Healing from Lyme Disease 2. Salt and Vitamin C, dietary protocols

On a cold night in December 2004, a gigantic house spider, common to Europe where I lived, warmed itself beneath my blanket while I slept. I awoke with two large parallel spider teeth marks in the center of a swollen, red, itchy area just above my elbow. The spider was no where to be found.

Oh well, it was just a harmless house spider bite. Nothing to worry about.

Over the next few weeks I began to feel tired. I no longer bounced out of bed in the morning. After a few weeks, I found it hard to move at all. The feeling of fatigue had grown so gradually, however, that I didn't realize I was sick until Lyme was fully upon me -- again.

Five years earlier, I'd first come down with this disease. Now my doctor confirmed that there are many reports of Lyme infection after various insect bites, mites, ticks, mosquitoes, and also spiders.

I went online and looked into ways to increase the potency of colloidal silver, which, as I describe in my last post, I had used for three years in minimum dosages to keep Lyme disease in check. From January through March of 2005, I mixed colloidal silver with Gatorade. I'd read that the electrolytes in sports drink would increase the penetration of colloidal silver into the body. While I did see some improvement, it didn't feel as though I was hitting the bacteria hard enough. The herx reactions were diffuse, and I still felt incredibly fatigued.

I made an appointment with my Lyme-literate doctor in Switzerland. I wasn't looking forward to long-term antibiotic treatment, which, as I described in my last post, makes us feel much worse before we get better. My appointment was for May 15.

Strangely, I often found myself wandering about my kitchen, looking for something... I didn't know what for, I just had a feeling.... I was probably crazy, but I had a strong feeling that the thing that would heal me was right there in my kitchen. It was cheap, it was accessible, it was right there. If I could only figure out what it was.

In April, I learned about the new sea-salt and vitamin C therapy that had generated an online buzz and attracted hundreds of us "Lymies" willing to experiment. This bizarre-sounding therapy was touted as anti-parasitic, anti-fungal, anti-spirochetal, antibacterial, and antiviral.

It sounded crazy, but ... I actually already had the ingredients in my kitchen. As far as I could tell, I would tolerate the increase in salt as my kidneys are healthy, and vitamin C was harmless as any excess would be excreted in my urine.

The protocol begins with two grams of each per day, and gradually builds to twelves grams a day. I immediately felt much better. When waking in the morning, I could actually feel my extremities--the numbness was gone! My legs belonged to my body again. I had plenty of energy and strength.

After three days, the first herx began. My feet swelled and were painful. I could hardly walk. This soon abated, however, and for about three weeks I felt healthier than I had in months. I cleaned the house, organized, de-cluttered, painted a wall... it was a miracle. I increased the dosage,  a gram every few days. I plateaued for a while at six grams, at nine grams, and gradually worked my way up to twelve grams a day.

I had several herxes at about four week intervals, and they were more painful and extreme than they had been with antibiotics. Yet, between these herxes, I enjoyed energy and health as I hadn't since before the initial onset of the disease in 2000.

One very unusual symptom common to the salt/C protocol is the feeling of tiny creeping and crawling sensations just beneath or above the skin. It was so strange. At first, I felt these sensations all over my body. In later months, I felt them beneath my knees and in the ankles and feet. Sometimes, one large area in my leg would "jiggle" for hours--clearly the protocol was hitting the nerves, but it felt so much like an insect that I often ripped off my pajamas at night to see what was crawling on me.

Since that time -- 2005 -- many people have tried salt/C. While most see improvement, not all are healed. Here are some of the methods I used.

1) When I was due for a herx, I would increase the dosage to 15 grams a day be sure that I was really hitting the bacteria hard. I believed that in provoking the herx, I could be sure with each cycle that I eradicated another layer of the pathogens.

2) I ground the salt in an old coffee grinder and mixed it together with powdered ascorbic acid in a jar. I combined the salt and vitamin with 2/3 water and 1/3 fruit juice (grapefruit, pineapple and apple juice taste ok with salt/C), and this made it easier to swallow.

3) The dosages were spread throughout the day, one in the morning, afternoon, and evening. I did take a dosage at night, if I hadn't gotten around to it in the evening. I don't suggest doing this often, as it can interfere with sleep. (But it can also improve sleep at times.)

4) I did not sip the salt/C throughout the day, but rather, took each dose fairly quickly, swallowing it down at once.

5) I did not eat 10 minutes before or after taking my dose.

6) I had already done a moderate heavy metal detox in 2003, after removing my amalgams. It is difficult to heal from Lyme disease if the body is full of heavy metals. However, some people do succeed, even with amalgam fillings, when using salt/C.

7) I had lived in Europe over two decades at that time, and had not been exposed to genetically modified foods, or to antibiotics or growth hormones in dairy and meat products. I had not had an immunization since childhood. I believe these things do make a difference as far as having an intact and resilient immune system. Wherever you live, try to live as naturally as possible. Avoid an overload of electro-smog. Eat fresh, real food. 

I began this treatment at the end of April 2005, and by January 2006 the worst was over. I had the so-called "brain-herx" in December, (when the feelings of anxiety and hopelessness were worst), and hoped that the salt/C had penetrated to the deepest layer. It appeared to be so. After that herx, the remaining herxes were mild.

With one exception. In one of the very last herxes, I felt pain in all my teeth. It was so concrete that for several days I actually believed all my teeth were infected. It was very frightening, as I'd never experienced anything like it before. But as quickly as the pain appeared, it abated.

In Spring of 2006, I began three additional dietary protocols. With each, I felt I was a step closer to complete remission.

1) I did an anti-yeast (candida) dietary protocol for six weeks.

2) I then avoided all gluten and dairy for six weeks.

3) I then ate six cloves of raw garlic a day for six weeks.

By summer of 2006, I felt healed. I continued to take salt/C at a maintenance dosage (4-8 grams a day), but no longer had a herx reaction.

There are many other supplements and other healing protocols that I did while healing with salt/C, (qi-gong, raw milk, self-made kefir, healthy fats, turmeric and anti-inflammatory herbs and foods, to name a few) but I have outlined the main protocol here.


To learn more about the salt/C protocol, see the yahoogroup "lymestrategies."