**Update 4/16/2015** It was recently brought to my attention that my blog may not have been clear with regard to who was in charge of my care while at Infusio. My care was provided by Michael Wittstadt, who is the equivalent to and ND here in the US.

About two months ago, in the middle of a challenging Lyme treatment week, my husband mentioned to an acquaintance I’d been battling late stage Lyme disease. This acquaintance happened to know someone who’s late state Lyme disease was in remission. He said she’d tried numerous treatments and he graciously offered to ask what finally worked for her.

I say “happened” because I do not believe this conversation was a chance encounter, I believe it was God’s perfect timing. A few weeks later my husband received a very informative email, and I learned of a new treatment using stem cells. My most recent Lyme “roller coaster”, along with encouragement from my husband prompted me to research stem cell therapy, and other treatment options.

When I found out nasty Lyme, and co-infections were causing my random, intermittent health issues, I was determined to fully eradicate them. I never once believed they would affect me the rest of my life! I STILL believe that to be TRUE, however, after 2 1/2 years of treatment, and lots of prayers for healing, I’ve realized my body may need more intensive therapies to fully heal.

During my August appointment my doctor recommended a clinic called Infusio. He’d met with the founder and thought what they did sounded promising. Infuiso’s stem cell therapy uses your own stem cells, and that made me more comfortable with considering their clinic.

I’ve tried to avoid more intensive therapies, because they usually involve IV treatments, and those make me super nervous! God has been working on my “irrational fear issue” over the years, so I mustered the courage, and made an appointment with the founder Infusio.

Infusio has a location in Los Angeles, which made me happy I wouldn’t need to travel far for treatments. I quickly learned their stem cell treatments are done at their clinic in Germany. Once again, I had to set my nervousness aside, and took the plunge to find out more.

I was grateful to get a last-minute appointment at Dr. Boyer B. Cole’s practice in San Anselmo, where Philip Battiade, the founder of Infusio periodically sees patients. Shortly after arriving for my appointment I was escorted into a room with Dr. Cole, Philip, and an assistant, whose name I can’t remember! Dr Cole, and the assistant introduced themselves, but Philip did not, I thought this was strange.

Dr. Cole asked me to lie down on the examination table, and he explained they were going to run a scan of my body systems using Global Diagnostics. Philip placed some electrode type things to my ankles, and Dr. Cole said I should lie still for the next 8-10 minutes while my entire body was scanned.

The two of them left the room, and for 10 minutes I was able to ponder what the heck I’d gotten myself into!

After the scan was done, Philip introduced himself, and explained he prefers not to introduce himself until after because he doesn’t want to know anything about the patient before the Global Diagnostic scan is complete. He wants to be sure the reading is accurate and not skewed by any thing.

He pulled up my report and spent about 30 minutes explaining what it said about my body systems, and what microorganisms it found. It was fascinating that this machine identified Borrelia (Lyme Disease) and Babesia in less than 10 minutes, and I didn’t need to give a drop of blood! It also identified Western Tick Borne Encephalitis, and an airborne fungus from bird droppings called Histoplasmosis, and Diphtheria.

I’m sure you’re wondering how I got a fungus from bird droppings? Well, I have a sweet pet parakeet so I assume I picked it up from her. I will wear a mask when cleaning her cage from now on! For any other bird (chicken) owners reading this, from what I understand most people’s immune system can easily deal with this fungus, however for someone with an “overburdened” immune system like mine, it can be difficult to get rid of.

Besides the microorganisms, the report confirmed my organ systems are functioning well, but my immune, and sympathetic nervous systems are completely stressed. Philip said even if I don’t “feel” stressed my body is in a constant state of stress trying to fight everything off. Obviously this is not a good thing for my long-term health. It also showed I had mild heavy metal toxicity. I already knew this, and also knew I would need to deal with at some point.

Overall, what the scan said was not that surprising. I’m doing everything I can to maintain an extremely healthy lifestyle but these infections continue to wear down my immune and nervous systems. This is pretty much the same for anyone with late stage Lyme and co-infections.

The surprising thing was how Philip and the doctors at Infusio treat Lyme and co-infections. Instead of trying to kill off the infection using antibiotics or strong herbal remedies, they do “immune modulation” using thymus therapy. Stem cell therapy is also done for all Lyme patients.

Their stem cell treatment works like this

• Remove a pint of my blood,
• Separate my stem cells
• Add cytokines to help grow healthy, new stem cells

Once they grow the desired amount of new stem cells, they are given back to me via a injection. The new cells begin to repair damage and help my body fight the infections. I was curious how this process didn’t re-infect people, since Lyme and co-infections live in the blood. He said stem cells can’t be infected. I checked this with my Lyme ND and he agreed it would be unlikely that stem cells are infected because they are “brand new” cells.

In addition to thymus and stem cell therapies, they use dioxychlor and ozone to help knock down the infections. IV vitamins, mineral, and amino acids are given to help the body repair and heal. He recommended I do Calcium EDTA to help remove the heavy metals.

I asked if there is any maintenance that needs to be done after treatment and he said it’s rare that anything else needs to be done. He did say most people have some ups and downs in the first 100 days while the stem cells are “rebuilding”. After six months things “settle.” The worst mistake people make during the six months is take antibiotics, have surgery, or do anything else (like teeth cleaning) that can cause an immune response. Apparently, these things can keep the treatment from being a complete success because they weaken the immune system.

I asked about their success rate, and Philip said in the last nine years, they’ve treated about 78 patients for Lyme and co-infections. All but four were successful at getting rid of everything. He said those four didn’t take his recommendations for other health issues he suggested they address. He also said there is very little risk with these treatments, and one “risk” is that it doesn’t work.

The price for treatments in Germany ranges from $20,000 to $30,000 for 10 days, that includes transportation to/from the airport, and an apartment next to the clinic. Treatments are done Monday through Friday, you have weekends off.

Initially, that seemed very expensive!

Then I took a look at what I’ve spent on doctor visits, prescriptions, lab work, and acupuncture for 2012 and 2013 the total came to….$14,731.

Oh, and that amount was my out-of-pocket after my partial insurance coverage. Even though treatment at Infusio will not be covered by my health insurance, I am still going to consider the treatment.

Infusio will soon have a clinic in Los Angeles and will eventually offer the same therapies as the clinic in Germany. Philip expects to be approved to do stem cell therapy in Los Angeles in 2015, and isn’t sure on the price yet. It will be more expensive than treatment in Germany. Infusio also treats people for cancer, fibromyalgia, Celiac and Chron’s disease, thyroid diseases, hepatitis, and several other health issues.

After leaving the appointment, I was a bit overwhelmed by all the information. It seemed almost to good to be true that this could be the “thing” that would help me fully heal, and move on with my life. I thought about stopping by San Francisco International and taking the next flight to Germany!

Instead, I decided to review my appointment notes, talk with my husband, and run everything by my Lyme doctor before making any decisions. I also wanted to research other clinics like Hansa Center, Sophia Health Institute, and Sierra Integrative Medical Center.

Here’s a link to a two minute video that explains the Infusio concept.

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 If you’d like to know more about my Infusio experience, please contact me. I’m happy to speak with you via phone, or connect via email.