Listen

Listen to this podcast or watch the video. CLICK HERE

Transcript

Download PDF

Top Takeaways

 

  1. Being told tics don’t live in California, Jackie did not check for tics after an outdoor photoshoot, and was bit by one with Lyme disease.
  2. Lyme disease can be found in all 50 states.
  3. Jackie started a regiment of antibiotics and only found herself becoming sicker, where, after 10 months, she could no longer walk a block without using a wheelchair, she was losing her hair, could no longer keep her head up, had fibromyalgia pain, wasn’t sleeping, and had anxiety and depression.
  4. This is when she decided to go the holistic route to cure the disease, following a spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical outlook that cured her of Lyme.
  5. Many times people with Lyme will get a negative result following Lyme testing, creating a false negative, and leaving people looking for answers when Lyme is the culprit of their ailments.
  6. The babesia and bartonella coinfections are infections that can come with Lyme disease, weaken the immune system, and make it extremely difficult for the immune system to fight the Lyme.
  7. Other factors that affect the immune system’s ability to fight Lyme are heavy metals, mold toxicity, immune disorders, autoimmune disorders, methylation issues, etc.
  8. Lyme takes three different forms in the body and creates a biofilm around itself, giving it the ability to hide and be resistant to treatments.
  9. Jackie believes and knows first hand that Lyme is curable, especially because it it a bacteria, and the body knows how to fight bacteria.
  10. Because healing Lyme is such a multifaceted thing, it is sometimes difficult to find the best healing protocols with people who have later stages of Lyme.
  11. Jackie took a wide range of antibiotics, did two months of ozone therapy in Indonesia, glutathione drips, vitamin C drips, did a year of peptides, two different herbal protocols, acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine, bioenergetics intolerance elimination, did a complete diet change, detoxed, and worked on herself emotionally and spiritually.
  12. Jackie had her immunoglobulin levels tested and came back completely depleted, indicating that the immune system in her blood was extremely weakened.
  13. This is when she discovered she had common variable immune deficiency, and congenital disorder that presents itself as having a bad immune system throughout life.
  14. If you are low in immunoglobulin, something you should test for if you have a bad immune system or contract Lyme, you can do a therapy called IVIG, or IV Immunoglobulin, which is plasma from other people’s blood that will give you the healthy immune system that you need.
  15. On the first day that Jackie did her peptide treatment she saw an immediate improvement.
  16. Emotional trauma can greatly affect the body’s ability to fight off ailments, especially in people who may suffer from ACES or Adverse Childhood Experience Syndrome, where trauma from childhood has created a weakened immune system as an adult.
  17. It is important to be in a parasympathetic state in the body when attempting to fight off an ailment, allowing the body to properly function and detox instead of energy being used to adapt to stressors.
  18. Jackie promotes three key things that she believes are needed to cure Lyme, the first is being a fierce self advocate for getting the appropriate tests done in order to discover Lyme, and for getting the funding you need in order to properly tackle it.
  19. The second thing is radical self-care, listening to your authentic self and doing everything you need in order to care for yourself on a deep level.
  20. The third thing she believe people with Lyme need is hopeful connection with people through shared experience, which is a community of people who really know what you are going through, and can help lead you down a positive path.
  21. You need to detox heavy metals in order to tackle Lyme, because heavy metals impact immune system function, and can create biofilm around Lyme.
  22. You can learn more about Jackie Shea and how to cure lyme at jackieshea.com

 

Wendy Myers: Hello, my name is Wendy Myers. Welcome to the Myers Detox Podcast, where we explore all topic related to heavy metal detoxification, detox protocols, supplements, and many, many health issues from which so many are suffering.

Wendy Myers: Today we talk about Lyme disease and the many therapies that can be used to recover from it, and a lot of things you may not be aware of that you’ll find really, really interesting. And if you’ve been suffering from a chronic health condition, and doctors can’t find a diagnosis, or you’ve just been going through that medical revolving door, going to doctor, to doctor to figure out what’s wrong with you, you may want to look at Lyme. And doing Lyme testing to find out if that is a potential underlying cause. It can cause a lot of different symptoms that are similar to other health issues. So, do Lyme testing to find out if that may be an issue for you.

Wendy Myers: Today, Jackie Shea joined us on the show to talk about all the different therapies that she tried to recover from Lyme and why she’s a Lyme coach today, helping others to recover from this totally debilitating illness that can manifest, for many, many people. We talk about the emotional trauma role in recovering from Lyme, and how that can throw a wrench in things. We talk about hypo-gamma globule anemia, and how a test for this immune system deficiency can be done, and how it can prevent Lyme recovery. We also talk about the three key things that Jackie believes are required to recover from Lyme, and where to get support to address Lyme. It takes a village. It’s helpful to hear other people’s stories and what they’re doing, and try it for yourself.

Wendy Myers: Many of you listen to this podcast are concerned about heavy metal toxicity and your potential levels of them, and how they’re affecting your health. And for good reason, there’s heavy metals in aluminum cans that many are drinking from. In chickens, in eggs, in rice, in the air that we breathe, in the food that we eat. Even if you’re eating a perfectly organic diet. Metals are everywhere, so it’s prudent to test for heavy metals, and find out what metals that you have, so that you can take the next steps to detox them.

Wendy Myers: I created this heavy metals quiz, when you get the results immediately after taking it, to determine your relative exposure of heavy metals, and then where to start. Where do you begin? So I have a video series, it’s absolutely free, that tells you those next steps to begin your detox journey, and what you should do, and what you should avoid. So, take the quiz at heavymetalsquiz.com and you’ll get your results immediately.

Wendy Myers: Our guest today, Jackie Shea, was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2013. And the experience was so emotionally and physically intense, that her healing journey required her to face pre-Lyme issues that included severe childhood trauma, and an undiagnosed immune system disorder. In 2016, she was successfully found Lyme free, and the experience inspired her to transition from a career as a professional actress to become a professional health, life, and business coach, a blogger and the podcast host of the Healing Out Loud podcast. You can learn more about Jackie, and work with her to recover from Lyme at jackieshea.com.

Wendy Myers: Jackie, thanks so much for coming on the show.

Jackie Shea: Thank you so much for having me Wendy. It’s really an honor to be here.

Wendy Myers: So, in your practice, you’re very, very focused on Lyme disease, and you dealt with it yourself. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about your story?

Jackie Shea: Yeah, yeah. Lyme disease, I grew up in the Northeast. So, Lyme disease for me was something we checked for ticks anytime we were in Connecticut, and I knew you got it from ticks, and I knew that it was bad enough that we checked for it diligently. But I didn’t know much more about it. And I got bit by a tick three days before my 26th birthday in Los Angeles on a photo shoot in Franklin Canyon.

Jackie Shea: I was rolling around in these piles of leaves with a dress on, and I was thinking, when I left the woods that day, I thought to myself, “I should check for ticks.” If there was ever a day to check for ticks, this is the day. Immediately followed by, “There are no ticks in southern California.” Because that was what I was told. I was told that it was a northeast thing. Not even a northeast thing, I was really told it was a Connecticut-based disease, like that was the only place it really existed.

Jackie Shea: Lyme disease is in all 50 states, including Hawaii, something I had no idea. So I didn’t check for ticks. I didn’t even shower that night. I did my thing, and 10 days later I started getting rashes. And there is a rash that comes with Lyme disease that very few people get. It’s something like 30% of people end up getting the rash, so-

Wendy Myers: The bullseye rash?

Jackie Shea: The bullseye rash, yes. It’s called something that I can’t pronounce, EM, the EM rash. I’m so lucky, but it was a little atypical, so I didn’t think of Lyme disease right away. I thought of all sorts of things. I thought of psoriasis. I thought of other bug bites, poison ivy, poison oak, I was racking my brain. And the rashes kept spreading and spreading and spreading and one of the centers cleared. And two weeks later, with these very persistent rashes, and fatigue, and headaches, I finally decided to see an urgent care doctor in Los Angeles.

Jackie Shea: I just, again, got so lucky that I landed with a person who happened to say, who happened to believe in Lyme disease, and happened to say, “Have you been in the woods lately?” I was like, “Oh you know it’s such a funny thing, yeah I had this experience.” And he was like, “I think you have Lyme disease.” He did the test for me, testing for Lyme is famously unreliable. So the test actually came back negative, but I knew, from the moment he said it, that that was what it was.

Jackie Shea: And I was excited because I thought, “Oh, I just take some antibiotics and then it goes away.” Like, that’s Lyme, you just take a bunch of antibiotics and then it just disappears like antibiotics do, they do their magic, that’s it. And I got very, very sick. I did antibiotics for about 10 months, never getting better, only getting sicker. I did like five different antibiotics at a time, I was doing intramuscular antibiotics.

Jackie Shea: When finally I was so depleted, I ended up in a wheelchair for any extensive walking, which was more than a block. I was 93 pounds. I was not able to hold my own head up. I was losing my hair. I was having muscle twitching and very bad fibromyalgia pain from my head to my feet. I was not sleeping ever, ever sleeping. I had anxiety and depression. It was really extreme, and finally I decided to take healing into my hands and go totally holistic. And it took me another two years from that moment to get well, but I did. I got well and I cured it. I’m using a spiritual, mental, emotional and physical outlook.

Wendy Myers: Yeah, I mean you got lucky. The first medical doctor that you went to gave you a hint that maybe you have Lyme and did testing, but some people go a decade, 20 years. Even going to doctor, to doctor with no mention of the potential for Lyme disease or Lyme-like infections.

Jackie Shea: Yeah. It’s horrifying. I got really lucky too that I happen to know somebody who had Lyme. I asked her right away, and she said, “If the test comes back negative, it’s not a real negative.” I think a lot of people are actually getting tested for Lyme disease. This is what I see in my practice all the time. People come to me and they have all these symptoms, and they’re like, “They tested Lyme. It came back negative.” And those are unreliable tests. The only way to get a reliable test is to go through a lab called Agenics. They test more strands and they have more reliable testing. But even so, even if those come back negative Lyme literate doctors will do a clinical diagnosis. I think a lot of people in my position would have been like, “Oh, it’s not Lyme disease. The test came back negative.” But because I have this friend who was like, “You need to see a Lyme literate doctor immediately.” And I did.

Wendy Myers: Yeah. Lyme is rampant. I mean, there are so many people that have been diagnosed with this. There are Lyme co-infections like Bartonella, and other infections that can be similar to Lyme or coexist with Lyme that really compromise people’s immune system and their health and can take a long, long time to get a diagnosis of this. Can you talk about that?

Jackie Shea: Yeah, it’s a really good point. Obviously, when Lyme came… When it was discovered in Lyme, Connecticut, they didn’t have the full picture, which we still don’t today. But even then there wasn’t the picture of co-infections. What you’re talking about Bartonella, Babesia, Mycoplasma, [inaudible 00:10:01]. All of these co-infections that come with Lyme, that very frequently make it so that you can’t heal the Lyme. Because there are these other infections going on that you’re not even addressing. And your immune system is down, so it’s not able to properly fight the Lyme.

Jackie Shea: When that was discovered, I think it was discovered in the mid 1990s, the Babesia and Bartonella co-infections. When those were discovered, it made treating Lyme become more plausible. Actually curing Lyme because now we’re discovering these underlying issues. Then that kind of snowballed into all of these areas, which heavy metal toxicity is one of them, mold toxicity, immune disorders, autoimmune situations. What else? I’m trying to think about… Oh, detox pathways like methylation issues being a problem, biofilm, and then discovering that Lyme disease actually takes three different forms in your body. It’s a shape shifter. So, it hides from all these different treatments you do, and it creates a biofilm around itself.

Jackie Shea: It just becomes this very difficult to treat illness. And if you’re not clear on all of the issues going on at once. Like for me, I did have a co-infection called Bartonella, you’re just never going to get the treatment that you need. It took a long time. I mean, we’re still discovering a lot, but at least now we know that Lyme is multisystemic. We know that there’s something underlying.

Wendy Myers: And so, is Lyme curable. You say that you cured your Lyme. I’ve heard some people where they’re only able to get it under remission, where they strengthen their immune system and then it keeps Lyme under lock and key. They’re not symptomatic. Can you clarify that?

Jackie Shea: Yeah, I think Lyme is totally curable, because I’ve seen people be cured because it doesn’t show up in my blood work. But also, because it’s a bug. It’s a bacteria. To me, I’m kind of like, “Why wouldn’t that be curable? It’s a bacteria. Bacteria dies, you kill it. So, this idea that Lyme is always going to be in your body and you can only ever be in remission. I don’t buy into it, because I’ve seen it not be true. And because I don’t see how one can say that about any kind of bacteria.

Wendy Myers: Yeah. I’ve heard that for some people it gets advanced enough. So, it goes undetected, untreated, and then it can become this brain form of Lyme where you have these spirochetes that are really, really difficult to address. Maybe, perhaps that stage it becomes very, very challenging.

Jackie Shea: I think that you’re absolutely right, Wendy. Thank you for bringing that up. It’s always challenging to fight Lyme, always. Unless you’re one of those lucky people who takes 30 days of antibiotics and never hears from it again. But when it breaks the blood brain barrier, and it’s been in your body for a long enough time that it went undetected, it does become… There’s this writer Amy B. Sher that I’ve interviewed on my podcast a couple of times, and she says, “Treating Lyme is like climbing Mount Everest, except you’re wearing flip flops, and your flip flops are broken.”

Jackie Shea: As somebody who treated Lyme it’s so accurate, because it’s like a game of whack-a-mole. You’re like, “Okay, so I treated the biofilm now I’m killing the Lyme. Now I have heavy metals. Now I have this…” It’s just like you’re just constantly dealing with the neurological issues, but then you’re not addressing your gut. It’s so insane. And so yes, you’re absolutely right. Late stage Lyme becomes very difficult to treat. But it’s treatable. And I think that in those cases… I also really want to be clear that I do not think that just everyone should be able to cure Lyme. Some people will not be able to, and they’re not at fault. They’re not to blame, that they’re not able to cure Lyme or even put it in remission. Some people do suffer for the rest of their lives, and that’s not because they didn’t work hard enough. I want to be really clear about that.

Wendy Myers: Yeah, I mean, I can see where some people if it gets so advanced, and they have other health conditions. And they genetically, their detox pathways are stopped up and they have a hard time getting rid of metals, and they just have all these confounding factors. It can make it really, really challenging, if not impossible for some people. So how did you treat Lyme? How did you address it and conquer it and get rid of it?

Jackie Shea: Yeah, it’s a good question. So, I did the… The other thing with healing Lyme is that anyone who has healed or is doing better will not know the definitive answer to that question. Because most of us have done so many things to try to heal that. That it’s like, “Who knows? I threw a bunch of shit at the wall …” Sorry, can we? “And something stuck.” What I did was I did the antibiotics and who’s to say if they did something or didn’t. I got sicker, I felt sicker, but who’s to say… Maybe they did a lot of killing that needed to happen. After that, I did many, many things from… I went to Indonesia and I did two months of intensive ozone therapy, and vitamin C drips and glutathione drips. I went to Florida to a peptide doctor and did a year of peptides.

Jackie Shea: I did two different herbal protocols. I did acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine, herbal Chinese medicine. I did bio energetic intolerance, elimination. I changed my diet completely, I detox, I got my amalgam fillings out. I did all of those things, and I took really good care of the spiritual side of things. I worked on my trauma. I worked on self love, self compassion, self worth, I did meditation. I did therapy. I was in therapy twice a week that I really, really needed that. Yeah, those are things that I did. Oh, and I did IVIG, which is the most important aspect of really what happened for me. Once we found my immune disorder called common variable immune deficiency, which we’ll probably get to. But once we found my immune disorder, and were able to treat that I was able to really get fully well.

Wendy Myers: Yeah, and that’s really interesting you say that. Because if you have an infection or any other infection or an infection like Lyme, if you have a compromised immune system, you’re going to be more susceptible to not getting that under control or the immune system not doing its job of killing that infection. So, can you tell me about that condition, and why it might be important for other people suffering from Lyme to be aware of that?

Jackie Shea: Yes, yes. And you’re absolutely right. The way we generally test the immune system currently, most doctors will test white blood cells, natural killer cells, T-cells, lymphocytes. That kind of used as the barometer of how well your immune system is working. It’s actually they’re missing the whole second half of the immune system, which are called your immunoglobulin. Most of your listeners will likely have never had their immunoglobulin tested. I happened to see a doctor who tested my immunoglobulin panel, and it came back just totally depleted. It’s called common variable immune deficiency, or hypo gamma globulin anemia.

Wendy Myers: I’m glad you pronounced that and not me.

Jackie Shea: It’s not anemia. It has nothing to do with iron deficiency. It is just, anemia means blood. It’s the immune system in your blood that it’s referencing. Once I discovered that, what I basically discovered is that my immune system had very few soldiers to fight this thing. And it made sense finally that even though it caught it so early, and was on antibiotics within a month after my bite I had gotten on my first antibiotic. That’s really close. A lot of people that have that kind of luck heal quickly, and I didn’t. So it made so much sense finally that my immune system was just never up to speed to do that kind of fight because fighting Lyme is a big fight. I had been taking antibiotics my whole life.

Jackie Shea: The other thing I came to realize is that common variable immune deficiency is very likely congenital. So, you get your immunoglobulin in fetus, in utero from your mother. My mother has all sorts of health issues, too. And so, I was raised… I was sick. If any of your listeners have been sick all their life. They’ve had pneumonia. They’ve had chest infections, sinus infections. They’re the person that’s like, I’m just the one that’s prone to get whatever’s going around. That was me. I had gotten cold sores all my life with no… from the time I was a baby. That’s another sign that you have a weak immune system. So really, I should have been tested much sooner. I was in the hospital randomly when I was 18. Never discovered why I got so sick in the first place. Things like that, but nobody ever tested my immunoglobulin level.

Jackie Shea: If you’re low like I was there’s a therapy you can do called IVIG, which is IV Immuno Globulin. And essentially is plasma from other people’s healthy immune systems that will come in and give you the immune system you need to fight. You do need to get infusions frequently. It doesn’t rebuild on its own after that. But once I was able to fight the infection, once I got that IVIG underway, I turned a corner fast, really fast.

Wendy Myers: That’s amazing. So, you have to do that on an ongoing basis or do you just do it as needed if you have an infection?

Jackie Shea: No, it’s ongoing. It’s monthly. So for me, I actually still get a monthly infusion of 30 grams for four hours.

Wendy Myers: Yeah. And so where would you go to get something like that, to get that kind of treatment?

Jackie Shea: That’s a great question. The people who will test and the people who will administer, prescribe and administer it, are hematologists, immunologists, neurologists, and sometimes a rheumatologist. But nobody else will do that for you. The place you’re going to be most likely to have no fight against the testing is going to be with an immunologist, or a functional medicine doctor.

Wendy Myers: Yeah. So, some doctors may resist testing you for that if you ask for it. If you ask for to test that aspect of your immune system.

Jackie Shea: Many, many doctors.

Wendy Myers: Yeah. I’m sure insurance is not dying to pay for that.

Jackie Shea: The treatment is one of the most expensive things on the market. It’s $500,000 a year. And insurance covered if you need it. But yes, it is an insanely expensive treatment.

Wendy Myers: Yeah. I’m probably not encouraging or rewarding doctors for doing that testing.

Jackie Shea: No. Somebody you’re paying out of pocket for should do it for you.

Wendy Myers: Yeah. So, make sure you have health insurance before you do the test, just to make sure. All right. Tell us about the peptide treatment that you did. I know peptides are great for helping to overcome food sensitivities, overcome other different types of immune system malfunctioning. How did that play into your treatment protocol?

Jackie Shea: Yeah, it’s getting really big. The reason I did peptides, and a suggestion I give to everybody is go find the people who got well, ask them what they did, and do what they did, and find what works for you in what they did and stick to it, and what doesn’t and get rid of it. That’s because Lyme is so under researched, and there aren’t that many great doctors. That’s what I tell everyone to do.

Jackie Shea: I found somebody who got well, and one of the things she highly suggested was this peptide treatment with this doctor in Florida, so I did it. I can’t honestly say I was so sick at the time, and I saw an immediate turnaround, immediate like that day. The day I got my first shot was the first day I sat up in a restaurant in nine months. It was a miracle. I was walking around. I felt like myself. I felt like an alive member of society, so it was amazing. But after that initial excitement from my body I didn’t have the same results. That depleted and went away.

Jackie Shea: So, I honestly… They’re using peptides a lot now like at [inaudible 00:24:11]. I don’t know if you know [inaudible 00:24:12] in Southern California. They’re doing a lot of peptide treatment with all Lyme patients. There’s a lot of studies on how peptides help the amino acids, but I can’t honestly say from my experience that it’s not the number one thing I recommend.

Wendy Myers: Yeah. I mean, for some people, it may be that thing that works for them. Different people respond to different things. And so, what about childhood trauma? What role did that play in your illness because when I’m working with people looking at trauma and addressing that underlying emotional stressor, that drain that, that stressor becomes on the person, on their energy, on their immune system. A lot of people really aren’t aware of that. While they’re looking forward to these physical solutions to their physical health issues they’re not accounting for abuse, or emotional issues that can be that roadblock to them getting better. And these things aren’t addressed at a conventional or even most functional medical doctor. So, what role does that play in your illness?

Jackie Shea: Oh, man, huge, huge. I didn’t know, I didn’t know that, that kind of childhood trauma could affect my body that way. But now, it’s so interesting. Like when I go into a state of fight or flight. If I’m in a state of trauma, I think about how my body is losing its mind. I think about the amount of stress hormones that are just flooding my system, and I’m like, “My entire childhood was that. I mean, I lived with that level of stress from day one until I was about 17. Anyone out there listening who’s ever been very afraid. You can feel the amount of stuff, hormones surging through your body. Imagine a child experiencing that frequently or infrequently, but the level of stress hormones, just flooding, your body will completely throw off your adrenal glands like your thyroid. You can end up in adrenal fatigue really easily.

Jackie Shea: So for me, I started looking into the ASES study, the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study. So there’s been research around this, and the research shows very clearly that children with adverse experiences are way more likely to be physically ill as adults. There’s something like they had created a quiz, asestoohigh.com is where it is. It’s a quiz to see how much childhood trauma you endured. And if your score is something like above a seven, on a scale of one to 10, you’re 70% more likely to have heart disease. It’s profound the things that they discovered.

Jackie Shea: I would say that going to trauma therapy, I personally do somatic trauma therapy. But I also did EMDR when I was ill, and I did it on my own. I didn’t have money when I was sick, so I was doing a lot of things on my own. I was also really letting myself grieve. I did a lot of inner child work. I did a lot of re-parenting myself, which was a win. That was one of the best things I did.

Wendy Myers: Just like John Bradshaw.

Jackie Shea: I don’t know who that is.

Wendy Myers: I think he talked about it in some books. But what is the MDMR? I mean, I’ve heard that, that’s… the EMDR, heard that’s very, very effective.

Jackie Shea: Yeah. It’s rapid eye movement desensitization. I might be a little off on one of those words. But yeah, it rewires your brain by noise, and sound and moving your brain left to right, left to right, left to right. I did it frequently. I learned how to essentially use noise, and then I had an app for it called Anxiety Release with EMDR. I did it probably every day for a while, because I was in such a state of shock. And it really calms the central nervous system down, which is what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to just calm the central nervous system down to get out of the sympathetic nervous system, and move toward the parasympathetic nervous system.

Wendy Myers: Yeah, that’s so key. That’s something that when I’m work with the clients, and I want to know what their health issue is trying to get them out of a sympathetic mode, fight or flight stress, and into parasympathetic mode. So they can rest, relax, digest and detox. It’s really key because if they’re stuck in this sympathetic mode, and they’re releasing all these stress hormones. Even if they don’t feel stressed, they can be under a lot of different stressors that throws a wrench into their healing, and their progress, and their ability to detox. So, so important for no matter what illness you have to get into that reducing stress.

Jackie Shea: Yeah. Wendy, do you see that a lot with people that childhood trauma will actually, or stress in general will actually block detox pathways?

Wendy Myers: Oh, yeah. Because you have to, just like any kind of healing you do, you need energy to detox. And if you’re expending energy reacting, and your body attempting to adapt to stressors then you’re going to have a reduced ability or a capacity to detox. Not a total inability. We detox when we’re in parasympathetic mode. When we’re in a more relaxed mode. That’s the ideal state. It’s just ideal to try to get people into that mode and minerals help with that and releasing emotional trauma. And I use bio energetics to help people release that trauma and a simple way without too much work, which people like, and that helps to reduce stress.

Jackie Shea: Right. I hadn’t considered that very simple fact that I think I know in my body, but just hadn’t considered intellectually that of course, we detox when we’re in a more parasympathetic or at worse neutral state. Yeah.

Wendy Myers: Yeah. When people have childhood trauma they are just generally going to be more stressed. Whether they’re aware of it, they may think, “Oh, that’s an the past. Or, “Oh, I had 10 years of therapy.” But they can unconsciously still be having this energetic tape loop that’s draining their energy.

Jackie Shea: Yeah, and that’s a really good point too. And I was that person. I had been in therapy. I had dealt with stuff since I was 18. I mean, I cleaned up my life at 18 years old, and I attended Al-Anon, and I was in therapy. I was in intensive therapy. I had gotten a lot of help. I had clawed my way into my life. And I was sure that I was free of so much. Then I got sick, and it was like a deeper cut. More that needed to be healed came up.

Wendy Myers: I have the same experience too. I had 10 years of therapy and just was just trying to improve myself and just use every tool possible, try to work through my stuff and improve myself. I think there’s some element of stuff that we’re not conscious of that needs to be addressed. I use bio energetics for that. I think it’s really helpful to identify stressors and release them simply. But there’s lots of different ways to go about that. Let’s talk about the three key things that you believe are needed to cure Lyme.

Jackie Shea: Okay. I believe that you need fierce self advocacy. Because with Lyme disease, doctors are not going to believe you. You’re going to come face to face with many people that do not believe you, that do not trust your experience, that do not want to give you the blood tests you know you need. Or any test, the stool test, the urine test, the heavy metal test, all of that. You also need to be a fierce self advocate around finances. Because a lot of people are not able to work and do not have families supporting them. So fundraisers, disability, grants, all of that. Fierce self advocacy. Asking for what you need and going out there and getting it no matter how many people close the door in your face.

Wendy Myers: Ask and thou shall receive. You have to ask.

Jackie Shea: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:33:17]. People say no many times, keep asking. Just keep asking. Radical self care is the second thing I believe you need. And that is way beyond drink enough water and eat three healthy meals and exercise. It is saying no when you’re terrified that you’re going to disappoint people. It is disappointing people. It is taking care of yourself like you are a child. And like you are re-parenting yourself. Radical self care, listening to your authentic self. There’s another woman who healed Lyme that talks about how the way she healed herself after all the physical things she did was finally giving her authentic voice, the center stage, and stopping to repress to please other people. To manipulate situations so that she knows she’s liked. Radical self care sometimes means leaving a toxic relationship you’ve been in for a really long time, whether it’s romance, or friendship, or a family member. Radical self care sometimes means blocking a family member. I mean, it’s way beyond the things we think of.

Wendy Myers: And these are all drains. These are all things that drain you that you can’t afford.

Jackie Shea: Absolutely, that’s exactly right. That’s exactly right. So something I tell people a lot is know what depletes you, and know what gives you energy and arrange your life accordingly. It’s interesting that it takes getting sick to do that, it did for me. But it was like, once I was sick, I was able to go, “I’m not going to do anything that depletes me. And if I engage with something that depletes me, I’m going to book end it with things that lift me up. So, doctors, going to a doctor would drain me. So, right after the doctor, I would have a list of things that I would do. I would take photos, that would lift me up. Or I would get a green juice or make a green juice. I had my list.

Jackie Shea: The third thing I believe you need is what I call a hopeful connection through shared experience, which is essentially community. But community people that really understand have been there, have been through illness and come out the other side or not. They don’t have to come out the other side. But people that have been there, experienced it, felt it and can empathize and help you, and lead you down a new path. I believe that those are the three key things that you need.

Wendy Myers: Fantastic. That’s such a that’s such a good list. I’ve really enjoyed this podcast a lot. Because I think that a lot of things that you’re saying are also applicable to other illnesses, to other health conditions, that people really need to reevaluate their life and their relationships and their finances. And it can be really challenging, but these types of challenges can be where you’re almost re-birthing yourself, reinventing yourself. Like me, my health issues turned into myersdetox.com. My pursuit to try to heal myself turned into this amazing platform to help other people. So amazing things can come out of this. Even if you’re listening to this and you’re very, very sick, or you have chronic fatigue or you’re bedridden or can’t work. People do and can climb out of that and come out the other side.

Jackie Shea: Yeah, and you really have Wendy. I just want you to know that I actually heard you on a podcast when I was still struggling, with Wellness Mama. I loved the podcast, and it was so helpful for me. I learned so much from it. And so yeah, you are helping so many people, and I think what a gift.

Wendy Myers: Yeah, that’s awesome to hear. Thank you. It’s nice when you get on these large platforms like Wellness Mama has, and you get out, you reach a lot of people you might not otherwise reach with your message. And so, I think it’s also with Lyme. It’s really important to detox heavy metals. We didn’t talk about that. But our medical director of our program feels like you have to detox heavy metals to address Lyme because metals impact immune system functioning in a lot of different ways. They affect your natural killer cells, your microfibril, and your neutrophils and in different ways different metals like arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury, impact your immune system. So it can be really important to detox, to add that into your protocol, so that your immune system can be on line to address and get Lyme under control.

Jackie Shea: Yeah, and if you’re taking a lot of supplements to build your immune system, which a lot of people with Lyme are, but you’re not detoxing the things that are keeping your immune system down, you’re only going to move an inch. You can’t move that far. If the heavy metals are interfering in all these ways, and [inaudible 00:38:25]. I mean, what I understand with heavy metals too is that they also create biofilm, which does surround Lyme. And so, you have to be getting rid of them. Any good Lyme literate MD these days will agree. Will be trying to detox you for heavy metals.

Wendy Myers: Yeah. Very, very important component just for anything. Metals are throwing a wrench in your body’s recovery, metabolism, energy, every body system. They need to be addressed generally to be healthy. Tell us about today, how you engage in self care, and how that can help other people.

Jackie Shea: Some days, I’m good at it, and some days I push myself is the truth. I’m very busy. I have a very full practice. It’s very lucky, but the level of self care that I often talk about, it’s almost… it’s a full time job. The way I really take care of myself today within a packed schedule, and sometimes stressful, is I drink enough water every day. I make sure to add lemon and salt to my water a lot of the time, which is one of your big tips. I make sure to eat on an anti inflammatory diet, which really works for me very well. I bring my supplements with me wherever I go. I find time for creativity multiple times a month. Some of the things that I need, like self care for everyone is different.

Jackie Shea: Some of the things I need for self care every week are I need to dance. I need to do yoga. Those things really put me in my body and in my yen and femininity. And those are things that I need to feel grounded. I sleep, I read, I journal, I meditate but not perfectly. Sometimes I meditate five minutes a day, sometimes I don’t meditate at all. I’m very connected to the universe, I do a lot of prayer. I see my community, I see friends that lift me up and enhance my energy. I’m in a long term relationship, and I make sure I have time to spend with him present. I put my phone down. I put my phone in airplane mode as much as I can, which is really beneficial. I listen to podcasts actually that lift me up. I make sure to get under the sunshine. It’s like some days I do all of the things. And some days, the best thing I can do is just make sure I drink enough water and eat and sleep.

Wendy Myers: One of my big hobbies is sleeping. It’s one my favorite hobbies.

Jackie Shea: You’re right. When your life is very full, and it’s such a blessing. It’s more challenging to find the nuanced ways to self care, or those those kind of perfect ideals of self care.

Wendy Myers: Yeah, I mean, sleeping is almost like a luxury. You really, really have to be disciplined. Make time for it. You have to have time for, which can be challenging for women that work and have a few children and have a relationship and have all this stuff going on, and some time for themselves. Sleep can be a real luxury. You really have to take… be really mindful of fitting that in.

Jackie Shea: Yeah. I will say that every week, I look at my schedule on Sunday. I’ll look at my schedule for the week ahead. And I go through with a highlighter. I highlight different activities with different colors. This is very… as I’m saying it out loud I’m like, this is so type A, but I highlight myself care with pink. So that I can see on the schedule where my self care is. And if there’s not enough of it, I add things in or I cancel things. But I try to have at least four things a week that are there strictly to fill me up. If not five things a week, and that can range anywhere from yoga, to rock climbing to therapy, or coaching or a date with my man. It ranges. But I really, I’m conscious of it each week, I’ll say that.

Wendy Myers: I think that is really important to get it in the schedule. Because if it’s in the schedule, more likely to get done. For instance, I like to go on an AP class pass and scheduled pilates, and if I don’t do it, I’m like, “Oh, I’ll just schedule it last minute.” Usually doesn’t happen, but if I go on Sunday and schedule Monday, Wednesday, Friday, magically it happens. It’s like you have to… If it’s in the schedule it gets done. I think it’s really smart to schedule in that self care also for us calendar junkies. I love my calendar.

Jackie Shea: I do too.

Wendy Myers: Yeah. Tell everyone where they can find your work, work with you to address their Lyme.

Jackie Shea: Yeah. Something really exciting is happening right now. I actually have a health group coming up, starting in September, for three months, for four to six people, and it’s going to be a blast. So if that sounds at all interesting to you, you can find me at jackieshea.com. Also, I have a podcast called Healing Out Loud with Jackie Shea. And I’m on Instagram, and all of those places are good places to find me, write to me, ask any questions, and come on over and have a conversation.

Wendy Myers: And so, this group, is this for people that want group coaching to address their Lyme or is it for other types of things?

Jackie Shea: Oh, yes, it’s a coaching group. So it’s a health coaching group. And we will be exploring the three main topics that I just talked about with you. Self advocacy, radical self care, and community, and really diving into creativity and all the ways that we can support ourselves and our bodies really from home without relying completely on doctors.

Wendy Myers: Yes, yes. I know you do. You have to be your own self advocate. Because even if you’re going to doctors and practitioners, there’s only so much time they can spend with you. And that other thousands of hours in that week, or month you’re on your own. And you’re having to take care of yourself. And so, you really have to be your own best advocate because no one else can do that work for you. And certainly your doctor does not have time to really give you a ton of advice or definitely nothing that’s alternative. So you’ve got to find this stuff out for yourself.

Jackie Shea: Yeah, that’s right. And having a tribe to walk with you is just such a blessing. Having a tribe to walk with you. So come on, come find your tribe.

Wendy Myers: Yeah. Well, Jackie, thanks so much for coming on the podcast. And everyone thanks so much for joining me on the Myers Detox Podcast where every week we explore topics related to heavy metal toxicity, and alternative health issues, and detox protocols, and supplements, and pretty much anything related to detox. Thanks for tuning in every week. I really appreciate you listening every week and giving me the opportunity to help you.