THE ORDER OF TREATMENT
Strategies for Healing Lyme Disease, Mold Toxicity and Complex Chronic Illness in the Sensitive, Average and Robust
BOOK BONUS
Chapter 1: Calm the System
Steven J. Harris, MD
Dr. Steven Harris
Dr Steven Harris has been in private practice since 2001 and is a medical doctor (MD), board-certified in Family Practice In 2024, Dr Harris merged Pacific Frontier Medical with Gordon Medical Associates, creating the premier tick-borne Illness, Lyme Disease, and environmental illness clinic on the West Coast.
Throughout his career, Dr Harris has honed his expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of Chronic Complex Illness including Lyme Disease and tick-borne co-infections as well as myalgic encephalomyelitis, chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, autistic spectrum disorder, chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS), mold & mycotoxin illness, among others.
His deep understanding of these conditions instills confidence in his patients. In his approach to these conditions he incorporates strategies found in conventional, functional and complementary medicine He believes that there are many effective treatments available to those with chronic and persistent infections.
Dr. Harris has taken a leadership role in lymedisease.org (formerly CALDAThe California Lyme Disease Association), a research, patient advocate group His active involvement in this organization, which has been largely responsible for spearheading favorable legislation protecting patients’ rights, expanding Lyme disease awareness and fostering continued public health education, underscores his unwavering commitment to patient advocacy Dr Harris is also an active member of ILADS (The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society).
CHAPTER ONE
Calm the System
If you have a complex chronic illness, your body’s entire system is likely to be over-reactive, especially your nervous system. Nervous system dysregulation alone can manifest in a myriad of ways, from physical and cognitive to emotional symptoms
Your nervous system includes the frontal and parietal lobes of your brain, your limbic system, and your cranial and peripheral nerves (nerves that extend throughout your body). Nervous system regulation is essential to healing, but it’s important to consider your cells as well.
You may imagine your body’s stress response as the main cause of overreactivity. After all, it’s likely that you feel the most sensitive or reactive when you’re stressed That’s because stress sends your entire system into what’s known as fight or flight (or freeze) or sympathetic nervous system dominance.
Calming your body’s stress response can address the hyper-reactivity of your nervous system However, while correcting limbic system dysfunction can fix many things, your very cells can become over-reactive without any input from your measured nervous system
Calming your body’s stress response can address the hyper-reactivity of your nervous system. However, while correcting limbic system dysfunction can fix many things, your very cells can become over-reactive without any input from your measured nervous system
This is due in part to the fact that your cells have a sense akin to memory, and there are cellular reactions external to your measured nervous system. In other words, your cells can be in a state of defense or over-reactivity even if your nervous system is not directly involved!
This phenomenon of cellular over-reactivity has been demonstrated through the work of Robert Naviaux, Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Pathology and Director of the Mitochondrial and Metabolic Disease Center at UC San Diego. Dr. Naviaux discovered that cells (not just the nervous system) go into self-defense mode when under extreme stress. When in stress mode, many processes, including cellular metabolic functions, become dysfunctional, paradoxically, in order to preserve the cells and the person from harm¹
Naviaux’s theory of purinergic signaling problems seems to support the idea that our cellular reactions are external to and somewhat independent of our nervous system.
Naviaux’s theory of purinergic signaling problems seems to support the idea that our cellular reactions are external to and somewhat independent of our nervous system.
Dr. Isaac Eliaz’s book The Survival Paradox: Reversing the Hidden Cause of Aging and Chronic Disease offers a complementary theory and a totally new paradigm for understanding health and disease. The book explains how we are innately and inherently built to survive, and it’s the body’s biochemical survival responses that ultimately cause disease either through reactivity that drives inflammation or through insulation and isolation, driving the fibrotic process.
The body employs different mechanisms to respond to survival stressors, such as alarmin proteins like Galectin-3. Interestingly, these processes are often imbalanced in Lyme and other chronic complex illness patients.²
Survival at a cellular level is at the root of most complex chronic illness, so shifting your body into a state of physiological “safety” is vital for healing and calming your system
Calming your system involves addressing your health at a cellular level not just your limbic system or other parts of your nervous system. When dealing with conditions like Lyme, it's common for the cells to shut down. Cellular healing means getting your cells into a state where they can readily receive the nutrients and oxygen they need to thrive while appropriately releasing waste and toxins
Calming the System of the
Sensitive Patient
When you’re sensitive, your system is the most reactive of all three groups. You may be the kind of person who’s sensitive to supplements, herbs even personal care products and household cleaning solvents. Sensitive people are also the most likely to react to certain foods and food groups The good news is that I’ve seen hundreds of people reverse reactivity, and it all starts with calming your system.
In my work with sensitive people, I employ a different mindset than I do with my other patients. With sensitive people, it’s impossible to rely on specific, step-by-step protocols, even if they’ve worked for other (less sensitive) patients Instead, it’s critical that I use my instinct and decades of experience to craft unique therapeutic journeys for each person. There is no recipe, and sometimes it’s necessary to completely reinvent the wheel. But over time, I have learned some creative tools that work well for this group, and there are usually answers for even the most reactive patients.
The first step in the healing process for sensitive people is to find out exactly what they’re sensitive to so we can craft workaround tools, treatments, or therapies that work for them.
If they have trouble taking chemically based medications or natural remedies, then we may use electromagnetic, light, gas (oxygen, ozone, hydrogen, etc), or other non-chemical therapies
Often, I find we can decrease the body’s reactivity by using off-label medications. While this may sound strange, it simply means using drugs for a different purpose other than what they were originally created for For instance, I’ve found that antiseizure medications like oxcarbazepine, levetiracetam, and lamotrigine or very low doses of antipsychotic drugs like aripiprazole help some of my patients with multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS) to tolerate antimicrobial treatments better.
This approach may be met with trepidation or skepticism at best, which is understandable. Many of my patients have been offered psychiatric medicines by other doctors and told that their symptoms are all in their heads. So, I want to be clear that I am not using these drugs as psychiatric treatments. Instead, many of these agents can lower the rate at which metabolic processes occur, slowing down how fast nerves send chemical signals to other cells and the rate at which cells communicate. If we consider over-reactivity to be too much cross-communication among cells, this approach can make sense. These drugs simply help calm the system and help us progress with other treatments that have been stymied because of a patient’s over-reactivity.
If you are sensitive, you may find one or more of these strategies to be useful. Or, you may find that you reap the most benefit from taking just a tiny bit of one remedy, along with a tiny bit of another and that when you take two or three remedies together, they will have a synergistic or potentiated effect. That effect will then allow you to suddenly be able to do many more treatments all at once!
I treat this initial phase of the healing process as a “dance” of sorts. To get the dance started, you and your healthcare provider should explore answers to questions like: “How does your body react, and what does it react to? What are some of the very basic healing modalities that you can tolerate?”
For instance, if you’re sensitive to regular bottled water, you may tolerate spring water (in glass bottles) or even deuterium-depleted water.³ If you can’t tolerate homeopathic remedies, you may be able to take low-dose antigen (LDA) or low-dose immunotherapy (LDI), which can help decrease your body’s reactivity to allergens and other toxic substances.⁴ Ultrasensitive patients may also react better to medications compounded without fillers or with a different base ingredient.
Discovering the proper dosages and remedies can take time, so it’s important to be patient and introduce different therapies little by little Building on small victories is a necessary process that helps develop momentum. The body works via vastly complex and intricately connected mechanisms; every disease process differs. So, certain medications (and dosages) that most Western allopathic practitioners wouldn’t deem effective are sometimes exactly what you need
Let’s say, for instance, that you’re extremely sensitive and can’t take any antimicrobial treatments whatsoever, things like antibiotics and herbs. If this describes you, know that you are not alone. Many of my sensitive patients can’t take antibiotics, at least at the beginning of their healing process. (Unless they get an acute infection like pneumonia, a sinus or bladder infection, or an abscess in which case they are often able to tolerate antibiotics long enough for their body to eliminate that infection).
However, for patients with a highly active Lyme infection, the body goes straight back to not being able to tolerate antibiotics as soon as their body clears the acute infection! It’s uncanny, but it’s as if the body knows ways to compartmentalize its dissatisfaction with exogenous agents.
If you’re battling serious infections like Lyme, parasites, or other chronic issues, it’s critical to get you to a place where you can tolerate antimicrobial remedies. But you will most likely have to do several different healing modalities before you can even think about taking on more aggressive treatments.
Another thing I’ve learned in my work with sensitive patients is that I can’t make any assumptions about what they can or can’t tolerate or what will benefit them. For instance, I have people who can’t tolerate mast cell stabilizers or even breathing exercises.
So, don’t despair if you can’t do things generally considered “gentle” or that so-called “normal” people can do You just need to find the things that you can do right now. Part of this process will include an element of thinking outside the box along with some experimentation.
Doctors don’t often use the word “experimentation” so blatantly. But the more experience a practitioner has, the better their ability to get creative in safe and highly effective ways. And with a trusted and experienced physician, you can learn new treatment perspectives and even reconsider ones you’ve already tried. It’s possible that, with time and treatment, your body can begin to accept therapies that failed in the past.
In my work, part of this process involves coming to the table with both treatment ideas and a blank slate simultaneously. It’s a process of deep listening and working with each patient to ensure they feel safe and supported While this might sound like a give-in, it’s not
Many patients report feeling belittled or ignored by the medical system, making the healing process even more traumatic. I find that I have the most reasonable chance of impacting my patients’ health when I can be open and creative with them and have a sense of humor.
If I can make them laugh, they may get enough endorphins to tolerate or persist at a particular treatment even if they feel terrible. It sounds like a small thing, but it’s not!
Empowering patients then becomes a part of the healing process. For instance, encouraging patients to participate in the creation of their healing plan by contributing their own ideas (such as bodywork or lifestyle changes) can positively impact their outcomes. Consider these ideas for yourself as you build a trusted medical team
Insights for Developing a Protocol to Calm
the Sensitive Person’s System
In my work with sensitive patients, I first visualize them at the “starting gate” and then consider what it may take to get them there. Each person is different, so I try to learn about their life and health history and envision what they need.
While video and phone consultations are convenient for everyone, I prefer to meet my patients in person. There is a lot of nonverbal communication that’s critical to the diagnosis and treatment process. Gestures, postures, and other means of nonverbal interpersonal exchange really matter here and tell me a lot about what they need.
With sensitive patients, I like to create a broad list of possible therapies and tools we can start with to determine what they can and cannot handle. I will sometimes do this even before I know what the exact components of their illness are.
As part of my evaluation, I will ask my sensitive patients questions such as, “Can you handle talking? Can you do visualization work? Can you handle sitting still and thinking? Can you move your body in such a way that you can get a little bit of movement or flow into it? Can you perform deep breathing exercises?”
If you can move, deep breathing, mind-body meditation, and light movement exercises like Qigong or Tai Chi can be excellent ways to calm your system.
If you’re like many of my patients and you’ve been sick for a long time, you may not be focused on what you can do but rather what you can’t do. This is normal. Finding the right tools might require a bit of trial and error, but it’s critical to begin thinking in the realms of possibility believing that there are beneficial tools out there, just waiting for you to discover them.
You may be at the point in your journey where you’re researching new treatments to pitch to your doctor. While it’s important to be your own advocate (and I encourage it in my patients), it can become overwhelming and, ultimately, harmful to spend every waking hour devoted to your illness. In fact, it can interfere with and even delay your healing process.
These are all the components I keep in mind when working with my patients. It’s not just about determining what classes or doses of medicine you can take, especially if your body doesn’t approach wellness in the same way the average person does. It’s about finding healing modalities that will stabilize and calm your system
So, instead of obsessing about what everyone else is doing, it’s time to work with your physician to get creative For instance, I may suggest different forms of grounding from playing in the dirt to walking barefoot to trying a weighted blanket.
Grounding helps to balance your body’s electromagnetic field,⁵ and weighted blankets can calm the system to the point where it completely changes a patient’s life.
One patient even went to see Mata Amritanandamayi, a spiritual leader in India known throughout the world as Amma, or Mother Hugger, for her selfless love and compassion toward all people.⁶
Chapter 1 from The Order of Treatment by Steven J. Harris, MD
One hug from Amma was so transformative for that patient that she was able to take on more treatments afterward.A compassionate and insightful doctor who understands that it’s important for you to prepare your body before undertaking more aggressive work will always get better outcomes than a doctor who uses a one-size-fits-all treatment protocol. You may need to find a functional medical doctor, naturopath, or other practitioner who is well-versed in the complexities of treating chronic illness in people with varying degrees of sensitivity.
I’ve found that whenever I can help my patients feel empowered and embrace the belief that they have the resources from within to heal, they tend to heal faster. You need to believe that you can get well, regardless of the challenges
My philosophy with sensitive patients is that if I can’t help them, it’s only because I am not being creative enough.
Like laughter, levity is useful when I’m piecing together treatment protocols. I perceive the health conditions of this most sensitive group to be dense or tight like walls closing in If I can be “light” in my approach with them, this helps them find a space to expand, a physical and emotional buoyancy that helps to inspire a protocol that works for them.
Continuing with this metaphor, you want to use treatments that are light on your system, not heavy. You can get denser with treatments as you move along your healing path. But first, you must make room for whatever is agitating your body and causing the sensitivity to move and flow
I encourage you and your doctor to approach your healing with a mindset of creativity and levity as well, as much as possible.
Tools to Calm the System of the Sensitive Person
I have used and recommended all the following tools and healing modalities to my sensitive patients. Again, there is no one-size-fits-all tool or therapy that works for everyone People have varying degrees of sensitivity, disease load, and other factors, so different tools work for different people
As you go through this list, I encourage you to highlight or write down the healing modalities that most resonate with you, and share them with your doctor. You may be able to use just a few of the tools at first, or many of them Let your gut be your guide, and your doctor (if he or she is openminded) help give you the wisdom to support your journey.
Movement
Movement, or just thinking about movement (if you can’t move much), is one of the most important things you can do to bring balance to your body. Even the gentlest mind-body practices, such as Tai Chi and Qigong, are helpful for strengthening your mind and body and calming your system’s over-reactivity.
You can take Tai Chi or Qigong classes in most larger towns and cities or follow along with a DVD or YouTube video at home. I particularly like “The Five Treasures” set, a short, 15-minute routine that is easy to learn and reduces stress while revitalizing your system. It’s a gentle but powerful approach. To learn more about this and the other healing modalities I suggest, see the Resources section at the end of this book
Meditation, Prayer, Laughter and Tears
Scientists have shown that activities like mindfulness have a direct impact on the brain’s production of serotonin.7 It is believed that meditation "bathes" neurons with an array of feel-good chemicals, including serotonin, GABA, and DHEA while lowering cortisol, your body’s main stress hormone.
Chapter 1 from The Order of Treatment by Steven J. Harris, MD
And feel-good chemicals can play an important role in calming your system. I encourage you to try one or both practices if you aren’t doing them already.
Laughter and play can have a profound effect on your system as well. Like meditation, laughter causes your body to release serotonin and dopamine, two feel-good neurotransmitters that influence inflammation and other processes involved in over-reactivity. Just watching a funny video or having a good laugh with a friend or family member can change your biochemistry. This involves intentionally looking for ways to enjoy life despite how you may feel physically
People often come to my clinic, having restricted so many activities they used to enjoy. They think it will make them feel better or that they’re too sick to do the things they once loved. Instead, they don’t feel any better at all and, in fact, become prisoners of an arbitrary set of rules they’ve made for themselves.
If they can occasionally break their own stringent rules and have fun, this can stimulate the release of endorphins and create a positive effect in their body that outweighs any perceived benefit that they may have received from restricting their lifestyle.
Now, I have no legitimate science to back up this claim, and it obviously depends on what rule people decide to break, so please take this advice with a grain of salt. Perhaps do what I tell my patients: “Do everything in moderation, even moderation”
At the same time, inflammation and over-reactivity can occur when you hold negative emotions inside. So, having a good cry and releasing emotions in a way that is natural and not too torrential can, paradoxically, end up being very calming and stabilizing for your system. You release the energy of reactivity in your tears.⁸
Similarly, releasing anger in a productive, non-threatening, or non-adrenalexhausting way can be good for your body and emotions. As Johnny Rotten of PiL sings, “Anger is an energy.”
For instance, Primal scream therapy⁹ may hold tremendous value for people who have the energy to release their aggression on inanimate objects like pillows or glass. Special rooms are even set up in some public places for this kind of thing. Or you can release any pent-up anger in the privacy of your home, when you feel angry.
Deep Breathing
Deep breathing is another wonderful practice that calms the system and has many other health benefits. Pranayama, an ancient breathing technique from India, has been practiced for centuries, although the allopathic medical community is just beginning to realize its profound health benefits.
Empirical evidence demonstrates the effectiveness of deep breathing for improving psychological and physiological stress.¹² One of the best places to start is the article “The Power of Deep Breathing: ⁷ Techniques and Exercises” by Daniela Ramirez Duran. See the Resources section for more information.
I also recommend Wim Hof’s deep breathing techniques. Wim Hof, also known as The Iceman, is a Dutch motivational speaker and extreme athlete noted for his ability to withstand low temperatures, in part through deep breathing. To learn more about his work, see the Resources.
Another effective method to reduce stress is to immerse yourself in nature daily. Whether it’s a leisurely walk in the park, the therapeutic practice of forest bathing, or a refreshing beach walk, the benefits are profound.
Color and Art Therapy
Looking at patterns such as fractals, varieties of colors, scenery, and other kinds of art throughout the day also can be very calming Different patients resonate with different types of art, so you might want to explore a variety of artistic genres to find one that is comforting for you. Drawings, paintings, sculptures, and mobiles can all be therapeutic, whether they’re in a book, on a screen (if you can tolerate screens), or on a wall, floor, or ceiling.
Chronic illness can put you in a state where you’re so focused on your own pain that you forget to notice what art and beauty have to offer. From a scientific perspective, when you change the way you introduce visual stimuli to your mind, like with different art forms, the calming effect can be quite dramatic. You can do this by using blue light lenses, Irlen lenses (spectral lenses), prisms, or other tools. See the Resources section for more information.
System-Calming Supplements for the Sensitive
Your adrenal glands are small glands on top of the kidneys that produce hormones that regulate metabolism, the immune system, the stress response, and more They also tend to burn out in many patients with chronic illness. Supporting your adrenal glands strengthens and calms your entire system, creating a wonderful foundation for further healing.
Of course, you will want to start with “soft” adrenal support, as stronger ones can overstimulate sensitive people, worsening their over-reactivity.
One product that I have found to be very useful is a supplement called HAD Adrenal Drops by Genestra This homeopathic formulation includes rabbit adrenal and spleen extract, milk thistle, ginger, and other herbs all to support your body’s own adrenal function. You can purchase it from a number of supplement websites.
Other herbs I recommend especially in homeopathic tinctures as they tend to be gentler are passionflower and schisandra. I also like Pekana’s Stress Buster Kit, which combines three homeopathic medications that combat physical and mental exhaustion. Again, you can find these on a variety of supplement company websites. See the Resources section for more information.
In addition to homeopathic and herbal remedies (or instead of), you may want to try an adrenal-calming cream such as Apex Energetics’ AdrenaCalm or a low-dose naltrexone (LDN) cream, both of which reduce inflammation.
Peptides are another useful supplement of sorts. Peptides are chains of amino acids (the building blocks of protein) naturally found in the body Supplemental peptides can help rebuild your cells and restore proper cellular function, among other things. GHK-Cu, Semax, and Selank are three peptides I often recommend for calming the system
Peptides need to be carefully prescribed, so if you are interested in these, you’ll want to discuss them with your doctor. Most peptides are taken via injection, nasal sprays, or orally.
I also recommend certain dietary fats and oils to calm the system of the sensitive, including PEA or palmityl-ethanolamine, phosphatidyl-serine, phosphatidylcholine, glycerol-phosphocholine, and inositol These oils are especially useful for calming your cells, rather than just your nervous system, since they support the integrity of your cell membranes, which play a major role in a variety of cellular processes, such as the healthy exchange of nutrients and waste.
Other supplements that work well to calm the system and reduce inflammation include GABA, theanine, and other amino acids and agents that foster the production or utilization of calming neurotransmitters Cannabis also works.
Chapter 1 from The Order of Treatment by Steven J. Harris, MD
Oxytocin, otherwise known as the “love” or “cuddle” hormone, is also valuable since oxytocin lowers stress chemicals involved in over-reactivity and pain.¹⁰ You can get oxytocin as an oral peptide or nasal spray, but there are many much more enjoyable ways to trigger the release of this happy hormone, including kissing and hugging a loved one, spending time with animals, listening to music, and eating foods rich in vitamins D and C and magnesium.
Finally, oral low-dose naltrexone (LDN)¹¹ is a medicine that reduces inflammation and stimulates your body to produce its own natural opioids or feel-good chemicals It is another great remedy for sensitive people LDN is often given to people with chronic health conditions to alleviate pain and fatigue and boost their mood It is an inexpensive, common prescription that you can get from your doctor. For my sensitive patients, I may start with less than 1mg per day and slowly work up to 4.5mg as they are able to tolerate it.
Bodywork Therapies
Bodywork extends far beyond relaxing massage. Several Eastern healing modalities provide incredible results for my patients In fact, we see much better results when we combine Eastern bodywork with Western medical tools.
For instance, Abhyanga is an ancient Ayurvedic technique that involves massaging your entire body using warm oils, which are applied vigorously to your body, including your feet, face, and scalp. It can be profoundly relaxing and calming¹³
The types of oil you use will depend upon your “dosha” or body type, according to Ayurvedic medicine. There are tests you can take online to determine your dosha, and you can find instructions for performing an athome Abhyanga on numerous websites, such as ArtofLivingAyurveda.com. See the Resources for more information.
Chapter 1 from The Order of Treatment by Steven J. Harris, MD
Shirodhara, another Ayurvedic practice, is a unique body therapy that can have a profound impact on your nervous system. For this, warm oil (or another liquid) is poured in a continuous stream over your forehead, where you have a high concentration of nerves The pressure of the oil onto your forehead creates a vibration and penetrates your nervous system, immediately relaxing it
To find a practitioner who does these Ayurvedic practices, you may want to start by doing an Internet search for your local area, using the terms “Shirodhara” or “Abhyanga” along with your city and state.
The best Ayurveda is practiced in Kerala state in India. Somatheeram Ayurvedic Health Resort is my personal favorite, but if you can’t make it to India, you may be able to find an Ayurvedic clinic in your area.
Still another tool that I have found to be valuable for calming the system is neural therapy, especially in people who have pain or interference fields in their body These are areas where trauma has occurred, and the energy of the body isn’t flowing properly. Scars, injury, chronic illness, or other emotional or physical traumas can cause interference fields Neural therapy restores function to the autonomic nervous system (ANS) or the system responsible for your body’s automatic functions, like breathing, heart rate, and digestion.
Neural therapy involves injecting procaine, an anesthetic, sometimes in combination with homeopathic or isopathic agents, into the interference fields so that energy can flow to those areas again By restoring energy to a location of your body that is blocked, your ANS function is also restored. In essence, and according to Dietrich Klinghardt, MD, neural therapy normalizes the illness-related dysfunction of the nervous system.¹⁶
Chapter 1 from The Order of Treatment by Steven J. Harris, MD
Low-Dose Allergen and Immunotherapy
Finally, there are times when it’s appropriate to “rev up” your system to calm it down Low-dose allergen (LDA) therapy is one way to do this LDA is a method of immunotherapy that involves desensitizing your body to environmental and other allergens by injecting it with low or homeopathic doses of those same allergens. By getting your body to stop reacting to foods, environmental toxins, and other things, LDA calms your system. Several functional medicine doctors offer this therapy
Similarly, Low-dose Immunotherapy (LDI) is a treatment for increasing your body’s immune tolerance when your system is overactive. Allergies and autoimmunity represent an alteration or overactivation of your body’s appropriate immune functions. LDI retrains your immune system to respond more appropriately to specific antigens or foreign substances, thereby decreasing its overactive immune response and reducing your symptoms.
LDA was discovered in Great Britain in the 1970s and originally called “Enzyme Potentiated Desensitization” (EPD). The technique utilized very small concentrations of antigens along with an enzyme, betaglucuronidase, which helps educate your body’s T cells, which are involved in its immune response.
This type of therapy was originally used for allergy and hay fever,¹⁷ but many practitioners have expanded its use. While the original treatment was brought to the U.S., the FDA put a stop to imports in the early 1990s. Subsequently, W.A. Shrader, MD, reproduced the EPD mixtures and called them LDA. The technique was later expanded by Ty Vincent, MD, and called LDI, which several doctors now use to treat a variety of autoimmune conditions using different antigens.
Many other tools, from emotional freedom technique (EFT), which involves rhythmic pressure point tapping, limbic system retraining, internal work, meditation, transforming wasted energy into mindfulness, walking barefoot in nature, and going into the ocean or warm places will all help to reset your system. I encourage you to try one or more of these practices.
Tools to Calm the System of the Average Person
There’s a great deal of complexity and individuality within each of the three groups of patients. However, one thing that people from all three groups have in common is chronic, systemic inflammation If you fall into the “average” group, your primary goal in reducing overreactivity is to decrease overall inflammation and prepare your organs and detox pathways for more aggressive detoxification treatments down the road.
Patients in the average group have systems like Play-Doh, while robust people are like hard clay You have to push hard to make any movement or progress with the robust, while Play-Doh people only require gentle therapies to get their bodies to a place where they can accept more aggressive treatments.
If you fall into the category of average, you will be able to do more intensive healing modalities than the sensitive person, but you can also do some of the same ones After all, things like movement, laughter, and spending time in nature are beneficial for everyone.
I also recommend taking some of the same adrenal and stress-busting homeopathic remedies and oils and experimenting with bodywork.
The therapies you try will also depend heavily on what primarily needs to be calmed in your system, as well as what is causing its over-reactivity For instance, your system may be over-reactive due to inflammation caused by a yeast infection.
In this case, you’ll need to eliminate and heal from the infection before moving on to other therapies. The yeast may not be your primary health problem, but it is an obstacle that may prevent you from being able to do more important treatments or get to the root causes of illness, such as Lyme infections or mold toxicity.
Only by having your doctor thoroughly evaluate you and perform the appropriate tests will you be able to determine what may be causing your system to be over-reactive and the root causes of inflammation.
Maintain a Pristine Diet Rich in Live Foods
A clean and nutrient-dense diet is, by far, one of the most powerful antiinflammatory strategies that you can implement. This alone will go a long way toward calming your system
A pristine diet is one that is high in real, live, organic foods and low (or ideally, absent of) processed, sugary, or unhealthy foods. I tell my patients that “if the food is white, it ain’t right.” Food coloring doesn’t count. So, stay away from foods like white bread, potatoes, and sugar!
Live foods are fresh, raw and found in a condition that is as close as possible to their original, vibrant, living state in nature For instance, eating live foods might mean having a green apple instead of applesauce in a jar, avocados instead of reconstituted guacamole dip, or a fresh chicken breast instead of frozen chicken tenders. You get the idea.
You may also want to follow a specific diet, depending on your needs Several diets are beneficial and calming for people with complex chronic illness, including low-glycemic, anti-fungal, alkaline-producing, antioxidant, low-phenolic, low-oxalate, or Ayurvedic Elimination diets or removing common food allergens are also beneficial for most people. Of course, your best bet is to work closely with your doctor or nutritionist to find the best diet for your body, depending on where you’re at in the healing process.
Chapter 1 from The Order of Treatment by Steven J. Harris, MD
For instance, in Ayurvedic diets, many raw, live food is considered too energy-demanding for the body. Instead, all food is well-cooked and, in many cases, made into stews and soups to help support digestion But, generally speaking, real, whole, live food is good for most people.
While no one diet is ideal for everyone, I’ve found that keto and Mediterranean diets are the two best diets for people with complex chronic illness. Even so, there is still a lot of “wiggle room” for modification. For instance, you can over-oxidize and acidify your body (causing free radicals and inflammation) with a strict, long-term keto diet. Similarly, some people can’t tolerate a lot of the foods on the Mediterranean diet And foods like fish might need to be avoided if they have a lot of heavy metal toxicity.
Authors like Mark Hyman, MD, David Perlmutter, MD, and JJ Virgin have written some great books on nutrition and examine many of the intricacies involved in finding the right diet. Familiarizing yourself with different nutrition strategies can also help you formulate a plan that will work well with your body and your lifestyle
I have found that most people with Lyme disease and complex chronic illness do better with a diet that includes animal protein and healthy fats. Animal protein products, such as lamb, bison, elk, turkey, duck, chicken, and fish, give people more “life force” to fight infections, especially if they are taking antibiotics.
That said, some people with Lyme form reactions to certain meats This can be due to alpha-gal syndrome or simply because they’re eating too much of it. Leaky gut, immune sensitization, and eating poor-quality meats can all trigger reactions. Needless to say, high-quality, grass-fed and pastured meats are preferred over processed meats. Eating too much meat can generate a lot of inflammation-causing free radicals, so moderation is key. Chapter 1 from The Order of Treatment by Steven J. Harris, MD
Reduce Exogenous and Environmental Stressors
Most people are under undue amounts of stress Whether these are blatant stressors you can feel (sitting in traffic or keeping food on the table and bills paid) or more subtle stressors like low-grade toxin exposure, none of us are completely immune. However, it is critical to reduce your exogenous or environmental stressors as much as possible.
For instance, man-made electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure has been linked to numerous disease conditions and can put your body into a state of hyper-reactivity.¹⁴ Luckily, there are a few easy ways to reduce exposure, such as limiting your cell phone and computer usage, turning off your WiFi router at night, or leaving electronics in another room when you sleep. The idea is to create as much of a peaceful, safe, and sacred living space as possible.
Increasing sleep efficiency alone is one of the best ways to reduce stress and inflammation. Your glymphatic system is a waste clearance system that flushes soluble proteins and metabolites from the brain and central nervous system. It’s one of the most efficient ways to clear waste and toxins from the brain, but it only works when you’re in a deep sleep.
And at the end of the day, if you can just get your sleep in a better place, you’re halfway to a healthier, more balanced nervous system
You want to cultivate a slow, calm lifestyle where things can flow in your life and throughout your body. “Chill and go with it” is a motto I recommend adopting rather than trying to grind and be on top of everything. Obsessive-compulsive tendencies are a self-perpetuating problem; the energy they create can distort your energy and perpetuate symptoms when all your body is craving is rest
If you tend to rush around, are fueled by stimulants like caffeine, experience obsessive thinking, or have a “Type A” personality, it’s important to learn how to slow down. Cultivating mindfulness in your daily life so you can carry out activities with a sense of calm is key
Your nervous system will thank you as it learns to do this automatically It may take a bit of active work at first, but it can and should be done.
Limbic system and brain retraining programs, such as Annie Hopper’s Dynamic Neural Retraining System or Ashok Gupta’s Gupta Program, are incredibly powerful for calming your system and cultivating a balanced, peaceful lifestyle. For more information on both programs, see the Resources
Hormone Balance and Other Root Causes of Over-Reactivity
When you’re in the average group, it’s a little easier to get to the root causes of your body’s over-reactivity. This is crucial when we’re working on calming the system.
You may not be able to treat every root cause right away (such as Lyme infections or mold toxins), but some are low-hanging fruit. For instance, it’s relatively easy to remove some environmental chemicals or other allergens from your environment.
Other root causes of over-reactivity may include root canals, breast implants, hardware in your body, or scar tissue from previous surgeries. Neural therapy, implant removal, or root canal remediation can all help bring your body into homeostasis or balance and calm your system.
Hormone imbalances can also cause an immense amount of stress and over-reactivity. Your hormones play a major role in how you feel, and if you have an array of symptoms, your hormones are likely to be out of whack.
I find that some of my patients benefit from taking supplemental pregnenolone, DHEA, progesterone, estrogens, testosterone, and other hormones. However, you’ll want to work with a competent practitioner to bring hormones back into balance
Saliva and blood tests are great for a hormone baseline or snapshot, while urine tests can give you a more complete picture. Many labs do this kind of testing, and in the Resources section I share a few that I recommend.
If you are average, you usually don't want to treat infections right away unless they're causing your body to overreact and flare with inflammation
Treating infections too soon can trigger a heavy Herxheimer reaction or detoxification response that will exacerbate your symptoms and may worsen your reactivity. However, falling in the average group gives you the freedom to do a lot of experimentation with your treatments to see what works and what doesn’t.
This isn’t the case with sensitive people Missteps in experimentation are simply too risky for this group, so doctors don’t have the luxury of taking risks and being wrong They must experience some small victories from the outset and build on these.
With average patients, your doctor can occasionally be off base with treatments or dosages that may be inappropriate for where you’re at in your healing process. As long as they notice the error quickly and are able to adapt that information to your next treatment, you should still be on track
Pay attention to how you feel after starting a particular treatment and make sure that any healing modality you pursue is one that you can do without suffering from long-term negative effects. You always want to be able to “come back” from the consequences of any poor decisions that you or your doctor may have made.
Mistakes happen, which is why I like to create a backup plan for every protocol. That way, we’re ready just in case a treatment fails or there’s an unexpected flare. Flexibility is key when creating protocols for complex chronic illness
When I do treat infections in my average patients (which again, is not usually the first step in their healing process), I proceed carefully and don’t overcommit on the treatment, especially at first.
For example, when treating patients with a Babesia infection, I may start by giving them a medication that has a short half-life; say, Primaquine instead of tafenoquine, even though tafenoquine is a better medication. If there is a negative reaction to the drug or if it’s too strong for them, they will recover faster than if they were to take a drug that has a longer halflife. (Note, I share more on how to treat Babesia and other infections later in this book).
Similarly, I don’t usually give my Lyme patients metronidazole (Flagyl), a very strong antiparasitic and antibiotic drug, at the outset of their treatment because it may be too potent Spirochetes such as Borrelia either live in the body as motile, spiral forms or as semi-dormant cell-wall deficient cyst forms. They have been found to turn into cysts when stressed and back again into spirals when the conditions of the body change.¹⁵ Flagyl likely only works on the cyst form, so if patients have a lot of dormant organisms and their doctors start off by giving them something like metronidazole, it’s a little like banging on a hornet’s nest. This agent may also cause them to have a heavy die-off reaction and their symptoms to flare too much.
So, while we always look for the root causes of over-reactivity, it’s crucial to wait on stronger medications until we’ve calmed inflammation and stabilized the system. Do note that if you’re in the average group, it’s highly likely you can tolerate antimicrobial treatments just not right away.
System-Calming Supplements for the Average
I recommend Pekana’s Stress Buster, along with the same adrenal-calming homeopathic remedies and cell-membrane healing oils from the section on sensitive people.
You may also benefit from taking a quality probiotic, especially one containing Bifidobacteria, to calm and balance the flora in your gastrointestinal tract. A robust microbiome and functioning GI tract will not only increase nutrient absorption and affect your energy and mood, but they will also help calm your system.
Many people with complex chronic illness have mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), a condition in which their body produces abnormal numbers of mast cells, a type of white blood cell In MCAS, your body’s mast cells release excessive amounts of histamine whenever you are exposed to an allergen, toxin, or other stressor This can be from food, air-born scents or toxins, temperature, exercise, and more.
Lowering your histamine levels and stabilizing your mast cells can lower inflammation and with that, reduce your over-reactivity.
I have found that MCAS is usually only a problem with my average and sensitive patients The exception is if a robust person does IVIG treatments, which can cause mast cell reactions in even the strongest patients. However, mast cell reactions in the robust are rare.
To treat MCAS, I give my patients a wide variety of supplements and medications called mast cell stabilizers. You may want to ask your doctor about these. Some are natural, while others are pharmaceutical drugs. You will need to experiment to find the ones that work best for you
Some of the more popular ones include Montelukast (Singulair), Levocetirizine (Xyzal), Chromolyn sodium, Loratidine (Claritin), Cetirizine (Zyrtec), NeuroProtek (a natural supplement), Luteolin, Mirica (PEA plus Luteolin), and Amlexanox
Peptides such as BPC-157 and KPV are calming to the system, especially when taken together. BPC-157, in particular, is very healing to the gut.
While most peptides come in injectable form, you can purchase BPC-157 as an oral supplement. See the Resources for more information.
Stabilizing your body’s cell membrane chemistry is also important in the average patient Membranes are weakened and damaged by toxins, microbes, and other factors, but phospholipids such as phosphatidylcholine can help to repair them and indirectly help to calm your system.¹⁸
While I mostly use oral substances for middle-of-the-road folks, I also find that injections, especially B-12 vitamin injections, can calm the system. Folic acid supplementation is also helpful for people with certain genetic mutations.
Finally, taking minerals, especially fulvic and humic acids, can be unbelievably effective during this first phase of recovery, working to balance and/or neutralize acidity. When your body is too acidic, none of its processes will work right, and your system will become over-reactive to many things
In addition to supplements and medications, oxygen therapy via nasal cannula or in a low-dose hyperbaric chamber and/or ozone treatments may also help to calm your system. You can find treatments like this in many functional medicine clinics.
Light Detoxification and Other Treatments
Light detoxification strategies, especially coffee enemas, green tea enemas, colonics, and Panchakarma, can all help to prepare your body to tolerate more aggressive treatments down the road. (See Chapter Five for more details on these treatments). Liver support is also important via supplements like milk thistle or liposomal glutathione.
Again, calming your system is mostly about reducing inflammation and preparing your organs for more stress: that is, for more aggressive antimicrobial and detoxification treatments.
Some Intravenous minerals and amino acids can be profoundly restorative at this stage. Pathogenic microbes such as Borrelia create ammonia, a major neurotoxin. IV ornithine (Hepamerz), a pharmaceutical in Europe used for hepatic encephalopathy, has remarkable off- label benefits in these settings.
Taking any substance that decreases glutamate a neurotransmitter that becomes toxic when it breaks outside of the cells may also be beneficial for calming your system One substance that does this is oxaloacetic acid, which is found in products such as benaGene.
Resolving structural problems can also be helpful You may want to try traction or find body movements that bring more blood flow to your muscles, which helps calm and heal the cells. Tai Chi and Qigong are gentle yet extremely effective ways to do this. Movement is advantageous for everyone, but the type of movement that will best suit you will depend on your type
For instance, sensitive people may only be able to do a few stretches or light Tai Chi, whereas the average or robust may be able to do more aggressive exercises or routines. You don’t want to overdo it and become so exhausted that you’re more tired from the exercise than energized, as this, too, can flare your body!
At this point, feel free to refer back to the section on therapies for the sensitive group. Many of them are great for the average and the robust, although some may be a slight waste of time or money if you don’t need them However, movement, laughter, fun, and living life as peacefully and calmly as possible are crucial for everyone.
If you are sensitive and wondering why some of these additional tools wouldn’t apply to you as well, the truth is, they may. I am simply prioritizing healing modalities according to those that are likely to most benefit you and not cause you to become more reactive, given your particular type. But if you feel that you can incorporate some of the strategies of the average into your regimen as well by all means, please do so.
Tools to Calm the System of the Robust Person
The robust make up the smallest subset of patients in my practice, but they’re certainly the most fortunate Of course, they’re still very ill with multiple infections, toxic overload, and other issues; however, they’re able to handle a number of treatments in shorter periods of time than the other groups.
If you are robust, you will typically be able to tolerate many antibiotics or other antimicrobial remedies, along with other healing modalities, without experiencing a heavy Herxheimer reaction, symptom exacerbation, or flare
Still, the first step is calming the system and readying it for treatment as the disease process has likely caused extreme inflammation. This step for you is more about finding and addressing all of the direct cause(s) of your illness rather than experimenting with different modalities to calm your system. Basically, you’re able to start further along in the healing process than sensitive or average people
If you are robust but have multiple tick-borne infections, the solution to calming your system is to simply treat the infections that are the root cause of your disease. This is because treating infections actually calms the system of a robust person, rather than flaring it, as happens with average or sensitive people.
If you are robust, you probably won’t have a severe Herxheimer reaction or suffer from worsening symptoms when you do antimicrobial treatments and you can probably tolerate massive doses of antibiotics. As you tackle the infections and toxins, your system reactivity will gradually go down. So as a robust person, you can likely go through many of the steps I share in this book concurrently.
Similarly, if the cause of your over-reactivity isn’t just toxins or infections, but factors like a poor diet, you will want to consume more real, live foods, or address the other causes of over-reactivity, whatever they may be.
Consuming live food is so important because you're eating it as nature intended, with all the enzymes your body needs to function correctly. Processed foods don't contain these enzymes or synergistic nutrients that work together to nourish your body.
See the food recommendations that I shared earlier in this chapter for the average person, as these will likely benefit you, too. I have found that calming the system in robust people is both the easiest and hardest thing to do. Hard because it’s not always easy to pinpoint the major causes of their over-reactivity Yet it’s easier because once you find out what the direct causes of your disease and over-reactivity are, you simply do the correct treatments to eliminate those causes, and can improve rather quickly.
If you fall into the robust category, I encourage you to ask your doctor to perform extensive lab tests right at the outset so you can more quickly determine the root causes of your reactivity and illness.
These tests might include:
Food allergy testing
Nutrient testing through SpectraCell or US BioTek to identify nutritional excesses and deficiencies
Fatty acid testing through Kennedy Krieger Institute
Mycotoxin (or mold toxin) and organic acid testing through US BioTek (Formerly Real Time) or Great Plains
Laboratories
Lyme and co-infection testing, viral testing, antibody testing, DNA and RNA testing
Heavy metal testing (both unchallenged and challenged urine, sometimes hair)
Stool analyses
Blood coagulation testing
Hormone testing
Autoimmune panel testing
Cytokine testing
See the Resources section for information on where to do or obtain these tests.
By doing all this testing, the biggest causes of disease and over-reactivity in your body are likely to emerge. Once you and your doctor treat those causes, your system will calm down, and you will feel like yourself again. In Chapters Five and Six, I will share with you how to treat the most common infections and toxins that I find in people with complex chronic disease.
In the meantime, I encourage you to implement some of the lifestyle strategies that are beneficial for people of all types, such as laughter, whatever movement you can handle, and maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle.
Final Words
As a final note, you should know that sometimes people switch types. I have some patients who start off as average but become sensitive over time, either because of their condition or because they undergo treatments that are too harsh or inappropriate for them. So, bear in mind that this could happen to you as well if you are too aggressive with your therapies. Start out slowly and carefully, especially if you fall into the average or sensitive category.
You’ll want to work with a doctor who will empower you in your journey and meet you where you’re at in your healing process If your doctor or practitioner isn’t open-minded, you may have to find someone who is or undertake the strategies that I outline in this chapter by yourself until you are able to handle more aggressive treatments like antimicrobials.
Healing is an art as much as a science, and in the end, it’s really all about being creative and finding what works. One person may not want anything “too fluffy,” while another wants to move as slowly and gently as possible. It all depends on your chemistry, beliefs, and worldview, among other factors. For instance, I often see relentless engineers who are into energy work and artists who just want pharmaceutical drugs.
In any case, I’ve learned over time that it’s important to honor my patients’ wishes and realize that it’s their journey because their belief in any particular modality is vital for that modality to work. Even if I see that my patients are not taking the most efficient route toward healing (in my estimation), and I don’t completely agree with a therapy or tool that they want to try out, I have to take a step back and empower them in their journey.
Again, belief and empowerment have a lot to do with healing. So, I encourage you to believe in whatever you choose to do and know that you can get well, regardless of how sick or sensitive you are.
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