Autoimmune exacerbation

[Guest guest]

I have read that chronic, or late, lyme has some autoimmune components in and of

itself. My doctor explained this to me as the immune system fighting the

borrelia for so long, sometimes the antibodies it makes, which have 'shapes'

that lock onto the borrelia, see similar shapes on our own cells and fight them

too. Some people genetically have 'more shapes' on their own cells than others,

and so might be more likely to have autoimmune inflammation on top of the lyme

inflammation.

I think this is somehow also related to the whole th1/th2 thing - people with

autoimmune conditions tend to be more th1 dom., like w- chronic lyme, as opposed

to th2.

Just some thoughts

- Jen

From: judyjo44@...

Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:31:38 +0000

Subject: [ ] Re: astragalus and Cat's Claw Autoimmune exacerbation

I am wondering what autoimmune condition you have.

[Guest guest]

>

>

> I have read that chronic, or late, lyme has some autoimmune components in and

of itself. My doctor explained this to me as the immune system fighting the

borrelia for so long, sometimes the antibodies it makes, which have 'shapes'

that lock onto the borrelia, see similar shapes on our own cells and fight them

too. Some people genetically have 'more shapes' on their own cells than others,

and so might be more likely to have autoimmune inflammation on top of the lyme

inflammation.

yes, although technically this is not auto-immunity but 'molecular mimicry' or

'cross-reactivity'.

In the last case there is 'collateral damage' to ones own tissue from fighting

the bugs (that are still present). However, the immune attack will stop when the

bugs are gone, and damage to the tissue will automatically stop then as well.

In auto-immunity it is assumed that the immune system keeps attacking the body

even when the bugs are gone. The distinction is important, because in case of

auto-immunity antibiotics and anti-infective herbs would be of no help (this is

what Wormser and his buddies suggest).

We know that Borrelia has strong similarity in some of its structures to parts

of our own body, especially nerve and muscle fibers. Some scientists like Lynn

Margulis think this is because our muscles and nerves are evolutionary related

to spirochetes, just like the mitochondria in our cells were once free living

bacteria.