Tips about Ticks:
A 6-Part Overview of Lyme Disease, Co-infections, Diagnosis, Conventional and Alternative Treatments, Complications and Prevention Strategies
By Dr. Deanna Walker, ND and Dr. Rahima Hirji, ND
Part 1: What is Lyme Disease?
Part 2: What are Co-infections?
Part 3: How is Lyme Disease diagnosed?
Part 4: What are the Conventional Treatments?
Part 5: What are Alternative Treatments?
Part 6: How can I prevent infection?
PART 1: What is Lyme Disease?
Lyme Disease (LD) is an illness caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. This is primarily a tick-borne illness and in North America is transmitted by infected ixodes spp. ticks more commonly known as black legged ticks or deer ticks. In 2013, the CDC estimated that there are over 300,000 new cases per year in the United States and rates are continuing to rise. Ixodes ticks bite a variety of different mammals- birds, mice, rats, squirrels, domesticated animals and humans. They are also called deer ticks because the ticks mate on deer and this is how the ticks end up travelling over wide distances. LD can be characterized in 3 ways: Early LD, Late LD and Persistent LD.
Early LD is the initial infection involved with B. burgdorferi. It is characterized by and erythema migraines rash (bull’s eye rash), fever, sore throat and swollen lymph nodes. The difficulty in recognizing or diagnosing early LD is that many people do not realize they have been bitten by a tick and less than 32% have a classical bull’s eye rash. Thus, without a known tick bite or a classical rash, early LD can be mistaken for a “flu-like” illness and, as a result, the ideal time for treatment intervention is often missed.
Late LD occurs when the infection has spread to other areas of the body and prior treatment was not provided. This is usually due to misdiagnosis. The symptoms can present themselves years after initial exposure. It involves a long list of complicated symptoms that primarily involve joints, connective tissues, nervous system changes and heart complications. CDC surveillance indicates that 60% of these cases develop arthritis and 10-15% develop neurological complaints. Pain syndromes usually are “migratory” meaning that they move to different areas of the body. Over long term, Lyme encephalopathy becomes a concern which affects concentration, memory, sleep and mood. Most patients describe this as “brain fog”.
Persistent LD occurs in patients that remain ill or relapse even though they have been previously treated for LD with standard antibiotic therapy. In these cases, new symptoms develop or old symptoms become more pronounced. These symptoms are very similar to those in Late LD and commonly include fatigue, headaches, muscle/joint pain, nervous system changes (hypersensitive senses, cognitive impairments), sleep dysfunction and mood changes. These are symptoms are also migratory in nature.
Although the primary focus of Lyme disease involves the B. Burgdorferi spp. there are many co-infections involved that contribute to the chronic symptoms experienced by people with Lyme disease and further complicate the treatment strategy.
Stay tuned for our next post outlining the different co-infections such as Babesia and Bartonella.