A message From Mia's Father

Why are we taking Mia to the USA for treatment of her Lyme disease and not following the conventional treatment offered in Australia?

Before answering this question it’s important to take a step back and look at a couple of things, what is Lyme disease and what is the conventional Australian treatment?

In lay terms (I’m sure medical professionals will cringe reading this so please hear me when I say I do not claim any expertise in this field, I’m just a dad that’s had to find this out myself) Lyme is a virus that is far more complex than the typical antibiotic treated virus.



Typical viruses have a short life cycle (as short as 1 to 3 days) and it’s in their reproductive stage that they become vulnerable to those antibiotics designed to interrupt their reproduction, no reproduction – no virus, simple. There are other antibiotics that do similar things to the viruses ability to create energy (eat) etc. but the theories are the same, if it can’t reproduce for whatever reason it will die. This is why typical antibiotic treatments run for 7 to 21 days, if enough reproductive cycles (remember they are of only 1 to 3 days) are interrupted, then the number of virus cells in the body reduces to such a level that our own immune system will clean up the rest.

Lyme is different and far more complex than the typical virus. Firstly Lyme has a life cycle of approximately 21 days as opposed to 1 to 3 days. By itself conventionally thinking, this would mean just running a course of antibiotics longer wouldn’t it?, let say for 147 days (it’s just the math for simple viruses, a 1 day life cycle = 7 days of antibiotics, therefore a 21 day life cycle = 147 days of antibiotics). I wish it was that simple. Added to this extended life cycle are two very different factors that are not found in typical viruses. First the Lyme virus surrounds itself with an impenetrable shell called a biofilm. The virus can release its toxins through the biofilm, making the sufferer “sick” but antibiotics can’t penetrate this film so the only time the virus is vulnerable is when it actually comes out of its shell, otherwise the antibiotic can’t get it. Second the Lyme virus is genetically adaptive (if you’ve got any knowledge of why antibiotics are beginning to fail in other conventional illnesses, this is the scary part). Being genetically adaptive it can change its DNA within a few generations to be immune to an antibiotic that it has been exposed to. So Lyme is a virus that lives longer, protects itself with an impenetrable shell and mutates to become antibiotic resistant.



Conventional treatment in Australia (when you can find it; a different topic about the Australian medical community’s lack of recognition of this illness) is based on the long term (12-18 months) application of multiple, very strong antibiotics. No attempt is made to remove the protective biofilm from the virus so it really is an approach of trying to “wait it out” and as the virus genetically adapts to each antibiotic, the treatment begins to run out of antibiotic options. This treatment works better in sufferers that have been infected for shorter periods of time. Mia has been afflicted with Lyme for years so realistically she has a much reduced probability of this working. Side effects of such long term, high dose antibiotics can include the total long term destruction of the immune system, life-long gastrointestinal tract complications and organ failure (kidneys etc).



Where we are taking Mia to, is a treatment centre in the USA where they have specialized in understanding and creating successful treatments tailored to Lyme disease. The centre’s founding doctor has a very personal perspective into the disease as his daughter was a sufferer that could not be cured conventionally so he pioneered the research and treatments that did cure her. He and the other treating doctors come from ICU backgrounds as do the nurses because they passionately believe that the people they are treating are incredibly sick and in need of this expertise. The treatment is holistic (a whole of body approach, not to be confused with any new age tie dyed, fish slapping interpretation of holistic), does not just treat the symptoms, is tailored to the individual, and makes sense (to us) within the context of the disease. They build up the sufferer’s own immune system, break down and destroy the biofilm and only introduce antibiotics in a “kill phase” when they know the virus is vulnerable (in the form of daily blood tests to ensure the biofilm is down and the timing is right). I’ve explained this in a very simplistic manner that doesn’t do justice to the treatment but I’m sure you get the idea.



We know that after reading this, people will form their own opinions over what we are doing and that is their right to do so. What I ask of everyone reading what I’ve written is this, consider that we (it is a whole of family experience) have been living in Mia’s condition for years. We have seen this disease rob her of her teenage years to the point where she is now effectively in a form of medically induced solitary confinement that will also rob her of her potential for a normal future and we will do whatever we can to see that that does not happen. I’ve written this piece to introduce you to Mia’s story, not to engage in debate. If you don’t think what we are doing is what you would do, that’s fine we accept you have your own point of view but ask respectfully that you keep that to yourself. From here on our goal is to keep Mia mentally strong for the challenge ahead of her and any debate objectifying her condition will not achieve this.

Thanks for reading and for anyone else suffering in this condition either as a direct victim or family member we offer our prayers and best wishes for your future.

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