgM antibioties indicate an acute infection, while IgG antibodies indicate a chronic infection. However, in chronic Lyme disease, continual re-infection keeps the IgM antibodies up beyond what we would think is the acute phase.
- The PCR culture by Advanced Labs costs $600. This is the test that Dr. Burrascano is working on.
- President George W. Bush had a Lyme bulls-eye rash. Dr. Murakami wonders if it has developed into neuroborreliosis due to lack of adequate treatment.
- If you have gone untreated for 5 years, you will have permanent cysts and damage.
- In IV therapy, there is a big difference in improvement depending on the length of treatment - 1 month VS. 3 months. However, doctors here won't do 3 months.
- An LLMD in the U.S. has had favourable results in her studies of the herbs Banderol and Samento.
My questions during Q&A
Question: If I re-do my IgM Western Blot, should I see a reduction in antibodies if I have been on treatment for a while?
Answser: Yes, that can happen.
Question: I have read that when you're done your treatment, it is useful to pulse some doxycycline one or two days per month to keep the bacterial load down. What do you think?
Answer: No, this is not useful at all. That small amount of antibiotic would have no effect on the bacteria.
Question: How can I prevent relapse after my treatment is done?
Answer: It all depends on the strain of borrelia you had. Some are more resistant. You need to do the logical things to help your immune system: healthy eating, exercise, etc. Don't eat sugar....all bacteria/viruses feed on sugar.
Finally, here are Dr. Murakami's thoughts which I copied from his Facebook page:
Six successful meetings in Ontario done and 2 more to go in Toronto and a special case to be presented at Mount Sinai hospital. I will enjoy the vew on the VIA rail this afternoon. Thank you all for contacts and encouragement. There were Political MP representatives, MD and NDs at the Ottawa meeting yesterday. A heart felt thanks to all those who attended and helped with donations and to all the organizers who made all this possible. I cannot get over the announcement of the NDs privileges to prescibe medications in this province (March 2013). I have given one talk at the Naturopathic Medical School in Toronto and annually at the Boucher Naturopathic School and they are all on board to learn about Lyme disease unlike my peers. My philosophy is to teach them about evidence based medications and even educate on a one to one basis by phone.
