Nice stack, Funk; thanks for filling us in on it. How's your mom doing? Do you have her on a regimen that looks anything like this? I hope you knock it out. One minor suggestion: You don't need to spread out the vitamin D. I take mine all bunched with my other lipids, along with my highest lipid meal. Vitamin D's half life is approximately forever. I have a friend who takes about the same number of IU/day as I do, but he takes it once every two weeks.
I know, I'm taking it this way because I have 2000iu and 1000iu gelcaps on hand and I like to spread things out. If I was ordering Vit D right now I'd get a 5000iu gelcap and take it with dinner.
I'm still working on my mom's regimen. It won't be quite as comprehensive because I don't want to overwhelm her with pills. It's also complicated because she is on 14 (fourteen!) different prescriptions, she was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Sjogren's Syndrome, Lupus, Panic Disorder, Depression, Leukopenia, Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (one hematologist gave her FIVE bone marrows chasing the blood abnormalities, all normal, she might sue that guy). It was left to little old me to figure this out. Her case of Lyme is so severe she cannot tolerate even a 100mg doxycycline capsule, we had to have 25mg capsules specially compounded. Still, at least we're finally on the right track.
I have the same blood abnormalities, and they did a bone marrow on me too when I was only eight years old which was normal. Platelets have been below normal forever, until a recent blood test after a month of tetracycline when they were normal for the first time in my life. Its obvious to me that if the bone marrow is normal and your blood counts are low, there is peripheral destruction going on, of which the most likely cause is infection. Apparently the concept of infection is beyond the scope of hematology's narrow beam of focus.
That's terrible, I assumed you had caught it recently since you mentioned beating the disease; has anyone ever recovered from Chronic Lyme Disease?
Once you've been infected with borellia burgdorferi you do not ever completely get rid of it, however this is not unlike many of the viruses you've been infected with over the years, which you'll never be rid of either. 8-12% of people living in an endemic area seem to test positive, and the vast majority show no symptoms. The goal of treatment is to eliminate the majority of the infection, restore the upper hand to the immune system so it can keep the bacteria in check, and become one of those asymptomatic carriers that lives out the rest of their days happily. You could argue that those of us that do develop symptoms early on are lucky, because many of those asymptomatic carriers will develop alzheimer's later in life.
Many people do recover even after suffering for decades, however it does take much longer and symptoms that result from permanent damage to the brain and other tissues may never resolve completely. I am confident that I will recover completely but I don't think my mother will. There is no set protocol or length of time for treatment in chronic or late-stage Lyme, stories abound of people that were treated for two years without substantial improvement followed by an abrupt resolution of symptoms in the third year.
Funk, I'd be interested in knowing why you take certain supplements.
Which of these are Lyme specific ?
Ubiquinol
Grape Seed Extract
Green Tea Extract
Quercetin
Curcumin (Immune system, anti-Alzheimer's ?)
Selenium (Stimulate Glutathione ? Lyme is not a virus though.)
Toco-Sorb (Do you feel you need those extra Tocotrienols, ie, FamilE isnt enough ?)
Ubiquinol - heart biopsy seems to indicate reduced CoQ10 in muscle tissue of Lyme patients, reported by a famous Lyme doc (Burrascano), don't have a reference.
Grape Seed Extract - protect circulatory system from inflammation, neuroprotective, stimulates immune system
Green Tea Extract - I haven't investigated this with regard to Lyme, it simply does so many good things and is so cheap, it is in every regimen I'm involved with
Quercetin - Anti-viral, maintains strength of immune system under conditions of extreme stress (see the study with pro cyclists or PM me and I"ll find it)
Curcumin - Neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, remove beta-amyloid. Lyme definitely produces beta-amyloid plaque, however I don't know for sure whether this is a problem at a young age, that's an educated guess I'm making (I think it is possible especially when dementia-like symptoms are present).
Selenium - positive correlation between selenium intake and immune function:
J Am Diet Assoc. 2008 Dec;108(12):2005-12.Click here to read Links
Nutrient intake and immune function of elderly subjects.
Wardwell L, Chapman-Novakofski K, Herrel S, Woods J.
Southern Illinois University School of Law, Carbondale, IL, USA.
OBJECTIVE: Food intake, aging, and immune function share complex influences. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine relationships between nutrient intakes from food and dietary supplements and a biomarker of immune function. DESIGN: Data were collected from participants in a cross-sectional study as well as baseline data from a longitudinal study (n=89). Subjects completed 24-hour food recalls, including supplement intake. Polyclonal mitogen phytohemmagluttin (PHA) was the immune function stimulator used. Height and weight were used to calculate body mass index. STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED: Descriptive, bivariate correlation, Spearman's rho for nonparametric data, t tests, and stepwise regression with nutrient intakes as independent variables and T-cell proliferation as dependent variables. RESULTS: Significant positive correlations (P< or =0.05) were found between PHA-induced proliferation and intake of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), eicosahexaenoic acid (EPA), sodium, and selenium, although intakes of DHA plus EPA were inadequate when compared to recommended intakes. A significant negative correlation with total vitamin A, with many vitamin A levels being above the upper limit of safety. Regression analyses found these nutrients to be variables significant in explaining the variance in PHA (P=0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Selenium, sodium, DHA, EPA, and vitamin A intake from diet and supplements were associated with PHA-induced proliferative responses. Clients may be counseled to have adequate selenium, EPA, DHA intake, and vitamin A, but avoid excess vitamin A.
Toco-sorb: FamilE is probably fine, however because lipid peroxidation is elevated in Lyme Disease and deficiency of Vitamin E is induced I went the extra-mile with Toco-sorb. Plus I think tocotrienols are sexy.
Hugging aside, good regime. No whey supplementation?
I take 30-60g of whey protein daily, the 30g is in my breakfast oatmeal w/ wild blueberries, and sometimes another 30g at lunchtime depending on whether I think the protein content of my lunch is adequate. Thanks for the hug.

Should I get tested for lymes disease? What does the test involve?
The best single test is a western blot with all bands reported, however I don't know if Lyme is present in Australia. You would need to do some research to determine that.
Edited by FunkOdyssey, 20 January 2009 - 04:18 PM.