Author: Blake Powell

Lyme disease is growing in Michigan and the symptoms can be debilitating. Here at The Oxford Center we have seen many patients with Lyme who are treating successfully even after many years with the condition. But an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so let’s look at the best way to avoid getting Lyme disease.

What is Lyme Disease?
Lyme disease is caused by four species of bacteria in the Borrellia family common in both the United States and Europe. This disease is passed on most commonly by an infected four-legged black tick also known as the deer tick. The ticks carry the bacteria from other animals such as deer, robins, and mice who are infected with the bacteria.

What are the Symptoms
The early symptoms include a distinguishable rash (erythema migrans) at the bite location, fever, chills fatigue, body aches, headache, neck stiffness and swollen lymph nodes. More serious symptoms sometimes develop later and may include: a spread of erythema migrans to other parts of the body; joint pain; and neurological problems including meningitis, Bell’s palsy, and numbness or weakness in your arms and legs and impaired muscle movement.
Some less common symptoms include heart problems, eye inflammation, liver inflammation and severe fatigue.

How to Avoid Lyme Disease
The black tick population in Michigan is growing. These ticks are mostly often found in wooded areas or in tall grass.If you are active outside, you are more susceptible to contracting Lyme disease through infected ticks. When outside in these areas, be sure to cover up your skin. Wear shoes and long pants tucked into your socks, a long-sleeved shirt, a hat and gloves.

After going into the woods, be sure to check yourself, your children and your pets. Ticks are very small, so you need to search very carefully. A shower after can be helpful as a tick doesn’t attach itself immediately and showering with a washcloth could remove them.

If you find a tick, remove it as soon as possible with tweezers. Gently grasp the tick near its head or mouth. Don’t squeeze or crush the tick, but pull in carefully and steady. Once you’ve remove the entire tick, dispose of it by putting in in alcohol or flushing in town the toilet or better yet, save the tick in a baggie or freezer. They can be analyzed to determine if they were a Lyme carrier. Finally apply antiseptic to the bite area.

What if you have been diagnosed with Lyme?
Here at The Oxford Center, we treated several people that have been diagnosed with Lyme disease. The three therapies that specifically work to help recover from the Lyme symptoms include: Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, Genetic Testing and Nutrition Coaching.

Learn more about how we treat Lyme disease.

Debilitating fatigue, brain fog, and mysterious joint pain. Rashes, hives, and unexplained itching. Muscle weakness, rapid heartbeat, and diarrhea. These seemingly unrelated symptoms have become so common that they are accepted as normal. It seems that everyone is exhausted, stressed out, and anxious or depressed. Many people also suffer from food-triggered digestive issues. But common and normal are not the same thing. The body is not supposed to attack its own cells, tissues, and organs, yet this is exactly what happens in autoimmune disease.

Some of the better-known autoimmune diseases include rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, ulcerative colitis, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, and lupus. The American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) estimates that 50 million Americans (almost 1 in 5) suffer from one or more of the 140+ diseases classified as autoimmune. That’s approximately double the number of people who suffer from heart disease and four times the number of people affected by cancer.

Further complicating the perplexing nature of these diseases, it is not always known whether autoimmune dysfunction is the cause or consequence of the presenting disease. For example, asthma and eczema are believed to be triggered by autoimmune conditions, yet seem to be surface problems.
Mainstream medicine offers few solutions for autoimmune disease, generally providing only palliative care. But at The Oxford Center, we take a synergistic approach. Combining hyperbaric oxygen therapy, nutrition coaching, and medical consultation, we guide patients in restoring health.

The Role of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Treating Autoimmune Conditions

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) can be a powerful tool for treating autoimmune disease. HBOT is a clinical treatment where the patient breathes 100% oxygen while enclosed in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber at a pressure greater than one and a half (1.5 ata)  atmosphere.

At pressures greater than normal, the body can incorporate more oxygen into blood cells, blood plasma, cerebrospinal fluid and other body fluids. The increased oxygen absorption experienced during HBOT boosts stem cell production 800% and enhances the body’s ability to heal itself. Known effects of HBOT include reduced inflammation, healing of infections and repair of damaged tissues. Raising oxygen levels in tissues where they have been lowered due to illness or injury encourages blood vessel growth, reduces swelling and supports the immune system. These effects provide significant symptomatic relief and delayed or decreased progression of disease.

The Role of Nutrition in Autoimmune Disease

Autoimmune disorders are exacerbated by disorders in the gut. They are also very responsive to dietary changes.  When individuals suffering from autoimmune diseases implement healing diets, improvements (often dramatic) in physical and psychological health result.

The Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) is a sophisticated elimination diet where foods known to cause inflammation and immune dysregulation are avoided, while nutrient-dense foods that support the body in healing itself are consumed. The AIP is composed of both an elimination phase and a reintroduction phase. Beginning such an intense diet can be overwhelming. Support from a nutrition coach can make the difference between frustration and success.
There is no single best lifestyle and diet for autoimmune disease. Each individual must learn how specific foods affect their symptoms, find foods that promote healing, and eliminate those that destroy their health.

Medical Testing and Autoimmune Disease

Autoimmune Disease is complex and multi-layered. Doctors don’t agree on which diseases fall under the autoimmune umbrella and how to treat them.

A medical professional who knows how to look for root causes of disease offers the best hope for recovery. A variety of factors influence health and disease, including genetics, environmental toxin exposures, vitamin deficiencies, infection, stress, and sleep. Testing is often the only way to quantify and understand these confounding factors so that an appropriate treatment strategy may be designed.

At The Oxford Center, the medical team is constantly researching and innovating to determine approaches that will help patients restore health. With millions of Americans affected by autoimmune diseases, we’ve developed protocols for best outcomes, which include HBOT, genetic testing, medical consultation, and nutrition coaching.

Taking Charge of Your Health

The World Health Organization defines health as a State of complete physical, mental, and social well being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. It is empowering to know that we can take charge of our own health. While there are no magic bullets, what we choose to eat, how we manage stress, and the healing modalities we select for ourselves and our families play a huge role in our health and well-being.

In deciding how to deal with an autoimmune disease or a collection of symptoms that point to a related condition, trust your inner guidance. Articles or therapies often cross our paths for a reason. At the same time, it is prudent to determine if they are right for us by doing further research. Knowledge is power. Read, learn, and ask questions. Restoring your health can be a joyful process, especially with support from caring professionals.

Founded in 2008, The Oxford Center is an innovative therapy organization that promotes healing through a variety of research-based therapies tailored to individual needs. While traditional therapies limit people to living with their condition, Oxford’s therapies promote healing and recovery. Oxford offers a variety of programs that strive to create a lifestyle of wellness, improved health and quality of life, including Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, Nutrition Coaching, Medical Consultation, and Laboratory Testing.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a major problem in the United States with over 200,000 TBI’s occurring every year. There are different types of TBIs that range in severity, from a mild concussion to a bullet wound to the head.

The Oxford Center offers a multifaceted approach to solving the root causes of the symptoms of TBI.  Depending upon its severity, we use therapies such as Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), Neurofeedback, Suit Therapy/Neuro-Physical Therapy, and nutrition coaching.

In the case of a severe TBI, physical therapy may be needed. Suit Therapy is an intensive neuro-physical therapy combining both conventional and non-conventional techniques to help with the rehabilitation of neurological damage. This approach concentrates on retraining the body from a neurological standpoint compared to the traditional muscular approach. At Oxford, a session is three hours long and is one-on-one, allowing our therapists to focus on your specific needs without interruptions.

The Oxford Physical Therapy approach starts from the basics. Our goal is not for our patients to simply regain mobility, but to regain proper mobility. In one three hour session, our patients are trained in specific ways to stop compensation from different muscle groups of the body to ensure that there are no lurking issues that often cause our patients problems in the future.

Nico Pisanti, our Director of Suit Therapy, has been specializing in pediatric neurology for 20 years. He summarizes the Neuro-physical approach by saying, “We move forward by working on what you’re missing, not what you already have.”