If you’ve taken a nice, long look around the internet Lyme disease support groups, then you’ve noticed that there exists a striking disparity of thought between some of them. Indeed, the polarity…or should I say, bi-polarity between these groups, makes me wonder, WHY does there exist such a difference of thought amongst Lyme disease sufferers? We all want truth and healing, don’t we?
Do you wonder what I’m referring to? If you’ve stopped by Yahoo! support groups such as Lyme Strategies, Lyme-and-Rife, or Lyme-Aid-Buhner, then you’ve noticed that folks in these places are strong advocates for “alternative” or natural remedies for treating Lyme disease. Conversely, if you’ve dropped by LymeNet or its European counterpart, then you’ve seen a large number of folks wearing quack-watch glasses as they eschew most remedies that haven’t been prescribed by souls with six letters after their last names, preferring to keep the faith in institutions and the pharmaceutical industries that feed them.
Not that antibiotics and traditional medicine don’t have anything to offer, but why in the heck, if they have done their job, do Lyme disease sufferers need to turn to “alternative” remedies? Why have chiropractors, nutritionists and Lyme disease patients become greater experts in healing Lyme than most tried-and-not-so-trustworthy MD’s? Why have so many Lyme disease groups, dedicated to the treatment of Lyme through a myriad of methods besides antibiotics, become so popular?
Because our MD’s haven’t learned to believe that Lyme disease is a problem yet. Because our government will not dedicate a dollar to researching this epidemic disease. Because there are more politics surrounding Lyme than any other disease and that has prevented the possibility of real remedies in “traditional” medicine. Besides, the chronically ill know that traditional medicine–drugs, that is–often carry too many side effects to be worth their risk, especially when it comes to Lyme disease. Antibiotics for five years? You’ve got to be kidding me. I may get rid of borrelia but should I renounce my immune system to the pit of Hell in exchange?
But I’m digressing here. What I really want to do is ponder the reasons for disparity in thinking amongst the Lyme disease support groups. Do the “traditional” thinkers (sheesh, I don’t know what to call them, but you know who I mean) simply believe that only the dazzlingly credentialed MD’s know green squash about Lyme disease and that all others–chiropractors, naturopaths, patients and those with solutions that deviate from the drug path–really have no business telling others how to treat their illness? No matter that some of these souls have invested–hear me now–YEARS into researching ONE illness? No matter that they know others who have been healed with these alternative-type remedies? Nah, why should they have anything to say? Well…they don’t have all those letters after their last name, or if they do, their letters don’t qualify them as supremely intelligent beings. End of story.
Why it is the end, I can only surmise. Maybe some of these souls have been hurt by quacks with big orange feet and who promised them the moon but who instead stole their wallets. Or maybe they are of the sort that prefer the comfy old shoes of pharmaceutical medicine and believe that only credible knowledge can come from those who have spent years inside an institution to get an in-depth understanding of the human body, no matter that their training might have missed one of today’s largest terrors stalking the world in the form of a spirochete.
Or perhaps yet, the traditional folks on these groups aren’t really traditional…maybe they have been “agenda-fied” or are part of establishing an agenda that involves eradicating the acceptance of remedies and authorities that are outside of the established realm. Some of the people on these groups advocate open debate of ideas, but I can tell you, my ideas for healing have not been welcome at them.
My desire is to advocate the truth, insofar as my own agenda doesn’t prevent me from doing that! While the traditional-medicine Lyme disease groups do have some good remedies to offer, so do the others. I do not believe that antibiotics cannot cure people; indeed, they have helped many. But what I rail against are the groups that believe that this is the only viable path to wellness. Conversely, those on the alternative side of the fence and who admonish sufferers not to take antibiotics, may be doing other sufferers a disservice.
So who or what do you believe for your healing? I know, what a disaster it is trying to sort all of this out! If you are a newbie to the “game” of Lyme disease–and indeed, it is a game–because it’s the figure-it-out-yourself disease that requires you to make more use of your discernment than you have neurons to spare. And not just because a zillion possible remedies for healing exist, but also because there are those out there with an agenda who would have you staunchly believe that theirs is the only path to healing.
In the end, it’s good to listen to those from all the Lyme disease support groups, for the purposes of gathering information–but listen to your gut and your god when it comes to making decisions about how to heal. Physicians are human beings and most don’t know enough about this disease to adequately treat for it. God has given us many solutions for healing outside of the pharmaceutical realm, and Truth has not only been given to those with sixteen letters after their last name. Yes, the MD who has extensively studied Lyme disease may have a strong edge over the chiropractor who has done so, but beware of giving too much credibility to the authorities that be.
Furthermore, today my god revealed something else to me. We as human beings are all fairly stupid.
And in our fear, we desire to revere something or someone that is greater than us in knowledge or experience, in the hopes that this person or thing will save us from our sickness. But in doing so, we eliminate the possibility that truth–indeed, that healing–might instead be found beneath the dumbest of rocks.
My god used the most inept of souls to change the world. If you believe in that god, of if you simply believe that solutions can be found in the most unlikely of places, then don’t be afraid to open your eyes to other perspectives and to walk beyond your backyard of belief into a field of endless possibilities.