With Lyme borreliosis, everyone has to develop their own “home practices” to make everyday life bearable.
Dr. Erik Kolbenheyer initially had very little knowledge about Lyme borreliosis, and although he graduated as a doctor in 1990, their textbooks only contained 10-15 lines about the infection. When asked how he became, in his own words, thoroughly familiar with Lyme borreliosis, he answers with a single word: “through suffering”. We asked Dr. Erik Kolbenheyer, an internist, gastroenterologist, family doctor, occupational health specialist, and doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, to tell us how he became a healer for the patients who turned to him.
He was bitten by a tick at the age of thirty-two during a walk in the woods. He didn’t notice it at first, only a few days later. He didn’t think much of it, as he didn’t have a Lyme rash, although at the time he didn’t know that in 70% of cases there is no Lyme rash.
Six weeks after the bite, his symptoms appeared: nerve pain, headaches, back pain, lower back pain… He felt that there might be a connection between the tick bite and his symptoms, so he began researching the disease, which was not easy in the era of dial-up internet.
He had several ELISA tests done, which was the only option in the late 1990s. This serological test detects antibodies, but it can also produce a high rate of false negatives, as was the case with him. He essentially reached a dead end: without a diagnosis, there was no treatment.
He visited his colleagues, in several specialities, as he was struggling with all kinds of symptoms, from cardiological and neurological symptoms to joint pain. Everyone started from the negative lab results and looked in other directions; no one suspected a tick infection.
As he recounts, pain basically defined his everyday life: at the age of 32, he was a regular athlete, then from one day to the next he was living in pain, and his physical capacity decreased dramatically. He used to run ten kilometres, but the next day he couldn’t even climb one flight of stairs.
Finally, what he read in an American book on Lyme disease confirmed that his symptoms could only be caused by an infection contracted from a tick. He continued his research, looked for the right specialist, and, as he says, was very fortunate to find Dr. Béla Bózsik, who was completely unknown to him at the time and who is a researcher of this insidious disease with its many symptoms. Two or three years had passed since the onset of the symptoms of the disease, but at least he could begin to learn about it. “He welcomed me in a very collegial and helpful manner.
“He welcomed me in a very collegial and helpful manner. He explained the specifics of this disease. The first step was to perform a dark field examination. This is a microscopic examination that had previously been used to identify spirochetes, and the chief physician is a great expert and master of this technique. He helped detect the pathogens, the borrelia, in my own blood. This was a great relief for me, as it gave me something to hold on to, because I knew what was causing my symptoms. This led me to the microbiology laboratory at the Honvéd Hospital, where they performed a Western Blot test, which is more specific than the ELISA test and detects antigens found on the surface of borrelia,” says Dr Kolbenheyer, who is still grateful to Dr Béla Bózsik to this day.
After the Western Blot test, on Dr. Bózsik’s recommendation, he received a long-term, combined antibiotic treatment, which made him feel better, but did not completely eliminate his symptoms. His stamina improved and his pain subsided, but did not disappear completely. Although he did not believe in it, he even tried acupuncture. The first results were visible after only five treatments, and his pain gradually disappeared.
Based on his own experience, he says that everyone needs to develop their own “home practices” to make everyday life livable. He believes that sport can help a lot, as these pathogens do not like heat or oxygen, but during exercise, heat is generated and oxygenation increases. Saunas, especially infrared saunas, can reduce the number of pathogens in a similar way.
It is also important to know that when these pathogens are destroyed, it can cause discomfort, as they release substances that cause flare-ups. This is called the Herxheimer reaction. This sometimes alarms both the doctor and the patient, because a short-term inflammatory process occurs in the body, and as a result, instead of feeling better after the treatment period, the patient feels worse, explains Dr Kolbenheyer. And although this is only a temporary condition, it can be quite distressing for the patient. This is especially true for chronic conditions: the older the disease, the more severe the reaction.
Source: weborvos.hu
