• Why people with Lyme cannot drink alcohol

  Here’s a couple reason why lyme and alcohol don’t mix. 

  “The toxins from lyme and the chemicals from drugs and alcohol can destroy vital liver function.

  Most patients with lyme ALREADY have liver damage and dysfunction, most specifically with the Cytochrome P-450 liver detoxification pathway. That makes is very hard to process out many toxins and toxic byproducts. It is this same pathway that is required to metabolize alcohol.

  To consume alcohol can cause a very dangerous increase in the level of porphyrins in the body. In excess, porphyrins cause symptoms identical to a herx.

  In extreme cases, excess porphryin loads can be fatal but, in lesser levels, they kill cells all though the body but mostly in the liver and the nervous system (including brain cells).”

  This is what Dr M explained to me:

  I know all this is hard to understand so I asked Dr M in Canada why we can’t drink and this is how he summed it up: most alcoholic drinks have sugar and wheat and ingredients that spirochetes eat. So they all come out and go into an eating frenzy. When they are active like this they put out toxins. Well these toxins make us feel “drunk” quickly. Then when the alcohol hits your blood stream, it kills the spirochetes. Thus giving off the toxins from the dying chetes. So we have a herx reaction. The reason it is so bad, is cuz alcohol crosses the blood brain barrier. So it kills them in our brains. So it pretty much explains why we get drunk so fast then have such a bad hangover ther next day.

  Here’s some links with more articles:

  Department of Medicine, New York Medical College, Valhalla.
  Rats fed excessive amounts of ethanol developed marked hematologic and immunologic changes. These included a reversal of the normal lymphocyte to granulocyte ratio in the peripheral blood, lower spleen and lymph node weights and a greatly reduced capacity to express normal cell mediated immune functions, based on poor lymphocyte reactivity in vivo, and in vitro to T and B cell mitogens and borrelial antigens shortly after primary immunization with the bacterial spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi. Further evidence for impaired immune function caused by ethanol was based on little or no antibody response against Borrelia in rats following in vivo sensitization with B. burgdorferi incorporated in complete Freund’s adjuvant. These findings provide substantial direct evidence strengthening the notion that high levels of ethanol ingestion adversely affect the host immune system and can interfere with the immune response to microorganisms.

  HERES ANOTHER 

  “Spirochetes have a limited metabolism and can only ferment a few types of organic molecules.
  They ferment carbohydrates to acetate, ethanol , CO2, and H2 as major end products.
  All spirochetes so far examined use the Embden-Meyerhoff-Parnas pathway to take glucose to pyruvate.
  Under anaerobic conditions this is converted to acetate and ethanol using common fermentative pathways.
  Interestingly, the facultative anaerobes in the group use both oxidative phosphorylation and substrate level phosphorylation in the presence of air and seem to be dependent on at least some fermentation.
  The TCA cycle has not been detected in these microbes, and it is unclear how they get their ATP by oxidative phosphorylation.
  B. burgdorferi will also move away from ethanol and butanol.
  Ethanol binds to NMDA receptors in the brain (inhibiting them) and perhaps to GABAA receptors as well.
  Alcohol, neurotransmitter systems, and behavior.

  From: The Journal of General Psychology 
  Date: 10/1/2006
  Alcohol affects several neurotransmitter systems within the brain. In this article, the author describes its effects on 5 major ones: glutamate, gamma-amino-butyric acid (GABA), dopamine, serotonin, and opioid systems.
  Acute ethanol intoxication caused a marked suppression of NK activity in vivo and a tenfold increase in the number of MADB106 tumor metastases.
  Ethanol had no effect in rats selectively depleted of NK cells or when an NK-insensitive tumor (C4047) was used.
  These findings suggest that even acute ethanol intoxication markedly suppresses NK activity in the living organism.
  This suppression may underlie some aspects of the association between alcoholism, infectious disease and malignancies.
  (NK are natural killer cells…our first line of defense against precancerous cells.)
  Clin Diagn Lab Immunol. 2002 Mar;9(2):282-6.
  Impaired bactericidal activity and host resistance to Listeria monocytogenes and Borrelia burgdorferi in rats administered an acute oral regimen of ethanol.
  PMID: 11874864
  Vasdev S, Mian T, Longerich L, Prabhakaran V, Parai S.
  N-acetyl cysteine attenuates ethanol induced hypertension in rats.
  Artery 1995;21(6):312-6
  “All known pathways of ethanol metabolism result in the production of acetaldehyde, a highly reactive compound.
  N-acetyl cysteine, an analogue of the dietary amino acid cysteine, binds acetaldehyde, thus preventing its damaging effect on physiological proteins.
  (Above…unfortunately Bb has “zinc fingers” composed of:cysteine and histidine bound by zinc)

  We have a “limited” amt. of the 2 enzymes needed to breakdown alcohol – alcohol deyhdrogenase is the first one. Women have less of this enzyme than do men.
  Since the spirochetes are ALREADY fermenting sugar to ethanol/alcohol…adding a drink or two or more…may make things WORSE…significantly.
  I have many more ethanol/alcohol files if you need them.
  Pay close attention to HOW Flagyl works.
  Flagyl + “extra” alcohol = alcohol poisoning (very life threatening).
  PMID: 1774157 [PubMed – indexed for ME

  And last but not least, to those on Flagyl: 

  Flagyl (Metronidazole) Interactions With Alcohol
  Flagyl is the brand name of metronidazole, an antibiotic used to treat a variety of infections, from stomach ulcers to meningitis. (Metronidazole is also found in some other brand name antibiotics, including ; check your antibiotic’s label.) Most of Flagyl’s side effects are run-of-the-mill, such as nausea and vomiting. However, Flagyl is reported to interact dangerously with another common drug: alcohol.

  Drinking even a small amount of alcohol (ethanol) while taking Flagyl can make a person very sick. Flagyl and alcohol together cause severe nausea and vomiting, flushing, fast heartbeat (tachycardia), and shortness of breath. The reaction has been described as being similar to the effects of Antabuse, a drug that treats alcoholism by causing patients to become very sick when they drink.

  Obviously, beverages containing alcohol should not be consumed during treatment with Flagyl, but small amounts of alcohol can be found in hidden sources as well. Some kinds of mouthwash and cold medicine contain alcohol. Small amounts may also be served at religious services. Patients should avoid all of these alcohol sources while taking Flagyl and for 48 hours following the end of treatment.

  What Causes the Bad Reaction?
  Because the Flagyl-alcohol reaction is said to resemble the Antabuse-alcohol reaction, researchers originally assumed that they work the same way. Ordinarily, the liver breaks down ethanol in two steps: first into acetaldehyde, then into acetic acid. Antabuse inhibits the second step, causing levels of acetaldehyde in the blood to rise. The increased blood acetaldehyde causes the acute symptoms of vomiting, flushing, etc.

  More recent research has shown that Flagyl does not inhibit the breakdown of acetaldehyde, and that blood acetaldehyde does not increase when Flagyl and alcohol are combined. Therefore, some other mechanism must be at work. One set of researchers (Karamanakos et al. 2007) suggested it may be related to increased serotonin because they were able to show that Flagyl increases brain serotonin in rats. Another set of researchers (Visapää et al. 2002) noted that there are only 10 human case reports of a bad Flagyl-alcohol reaction and suggested that the problem may not be as common as previously thought. They did, however, note that it is possible that this “reaction can occur in some subgroups,” so it is still wise to avoid mixing Flagyl and alcohol.

  Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/science/medical/articles/33423.aspx#ixzz0f4yq6Pz1 

• © 2012 What is Lyme Disease?