Lyme Disease at-a-Glance

There is no easy way to explain Lyme disease which is why I haven’t done it yet. 

What is Lyme Disease? 

Lyme disease (LD) is an infection caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, a type of bacterium called a spirochete (pronounced spy-ro-keet) that is carried by the black-legged tick (deer tick). The ticks pick up the bacteria when they bite mice or deer that are infected with LD. An infected tick can transmit the spirochete to the humans and animals it bites. Untreated, the bacterium travels through the bloodstream, establishes itself in various body tissues, and can cause a number of symptoms, some of which are severe. Lyme disease manifests itself as a multisystem inflammatory disease that affects the skin in its early, localized stage, and spreads to the joints and nervous system in its later, disseminated stages. 

Treatment: The key to a successful treatment is early detection.

·         Oral antibiotics are the standard treatment for early-stage Lyme disease. Depending on age and other factors a 14-21 day course of Doxycycline, Amoxicillin or Cefuroxime is usually recommended. Some studies suggest that 10-14 days of treatment are equally effective.

·         If the disease involves the central nervous system, the doctor may recommend treatment with an intravenous antibiotic for 14 to 28 days.

·         After treatment, a small number of people still experience some symptoms, such as muscle aches and fatigue. The cause of these continuing symptoms is unknown, and treating with more antibiotics doesn't help.

What is Chronic Lyme Disease? 

There’s a deep division in the medical community over whether there is such a thing as “chronic Lyme disease,” and there’s ongoing debate over how to help people who suffer from long-term effects of Lyme.

CDC website: Approximately 10 to 20% of patients treated for Lyme disease with a recommended 2-4 week course of antibiotics will have lingering symptoms of fatigue, pain, or joint and muscle aches. In some cases, these can last for more than 6 months. Although often called "chronic Lyme disease," this condition is properly known as "Post-treatment Lyme disease Syndrome" (PTLDS).The exact cause of PTLDS is not yet known. Most medical experts believe that the lingering symptoms are the result of residual damage to tissues and the immune system that occurred during the infection.

International Lyme and Associated Disease Society website: Chronic Lyme disease patients may face a long hard fight to wellness. People with chronic Lyme can have many debilitating symptoms, including severe fatigue, anxiety, headaches, and joint pain. Without proper treatment, chronic Lyme patients have a poorer quality of life than patients with diabetes or a heart condition. A significant number of people who contract Lyme disease are misdiagnosed during the early stages, leading to a chronic form of the disease which can prove even more difficult to diagnose and treat. Lyme disease is often referred to as the "great imitator" because it mimics other conditions, often causing patients to suffer a complicated maze of doctors in search of appropriate treatment.

NIH website: The term “chronic Lyme disease” (CLD) is very confusing, as it has been used to describe people with different illnesses. While the term is sometimes used to describe illness in patients with Lyme disease, in many occasions it has been used to describe symptoms in people who have no evidence of a current or past infection with B. burgdorferi. In other cases, “CLD” is used in patients who have non-specific symptoms (like fatigue and pain) after treatment for Lyme disease, but who have no evidence of active infection with B. burgdorferi. Physicians sometimes describe these patients as having post-Lyme disease syndrome (PLDS).

Treatment: The treatment for chronic Lyme disease is just as controversial as the diagnosis. It varies from patient-to-patient and I will go more in-depth about my treatment as this story continues to unfold. 

What are Co-infections?

Scientists recognize more than a dozen tickborne diseases in the United States. One tick may carry more than one disease and sometimes people get more than one co-infection from the bite of a single tick. Coinfection generally results in more severe illness, more symptoms, and a longer recovery.  Many Lyme patients are also infected with co-infections.

Treatment: The treatments vary since not all co-infections respond to the same antibiotics. In some cases co-infections are not diagnosed or treated.

This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what you may find while researching Lyme disease. If you are reading this and thinking that part of the picture is still missing, you are correct. I am saving the discussion about Lyme disease testing for the next post because it is just as convoluted as trying to define Lyme disease and deserves an equal amount of attention.