Books Worth Reading For Lyme Patients

So, there are a million and one self help books out there. You really need to be receptive to books like these if you’re going to read them so be in the right mindset – not desperate for a guru to tell you what to do, but also not in a state of of hopeless self-pitying self-loathing where nothing but getting horizontal will help. Both of these stages are perfectly legitimate to experience when you’re sick and have tried a ton, by the way. But they don’t provide the clearest of minds for the long-winded battle that is Lyme.

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times is probably the one self-help book that guided me the most. It’s written by an adorable little old lady, Pema Chodron, an American turned monk. It’s written with compassion – isn’t a tough love kind of book. But it’s not fluffy, either.

I think it’s really, really helpful to read something in the realm of letting go, being present, and being an observer of your pain, opposed to a sufferer of it. This is just one book that demonstrates how to do these things. The Power of Now, Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, and How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill are also books about spiritual guidance through pain that have all done it for me.

The Disease Delusion: Conquering the Causes of Chronic Illness for a Healthier, Longer, and Happier Life is a MUST read for anyone with Chronic Lyme Disease.

With Chronic Lyme comes a lot of seemingly unrelated issues: hypothyroid, sluggish detoxification, digestive upset, migraines, neuropathy, immunological issues such as low white blood cell count and high inflammation markers. THIS BOOK does a wonderful job at explaining how all our bodily systems are connected.

It teaches about immunity, digestion, metabolism, cellular communication, detoxification pathways, and other bodily systems as a functional unit, and provides investigative suggestions from a functional medicine school of thought. Read more about functional medicine here.

The funny thing about this book recommendation is that this book has little to say about Lyme disease (I believe it is mentioned once). It doesn’t matter. It’s full of useful strategies that can only weaken Lyme and build your body up in an authentic way – a way that stops pain without painkillers, builds energy without stimulants.

The important thing about this book is that it’s comprehensible. It’s organized. Succinct.

This is why I recommend this before I’d ever recommend Why Can’t I Get Better? Solving the Mystery of Lyme and Chronic Disease, which is supposed to be a go-to for anyone with Lyme. And it could be, however, I think the author, Dr. Horowitz, does a poor job of providing solutions or connecting the dots. I have read this book a few times, and the more I read it, the less legit I think this guy is. He’s smart, there is a lot of valuable information, but there is also the sales pitch, the intentional confusion you are left with so that you go spend $1800 on a consultation with him (I hear this is how much people spend on their first visit with Horowitz – could be wrong).

Please, if you are curious about this book, by all means read it! Alternatively, I have created the “Cole’s Notes” version, Horowitz Decoded.

I also summarized the heck out of Combating Biofilms: Why Your Antibiotics and Antifungals Fail: Solutions for Lyme Disease. Check out Biofilm Myths and Remedies for my summary and some exclusive content from the author.

But when it comes down to organization, grammar, comprehensibility, genuineness, and points for inspiration, The Disease Delusion wins hands down.

I am not anti-antibiotics. But I do wish for Lyme Disease patients to educate themselves about the side-effects of antibiotics, as well as the preventative measures we can take to remedy these side effects. Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues is THE book to educate about antibiotic use. It’s an interesting read, not just for Lyme disease patients but for everyone. Read more about it here.

I’m taking a risk here, because I have a feeling no one will read this. But what about a good ole’ fashioned textbook, hey? Sure I could recommend books on autoimmune thyroid issues that are rampant with Lyme, genetic mutations like MTHFR that correlate with Chronic Lyme, or books about chronic fatigue..

But this…THIS textbook covers it all. NO sales pitch. EVERYTHING is referenced. This is what your doctors, naturopaths, nutritionists, and kiniseologists have to read before they can move onto their specialties.

I can’t express how necessary it is to have an introductory education about anatomy and physiology. Off the top of my head:

• Understand stress from a physiological perspective
• Understand how your body uses energy
• What the heck antibodies have to do with immunity
• What the heck immunity is
• What your cells do
• What hormones do
• What happens if you’re not producing enough cells, hormones, mitochondria, everything!
• All the while, having your entire body explained to you with pretty pictures

This textbook is not controversial. It doesn’t go into any conspiracies. It doesn’t provide herbal or pharmaceutical solutions to Lyme. But it provides a scientific foundation for you to grasp what is going on in your body. It doubles as your bodies encyclopedia. It’s PACKED full of reference based academic information, a lot more trustworthy than this blog or any “health guru” blog for that matter.

There is a lot of free information on the web, so we don’t really think to buy textbooks anymore. If you have Lyme, you can’t beat it.

It’s Not Just Lyme, It’s Your Metabolism: Understanding the Metabolism’s Role in Fighting Chronic Infections was written for past-me. It’s basically a collection of everything I would want to know if I had been diagnosed with Lyme, had a basic understanding of what Lyme Disease is and how it’s treated with low-carb diets and antibiotic attacks, and wanted to know what other options I had. It’s old news, but thousands of people have read and benefited from it and I hope confused Lyme patients continue to find it.

“Useful science for the layperson” – Kirkus Reviews

Final Note about Books

I “read” 150+ books a year. That’s a lot of info up in my brain. By “read” I mean I listen to audibooks. Books that are info dense are far easier to listen to as a lovely sounding narrator reads them to you. Not all narrators are created equally. But some are awesome to listen to.

I’ve got my dad, my grandma, and half a dozen friends hooked on Audible. And I’ve got this sweet link for you: Try Audible and Get Two Free Audiobooks, so you can be converted, as well!