Chronic: The Hidden Cause of the Autoimmune Pandemic and How to Get Healthy Again by Dr. Steven Philips, MD & Dana Parish.
Dr. Steven Phillips, the expert guest on our upcoming Season 2 Episode 1 launching this week, has not only witnessed the agony and frustration of the many thousands of chronic Lyme and Lyme-related patients he’s diagnosed and treated over several decades. He’s experienced these agonies himself, as has his Chronic co-author, the science writer Dana Parish.
Dr. Phillips recalls the low point in his own battle when he was “confined to my memory-foam mattress prison for a full year, ultimately requiring twenty-four hour care, unable to turn over in bed or sit up on my own….”
From this nadir he persevered on his own path to wellness and toward a better understanding of the complexities of tick-borne Lyme infections triggering chronic illnesses affecting tens of thousands of North Americans each year.
Phillips argues these illnesses are more accurately called “Lyme Plus” to reflect other pathogens at work alongside Lyme bacteria. Yet current testing methods for Lyme and Lyme plus are woefully inadequate, in Phillips experience. This leads to high rates of misdiagnosis and mistreatment for up to 40% of infected individuals not cured by a typical course of antibiotics.
Chronic is both unusually an unusually powerful memoir and a science-based wake-up call to the mainstream medical community which has yet to fully recognize the ravages of chronic Lyme and Lyme plus conditions.
Episodes
Stories of everyday athletes facing physical and behavioral obstacles, and the rewards & challenges of an active lifestyle. With input from doctors, researchers, and other wellness experts.
Iron Woman Diane: The Rewards & Challenges of Exercise With Diabetes
Iron Woman Diane, a recently retired power industry executive with Type 1 diabetes, has completed three full Ironman triathlons, numerous marathons and many lengthy cycling events, such as the New England Tour De Cure where My Body Odyssey first met her.
One day, though, Diane drinks some juice just before a yoga class and “next thing you know I’m inside an ambulance.”
Maintaining healthy blood sugar levels is a delicate, often dangerous balancing act for the many millions of Americans with diabetes, especially Type 1 or juvenile diabetics like Diane. Unable to create insulin, she wears an insulin pump to maintain normal blood chemistry. Even so, Diane’s triathlon race plan “consists of a two-page spreadsheet that’s nothing but…how to manage my blood sugars.”
This episode also features expert commentary from Dr. Michael Riddell of York University, a Type 1 diabetic himself and one of the world’s great authorities on diabetes and exercise. “I was diagnosed at a time when insulin came in a vial and you took one or two shots a day… to keep your blood sugar in a reasonable range,” says Riddell, who on top of his research has helped world class athletes like the NHL’s Max Domi with their diabetes management.
If Maxi Domi routinely handles the intensity of a pro hockey shift, and Diane has conquered 13- hour triathlons, how then did a simple yoga class land her in the emergency room?
Listen in to find out on “Iron Woman Diane: The Rewards & Challenges of Exercise With Diabetes,” the second full episode of My Body Odyssey, a Fluent Knowledge production.