Lyme Disease and the Traditional Chinese Medicine Approach

In Episode 253 : Vaccine Induced Lyme Syndrome, Artist and Horse Trainer, Aeron Mack of Middleburg, VA tells us about her Vaccine induced Lyme Syndrome research and shares her story of bringing her horses back to health. You can also find great resources about Lyme disease and Vaccine Induced Lyme Syndrome on Aeron's blog page. 

The TCVM segment starts at 40:30.

Lyme Disease and Vaccine Induced Lyme Syndrome
​with Aeron Mack

What is Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is caused by the bacteria, Borrelia Burgdorferi and is transmitted to horses, dogs and people by the deer tick (Ixodes scapularis). For more tick info, visit the "Tick Guy", Thomas Mather at the University of Rhode Island's Tick Encounter Resource Center.

Lyme is often classified as a syndrome because many general symptoms of malaise like weakness, behavior changes, body pain, joint pain and swelling and heart problems lead us to suspect Lyme on our differential list. Signs can be mild at first and you may not have seen or remember a tick bite on your horse or dog. As the disease progresses, the most common presentation in horses is pain and sensitivity over the large muscles of the back and limbs, swelling of multiple joins and lethargy. A horse who normally looks forward to riding time with his person will gradually become more resistant to work and may even avoid grooming time. In dogs we will see shifting limb lameness or a lameness that comes and goes. They may have a low grade fever and may lose their appetite. 

B.burgdorferi is a corkscrew shaped bacteria (spirochete) and is in the same family as Leptospira, implicated in abortions, moon blindness and kidney disease and Treponema responsible for Syphilis in humans. These bacteria do not produce toxins and are usually found in low numbers in the blood and tissues. They cause such wide ranging symptoms because they can evade the immune system and cause autoimmune symptoms many months and even years after infection. 

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The Lifecycle of the deer tick shows when your chances of encountering tick bites and exposure to Lyme's is highest. ​

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How is it Diagnosed

Some of the things we consider when diagnosing Lyme disease is if the horse or dog was living or traveled to an area endemic for Lyme, did they have a tick bite, clinical signs and ruling out other diseases. A blood test we can run in the clinic can tell us if they have antibodies to Lyme and a more quantitative test can be run at Cornell's veterinary diagnostic lab to tell us if the disease is chronic, acute and/or the vaccination status. For more info about Cornell's veterinary research, click here. 

​TCVM Diagnosis and Treatment

The TCVM diagnosis of the acute stage is a mixed pattern of Wind-Heat Toxin (infection/fever) with Qi and Blood Stagnation (pain).

In the chronic stage, the Zheng Qi (immune system) is damaged and we see Qi and Yin Deficiency (weak immune system, lethargy, pain, intolerance to warm weather, panting, anxiety)

In most Lyme cases, dry needle acupuncture is painful so these animals will be treated with a Chiropractic adjustment followed by laser acupuncture and a course of Herbal Therapy. 

Herbal Therapy

In the acute stage, if we have a red tongue and surging pulse, a fever, hot swollen joints we recommend  Jing Tang's Ba Wei Yu Peng San (Jade Screen Eight formula). This formula comes from the combination of 3 formulas used to treat acute febrile diseases, Yin Qiao San, Huo Xiang Zheng Qi San and Yu Ping Feng San. This formula was used extensively to treat and control the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic in China in 2002. We would use this for 30 - 60 days to balance the immune system and kill the bacteria.  

The majority of the damage to the body from an autoimmune disease is sometimes referred to as a "cytokine storm". The pathogen stimulates the immune system's white blood cells and cytokines (pro and anti inflammatory mediators like interleukins and free radicals) to respond but the reaction gets out of control. Just think about when you have the flu and your body hurts, you are sweaty then freezing, you have so much mucous in your nose and lungs you can barely breathe. This is your body trying to get rid of the virus. Many of the deaths we see from influenza, bird flu, SARS, Ebola and even graft vs host disease are due to the body not being strong enough to tolerate the immune system battle or becoming confused and attacking itself. 

In the chronic stage when we are treating the pain and restoring the immune system, we use Dr. Xie's Lyme formula which is a combination of Du Hou Ji Sheng Tang (Angelica and Loranthus Powder) and Yu Ping Feng San. Du Hou Ji Sheng Tang is one of the most popular formulas for treating arthritis in people and animals. It is for Wind-Cold-Damp arthritis so for chronic whole body pain and stiffness that is worse in the cold weather. Yu Ping Feng San is a formula for cold and flu and has recently been shown to block the expression of iNOS and COX-2 so has NSAID like activity in addition to stimulating the immune system. 

Food Therapy

In the acute stage, you want cooling foods that tonify Qi.

For horses, this can include alfalfa, dandelion, pear, sweet potato, figs, goji berries and chia.

For dogs, foods like turkey and barley with eggs, string bean, spinach and shiitake mushrooms made into a congee with bone broth can stimulate the appetite and tonify the Qi. 

In the chronic stage you want to keep building the immune system and relieve the aches and pains but can add some warmer foods. 

For horses add some Turmeric, orange peel, ginger and garlic to the recommendations above.

For dogs, add some Turmeric and ginger plus a sardine which is high in omega 3 fatty acids.

Homework
Get Guineas ! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXfEEf8B5j8

What is Vaccine induced Lyme Syndrome

Lyme disease has become so prevalent in some areas of the country that veterinarians have been using the dog lyme's vaccine in horses as common practice. I did this myself when I lived in Virginia. I had to retire a horse with Lyme and at the time, given the research available to me, I thought I was protecting my horses and my clients horses. For dogs, there are a few FDA approved vaccines that are considered to be safe and the AVMA recommends vaccination in endemic areas. 

Aeron Mack a horse trainer in Middleburg, VA, had an experience with her horses last year that has changed my mind about the Lyme vaccine. Evidence in humans implies that vaccination may be implicated in causing a "Lyme like Syndrome". If what we know about spirochetes and the immune response is true, this makes a lot of sense however, there is currently no research indicating this is the case in horses and dogs.

TCVM Diagnosis and Treatment
is similar to what we discussed above.  Presentation may be acute or chronic and we would treat what we find with an emphasis on relieving pain and controlling the immune response.
 
If you suspect your dog or horse has Lyme disease or vaccine induce Lyme syndrome, contact your veterinarian for an exam and consultation. Do not make this diagnosis on your own or begin treatment without veterinary advice.

If you are looking for a TCVM trained veterinarian in your area, go to http://www.tcvm.com/Resources/FindaTCVMPractitioner.aspx and enter your zip code to find veterinarians from the Chi Institute of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine. 

Listen to Aeron's story on the TCVM segment on the Driving Radio show on the Horse Radio Network.