Friday, March 29, 2024

Common Treatment For Lyme Disease

Must read

What Are The Stages Of Lyme Infection

Alternative treatments for Lyme disease symptoms brings new hope to those suffering

There are three stages:

  • Early localized Lyme: Flu-like symptoms like fever, chills, headache, swollen lymph nodes, sore throat, and a rash that looks like a bull’s-eye or is round and red and at least 2 inches long
  • Early disseminated Lyme: Flu-like symptoms like pain, weakness, or numbness in your arms and legs, changes in your vision, heart palpitations and chest pain, a rash , and a type of facial paralysis known as Bellâs palsy
  • Late disseminated Lyme: This can happen weeks, months, or years after the tick bite. Symptoms might include arthritis, severe fatigue and headaches, dizziness, trouble sleeping, and confusion.

About 10% of people treated for Lyme infection donât shake the disease. They may go on to have three core symptoms: joint or muscle pain, fatigue, and short-term memory loss or confusion. This is called post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome. It can be hard to diagnose because it has the same symptoms as other diseases. Plus, there isn’t a blood test to confirm it.

Experts arenât sure why Lyme symptoms donât always go away. One theory is that your body keeps fighting the infection even after the bacteria are gone, like an autoimmune disorder.

Can Lyme Disease Completely Be Cured

Taking oral antibiotics typically cures Lyme disease after two to four weeks. You may need to get antibiotics through the vein for four more weeks. However, theres no reason to think that Lyme disease stays in you forever after treatment.

A note from Cleveland Clinic

If youre going to spend time in an area that might have ticks, take measures to avoid being bitten. This includes wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants to make it harder for ticks to bite. If you feel sick after being in an area that probably has ticks, make an appointment with your healthcare provider. If your provider prescribes antibiotics, make sure you take all of them as instructed.

Internal Healing And Wellness Md Can Give You Choices

Internal Healing and Wellness MD realize that there is no predefined approach in treating Lyme Disease. Thats why we go to such lengths to tailor each patients treatment to their specific needs and medical history. Weve had a lot of success combining antimicrobial medications with Functional Medicine techniques to get the best results with the fewest side effects. If you have Lyme Disease and live in Conroe, Spring, The Woodlands, or anywhere else in Greater Houston, we can provide the proper care.

Recommended Reading: How To Treat Lyme Disease In Humans Naturally

Unusual Symptoms Of Lyme Disease

This brings us to unusual symptoms of Lyme disease, especially in chronic cases.

Uncommon chronic Lyme disease symptoms may include the following :

  • Shooting pain or generalized pain

These symptoms may come along with common issues like fatigue and joint pain, and they may also come and go. You might also notice that many of these symptoms are quite general and could pertain to any number of conditions. This is how chronic Lyme disease earned the nickname the great imitator, making it difficult to diagnose in the late stages .

Some additional conditions that can occur with chronic Lyme disease include fibromyalgia, meningitis , inflammation of the heart , Parkinsonism , carpal tunnel syndrome, and arthritis .

This isnt to say that you should worry about developing these conditions. We only mention them because, although theyre not considered common, they have occurred in some cases. These conditions also underline the importance of finding a Lyme-literate practitioner and pursuing diagnosis and treatment as soon as possible.

Dont Miss: What Is Lyme Disease Arthritis

How To Spot And Remove Ticks

Common Herbs Used to Treat Lyme Disease

Once youve come in from outside, one of the best ways to check yourself for ticks is to take a shower and bath.

Other than that, do your best to check your clothes, especially the folds of your clothes, knowing that ticks can be very small and hard to spot. Running your hands through your hair is also a good idea.

Don’t Miss: Coldwell Banker Old Lyme Ct

For Depression And Anxiety

Both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy have proven benefits for improving mood. Psychotherapy has many different types such as supportive, dynamic, cognitive behavioral, dialectical behavior therapy, transference focused psychotherapy each of which offers benefit. Pharmacotherapy also has many different types. For depression the first-line options usually are SSRIs, SNRIs, Tricyclics or other agents with more unique modes of action.

A few noteworthy tips on anti-depressant agents:

  • Most anti-depressant agents also help in reducing anxiety. However the opposite isn’t necessarily true. Specific anti-anxiety agents such as clonazepam or diazepam may not necessarily help fight depression.
  • Most anti-depressants take three to eight weeks before an effect is seen. Therefore, it is unwise to stop an anti-depressant after only three or four weeks, as staying on it another two to three weeks may lead to a good response.
  • Dosage makes a difference. Some anti-depressants work fine at low doses some medications however are effective only at higher doses. Some medications are more effective as the dose is increased. Other antidepressants may have a therapeutic range one has to achieve at least a certain dosage .

Who’s At Risk Of Lyme Disease

The risk of getting Lyme disease is higher:

  • for people who spend time in woodland or moorland areas
  • from March to October because more people take part in outdoor activities

It’s thought only a small proportion of ticks carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. Being bitten doesn’t mean you’ll definitely be infected. However, it’s important to be aware of the risk and speak to a GP if you start to feel unwell.

Also Check: Lyme Disease How Do You Get It

Hunting For Alternative Drug

Frustrated by the lack of treatment options for Lyme disease patients with lingering symptoms, Rajadas and his team began hunting for a better alternative in 2011. In 2016, they published a study in Drug Design, Development and Therapy that listed 20 chemical compounds, from about 4,000, that were most effective at killing the infection in mice. All 20 had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for various uses. One, for instance, is used to treat alcohol abuse disorder.

Jayakumar Rajadas

In this most recent study, azlocillin, one of the top-20 contenders, was shown to eclipse a total of 7,450 compounds because it is more effective in killing B. burgdorferi and causes fewer side effects. Lyme disease affects more than 300,000 people annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can affect various organs, including the brain, skin, heart, joints and nervous system, and cause heart problems and arthritis if untreated. Symptoms include fever, headaches, chills, and muscle and joint pain.

Traditional antibiotics, such as doxycycline, are effective as an early course of treatment for the infection in the majority of patients, but it remains unclear why these drugs fail to treat 10% to 20% of patients, Rajadas said.

Treatment Of Erythema Migrans Rash

What is Lyme Disease? | Lyme Disease Causes, Symptoms & Treatment

People treated with appropriate antibiotics in the early stages of Lyme disease usually recover rapidly and completely. Early diagnosis and proper antibiotic treatment of Lyme disease can help prevent late Lyme disease. Treatment regimens listed in the following table are for the erythema migrans rash, the most common manifestation of early Lyme disease. These regimens may need to be adjusted depending on a persons age, medical history, underlying health conditions, pregnancy status, or allergies. Consult an infectious disease specialist regarding individual patient treatment decisions. For treating other manifestations, see www.cdc.gov/Lyme/treatment.

Lyme Disease treatment regimens

30 mg/kg per day orally, divided into 2 doses 500 mg per dose 14

*When different durations of antibiotics are shown to be effective for the treatment of Lyme disease, the shorter duration is preferred to minimize adverse effects, including infectious diarrhea and antimicrobial resistance.

NOTE: For people intolerant of amoxicillin, doxycycline, and cefuroxime, the macrolide azithromycin may be used, although it is less effective. People treated with azithromycin should be closely monitored to ensure that symptoms resolve.

Don’t Miss: Are Hives A Symptom Of Lyme Disease

Headaches Brain Fog Pain

For years, Reid experienced headaches, brain fog, pain and generally felt unwell.

I just knew that I was really sick, and I didnt know why, she explained. I was shuffled around to different departments and about a dozen different doctors, and I felt my symptoms were completely ignored.

Reid is an equestrian and enjoyed riding her horse on trails. As her symptoms worsened, she stopped competing and even eventually needed to stop working.

If I do a little bit today Im going to end up basically being on the couch all day tomorrow, she said. Not just because of physical pain. Yet, no one could explain her persistent ailments.

Headaches were the biggest . That was really what landed me at the doctors office and in the hospital, she said. I was experiencing a lot of brain fog and depression, unexplained allergies, pain and other puzzling symptoms and extreme fatigue.

Doctors never considered Lyme disease.

The biggest problem we see is that doctors dont believe theres Lyme disease in California or they think its so rare theyll never see a patient with it, despite the fact that its been here for decades, Wendy Adams, research grant director at Bay Area Lyme Foundation, told TODAY. Theres probably thousands of cases of Lyme disease each year in California, and so they will see Lyme disease cases. They just dont know theyve seen the disease.

Adams said its common that California residents receive a later diagnosis.

How Do Ticks Find Their Hosts

Ticks live in grasses and shrubs. They are not very mobile, and for this reason, they find their hosts by chance.

The tick must wait for potential hosts to brush past their location. If this occurs, the tick will attempt to climb onto them.

To climb onto their host, ticks use a technique that scientists call questing. When questing, the tick attaches itself to the tips of grasses or shrubs with its hind legs. It keeps its front legs outstretched. This readies it for grabbing onto potential hosts.

Recommended Reading: Best Treatment For Lyme Disease

Symptoms Of Lyme Disease

Many people with early symptoms of Lyme disease develop a circular rash around the tick bite. The rash:

  • usually develops around 3 to 30 days after you’ve been bitten
  • is often described as looking like a bull’s-eye on a dart board
  • will be red and the edges may feel slightly raised
  • may get bigger over several days or weeks
  • is typically around 15 cm across, but it can be much larger or smaller

Some people may develop several rashes in different parts of their body.

Around 1 in 3 people with Lyme disease won’t develop a rash.

Potential Treatment For Lyme Disease Kills Bacteria That May Cause Lingering Symptoms Study Finds

Pin on Lyme disease

Screening thousands of drugs, Stanford scientists determined that in mice, azlocillin, an antibiotic approved by the Food and Drug Administration, eliminated the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.

Deer ticks are vectors of Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.Scott Bauer/USDA Agricultural Research Service

For decades, the routine treatment for Lyme disease has been standard antibiotics, which usually kill off the infection. But for up to 20% of people with the tick-borne illness, the antibiotics dont work, and lingering symptoms of muscle pain, fatigue and cognitive impairment can continue for years sometimes indefinitely.

A new Stanford Medicine study in lab dishes and mice provides evidence that the drug azlocillin completely kills off the disease-causing bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi at the onset of the illness. The study suggests it could also be effective for treating patients infected with drug-tolerant bacteria that may cause lingering symptoms.

This compound is just amazing, said Jayakumar Rajadas, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and director of the Biomaterials and Advanced Drug Delivery Laboratory at the Stanford School of Medicine. It clears the infection without a lot of side effects. We are hoping to repurpose it as an oral treatment for Lyme disease. Rajadas is the senior author of the study, which was published online March 2 in Scientific Reports. The lead author is research associate Venkata Raveendra Pothineni, PhD.

Also Check: How Would I Know If I Have Lyme Disease

What Is The Treatment For Lyme Disease

The first-line standard of care treatment for adults with Lyme disease is doxycycline, a tetracycline antibiotic. Other antibiotics that have activity against borrelia include the penicillin-like antibiotic, amoxicillin, and the second generation cephalosporin, Ceftin. The mainstay of treatment is with oral antibiotics, but intravenous antibiotics are sometimes indicated for more difficult to treat cases of neurologic-Lyme disease, such as meningitis, and cases of late Lyme arthritis.

Where Is Lyme Disease Prevalent

LD is spreading slowly along and inland from the upper east coast, as well as in the upper midwest. The mode of spread is not entirely clear and is probably due to a number of factors such as bird migration, mobility of deer and other large mammals, and infected ticks dropping off of pets as people travel around the country. It is also prevalent in northern California and Oregon coast, but there is little evidence of spread.

In order to assess LD risk you should know whether infected deer ticks are active in your area or in places you may visit. The population density and percentage of infected ticks that may transmit LD vary markedly from one region of the country to another. There is even great variation from county to county within a state and from area to area within a county. For example, less than 5% of adult ticks south of Maryland are infected with B. burgdorferi, while up to 50% are infected in hyperendemic areas of the northeast. The tick infection rate in Pacific coastal states is between 2% and 4%.

Read Also: Can Lyme Disease Be Detected By A Blood Test

How Is Lyme Disease Treated

Antibiotics, usually doxycycline or amoxicillin, are effective treatments for Lyme disease. How long your treatment lasts depends on the stage of infection. In general, its true that the sooner youre treated, the quicker and more complete the recovery.

Pregnant people should receive treatment for Lyme disease as well. There is, however, no evidence that a fetus can get the infection from its parent. Theres also no strong evidence that miscarriages are more likely after Lyme disease.

What should I do if a tick bites me?

If a tick bites you, the best way to remove it is by taking the following steps:

  • Tug gently but firmly with blunt tweezers near the “head” of the tick at the level of your skin until it releases its hold on your skin.
  • Avoid crushing the tick’s body or handling the tick with bare fingers because you could expose yourself to the bacteria in the tick.
  • Wash the bite area thoroughly with soap and water.
  • Don’t use kerosene, petroleum jelly or hot cigarette butts to remove the tick.
  • Don’t squeeze the tick’s body with your fingers or tweezers.

Treatment Of Lyme Disease

Lyme Disease Treatment – Johns Hopkins (4 of 5)

Early diagnosis and proper antibiotic treatment of Lyme disease is important and can help prevent late Lyme disease. The following treatment regimens reflect CDCs interpretation of the most current data for four important manifestations of Lyme disease. These regimens are consistent with guidanceexternal icon published by the by the Infectious Disease Society of America, American Academy of Neurology, and American College of Rheumatology.

Some patients report persistent symptoms of pain, fatigue, or difficulty thinking even after treatment for Lyme disease. The state of the science relating to persistent symptoms associated with Lyme disease is limited, emerging, and unsettled.

Additional researchexternal icon is needed to better understand how to treat, manage, and support people with persistent symptoms associated with Lyme disease. In light of these research gaps, recommendations for treatment of persistent symptoms in people previously treated for Lyme disease are not provided here.

If you are interested in information on chronic Lyme diseaseexternal icon, see NIHs website.

Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the CDC website.

Also Check: Will Lymes Disease Ever Go Away

Dont Let Lyme Disease Win: Seek Treatment Early

Despite the fact that PTLDA is frequently debilitating, there are no known cures for the disease. Depending on the severity of each patients symptoms, a variety of therapies, such as antibiotics, physical therapy, and cognitive therapy, may be used. Antibiotics can be used to treat Lyme disease, which is a serious infection. Long-term symptoms of Lyme disease can be caused by failing to treat the disease in its early stages. If you suspect you have Lyme disease, you should consult with your doctor about the best treatment.

Full Recommendations For The Prevention Diagnosis And Treatment Of Lyme Disease

I. Which measures should be used to prevent tick bites and tick-borne infections?

Personal Protective Measures
Recommendation
  • Individuals at risk of exposure should implement personal protective measures to reduce the risk of tick exposure and infection with tick-borne pathogens .
  • Summary of the Evidence
    Rationale for Recommendation

    Although there is little systematic evidence supporting some of these measures for the prevention of Lyme disease, they may offer potential benefits with little effort, risk, or cost.

    Knowledge Gaps

    Properly designed studies performed with human subjects under realistic conditions are required to test the efficacy of personal protection measures. Similarly, research is needed to inform how to motivate the adoption and continued use of best practice personal protection measures.

    Repellents to Prevent Tick Bites
    Recommendation
  • For the prevention of tick bites, we recommend N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide , picaridin, ethyl-3- aminopropionate , oil of lemon eucalyptus , p-methane-3,8-diol , 2-undecanone, or permethrin .
  • Summary of the Evidence

    In laboratory and field experiments involving human subjects, the use of DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus , p-methane-3,8-diol , 2-undecanone, and permethrin reduced the number of ticks detected crawling on or attached to subjects compared with controls . Other commercially available products, including botanical agents and essential oils cannot be recommended due to insufficient evidence.

    Recommended Reading: Fda Approved Lyme Disease Test

    More articles

    Popular Articles