Ranking Everything I’ve Tried to Heal Chronic Lyme Disease

When you get diagnosed with Lyme disease, there’s no pharmaceutical medication, no protocol, and no single test that can fully explain what’s happening to your body. But what we do have are personal stories and experiences to guide us toward the next steps.

One of the hardest things about getting diagnosed with Lyme disease is the isolation. Chronic Lyme is under-researched, and some people don’t even believe it exists. You’re scrambling for treatments and answers, all while trying to adjust to a disease that’s taken over your body.

When I was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2011, the symptoms came on quickly, almost without warning. One day, I was an energetic high school student playing travel sports, and the next, I could barely get out of bed. When my doctors had no answers, it was strangers on the internet who kept me fighting for a diagnosis. And, over ten years later, it’s these same courageous people who are paving the way for new treatments with their personal stories.

That’s why I’m passionate about sharing mine. Not just my story, but everything I’ve tried on my journey to reverse chronic Lyme disease. We’re all in this together, and when we don’t have science on our side, we have to use the next best thing: Personal experience.

Of course, everyone’s body is different, and this obviously isn’t medical advice. But if you’re wondering what to try next or simply if a remedy works, I hope this brings you some inspiration.

And just in case you need to hear it, I know plenty of people who have fully recovered from Lyme and other co-infections. The most important thing you can do right now is believe you can get well. It’s not impossible, it just might take a little trial and error to get you there.

Ranking Everything I’ve Tried to Heal Lyme Disease

Oral antibiotics ★★★☆☆

Shoutout to sixteen-year-old me, who carried a complete medical regimen in her high school backpack. High-dose antibiotics aren’t for the faint of heart, and using them as a teenager is a life-changing event. But, so is getting diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease. Antibiotics were the only option for me at the time, and I do think they were effective. That said, there are more natural treatment options available today. Antibiotics are so invasive, I’d use them as a last resort.

Brain retraining ★★★★☆

I used the Dynamic Neural Retraining System (DNRS) for the recommended six months to rewire my brain. The goal is to reverse old thought patterns and convince your body to heal by creating new brain pathways.

This program is a huge commitment that requires a minimum of one hour of “practice” every single day. It’s an awesome experience to watch in real-time just how much your thoughts impact your well-being. During my time in the program, I was able to reintroduce disruptive foods, re-enter moldy buildings, and reverse brain fog after years of barely functioning. It also taught me that what I say to myself matters.

That said, I found the hour-long commitment challenging. It’s a huge chunk of time, and the practice is emotionally intense. It took everything in me to complete the six months of training, and I regressed quite a bit after I finished the program. It seems the people who have the most success do their daily practice for multiple years.

The other thing that bothered me was how the material felt inauthentic to the human experience. You have to choose to be sunshine and rainbows all the time. You can’t talk about your symptoms or identify with your illness. It’s like gaslighting your body into submission. I struggled with the spiritual side of that mindset, and I realize now that my foundational beliefs about self and God were the deeper problem (see: therapy).

Homeopathy ★★★★★

No, I’m not talking about herbal tinctures and naturopaths. Traditional homeopathy uses highly diluted plants and minerals to guide the body to self-heal. I know, it sounds crazy, and feels even crazier when you’re handed a tiny white pellet to put under your tongue. But homeopathy is the real deal. It functions on the idea that “like cures like,” or the same thing that makes you sick can also make you well. The highly diluted “remedy” acts as a map, leading your immune system to the root issue.

The best thing about homeopathy is, it leads your own body to do the healing work itself. The side effects are minimal, and the right remedy works on your physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental health all at once. 

There is a downside to homeopathy is the barrier to entry. You can’t go to the store and choose a homeopathic supplement for Lyme disease. Remedies are picked based on a thorough review of your physical, emotional, and mental state, and it’s rare for the same remedy to work on two different people. Especially for chronic conditions, it’s essential that you work with a professional homeopath to find the right remedy match. If you don’t, you’ll probably walk away thinking homeopathy doesn’t work.

Binders ★★★★☆

Like so many with Lyme disease, I react strongly to mold exposure. So, the binders I’ve used have worked both for the Lyme infection and mold illness. I’ve tested the gamut of binders, with activated charcoal, carbon supplements, cholestyramine, bentonite clay, and chlorella. 

It’s hard to track exactly how effective they are, but I do think binders have been helpful in my overall healing journey. They’ve taken a lot of burden off my liver and kept toxins from recirculating. That said, I wish I’d used binders with a little more caution and a lot more nutrient supplements. I’m still building up nutrient stores after these left me feeling totally depleted.

The “Lyme diet” ★★☆☆☆

The amount of pressure I received to go on the “Lyme diet” was truly unmatched. To be fair, there weren’t many treatment options when I was diagnosed over ten years ago. Everyone in my community claimed the diet was the missing piece in my recovery. So you can imagine my surprise when I finally tried it and felt worse.

I think we’ve all realized by now that eliminating entire food groups isn’t the answer to our health problems. On the Lyme diet, I removed gluten, dairy, sugar, nightshades, seed oils, eggs, and beef, eventually adding them back to my diet at a slow pace. And, I mostly felt undernourished. In recent years, I’ve felt much better prioritizing whole foods that are grown without pesticides or modifications (don’t get me started on ancestral wheat vs. fortified grain). 

The Lyme diet might work for other people, but it got two stars from me due to the energy output. The research, new recipes, grocery shopping, and cooking take precious energy you don’t have. The diet could be more helpful if you have someone cooking your meals.

Therapy ★★★★★

Or maybe I should say, the right therapy. Being in the chronic illness community, I’ve noticed there’s a strong connection between trauma survivors and mysterious illness. And, if you try brain retraining (see above), you’ll discover there’s real science behind this connection. Trauma changes the way you see and process the world around you, and it can get stuck in the body. Even if your illness begins with a tick bite, it may be trauma that keeps you unwell.

Earlier, I mentioned that brain retraining felt like trying to gaslight myself to healing. The real problem was that I hadn’t dealt with my trauma or core beliefs. Even with the most intense brain retraining work, I couldn’t positive self-talk my way out of the “total depravity” theology that was hammered into my brain in childhood. Brain retraining focuses on rewiring thought patterns, but I started seeing real results when I dove into my core beliefs. Rewiring those beliefs then led me to process trauma in a real, healthy way. 

Moving ★★★★☆

I’ll start by saying, the best thing I’ve ever done for my health is move out of a moldy building. The mold I lived in was so toxic, I was still blowing it out of my nose five years later. I’ve talked with people whose children became nonverbal due to mold exposure, and others who faced organ failure. Don’t mess with this stuff.

Beyond moving out of a moldy building, I’ve also moved to Western states to escape the humidity that drives mold growth. This decision has given me a lot more flexibility for where I can safely go, since fewer buildings have mold in them. But I wouldn’t say that it’s directly impacted how I feel daily. The West has some health challenges, too, like pollution, dust, and altitude.

Supplements ★★★☆☆

Supplements have come a long way since I first started my Lyme treatment. Herbal tinctures, extracts, and mixed teas are all gentle ways to support the immune system and deal with specific issues, like liver health and candida. Do I think supplements will solely resolve a chronic infection without other support? Probably not. But they can be part of a healthy protocol, especially when your body is rapidly burning through nutrients to get you well.

I’ve found herbal formulas, vitamins, minerals, and phospholipids to bring my cellular health back into balance after using too many binders. Just remember that the supplement industry isn’t regulated, and social media ads are good at getting you to purchase. Do your own research and don’t buy something because it’s trending; buy it because it works.

If I Could Give You Just One Piece of Advice for Navigating Lyme Disease… 

It’s trust your gut.

And trust that your body innately knows how to get well. You’re not fighting against it, you’re fighting with it.

Just because there are limited treatment options doesn’t mean you have limited resources, either. From food to supplements and biohacking, there are dozens of things your body could respond well to. The best thing you can do now is keep trying and keep believing until you find the right next step.