What Is Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, affecting an estimated 329,000 individuals in the United States each year. It is spread through the bites of infected blacklegged ticks, commonly known as deer ticks.
Lyme disease can cause fatigue, fever, and joint and muscle pain. When treated with antibiotics in the early stages, most people make a quick and complete recovery. If left untreated, Lyme disease can lead to serious joint and nervous system complications.
What Are The Second Stage Signs And Symptoms Of Lyme Disease
The symptoms of second stage, early disseminated, Lyme disease can be difficult to attribute. Symptoms include severe fatigue, fever, pain, intermittent weakness and achiness of the muscles and joints, numbness in arms and legs, vision changes, and cognitive dysfunction such as short-term memory difficulties and problems multitasking. These symptoms are not specific for Lyme disease and can make the diagnosis of second stage Lyme disease very challenging.
More recognizable Lyme disease nervous system manifestations include facial paralysis , or meningitis with severe headache and stiff neck. Notable cardiac manifestations include passing out or feeling faint from an abnormally slow heart rate, irregular heart palpitations, or unexplained difficulty tolerating exercise. Meningitis and carditis are both potentially serious Lyme disease conditions and warrant immediate medical attention.
Arthritis And Other Diseases That Cause Hip Pain
More than 1 in 5 Americans have been diagnosed with arthritis by a doctor, and hips are among the most commonly affected regions. There are several conditions that contribute to hip pain. Visiting an orthopedic specialist can help you get an accurate diagnosis and find a treatment plan that works for you. Consider the following possible causes of hip pain:
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Leaky Joint Pain Particularly Characteristic
Particularly characteristic is that the pain of the joints, or the inflammation at the individual joints “jump back and forth”. Sometimes the knee is affected, then the hip or ankle.
External signs of joint inflammation by borrelia are a swelling and severe redness as well as an overheating. Usually the knee joint is inflamed, but the ankle or the elbow may be affected.
According to estimates, approximately 50-75% of patients who develop lateborreliose suffer from arthritis. Recent studies suggest that the incidence of actual arthritis in patients with chronic Lyme disease or late borreliosis is less than 25%. Also, toothaches or pain in the temporomandibular joints are not uncommon .
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I have no idea how I got lyme disease but it is painful and annoying they put more on antibiotics for 21 days. I was having bad back pains I was also fatigue and tired, my neck was hurting, I had bad joint pains, groin pains, and hip pain all way down to my knee and legs. My arm felt so bad I went to the emergency room thinking it might be a heart attack or blood clot. Now my hip hurts alot. Hopefully these antibiotics help and I start feeling better cause this is insane. I feel like I can’t do anything and I am a very active person. Damn ticks man. Really!!!!!
Hi Anonymous,Thank you for your question and welcome to EmpowHer.
I am sorry that you have been dealing with this pain for so long. Have you talked to your physician about the pain? What did they say?
There are many different things that may cause muscle/leg pain which can be associated to neck, back, etc. issues. Also in reference to your Lyme Disease, it is common to have problems with the nervous system and therefore this could be the root cause but I can only help try to track down an answer for youâ¦.seeing your physician would certainly be necessary for a diagnosis.
Can you please keep us updated?Thank you,
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Mitochondria Dysfunction And Chronic Pain
Mitochondria are the energy factories found in every cell. By some estimates there are 300 to 400 mitochondria in a cell. Chronic infection can damage the mitochondria. There is a growing body of science showing damaged mitochondria leads to chronic pain.
Lyme Disease Pain Strategy
It is possible to repair mitochondria. See How to Fix Mitochondria & Get Energy in Lyme Disease for steps to repair the injured mitochondria.
One other strategy is to eat low inflammatory foods which support mitochondria. See The Best Brain, Inflammation, Pain, Energy, and Detox Diet Ever for more information about an effective paleo diet.
Acute Lyme Arthritis Presenting In Bilateral Hips Of An Elderly Patient: A Case Report
Lawrence M Asprec*1, Mitchell K Freedman2, Jeffrey A Gehret3 and George W Young3
1Senior Resident in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Philadelphia, USA
2Medical Director of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Associate Professor, Rothman Orthopaedic Institute, 925 Chestnut Street, 5th Floor, Philadelphia, USA
3Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Division of Pain Management, Rothman Orthopaedic Institute, 925 Chestnut Street, 5th Floor, Philadelphia, USA
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Achy Stiff Or Swollen Joints
Joint pain and stiffness, often intermittent, are early Lyme symptoms. Your joints may be inflamed, warm to the touch, painful, and swollen. You may have stiffness and limited range of motion in some joints .
Pain may move around. Sometimes your knees may hurt, whereas other times its your neck or your heels. You may also have bursitis . Bursae are the thin cushions between bone and surrounding tissue.
The pain may be severe, and it may be transitory. More than one joint may be affected. Most often the large joints are involved .
People often attribute joint problems to age, genetics, or sports. Lyme should be added to that list, as these statistics indicate:
- One study estimates that 80 percent of people with untreated Lyme have muscle and joint symptoms .
- Fifty percent of people with untreated Lyme have intermittent episodes of arthritis .
- Two-thirds of people have their first episode of joint pain within six months of the infection .
- Use of anti-inflammatory drugs may mask the actual number of people with joint swelling .
Summary:
Joint pain that comes and goes, or moves from joint to joint, could be a sign of Lyme.
Can’t Get Better 4 Signs Your Aches & Pains Could Be Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is the number one vector-borne epidemic in the world and mimics many common diseases and autoimmune illnesses. If you’ve been told that you suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, an autoimmune disease like MS, or are just “getting old, it is possible that you suffer from the number one infectious cause of these symptoms.
The Center for Disease Control released data showing a tenfold increase in the number of cases of Lyme disease, with approximately one million Americans reported having been exposed to it in 2012. So if you go to a doctor complaining of fatigue with joint and muscle pain, and have a negative blood test, it’s possible you may have contracted Lyme disease. How can you know whether you have a tick-borne illness causing your symptoms, though? Here are four signs to watch for:
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Unexplained Pain And Other Sensations
Some people with Lyme may have sharp rib and chest pains that send them to the emergency room, suspecting a heart problem 00090-7/abstract%20″ rel=”nofollow”> 27).
When no problem is found, after the usual testing, the ER diagnosis is noted as an unidentified musculoskeletal cause.
You can also have strange sensations like skin tingling or crawling, or numbness or itchiness 00090-7/abstract%20″ rel=”nofollow”> 27).
Other symptoms have to do with cranial nerves.
- Ear-ringing . Tinnitus can be a nuisance, especially at bedtime when it seems to get louder as youre trying to fall asleep. About 10 percent of people with Lyme experience this (
- Hearing loss. One study reported that 15 percent of Lyme patients experienced loss of hearing .
- Jaw pain or toothaches that are not related to actual tooth decay or infection.
Summary:
Lyme Disease Signs & Symptom
Lyme disease has been associated with numerous neurologic, rheumatologic and psychiatric manifestations. However, the full range of symptoms needed to recognize the disease may not be apparent to a physician during a routine examination.
Lyme disease has been associated with rheumatologic and psychiatric symtpoms
In one study, a series of individuals were ill for up to 14 years before they were correctly diagnosed with Lyme disease. These patients suffered with fatigue, sleep disturbance, poor memory and concentration, headaches, sleep disturbances, lightheadedness, irritability, chest pain, joint pain, fibromyalgia, and paresthesias.
Physicians may also mistakenly rule out Lyme disease in patients who have had prior treatment for the disease. But those patients can still exhibit symptoms and benefit from antibiotic therapy.
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Your Symptoms Improve When You’re Taking Medication For Other Ailments
Patients taking antibiotics for an unrelated problem , will often report that their symptoms are much better while taking the antibiotic, and worsen when the antibiotic is stopped. Conversely, some individuals feel much worse on antibiotics, where all of their symptoms are intensified. This is called a Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction, where the Lyme bacteria are being killed off, and temporarily worsen the underlying symptoms.
Lyme The Nervous System And Neuropathy
Unfortunately, once the infection begins to spread throughout the body, many people will develop Lyme neuroborreliosis . This is neurological Lyme disease, which affects and inflames the central and peripheral nervous systems.
Research suggests the neurologic manifestations of Lyme disease may be present in approximately 15% of the patient population. However, the exact incidence of LNB isnt well known. A brief stint in an online Lyme patient forum will quickly reveal that most individuals report experiencing at least some amount of neurological involvement on a routine basis.
One debilitating symptom that may be present among those with LNB is peripheral neuropathy . This is a disease process that impacts the nerves located outside of the brain and spinal cord. Neuropathy occurs when there is damage or dysfunction of neurons in one or more nerves.
The damage results in interference among the neurons, and they begin to have difficulty communicating with each other and the brain.
To make matters worse, co-infections like Babesia and Bartonella can contribute to neuropathy as well, according to a study in the International Journal of General Medicine.
So how do you know if the symptoms youre facing are neuropathy, and what can you do to find some relief? Read on to learn about the symptoms, diagnosis, and ideas on how to manage the pain and discomfort associated with neuropathy more effectively.
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Borreliosis Should Be Included In The Causes Of Joint Pain
If inflammation of the joints is present without injury, this may indicate chronic borreliosis. There may be many causes of joint pain. Most people with diseases such as joint pain or joint problems often falsely think of an over-exertion, for example, in sports, arthritis or gout. Most people are not aware of the fact that borreliosis is also a cause of joint pain.
Already after the first weeks and months, joint inflammation can occur, also called Lyme arthritis genannt. Even if the transmission by a trigger for several years.
The malicious and “clever” borreliotic pathogens can remain in the joint, tendons and cartilages for a long period of time without being detected by the immune system. Activation of the Borrelia after a long latency phase usually occurs when the immune system is weakened for various reasons. In the case of unexplained pain in the joints or inflammations, a disease borreliosis should be thought of as a cause.
Inflammation of the joints often occurs months or years after a tick bite. The erythema migrans, which can typically develop after tick borne infections around the puncture site, is often difficult to locate and the affected persons do not recognize this. Therefore, affected persons often do not realize that they have become infected.
Typical signs of Lyme arthritis include:
- Joint pain
- Sudden swelling of the joints, without injury or overload, eg by sport
- Joint effusion, which can result from the inflammation
Key Points For Healthcare Providers
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Older Adults Vulnerable To Lyme Disease
For most people, Lyme disease will result in no lasting illness after some initial flu-like symptoms. But for others, it can become debilitating if left untreated. Older adults can be particularly vulnerable, and they may brush off the effects. Symptoms of Lyme disease that has progressed include short-term memory loss, joint pain or swelling, and fatigue signs often attributed to aging.
You might start thinking, I’m just beginning to lose my memory a bit. And everybody does that as they get older, said Dr. Brian Fallon, a psychiatrist and director of the Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases Research Center at Columbia University.
Other long-term effects include chronic pain, irregular heartbeat, brain fog, shooting pains or numbness in the arms or legs, and severe headaches.
Recognizing Lyme Disease Causing Hip Problems In Children
Theres an old saying in medicine, If you hear hoof beats, think horses not zebras. It means to look for the obvious not search for strange, unusual causes of symptoms. But in the case of hip pain in children, it may be a zebra like Lyme disease. Most of the time, joint pain caused by Lyme disease affects the knee. But in a small number of cases, Lyme arthritis presents only in the hip.
Thats the conclusion of a group of pediatric orthopedic surgeons who studied their records of Lyme disease in children. Located in the northeastern region of the United States at the Childrens Hospital, this hospital is in an area where Lyme disease is very high.
Yet out of all the children treated at the hospital, only 73 cases of Lyme disease were reported between 1995 and 2009. And only eight of those cases were hip pain caused by Lyme arthritis. The children in the study ranged in ages from three to 20 years old. The symptoms presented included hip pain , refusal to put weight on that leg , and limp .
Fever was not a key feature for most of the children. None of the families were aware of any tick bites or unusual skin rashes. But lab values were suspicious with elevated white blood cell count and sed rate .
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Muscle Spasm Pain In Lyme Disease
Due to inflammation or nerve injury, many with Lyme have pain due to muscle spasm. In addition to strategies to lower cytokines and to control nerve pain signals, muscle relaxers can help with this situation.
Lyme Disease Pain Strategy
Magnesium is a useful supplement that supports muscle relaxation. The salt forms of magnesium that are most helpful for this are Magnesium Malate and Magnesium Citrate. Prescription muscle relaxers are also helpful.
Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth
Likely the most common gastrointestinal disorder associated with Lyme disease and other tickborne infections is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth . It is estimated 60-70% of people with Lyme disease have SIBO. The incidence of SIBO was as high as 81% in one gastrointestinal practice that screened patients for Lyme disease. Research has confirmed that SIBO causes 60-70% of IBS. This is promising because SIBO can be successfully treated leading to the resolution of IBS.
The incidence of SIBO was as high as 81% in one gastrointestinal practice that screened patients for Lyme disease!
In a normal state, the small intestine has very few bacteria. However, in SIBO there is an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine causing a range of symptoms. Bacteria can enter the small intestine either orally or can migrate from the large intestine into the small intestine. At the junction between the small and large intestine, the ileocecal valve keeps the contents in the large intestine from entering the small intestine. Ileocecal valve dysfunction allows bacteria to move into the small intestine. Antibiotics and excessive sugar consumption can also cause bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine.
SIBO is treated with antibiotics or herbal regimens that have proven to be effective against the bacteria that produce the gas. Probiotics, special diets, and motility agents are also used in the treatment of SIBO.
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Lyme Disease Vs Rheumatoid Arthritis
Lyme disease can sometimes be confused for other conditions, and its not uncommon for patients presenting with Lyme disease-related joint pain to be misdiagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis . Both Lyme and RA cause joint pain and can be debilitating when left untreated, but there are differences.
- Lyme arthritis tends to manifest in larger joints , on one side of the body. Lyme joint pain tends to come and go.
- Rheumatoid arthritis occurs more often in the hands, feet, fingers, and toes, and shows up on both sides of the body. RA joint pain and stiffness occurs every day, and is usually chronic.
- Lyme disease usually goes away when treated, and most patients make a full recovery.
- Rheumatoid arthritis treatment can manage symptoms and show the progression of the disease, but there is no cure.
Lyme pain can often migrate throughout the body, and patients may have pain in their knee one week, and in their wrists the following week, says Chicago-based integrative medicine specialist Casey Kelley, MD. With rheumatoid arthritis, the pain often stays where it begins and does not migrate.
Getting Lyme puts you at greater risk for later developing RA and other types of inflammatory arthritis. One study found that nearly one-third of participants who had Lyme-arthritis later developed an inflammatory arthritis.
Lyme disease symptoms typically begin 3-30 days after youve been bitten by a tick. Early symptoms of Lyme disease include:
- Bulls eye rash