Updated: 3/4/2024
Most people with chronic tick-borne infections (Borrelia, Bartonella, and Babesia) and chronic mold toxicity have fatigue and low energy. There are basic steps that can correct this problem. These range from getting sleep to fixing and getting rid of underlying infections like Lyme, yeast, or viruses.
In this article I describe the basic steps that can fix this problem. Take these steps in the beginning and throughout a chronic mold toxicity or tick-borne infection treatment.
To support sleep, use either supplements or prescription medicines. Do not mix supplements and prescription medicines together as a first treatment, though you can do so later.
Sleep is often disturbed in chronic Lyme disease. Lack of adequate sleep worsens pain, increases fatigue, and suppresses the immune system. It appears that in response to infection or mold toxicity, the excess inflammatory cytokines produced by the immune system decrease the output of sleep-inducing hormones to the sleep centers of the brain. Since lack of sleep increases cytokines, a restorative amount of sleep should ideally be 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Sleep in the few hours before midnight is most restorative.
You can either take these two supplements together or use in combination with the following prescription medicines, if needed.
For more information about these sleep supplements and prescriptions, or for additional options about sleep hygiene, see Sleep in Lyme Disease: The Basic Steps. For information about sleep herbs and supplements, see Sleep: The Natural Medicines. For more information and sleep prescriptions options, see Sleep: The Prescription Medicines.
A paleo diet is low in simple sugars, which decreases the chances of developing intestinal yeast. It also promotes brain health and supports the energy factories, called mitochondria, found in every cell. Because the Paleo diet is low in sugar, it may decrease inflammation.
An elimination diet helps a person find which foods trigger allergies or inflammation reactions. If you are reacting to foods, consider trying an elimination diet first. Removing allergic and inflammatory foods from your diet also leads to decreased pain and improved energy.
Eat a paleo-based diet rich in organic foods, healthy fats, proteins, and vitamin rich vegetables. For more detailed information about the diet, see The Best Brain, Inflammation, Pain, Energy & Detox Diet Ever.
An elimination diet is another diet to consider starting. For detailed information, see Elimination Diet to Find Food Problems.
Cytokines are inflammatory chemicals made by the immune system in chronic tick-borne infections and mold toxicity. Nutritional supports like curcumin, resveratrol, black tea extract, NAC, and antioxidants found in a good multivitamin may lower cytokines. This can
On the one hand, cytokines are good because they turn on the immune system. They perform several functions that include:
On the other hand, in chronic tick-borne infections like Lyme and mold toxicity the immune system makes too many cytokines, which is bad. Too many cytokines
At the beginning of treatment or when antibiotics are changed, the cytokines are made in even greater amounts, which causes a person to feel much worse. This is called a Herxheimer die-off reaction.
See Control Cytokines: A Guide to Fix Lyme Symptoms & The Immune System for more information and additional herbal medicine options to use in a chronic tick-borne infection or mold toxicity treatment.
There are no effective and safe options.
An adaptogen is a substance that helps the body deal with the harmful medical and emotional stress of being ill. Adaptogens have been used for centuries in Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine with greatly observed benefits. Based on animal experiments, ashwagandha may improve
It likely has additional benefits that have not been researched.
Read the “Diagnose Based on Symptoms” section below to determine if you could have low hormones.
Fixing low adrenals and/or low thyroid can help the immune system work better and possibly improve energy. A person could have normal range testing for each of the hormones, but still have clinically low hormones. Because of the unreliability of testing, treatment for low hormones should occur if there are clinical symptoms of low hormones as long as the treatment does not increase hormone levels above the upper end of normal.
If you have a number of these symptoms, consider using the natural medicine approaches for each respective problem.
For adrenal insufficiency, start with the supplement or prescription medicine. It is possible to use both together if the symptoms of low adrenals persist.
Prescription Medicine
In my practice, I rarely use prescription medicine for adrenal insufficiency because there is a very small risk of immune suppression using prescription hydrocortisone. However, the doses I recommend are the normal amounts the adrenal glands should make. I prefer ashwagandha because it is a supportive herb that does not suppress the immune system.
Use these nutritional supports first for one to two months before adding or trying the prescription medicine option below. Often, working with these supplements corrects the thyroid so you do not need to take thyroid prescription medicines.
For more information about how to manage thyroid, even if your tests are normal, read my comprehensive article, It's Tricky—How to Diagnose & Treat Low Thyroid.
In my opinion, to heal and feel better requires a multivitamin with an essential set of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and antioxidants. A good multivitamin can improve functioning of the immune system; muscles; brain and nerves; hormones; organs, including the kidney and liver; and detoxification, in addition to decreasing inflammation. A multivitamin also may protect the body from the toxic effect of prescriptive antibiotics.
Ultimately to get rid of fatigue, you have to get rid of your infections and remove mold toxins if they are present.
If energy and fatigue do not greatly improve by six to nine months, it is time to fix the energy factories found in every cell. These are called mitochondria.
In chronic infections and mold toxicity, mitochondria get injured. There are two basic steps to fixing injured mitochondria. One involves fixing the damaged mitochondria membranes using phospholipids. The other involves fixing the mitochondria from the inside with the powerful antioxidant called glutathione and basic mitochondria nutrients.
More Information. For additional information and ideas on how to repair the mitochondria see. How to Fix Mitochondria & Get Energy in Lyme Disease.
The ideas and recommendations on this website and in this guideline are for informational purposes only. For more information about this, see the sitewide Terms & Conditions.
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
See the references sections for The Best Brain, Inflammation, Pain, Energy & Detox Diet Ever and Elimination Diet to Find Food Problems.
Marty Ross, MD is a passionate Lyme disease educator and clinical expert. He helps Lyme sufferers and their physicians see what really works based on his review of the science and extensive real-world experience. Dr. Ross is licensed to practice medicine in Washington State (License: MD00033296) where he has treated thousands of Lyme disease patients in his Seattle practice.
Marty Ross, MD is a graduate of Indiana University School of Medicine and Georgetown University Family Medicine Residency. He is a member of the International Lyme and Associated Disease Society (ILADS), The Institute for Functional Medicine, and The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M).
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