Bacterial Teachers
How Lyme disease is altering my self-concept (in a good way) and teaching me how to heal.
As a curious person who values health, my Lyme disease diagnosis last summer gave me a new learning opportunity that is improving my health, has given me more respect for nature’s wisdom, and is helping me be a more informed regenerative farmer.
A LONG, PAINFUL ROAD
Leading up to my Lyme disease discovery, I had a handful of diagnoses that covered some of my symptoms, but not all. The most persistent mystery was excruciating neck pain that would cycle every few weeks. My muscles got so tight I felt like they would crush my bones. The tightness also came with an unsettling crinkling in my neck that sounded like my bones were scraping on each other, grinding down my skeleton.
Despite spending a small fortune on medication, supplements, healthy food, and stress reduction, I still felt miserable a lot of the time. I saw a growing number of practitioners: doctors, a physical therapist, acupuncturists, massage therapists, and an herbalist. Based on their training, everyone had a different idea about what was going on.
For example, the physical therapist said I just needed better posture and strength. While I could certainly use better posture and strength, that didn’t explain the cycling or crinkling in my neck. I knew there was something else going on and was working hard on my health but wasn’t getting the guidance I needed for progress.
Finally, I saw a functional medicine provider at Parsley Health who ran extensive tests. After 17 vials of blood and a second trip to the lab, because they did the Lyme test wrong the first time, I finally had a diagnosis that made sense: Lyme disease.
FOE… OR FRIEND?
The bacteria that cause Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, are an ancient lifeform that has existed in the evolutionary soup of our planet a lot longer than we have. With this evolutionary advantage, they have developed crafty survival strategies, including:
· Their corkscrew shape, known as a spirochete, helps them dig into tissues and hide from testing and immune systems (good for them, bad for us),
· They are highly adaptable to changing conditions, and under pressure, borrelia transform from their active spirochete form into an encysted form (a round body with a hard shell) to protect themselves,
· Groups of borrelia form colonies known as biofilms, giving them further protection.[i]
While I don’t love the symptoms they create, I admire their skills.
Although you wouldn’t know it from our culture’s obsession with eliminating bacteria through the overuse of antibacterial soaps and antibiotics, our lives depend on bacteria.
We need bacteria to digest our food. A healthy microbiome, which is trending in wellness conversations, includes various strains of beneficial bacteria working hard to extract nutrients from what we eat.
Bacteria co-evolved with plants and help them grow by converting soil nutrients into a form the plants can use. Legumes (including peas and beans) partner with specific bacteria, pulling nitrogen from the atmosphere into the soil in a process known as nitrogen-fixing.
Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for plants. They need it for photosynthesis, growth, and development. If you’ve ever looked at potting soil or fertilizer, you’ve seen NPK (nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium) percentages on the packaging.
Unfortunately, a lot of fertilizer is made from fossil fuels. I know, yikes for so many reasons. Dumping chemicals on fields kills soil partnerships, including the bacteria and fungi who maintain soil structure, help soil hold water, and give plants the nutrients they need to grow.
Healthy soil is full of life. Chemical farming (known as conventional farming through misleading marketing) turns soil into dead dirt, which can dry up and blow away. Unsurprisingly, chemical farming poses significant long-term costs to our health, food production, and ecosystems.
From my perspective at the intersection of healthcare and regenerative agriculture, the future of food and health means looking back to and revitalizing indigenous land management practices and giving indigenous wisdom and the people who hold this knowledge the respect they deserve. On land, this includes planting biodiverse crops to maintain webs of soil relationships, including feeding beneficial bacteria.
A NEW SELF CONCEPT
Of course, just because we have helpful bacteria doesn’t mean the harmful bacteria can’t kill us. While I have a lot of beneficial bacteria living in and supporting my body, I also have bacterial pathogens creating debilitating symptoms.
My healing has been informed by regenerative agriculture and bacteria. From the ancient bacteria, I am learning:
What I consider “my body” is a collection of life forms in relationships.
Some of those relationships are beneficial, like the bacteria digesting my food. Other relationships are parasitic, like the bacteria giving me debilitating symptoms.
On good days, I feel more connected to the fabric of life, knowing that my body is a dynamic ecosystem not a solo separate entity. Treating my body as an ecosystem is also helping me heal.
When under pressure, it is okay to curl into a ball and wait until things get better.
As a restless person, I have a hard time resting. My Lyme fatigue has been so intense, I have had no choice. I need crazy amounts of sleep and multiple naps on most days. Curling into a ball, similar to the encysted bacterial form, has been critical in my healing process. Medical leave has supported this. For the health of our communities, we need to make this process more accessible.
It is essential to adapt to changing conditions.
Just like the Borrelia bacteria adapt to changing conditions, as the ecosystem that is my body shifts, how I support my healing changes. I must keep an open mind and observe how different treatments affect my body. Sometimes the shifts are dramatic, but often they are subtle. Awareness helps me respond flexibly as things change.
There is strength in numbers.
I am an independent person and take pride in doing things on my own. However, I could not have gotten through this experience without the generous support of friends. My friends are my biofilm, creating a healing force field to protect me.
I am grateful for their support during this crazy journey. They have talked me off ledges, helped with irritating paperwork, listened to my rants, picked up groceries, fed me (including homemade gluten-free bread), supported me financially, and helped with housework and farm chores.
My friends bring meaning and joy to my life, and I love them for it. Healthy relationships are good medicine and increase longevity.[ii] I believe the future of healthcare includes integrating the power of healing relationships more fully into standard medical care.
To health,
Terra Soma
P.S. If you have mysterious symptoms and suspect you might have Lyme disease or one of the co-infections, this questionnaire could be a helpful starting point.
Disclaimer: I am not a trained clinician, I am an innovator creating the future of health. Nothing in this article should be taken as medical advice.
References
[i] Buhner, Stephen, Healing Lyme. New Mexico: Raven Press, 2015.
[ii] Dan Buettner, “This May Be the Untold Secret to Longevity (Hint: It’s Not Only What You Eat), BlueZones.com, BlueZones.com, accessed March 7, 2002, https://www.bluezones.com/2020/10/this-may-be-the-untold-secret-to-longevity-hint-its-not-only-what-you-eat/
