How do I start treatment for chronic Lyme disease at Ashland Natural Medicine?

Begin with the New Patient Questionnaire on our scheduling page.

Condition

Lyme and Chronic Infections

We treat persistent infection — Lyme disease and its coinfections, Morgellons syndrome, mold illness, and the viral and bacterial infections that never fully resolved — using botanical medicine, homeopathy, frequency-based medicine and intravenous therapeutics, chosen for the person rather than the diagnosis. Patients come to our clinic at 180 Lithia Way in Ashland, Oregon, and from Medford, Talent, Phoenix and across Jackson County.

Terrain first, pathogen second

Many patients who have struggled with previous treatments did so because their care focused too heavily on eradicating the pathogen without adequately addressing the body's overall state of health. Attempting to eliminate an organism before the body's basic functions are working can make symptoms worse rather than better.

So the first work is usually not antimicrobial. It is:

Optimizing cellular energy production via the mitochondria
Supporting natural detoxification, depuration and drainage pathways
Enhancing immune function
Balancing the microbiome

This is not a delay before the real treatment. It is what makes the real treatment tolerable. A body that cannot drain what it kills will feel worse for every organism you remove.

What we treat

Lyme disease and its coinfections
Morgellons syndrome
Mold and mycotoxin illness
Persistent viral and bacterial infections

These rarely arrive alone. Mold illness, Lyme, heavy metal toxicity and viral infection intersect and compound each other, and a picture that looks like one of them is often two or three. We look for all of it rather than treating the label you came in with.

How we work out what is actually going on

Assessment has four parts, and no single part decides anything on its own.

A long history. Chronic infection has a timeline — exposures, illnesses, treatments, the point where things changed. Much of the diagnostic information is in that story.

Serum and functional laboratory testing. Conventional bloodwork, plus functional testing where it will change what we do.

Bioenergetic testing. We use QUEX, OMNIS and the Kvantum Bioscan to detect subtle imbalances and to guide which remedies and treatments are selected for you. This is the same family of assessment used in our frequency medicine work.

Physiology, structure and terrain, measured directly. Heart rate variability and bioimpedance analysis tell us about physiology and structure. Live and dried blood analysis are real-time assessments of the terrain itself — what the internal environment actually looks like today, rather than what a reference range says about it.

What treatment looks like

There is no protocol that everyone gets. What we draw from:

Botanical medicine — antimicrobial and terrain-supporting herbs, prescribed individually.

Homeopathy and isopathy — including biotherapeutic drainage to support detoxification and organ function.

Frequency medicine — bioenergetic screening and balancing.

Intravenous therapy — nutrient IVs, and ozone by Major Autohemotherapy where systemic support is needed.

Hyperbaric oxygen — for chronic and persistent infection, and the flattened energy that follows a long illness.

Heavy metal detoxification — where metals are part of the picture.

Most of our chronic Lyme patients do not take antibiotics.

What a course of treatment looks like

Healing chronic disease takes time, and understanding your story takes time. Miracles happen, but more often healing is incremental. We do not use suppressive therapies that remove symptoms instantly; we guide the body toward doing its own detoxifying, reorganizing and rebuilding.

In practice that means monthly visits to begin with, until things are clearly improving. Then every other month while we work on the deeper patterns underneath the infection. Then quarterly, for maintenance.

How long the whole arc takes depends almost entirely on how long you have been sick. Someone six months into this is a different proposition from someone who has been unwell for a decade, and we will tell you honestly where we think you sit.

Being straight with you about this work

This work requires something from you. The terrain does not change because you attended an appointment; it changes because of what you do between appointments. Patients who are not motivated to do that work themselves should look elsewhere — not as a judgment, but because it will not work, and we would rather say so at the start.

What we will commit to in return: I will match the drive of the patient.

Common questions

Do you treat chronic Lyme disease if my Lyme test was negative? Yes. We treat chronic Lyme even when the test is negative, provided the history and our findings substantiate it. A negative result does not close the question.

Do I need to remember a tick bite? No. Many people never remember being bitten.

Will I have to take antibiotics? The majority of our chronic Lyme patients do not take antibiotics.

How long before I know whether this is working? It depends on the case and on how long you have been ill. Someone recently affected often responds faster than someone who has been unwell for years. We will give you a realistic picture at your initial visit rather than a generic timeline.

How often will I be seen? Monthly to begin with, until things are clearly improving. Every other month while we work on the deeper patterns underneath. Quarterly once you are stable and in maintenance.

Is this covered by insurance? We do not participate with any form of insurance, including Medicare. If you are accepted into the practice we can create superbills on request as a courtesy.

How do I start? Begin with the New Patient Questionnaire.