Disclaimer: I did not get paid for this review, I did, however, receive a copy of this book free of charge for my review. The following post reflects my personal opinion.
It’s been quite awhile now since I received a copy of Dr. William Rawls book, Unlocking Lyme.
Dr. Rawls is a board-certified OB/GYN from the coast of NC. He writes extensively on Lyme disease and fibromyalgia and uses his expertise to help those with chronic illness. He shares the knowledge he gained through his own illness with chronic Lyme and co-infections.
As I began reading Dr. Rawls book I found myself having to go back and reread portions of it and so it took me a little longer than usual to read the whole book. Quite honestly, I had a lot of questions as I read through the beginning and at times had to put it down for a bit, think it through and write down my notes.
By a certain point I decided to reach out to Dr. Rawls representative regarding my questions because, after all, I’m not a doctor! Like many of you, I sure have lived this Lyme life for a very long time. I’ve spent hours upon hours researching, have visited numerous doctors, tried many different treatment protocols, and I’ve helped myself, my 4 children and my husband recover.
I took my time reading and processing Dr. Rawls book and I wanted to give it a fair and honest review. By now, many of you have probably already read through it and I’d love to hear your opinion, so be sure to leave a respectful comment below.
My Honest Review
Book Layout
I absolutely love the layout of the book. In Part 1, you’ll find a detailed explanation of Chronic Lyme Disease, its impact on the health of the person infected and even Dr. Rawls’ opinion regarding the history of the bacteria. He discusses the many co-infections, why Lyme is so hard to diagnose and why some people don’t suffer the ill consequences of the infection.
Part 2 discusses evaluating and diagnosing the infections, self-assessment, making the best use of the medical system, and testing.
Part 3 gets more into the different types of therapies. He discusses the holistic approach, antibiotics, herbals, supplements, advanced healing, and even day to day help by addressing pain management, sleep, setbacks, and relapses.
Part 4 deals with your mindset, gut health and restoration, mold and mycotoxins, endocrine health and a bit about his own personal journey.
I love the References section in the back of the book which includes resources, his sources for where he obtained much of his medical and scientific data and an overview of each chapter.
My Thoughts
As I began to read Dr. Rawls book, I found myself getting a little emotional. I personally felt that Dr. Rawls was contradicting himself when it came to whether or not Borrelia or any of these stealth microbes were truly a concern to the human body. I loved his explanation of how these microbes operate and how they hide. However, on one page I felt he would explain that these microbes are not really a problem and that the human body can easily rid itself of them but then a page or two later he would discuss how these stealth microbes can cause a lot of damage. It went on this way for the first chapter or so.
This is where my Momma emotions got involved and I had to put the book down.
Not only did I suffer terribly from Lyme and co-infections but I watched my children suffer for years. This disease has stolen so much from us. There is nothing worse than seeing your child’s health deteriorate, not able to get a doctor to believe you because all tests are all normal and wondering if they’re going to ever live a normal, healthy life. So naturally, when someone even hints that Lyme isn’t a big deal, I get a little fired up. It is a big deal!
I continued to read, taking notes and eventually contacted Dr. Rawls’ assistant, who by the way is super wonderful and answered all of my questions.
Basically, Dr. Rawls wants to communicate to the Lyme community that if your body is healthy and working properly, it CAN fight off these infections. The most important aspect of healing from a chronic “stealth” infection, regardless of which type it is, is to build up the immune system so that it can do the work.
I agree wholeheartedly, in fact, I often wish that I knew 10 years ago what I know now. Quite honestly, if I could go back in time, I would have avoided antibiotic use for late-stage Lyme and would have immediately entered into the world of natural medicine and nutrition.
Don’t throw rotten tomatoes at me just yet, of course, there might be a good reason to take antibiotics. Yes, they did help us to a degree but they also did much damage and didn’t get any of us to a place where we could stop using them without all of our symptoms returning.
My LLMD never addressed my immune health, my gut health or my diet nor did she address those things for my children. In fact, at one point I sought her help to convince my children to give up sugar in order to avoid a candida infection and she said that it was not necessary and that she would just prescribe an antifungal medication. These medications only further complicated our healing journey and depleted our immune system.
When an infection has already been brewing for years antibiotics tend to drive the infection deeper into the body and brain and even create biofilm in order to protect itself. It just makes perfect sense to do whatever possible to build the immune system to the point where the body can do the work of healing. That is exactly what my family has been doing for the past 4 years and is how my husband and children are healthy and living normal, productive lives.
As I was reading through Unclocking Lyme, it reminded me of Dr. Kenneth Singleton’s book, *The Lyme Disease Solution, and Stephen Buhner’s book, *Healing Lyme, condensed into one. (*affiliate link)
My Final Thoughts
I loved the layout of this book. I love what Dr. Rawls chose to share regarding labs and treatment options including herbal protocols. I would love to have had an index so that I can find things much easier. Dr. Rawls if you read this maybe you could include that if you ever update the book.
If you’re looking for a concise book with a lot of helpful information about Lyme disease and co-infections, including a good understanding of how these stealth microbes work, I highly recommend that you purchase Dr. Rawls book, *Unlocking Lyme.
Hi, Tricia! I’m commenting to let you know that we will be working on an index in another edition in the future. I’m excited to report that it was just released on audio, too!
Thank you so much for the lovely review. I’m glad you found it helpful!
That’s wonderful Dr. Rawls, a book index is one of my favorite tools when reading a book like yours! I think an audio book will be extremely helpful for those who have a difficult time reading because of these infections! Thanks for the work you’re doing to help the Lyme community.