By Fred Diamond

On this week’s Love, Hope, Lyme podcast, Dr. Leia Anderson discusses the role of the vagus nerve in healing from Lyme disease.

For people living with chronic Lyme disease, the search for answers can become overwhelming. Antibiotics, herbals, supplements, diet, detoxification, sleep, inflammation, co-infections and immune function can all become part of an increasingly complicated conversation.

But after nearly 100 conversations on the Love, Hope, Lyme Podcast, one theme continues to surface: the body needs to be in a position to heal before healing can happen.

That always brings the conversation back to regulating the central nervous system.

On this week’s episode of the Love, Hope, Lyme Podcast, I spoke with Dr. Leia Anderson, a naturopathic doctor and author of The Vagus Nerve Solution for Holistic Wellness: Simple Practices to Reset Your Nervous System, Melt Away Stress, Relieve Chronic Illness, and Feel Amazing in Your Body and Mind.

I met Dr. Anderson at the Pennsylvania Lyme Support Network’s Lyme Patient Conference earlier this year. I had been hearing about the vagus nerve for years, both from podcast guests and throughout the Lyme community, but I wanted a better understanding of what it actually does and why it matters to people struggling with Lyme disease and related co-infections.

Our conversation helped connect some important dots.

The body’s wandering nerve

The vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve in the body. It begins in the brain stem and travels down through the neck, chest and abdomen, connecting with numerous organs along the way, including the heart, lungs and digestive tract.

Its name comes from the Latin word meaning “to wander,” an appropriate description for a nerve that travels throughout so much of the body.

More importantly for Lyme survivors, the vagus nerve is a major component of the parasympathetic nervous system which is the part of the autonomic nervous system associated with functions such as rest, digestion and recovery.

That matters because chronic illness places enormous stress on the body.

Dr. Anderson told me that when she sees patients who are struggling to heal, she frequently sees people who have been living in a prolonged stress response. That stress does not have to be psychological. It can come from an infection, inflammation, physical pain, lack of sleep, emotional trauma or simply the cumulative burden of being sick for years.

“When a person is in a stress response, they just can’t heal as well,” she explains.

For Lyme survivors, that statement deserves attention.

Lyme disease and the nervous system

Anyone who has experienced chronic Lyme knows that its effects can extend far beyond joint pain or fatigue. Patients frequently describe neurological, cognitive, digestive, cardiovascular and emotional symptoms.

LymeDisease.org has previously reported on research examining the connection between persistent Lyme symptoms and autonomic nervous system dysfunction, or dysautonomia. Researchers have called for further study of factors including small-fiber neuropathy, vagus nerve damage, neuroinflammation, the gut microbiome and co-infections.

Dr. Anderson explains that Borrelia can affect the nervous system and that inflammation associated with infection and the immune response may also contribute to nerve problems. She also stresses that much remains to be studied, particularly when discussing co-infections and their possible effects on the vagus nerve.

That distinction is important. The vagus nerve should not become another simplistic explanation for every Lyme symptom. Lyme disease is far too complex for that. Instead, it may represent another piece of a much larger puzzle.

What does a dysregulated nervous system look like?

One reason this subject can be confusing is that there is no simple blood test that tells a patient, “Your vagus nerve isn’t working properly.”

Dr. Anderson says heart rate variability, commonly called HRV, can provide some information about vagal tone. Wearable devices such as smart watches and rings increasingly track HRV.

But she primarily looks at the broader clinical picture. Does someone struggle with heart rate or blood pressure regulation? POTS or dysautonomia? Anxiety? Sleep? Digestion? Chronic pain? Inflammation?

When several of these problems coexist with chronic infection or prolonged stress, she says supporting vagal function may be worth discussing with a knowledgeable healthcare professional.

This also helps explain why Lyme can be so frustrating.

A broken ankle is relatively straightforward. Lyme disease often is not. A patient may experience fatigue, brain fog, digestive problems, sleep disruption, pain, heart-rate changes and neurological symptoms, sometimes simultaneously.

It can be difficult to know where one problem ends, and another begins.

Supporting healing is not the same as treating infection

One of the most important points Dr. Anderson makes is what vagus nerve support doesn’t do.

It does not kill Borrelia. Breathing exercises, sleep, humming or vagus nerve stimulation should not be confused with antimicrobial treatment.

Instead, the goal is to support the systems the body depends upon to function and recover.

Dr. Anderson specifically points to sleep, digestion, immune regulation, inflammation and pain.

“If we’re not digesting well, we can’t heal,” she explains. She also emphasizes the importance of sleep, something that has come up repeatedly on the Love, Hope, Lyme Podcast.

I once asked a leading Lyme doctor what single thing he would recommend to someone trying to recover. His answer was sleep. That answer has stayed with me because sleep affects virtually everything else. When someone with Lyme cannot sleep, every other challenge can become harder.

Supporting the parasympathetic nervous system may be one way to help create better conditions for rest and recovery.

Three remarkably simple practices

What I particularly appreciated about my conversation with Dr. Anderson was that her recommendations were not complicated.

The first was breathing.

She recommends breathing in slowly and making the exhale longer than the inhale. She explains that a longer exhalation can encourage parasympathetic activity. This does not require expensive equipment or an elaborate daily protocol. Even a few minutes of deliberate breathing can be a starting point.

The second practice involves the voice.

Because the vagus nerve connects with structures involved in vocalization, Dr. Anderson discussed humming, singing and gargling as simple ways people can engage the system. For some people, that might mean singing in church. For others, it could mean singing alone in the car or simply humming.

The third was cold exposure.

This does not necessarily mean jumping into an ice bath.

Dr. Anderson specifically cautions that cold plunges or cold showers may not be appropriate for people who are very sick or who have conditions such as severe POTS, dysautonomia, Raynaud’s syndrome or poor circulation. For some people, something as modest as splashing cold water on the face or briefly using a cold washcloth may be more appropriate.

As with anything related to chronic Lyme disease, patients should consider their individual medical situation and consult their healthcare professionals when appropriate.

Another piece of the Lyme recovery puzzle

What strikes me most about this conversation is how closely it aligns with something I have heard repeatedly from Lyme doctors, survivors and other experts.

Healing is rarely about one thing. A patient may need to address infection. They may need to address co-infections. They may need to address inflammation, nutrition, sleep, gut health, pain and other medical issues.

But we should also be asking whether the body is spending too much time in a state of physiological alarm. Previous research discussed by LymeDisease.org has explored autonomic dysfunction as a possible contributor to persistent symptoms after Lyme disease, while also emphasizing that much more research is needed.

For someone who has been sick for years, the idea that the nervous system itself may need support can provide another useful avenue to explore.

Not because Lyme disease is “all in your head.”

Quite the opposite. Sleep, digestion, heart rate, inflammation and autonomic function are physiological processes.

Dr. Anderson explains why this nerve keeps coming up in conversations about chronic illness. Toward the end of our interview, I return to the lesson that has emerged from so many Love, Hope, Lyme conversations: we want to put the body in the best possible position to heal.

That does not mean there is one technique, one supplement or one treatment that unlocks recovery for everyone. There isn’t.

But if supporting the nervous system can improve sleep, digestion, stress regulation or other foundational functions, then the vagus nerve deserves to be part of the broader Lyme recovery conversation.

Sometimes the next step in healing isn’t another complicated protocol.

It may begin with helping the body remember how to rest.

Click here to listen to all episodes of the Love, Hope, Lyme Podcast or on YouTube.

Fred Diamond is based in Fairfax, Virginia. He doesn’t have Lyme but wrote his popular book, “Love, Hope, Lyme: What Family Members, Partners, and Friends Who Love a Chronic Lyme Survivor Need to Know” to understand what Lyme survivors go through. The book is available on Amazon and the e-version (pdf) of the book is always free to Lyme survivors. PM Fred on Facebook or LinkedIn for your copy.