Lyme Disease an overlooked culprit?

Fall is arriving in full swing and one of the best socially distant activities I can think of would be "leaf peeping"! Unfortunately here in Florida, that isn't an option but considering the number of transplants to Florida I actually see a good number of patients who suffer from Lyme Disease or "Lyme-like/Lyme-related" illnesses.

Lyme disease is the fastest growing vector-borne infectious disease in the United States with between 300,000-1 million new cases reported yearly. Often Lyme disease is misdiagnosed as autoimmune disease or dismissed because of the wide variety of symptoms that it can present with in humans (over 400+ signs and symptoms).

Diagnosis

The earlier the diagnosis the better the prognosis! The earlier the diagnosis the better suppressive therapies are at limiting the infection. Diagnosing Lyme disease is a huge issue as less than 50% of people with Lyme actually exhibit the traditional bullseye rash (seen pictured here)

and the standard ELISA test misses Lyme disease an average of 50% of the time. The Western Blot test has a greater sensitivity at 60-65% sensitivity. However, the Western Blot test should be run at 6 weeks post bite and the CDC required that 5 or more bands confirm positive Lyme. I would argue that the patient has exposure if even one of the 9 Borrelia burgdorferi specific antibody bands are present (bands-18, 23, 30, 31, 34, 37, 39, 83, or 93). And due to the ticks small size only 3-26% of individuals actually visually see the tick that transmitted the Lyme to them.

Vaccination

Since Lyme has been on the rise for years, scientists developed a vaccination a few years ago. If you have had this vaccination you will test positive for antibodies in bands 31 and 34 in the Western Blot test. The vaccination has since been pulled from the market because man individuals contracted "Lyme like" symptoms after receiving the vaccination and it compounded symptoms if the individual ever was to become infected with Lyme disease later in life. Currently, There is no vaccination on the market for humans, but there is one for animals that seems to work well.

Signs and Symptoms

Although there are over 400+ symptoms of Lyme disease there are some classic and broad presentations that are commonly seen.

Classic

Bull's eye rash

Moving Joint Pain

Fatigue

Bell's Palsy

Muscular Pain

Headache

Nausea

Broader Presentations

Cardiac--heart palpitations, carditis, atrial fibrillation, shortness of breath

Psychiatric--depression, anxiety, suicide, dementia

Gastrointestinal--gastritis, constipation, bloating, decreased motility

Neurological--headaches, numbness, tingling, paralysis, tinnitus, blurred vision

And lots of unexplained medical phenomenon

Lyme can sometimes look like other things and can often be misdiagnosed.

Acute Lyme Misdiagnosed as:

Viral infections/meningitis/mono/post-viral syndrome

Sinusitis

Spider bite

Ringworm

Cellulitis

Stress/Anxiety

Migriane

Any unexplained -itis

Chronic Lyme Misdiagnosed as:

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia

Multiple Sclerosis

Parkinson's Disease

Dementia, Alzheimer's

Mental Illness

ALS (Amtrophic Lateral Sclerosis)

Stroke, unexplained cardiac disease or event

Neuralgias

Polymyelitis

Rheumatoid or osteoarthritis

Any Auto-Immune Disorder

Recovery

Unfortunately, Lyme is fraught with roadblocks to the recovery process. Many times it is treatment is received for the wrong pathogenic factor as mentioned above. But it can be: the process of detoxification being poor for the individual or ongoing toxin exposure, unaddressed gut dysfunction, immune deficiencies, nutrient deficiencies, mold exposure, food or environmental allergies, emotional trauma, and/or adrenal/thyroid insufficiencies.

How to be proactive

Awareness that Lyme could be a potential underlying factor is one of the best things you can do towards becoming your own health advocate. Secondly, during the long incubation period while waiting the 6 weeks for the Western Blot test results there are a few things that can be done! At the first suspicion of a tick bite treat the effected area with clove essential oil. And as is always a wonderful suggestion improve your immune system by increasing your vitamin C intake, using good quality probiotics (like Mega Sporebiotic) and visit your local acupuncturist (to find a practitioner near you visit: NCCAOM). Then utilize all the other things that we know to boost your immune system in general like decreasing your stress levels, reducing your sugar intake, reducing your dairy intake, increasing your sleep, and allowing time for meditation/prayer.