Lyme Disease Symptoms and Diagnosis
Excerpted from Psychology Today: (11/02/2018)
Lyme disease is the result of infection with one or more species of the spirochete Borrelia Burgdorferi. It is generally thought that the infection is the result of a tick bite, which about 50% of the time results in a rash, often described as a ‘Bulls Eye’ rash, but which can vary in appearance.
Symptoms of untreated Lyme disease typically start with:
- nondescript flu-like symptoms (fever, chills, body aches, headache)
- but eventually include joint aches (which may migrate from one joint to another over days),
- neuropsychiatric problems (e.g., Bell’s palsy-paralysis of one side of the face)
- fatigue, numbness, weakness
- mood disorders, OCD, psychosis
- cognitive impairment, seizures
- Some people report abnormal heartbeats (conduction abnormalities), or gastrointestinal problems.
There is an extreme polarization of opinion around the twin questions of diagnosis and treatment for those with Lyme disease. The highly charged and politicized conflict between the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) and International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) is well described in Pamela Weintraub’s excellent book, Cure Unknown.
On the one side, is the position of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), which has a strict requirement for diagnosis and treatment (http://www.idsociety.org), and has concluded that long-term antibiotic therapy (greater than one month) is not indicated in those who continue to have symptoms despite the normal treatment regimen (2-4 weeks of oral or IV antibiotics, depending on the symptoms and laboratory data).
On the other side, is The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), which is a conglomeration of “Lyme Literate” physicians, non-physician health care practitioners, patients, and their families. They believe that scientific data has proven that residual symptoms are the result of either co-infections or chronic infections. The tick often contains numerous bacterial and parasitic organisms, such as Bartonella species, Babesia, Ehrlichia, etc. Borrelia Burgdorferi infections may develop, as part of the bacterial life cycle and protective mechanisms, intracellular forms. Because of this, and other defense and host mechanisms, it may not be detectable using routine testing. Furthermore, standard Lyme disease testing (a Western Blot) is believed to highly insensitive, by ILADS, giving rise to many false negatives.
For more: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/comment/1039827
Lyme Handbook 