Or...Search this site Home Symptoms Live Discussion Diagnosis Treatment Area Support Library Research Lymelinks Contact Pets & Lyme DONATIONS Drug Info Medical Dictionary Board of Directors      Click on the graphic to vote for this site as a Starting Point Hot Site. -- No Warranties or Representations The data and information presented in this web site are presented in good faith and believed to be accurate. Any and all liability for the content or any omissions including any inaccuracies, errors, or misstatements in such data or information is expressly disclaimed. The web site is compiled for the sole purpose of informing community members of resources and information pertaining to Lyme Borreliosis Disease and its coinfections. The Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation, Directors and members are not liable for any direct or indirect damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortious action arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of information available from this website. Consult a qualified Lyme ( Borreliosis ) Disease literate doctor for medical advice if Lyme Disease is suspect. en français For Physicians Ticks Coinfections Prevention Our Stories Click Here to order our free Lyme Disease Flyer,    Here for our free Lyme Disease Poster ..documents may be copied (to distribute) but edit only for alignment. Lyme progresses to MS symptoms…Rx = Naltrexone. Re: naltrexone...low dose given at bedtime to increase endorphins. This drug is treating SOME symptoms, I believe, but NOT CURING the underlying problem. Restoring the electrolytes...especially magnesium (!) will also alleviate many, many, many symptoms. It is safer and definitely cheaper. "Endorphins have less ability to reduce pain when serotonin is low." http://www.ncf.ca/fibromyalgia/anderson.htm "... serotonin uptake is Mg-dependent" http://www.mgwater.com/clmd.shtml Thus...magnesium deficiency -> less seratonin avail. -> less seratonin = endorphins less able to reduce pain Endorphins not as effective -> need to increase - use naltrexone, low dose, at bedtime to cause daytime increase to "boost immune". At night... "When the group discovered that endorphins are almost all produced in the middle of the night, between 2 AM and 4 AM, the studies focused on small doses (1.5-4.5 mg at bedtime) with the hope that a brief period of endorphin blockade before 2 AM might induce an increase in the body's endorphin production. In fact, the drug did so in this dosage range." http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/ldn_and_ai.htm Meanwhile... "When the sodium goes inside the cell during the day it grabs an extra hydrogen ion: this creates acidity within the cells. When the magnesium is going back inside the cells at night, moving out the sodium, it has an alkalizing effect. This is a very important role that magnesium carries out inside the cell, completing the night time cleanse, so that in the morning the person feels refreshed and the acidity levels have been reduced greatly inside the cell. As well as a polarity switch, we know that if the body is dehydrated it must also be short of EFAs because the liver requires the EFAs and the phospholipids (lecithin) to maintain the correct balance of fluids. The body also uses these same ingredients with the central nervous system which will therefore also be affected by the incomplete day/night cleansing cycles. Another important role of magnesium is in the relaxation process within muscles. As previously mentioned, sodium and calcium are responsible for the contraction of the muscles whilst potassium and magnesium are responsible for the relaxation or extension process. So if people are tense, un-soothed and not calm this shows in the muscles, and most particularly within the internal muscles such as those in the digestive tract, the bowels, the urinary tract and in all of the lung activity. This contraction and tightness is caused by magnesium not returning inside the cell during the night, thus leaving the cells uncleansed and acidic and the muscles contracted. For example, people who have to get up very early in the morning to move about are woken by the tension created during the night due to the lack of movement. This would never happen if the magnesium level is correct within the person and the muscles can return to a relaxed position." http://www.futurevisions.org/CNN_Magnesium.htm Obviously, there is a lot of healing and rebalancing that goes on while we sleep. Magnesium and the myelin sheath that "insulates" the nerves...(MS symptom): Cholesterol cannot be synthesized without magnesium. Bile, which helps your body digest fats, cannot be produced without cholesterol. Cholesterol is also a vital component of many hormones. Aldosterone is one such hormone, and helps to control the balance of minerals, one of them being magnesium. Aldosterone needs magnesium to be produced and it also regulates magnesium's balance. Cholesterol is also needed in the production of sex hormones, to keep your reproductive system working correctly. The stress coping hormones produced by your adrenal glands also require cholesterol for their synthesis. Cholesterol, along with lecithin and fatty acids (both require magnesium for their formation), are the main components of the myelin lining on the nerves. Myelin protects the nerves from "cross wiring", and helps the nerve impulses to travel faster. Without adequate magnesium to produce these three lipids, your nerves can become ragged and worn out before their time. http://waltonfeed.com/self/health/vit-min/mag.html Magnesium and the initial immune response: Magnesium appears to improve the functioning of both the cellular and the antibody-mediated immune defense. The levels of antibodies (immunoglobulins) decrease in experimental animals (mice, rats and hamster) by up to 60% when the supply of magnesium is significant reduced. This decrease is greatest for IgG, but the levels of IgA, IgM and IgE also fall. The reason for this fall in immunoglobulin production may be due to an inability on the part of the B-lymphocytes to develop into antibody-producing plasma cells. It may be that magnesium has other immunological properties which are mediated through hormone-like substances, in the reactions between antibodies and macrophages, for example. The defense system, which is regulated by the T-lymphocytes, requires both magnesium and calcium. The T-lymphocytes are transformed into natural "killer-cells", amongst other things, which are able to attack cancer cells. There is a direct correlation between magnesium deficiencies in rats and reduced immune defense against allergic reactions and cancers, in particular leukaemia and lymphomas. http://www.1stvitality.co.uk/az/magnesium/ More Evidence Points to Direct Involvement of HHV-6 in MS Pathogenesis By Karla Gale NEW YORK (Reuters Health) May 09 - Powerful molecular techniques used to evaluate brain tissue at different stages in the development of multiple sclerosis (MS) support the theory that human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) is present in MS lesions and may be actively involved in disease pathology, according to two reports in the Journal of Infectious Diseases for May 1. The first study established that HHV-6 DNA is present at high frequencies in glial cells of acute-phase lesions in patients with MS. In the second report, HHV-6 was significantly more common in MS plaques than in normal-appearing white matter of patients with long-standing MS, healthy control subjects, or brains individuals with other neurologic diseases. The results are so powerful that the two research groups are now in the planning stages of a clinical trial to test the efficacy of antiviral agents for treatment of MS. Dr. Andrew D. Goodman and colleagues at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, New York, obtained biopsy specimens of lesions that presented as cerebral tumors in 5 patients subsequently diagnosed with MS. None had received immunomodulatory therapy at the time of biopsy. A sensitive in situ polymerase chain reaction (ISPCR) method recently developed by Dr. Goodman's group revealed HHV-6 DNA in oligodendrocytes, lymphocytes and microglia in all five lesions. "In our study, viral DNA does locate to oligodendrocytes, the cells that make the myelin that is the target of inflammation," Dr. Goodman told Reuters Health. "The implication is that this could be the target of the immune response that causes inflammation and ultimately scars the nervous system." What is unique about the University of Rochester study, he added, is that the findings "couldn't have been impacted by treatment or years of chronic illness." Dr. Goodman cautioned that his group's study "does not provide evidence of direct active infection" because they only found latent virus, and his group has yet to test tissue for the presence of other viral agents. "But other groups have previously reported active infection," he added, and his laboratory is close to developing ISPCR tests for additional herpes and non-herpes viruses. Meanwhile, Dr. Steven Jacobson and colleagues, of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland, examined the frequency of HHV-6 DNA in brain tissue samples from MS patients, both MS plaques and normal-appearing white matter (NAWM), as well as from patients with non-MS brain disorders and from healthy control subjects. They obtained 64 samples from 30 MS plaques of 13 patients with MS, as well as 44 samples of NAWM from 10 of the same patients. Thirty-seven (75.8%) MS plaques and seven (15.9%) NAWM samples were positive for HHV-6 specific DNA sequences, a significant difference (p < 0.0005). "The NAWM specimens...were dissected in close proximity to lesion areas, suggesting that HHV-6 positivity is associated with MS lesions in particular, rather than with brain regions where lesions are common," writes the NIH research group. The frequency in MS plaques was also significantly higher than in samples from 12 pathologically normal brains (26.8%; p > 0.0170) and in 13 patients with other neurologic diseases (21.7%; p > 0.003). Results of both studies suggest that "the increased presence of HHV-6 DNA may not be reflective of a generalized reactivation that may occur during neuroinflammation," Dr. Jacobson and his colleagues note. In an interview with Reuters Health, Dr. Jacobson remarked that genital and oral herpes virus infections are known to cycle through quiescent and reactivated states. He postulated, "Could a similar process be occurring in MS?" Positive results from clinical trials testing antiviral drugs would provide supportive evidence that HHV-6 is actively involved in the disease process, he said. "But there are a lot of nitty-gritty details to be worked out" before clinical trials can be conducted, such as type of patients to include and how to monitor clinical efficacy, including reduction in MRI lesion load, disease course, or reduction and viral load. J Infect Dis 2003;187:1365-1387. It may well be that other gram negative pathogens or viruses can ALSO trigger MS (symptoms result from destruction of myelin sheath which results from Mg deficiency caused by an infection - bacterial or viral). Most pathogens are metalloproteases. Same treatment applies. ction and viral load. J Infect Dis 2003;187:1365-1387. It may well be that other gram negative pathogens or viruses can ALSO trigger MS (symptoms result from destruction of myelin sheath which results from Mg deficiency caused by an infection - bacterial or viral). Most pathogens are metalloproteases. Same treatment applies.