Editor's Note: I was not asked to review this book by Dr. Neil Nathan or the book's publishing company. I reviewed this book on my accord, which should be fairly obvious since the book came out in 2018.
In being a part of the Lyme community since 2009, I’ve seen a lot of Lyme books come to the market, but have only ever read a handful since most only seemed to rehash the same outdated information with no clear direction for treatment, consist primarily of physician or patient stories -- which were relatable, but not helpful for healing -- or be a cheap trial offer for an expensive treatment program to be purchased at a later time.
It was honestly all really discouraging.
The Last Lyme Book I Purchased
The last Lyme book I purchased in hopes of completely restoring my health was Stephen Buhner’s 2015 “Healing Lyme”.
Phenomenal book. 5 out of 5 stars, but much of the information in this book that actually made me feel better -- for the first time since contracting Lyme -- I was already employing from Stephen’s 2005 book by the same title.
I love Stephen Buhner. I respect his unique and unrivaled knowledge of plants as a master herbalist and will forever be grateful for his insightful contributions to the Lyme community, but even he himself said,”...there is no one-size-fits-all treatment for Lyme or any of its coinfections”.
While Stephen Buhner’s treatment protocol gave me much hope, I needed something more. There was still something going on beyond which the help of herbs could provide.
The Age of Wait and See
While working the Buhner protocol, I would try to treat other common issues known to keep people with chronic Lyme ill, such as biotoxin illness, an MTHFR gene mutation, excessive yeast, heavy metals, nutrient deficiencies, stagnant lymph fluid, and I’m sure there are more.
Treating these conditions resulted in some ups and down, but never an ever-improving direction. I felt like I found some pieces of the puzzle, but I didn’t know how many puzzles I was really trying to put together.
So, after really just becoming exhausted from treating myself to no avail, I became rather complacent in restoring my health.
I just let my condition run its course until something worthwhile came along that could top the Buhner protocol in getting me to feel better.
While I waited -- years would pass -- I continued suffering from a very unusual and debilitating symptom after I’d take a shower. My nose would get stuffy, eyes became glazed, face would turn pale, and I’d just feel absolutely horrible. I’ve come to describe the reaction as “feeling poisoned or physically disgusting”.
My family practitioner -- not an LLMD by any means -- gave this unusual symptom a thought and suggested something along the lines of a histamine reaction.
He prescribed some Claritin, but it never helped. In fact, the drug itself made me feel off to where I never took the Claritin again.
Another dead-end and a little more hope lost.
[Re]discovering Dr. Neil Nathan, MD
Dr. Neil Nathan was one of the many Lyme-literate physicians I would come across in my decade-long research of chronic Lyme -- ironically he forwarded Stephen Buhner’s 2015 book “Healing Lyme” -- but he never gave me a reason to listen more to him -- until one fateful day.
I was on YouTube doing some generic research on mold toxicity when I stumbled upon a BetterHealthGuy video interviewing Dr. Neil Nathan. I gave it a listen because Scott of BetterHealthGuy.com always has good information for the Lyme community.
Within the first 5 minutes of a more than 90 minute long interview, Dr. Neil Nathan begins to address how a person with Lyme can be so hypersensitive to their environment, that even water can trigger what he identified as Mast Cell Activation Syndrome.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned this in previous blog posts, but of all the doctors I’ve seen and research I’ve done on chronic Lyme, not a single explanation was ever given for how a simple shower could cause a person with chronic Lyme to feel so bad and ill, except for my out-of-the-box thinking family practitioner, who suggested a histamine response of some kind.
I was now all ears and brain for anything Dr. Neil Nathan had to say.
I stayed and watched the entire 90+ minute interview, and when it was done, I ordered his book "Toxic: Heal Your Body from Mold Toxicity, Lyme Disease, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, and Chronic Environmental Illness" (mentioned in the video) from Amazon without the slightest hesitation or hint that I may be pissing money into the wind (again).
This was my guy.
Reading Dr. Neil Nathan, MD’s Book
I was super stoked to get this book. In fact, I finished reading it in just a couple of days because I wanted to absorb everything.
But I really was an eager beaver to know what else Dr. Neil Nathan had to say about this unusual shower symptom I had and what I could do about it. One less day of suffering was fine by me.
When I initially opened the book after receiving it, I was immediately dumbfounded. It was so inviting!
The monochromatic colors of the page numbers and diagrams, the use of an attractive typeface -- beautifully balanced with typographical emphasis -- and a college textbook dimension, all suggested that someone made the extra effort to ensure you’d stay in the book.
And I had not even started reading the book yet, but when I did, I was further impressed with the layout of the content.
Dr. Neil Nathan's "Toxic" Table of Contents.
The first half of the book discusses the 5 main reasons (primarily just 2 reasons Dr. Neil Nathan notes) for sensitivity and toxicity in a person with chronic Lyme disease.
In other words, he explained, in a very easy to understand language and content progression, why I was likely not getting better.
The second half deals with rebooting specific parts of the body to work as they once did.
Dr. Neil Nathan has treated thousands of patients. With the book, he does tell patient stories, but merely as a complement or context to the detailed explanation for what was plaguing the patient.
Once you understand what could be keeping you from getting better, Dr. Neil Nathan doesn’t just end the book. He outlines exactly what you need to do based on what is best for you. He doesn't give a one-size-fits-all treatment plan. Not in the slightest.
Dr. Neil Nathan understands that every person with this condition requires a slightly different approach to a larger treatment principle. Some people will need to treat mold toxicity first, while others will need to get their Mast Cell Activation Syndrome under control first before treating the mold.
Some may just be dealing with Bartonella.
As would not be expected, he outlines exactly how to do this in really the least expensive way possible. This cost efficient approach to feeling better reminded me very much of Stephen Buhner’s philosophy that a person does not need a lot of money to get better from chronic Lyme.
Both of these great men surely must be cut from the same cloth.
It doesn’t surprise me in the least that Stephen Buhner asked Dr. Neil Nathan to forward his 2015 book “Healing Lyme”.
Should You Get the Book?
If you’ve been dealing with chronic Lyme disease for many years, have tried different treatment modalities with some success, but feel there is still something more you’re missing, then yes -- you want to get a hold of this book.
If you’re extremely sensitive and reactive to your environment, whether it be from a shower, cologne, food, temperature fluctuations, noise, light, touch, sound, etc, then you absolutely need this book.
If you’ve been diagnosed with Biotoxin Illness (i.e., Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome or CIRS), have treated it, but with not much success, this book will be the correct guide.
A page from the book that highlights its easy-to-read nature.
If you’re sure you have the right treatment modalities and have figured out the conditions that are keeping you ill, but just aren’t sure how or when to best implement the treatments, this book will serve you well and give you the direction you need.
If you’re looking for an easy-to-read book, by a caring and humble Lyme physician, who speaks on your level, relates to your suffering, acknowledges there is a misunderstood mechanism behind your ailing body, imbues such hope that one can not only get better, but realize that it was never really that hard to do all along, Dr. Neil Nathan, MD is your man.
How Am I Using the Book?
After reading the book -- and with my new treatment plan in hand -- I’ve started the process of removing biotoxins first, specifically yeast toxins (i.e., gliotoxins) with bentonite clay.
If you’ve been following my blog, you know I have Biotoxin Illness and have been treating it off and on with modified citrus pectin, which has helped.
However, after reading this book, I became aware that removing certain biotoxins requires using certain binders, with no mention of modified citrus pectin at all.
I’m not saying that the modified citrus pectin didn’t help or that it can’t be used to feel better, but damn, when I started the bentonite clay specifically to remove the biotoxins (gliotoxins) from excessive yeast (as instructed by Dr. Neil Nathan), I felt another piece fall into place.
I’m also attempting to remove the excessive yeast with Thorne’s SF722, but as noted by Dr. Neil Nathan, the body knows what it wants to take care of first, so I’m listening carefully to what my body is responding best to.
I learned that my unusual shower symptom is most likely a Mast Cell Reaction.
I also learned that I likely reacted badly to the Claritin my family practitioner initially prescribed me because of the fillers within the drug itself rather than the drug.
I’ve also taken away some good philosophy from Dr. Neil Nathan regarding treatment. He mentions -- quite often throughout the book -- “If some is good, more is not necessarily better” , in regards to dosage.
But my favorite line from the book is when he says, "It is important for patients to remain hopeful and enthusiastic and to continue trying new treatments even when previous ones have set them back. Eventually, you are bound to find treatments that work."
Conclusion
The information -- and the just as important instructions and directions for this information -- in this book was simply not available 10 years ago when I first got sick, let alone would my then family practitioner have it.
Dr. Neil Nathan has gathered his knowledge and understanding, from treating thousands of patients throughout the years, for why many with chronic Lyme disease, Mold Toxicity, and Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, are simply not able to restore their health to 100%, even despite having many small improvements.
He acknowledges the unique suffering a person with these conditions goes through, explains -- in layman’s terms -- the exact mechanisms behind the suffering, and finally offers the simplest directions, and cheapest of treatments, to combat, reverse, and remove the suffering.
As a society, our acknowledgment of these conditions is still shamefully in its infancy, but regardless, so much has been gained and learned in just the past 10 or even 5 years alone -- by dedicated and brilliant physicians like Dr. Neil Nathan -- that the mystery in what may be responsible for causing these conditions, and how to effectively treat them, has very much vanished.
After seeing many Lyme books come to market through the years, and discounting most with a simple glance of the cover, this is the Lyme book you end up buying.
