
Healing Lyme: Olivia’s Story

Medical Director, Hudson Valley Healing Arts Center
Healing Lyme: Olivia’s Story
Richard Horowitz, MD
Full Transcript
Summit Introduction 0:00
Hello. My name is Dr. Richard Horowitz, co-host of the free online Healing from Lyme Disease Summit. June 4th to the 10th, 2024. During the summit, you will hear between 40 to 50 experts share their top advice on how you can get better from Lyme and associated diseases. You will learn about the safety and efficacy of apps on combination therapy and its power to get patients better from chronic Lyme disease. You'll also hear about the necessity of addressing all the abnormalities on the 16 point MSIDS map.
I would now like to share with you a story and have you meet the youngest pediatric patient I ever gave that sum to, who is now well and in full remission for over one year. Olivia got sick at seven years old and for 18 months went looking for answers with 51 doctors. As you will hear from her, she had MRI's, CAT scans, liver biopsies and even adenoid removal without any help.
Olivia's Early Misdiagnosis 1:12
She was finally diagnosed with Munchausen syndrome because they felt that since they couldn't find a cause for her symptoms, she must be making it up. I would like to now share with you her success story using double dapsone some combination therapy and high dose that some combination therapy for Lyme disease. Babesia and Bartonella and highlight how important it is to diagnose and treat MSIDS variables that keep them ill. In Olivia's case, I had a diagnosis with Pots immune deficiency molds and alpha one antitrypsin deficiency.
Once all of these factors had been properly diagnosed and treated, she got better and is finally in full remission for over one year. She no longer suffers from chronic fatigue, pain or brain fog and is now attending college. Here is Olivia's story. My name is Olivia Goodrow, and I was bitten by a tick at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri when I was seven years old. I didn't see the tick, and I didn't have a bullseye rash, and I spent the next 18 months seeing 51 doctors, all from Colorado, and I had MRI, CAT scans, EKGs, a liver biopsy.
I had my adenoids removed and I was misdiagnosed a ton of times. They thought that I need to drink water because I am originally from Colorado and it's a high altitude state. And then they thought that know, maybe I had Wilson's disease and the test came back saying that I didn't have it. They started to think that I was maybe making it up for attention. So I was misdiagnosed with Munchausen syndrome. Then after the 51st doctor, I was finally randomly diagnosed with Lyme disease, and I hopped around from a couple other doctors who, you know,
Finding the Right Lyme Diagnosis 2:51
they were making sure that I was staying out of the hospital, but they weren't having any progress on my health. And then I met Dr. Richard Horowitz when I was in the sixth grade, and we had our very first appointment, and I think it lasted somewhere around six hours. And he went through all of my individual records. And the entire time he was like, oh my gosh, you know, they could have seen this symptom and they could have known and I could have done this test. And of course, when he got to the Munchausen syndrome part, he literally banged his head on the wall because he was like, you know what?
Like this happens to so many people and this is just so unfair. And he was able to diagnose me with not just Lyme disease, but Bartonella babesia pots syndrome, relapsing fever and anti 1 pepsin deficiency in my liver. And so then after that, I went on a protocol of 86 pills a day for a couple of years. And it was, to be honest, so much. And I was terrible. And it was getting me to, you know, feel better. And I was still having progress, but just the amount of pill taking. And I was still in school and I, you know, wanted to be in school.
That was kind of my motivator. So, you know, get out of bed every day was seeing my friends and, you know, doing what the normal kids did. And then in the summer, going into my freshman year of high school, Dr. Horowitz had this idea to put me on double dose Dapsone So, yeah, I did that freshman year going into high school, and I felt great. And so throughout high school, I was, you know,
Dapsone Combination Therapy Journey 4:18
I believe I said that I was roughly around 70% better. You know, I was slowly getting there. And then I get up, it got up to like 86%. I was slowly, slowly getting there. And then my senior year, we realized that, you know, we need to do the actual proper protocol. And so I did the nine weeks, the quadruple dose dapsone home with, I believe, the last week being the, all the quadruple dose. I was ramping myself up, up the last week. And to be honest, again, someone else went to that. It's not a walk in the park and it truly is.
I feel like though, if all 42 of those pills had been combined into one singular pill, I would have done a lot better. I think that the issue was your gut can't handle really that many pills. It takes a lot for you to actually take those every single day. And so that was my biggest difficulty was, you know, looking at the box and being like, oh, I have to do this again. And it got rid of all of my symptoms. I used to have, you know, brain fog, brain fog, tremors of my right. And I had muscle aches, pains.
I lost my vision for periods at a time. it was hard for me to get out of bed. My neck muscles gave out. And these pills that I took, this protocol, it truly saved my life. And, you know, throughout this time and throughout my journey with Lyme disease and especially Dr. Horowitz has seen it all. I have, you know, created my own nonprofit because, you know what I went through, it was terrible. But I know that people out there, you know, they're going through so much worse, and they do not have a Dr. Horowitz to help them.
And truthfully, he has saved my life. I'm now at UCLA. Right now, I'm living my best life. I have feel the most normal that I've ever felt in my entire life. Since I was seven years old. And, you know, I can confidently say that I'm in remission. And I know that we just had this conversation a couple days ago, but now I worry about, you know, illnesses that college kids get and, you know, trying not to, you know, get super sick. And we're not worrying about Lyme disease and, you know, tick borne illnesses anymore.
And it's such a relieving and such a refreshing change to have. and so this treatment has been absolutely incredible for me.
Recovery, College, and Advocacy 6:27
And I would recommend it to anyone, who is, you know, eligible for it. It is truly amazing. It has, you know, turned my life around for the better. And I actually, I wrote a book talking about, you know, my nonprofit, My Journey and, you know, my journey to, you know, becoming better while also, you know, dealing with school. And I actually have a newer version of the book coming out in May, this year. And it. Yeah, I have it right next to it. It looks like this. and it talks about it talks more about, you know, dapsone and how that was, you know, especially, you know, being in high school, trying to be active with friends, family, school, work.
And, you know, I was getting into colleges at that point. So I had, you know, a little bit on my plate to deal with. And on top of that, every morning and every day I was taking all of these pills. So if you ever need like, a second opinion and you're like, man, you know, I really want to try this treatment, but I want to hear from a patient. I would go recommend maybe just checking out the little chapter that I have about Dapsone but, Dr. Horowitz, you have truly saved my life. And I thank you so much for that.
Every single day. You have just heard one more success story of double dosed dapsone combination therapy and high dose dapsone combination therapy, and the importance of treating minutes variables to help regain your health during the healing from Lyme Disease Summit, June 4th to the 10th, 2024, 18 people will be sharing their stories of healing and success with dapsone combination therapy. And you can read more about how people got better from chronic Lyme and associated diseases in our latest publication in microorganisms, April 2024.
All the recent improvements in the dapsone protocol to make it safer, more tolerable and even more efficacious in treating
Summit Closing and Resources 8:12
lyme and Bartonella, can be found in this last publication in microorganisms, September 2023, and you can share this with your health care provider. Since the entire protocol of how I get patients better can be found in this publication. You can also learn more about these protocols and the power of the MSIDS model. In my New York Times bestseller, Why Can't I Get Better? And national Bestseller. How can I get better? So please join me for the Healing From Lyme Disease Summit airing June 4th 10th, 2024 so you too can learn more about the power of dapsone combination therapy in treating chronic Lyme disease, and see firsthand how important it is to treat MSIDS factors.
You will learn this and much more during the summit, so you are empowered with the tools that can help you to get your life back. And you too can get better. I look forward to seeing you there.
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