Saturday, March 23, 2024

How To Stop Lyme Seizures

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Key Points For Healthcare Providers

Cindi’s seizure from Lyme Disease June 19 2015
  • In patients with facial palsy who are unable to close one or both eyes, eye drops or an eye patch may be needed to prevent dry eyes.
  • Neurologic symptoms do not necessarily indicate central nervous system infection in a patient with Lyme disease.
  • Two-step serologic testing for Lyme disease is the recommended diagnostic test for neurologic Lyme disease.
  • Cerebral spinal fluid analysis is not necessary to diagnose Lyme meningitis, but can help exclude other causes of illness, such as bacterial meningitis.
  • Consider Lyme radiculoneuritis in patients who report severe limb or truncal radicular pain without preceding trauma who live in or who have traveled to Lyme-endemic areas.
  • Q How Is Tbe Different From Lyme Disease

    Both Lyme disease and TBE are transmitted to humans via tick bites and both have potentially serious long-term consequences.2,7 However, there are several key differences, including:

    • Type of disease TBE is caused by a virus, whereas Lyme disease is a bacterial infection..2,14
    • Transmission TBE is transmitted to a person immediately through a single bite from an infected tick,5 while a tick needs to be attached to a person for around 36-48 hours before infection with the Lyme disease bacterium occurs.15
    • Symptoms Lyme disease is typically associated with the early symptom of red bullseye rash with a clear central zone although this doesnt occur in everyone infected.16 For TBE, there is no specific initial symptom the diagnosis can only be established by serology .17,18
    • Treatment There is no specific treatment for TBE but, as a bacterial disease, Lyme disease can be treated with antibiotics in most cases.17,19
    • Protection There has been a vaccine against TBE since 1976,2 but there is currently no vaccine for Lyme disease,20 so its important to take measures to avoid being bitten by ticks.

    Chronic Lyme Disease Vs Ptlds

    The terms chronic Lyme disease and Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome are sometimes used interchangeably. However, PTLDS is slightly more restrictive, referring to patients who have received treatment for Lyme disease but go on to experience Lyme disease symptoms. It does not include those who received a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis and have developed chronic symptoms of Lyme disease before receiving any kind of treatment.

    The CDC defines PTLDS as generalized and/or recurring pain, fatigue, and cognitive difficulties that last for more than 6 months after treatment. These mirror symptoms associated with chronic Lyme disease, with or without treatment.

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    Follow Your Treatment Plan

    Following your prescribed treatment plan can be the most effective way to prevent seizures. Research from a 2017 study suggests that antiepileptic drugs effectively control seizures in about 6070% of people with epilepsy.

    For your treatment plan to be most effective, take medications exactly as your doctor prescribes and follow their additional advice. Do not stop taking medications as prescribed, even if you feel that your seizures are improving.

    Skipping medication and other factors that compromise treatment may put you at risk of experiencing more seizures. Also, you may develop additional health complications.

    If you feel that your current treatment plan is not working effectively or is difficult to follow, talk with your doctor. They can advise you about additional epilepsy treatment options.

    Prevention Of Lyme Disease

    Lyme Disease and Bartonella: More Common Than You Think
    • Dogs should be treated regularly with a readily available, effective, tick-control product. Ask your veterinarian to recommend the best product for your pet.

    • In areas where Lyme disease is common, ask your veterinarian about whether vaccination is recommended.

    • Dogs should be routinely checked for ticks after they have been outside, especially if they have been in tall grass and brush during the spring, summer, or fall.

    • Remove any ticks by using fine-pointed tweezers to grasp the head of the tick . Pull the tick straight off, making sure not to grasp or squeeze its body.

    • Dogs should be brushed regularly. Watch carefully for any ticks that are removed and capture and dispose of them before they can either reattach to the dog or migrate to other pets or people in the household.

    The diagnosis of Lyme disease is often based on the signs and history. For example, a veterinarian might suspect Lyme disease in a dog with recent lameness, a mild fever, and a history that includes possible exposure to ticks. Standard blood studies are not very helpful in diagnosis because the results tend to fall within normal ranges despite signs of infection. However, these tests may be important in order to rule out other causes of disease. Antibodies against the disease-causing bacteria can often be detected 4 to 6 weeks after the initial infection and help confirm the diagnosis.

    Read Also: Are Lyme Disease Tests Reliable

    Take All Medication As Prescribed

    Anti-epileptic medications can be very effective at helping some people reduce or even eliminate seizures. The problem is that, once the seizures stop happening people often stop taking their medicines. That can actually cause withdrawal seizures. Trying to self-medicate by increasing dosages can also cause toxicity. That is why it is important to take the prescribed dose at the same time or times each day, and to follow your doctors instructions about what to do if you miss a dose.

    What Causes Lyme Disease

    Lyme disease is caused by bacteria. Infected ticks spread the bacteria by biting people or animals.

    Two types of ticks carry the Lyme disease bacteria in Canada. They are:

    • Deer ticks. They spread the disease in the eastern and south-central areas of Canada.
    • Western black-legged ticks. They spread the disease along the Pacific coast, mostly in southern British Columbia.

    Remove ticks as soon as you notice them. Infected ticks usually don’t spread Lyme disease until they have been attached for at least 36 hours.

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    What Is Neurologic Lyme Disease

    Neurologic symptoms of Lyme disease occur when the Lyme disease bacteria affect the peripheral or central nervous systems.

    • Cranial nerve involvement: When the cranial nerves are affected, facial palsy can occur on one or both sides of the face.
    • Peripheral nerve involvement: When the peripheral nerves are affected, patients can develop radiculoneuropathy which can cause numbness, tingling, shooting pain, or weakness in the arms or legs.
    • Central nervous system involvement: When the central nervous system is affected, Lyme meningitis can cause fever, headache, sensitivity to light, and stiff neck.

    Out of every 100 patients whose cases are reported to CDC, 9 have facial palsy, 4 have radiculopathy, and 3 have meningitis or encephalitis. Because of reporting practices, this statistic may overestimate how often these manifestations are seen by clinicians.

    When Inflammation Becomes Chronic

    2013 Stress Induced Seizure LYME disease

    Imagine if the acute inflammatory process was going on in tissues throughout your body and it never resolved. Thats exactly what happens with the chronic inflammation associated with chronic Lyme disease.

    The driving force is bacteria invading cells. Its not an all-out invasion like you would find with an acute infection, such as pneumonia, however. Its an insidious migration of bacteria into tissues throughout the body in the brain, heart, joints, muscles, kidneys, intestines, everywhere.

    When Lyme bacteria enter the bloodstream from a tick bite, WBCs gobble up the bacteria in an attempt to get rid of them. The bacteria, however, have sophisticated ways of staying alive inside the WBCs. Instead of eradicating the bacteria, the WBCs unintentionally become transport vehicles to distribute bacteria to tissues throughout the body.

    On arrival, the bacteria surface and infect other cells. Its not as much a deluge of invasion as it is a random sprinkling. Tissues throughout the body become peppered with cells that have been infected with bacteria.

    The Lyme bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, are intracellular, which means they infect and live inside cells. The cells provide nutrients to make new bacteria as well as protection from the immune system. Once the bacteria have used up the resources a cell has to offer, they surface and infect other cells.

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    How To Prevent Seizures During Night Sleep

    Some epileptics have seizures during the night without even being aware of them when waking up in the morning. There are, on the other hand, special techniques on how to stop seizures during sleep or at night too. The crucial factors include: nasal breathing only during sleep ,prevention of sleeping on the backnormal heat exchange high body oxygen level when you go to sleep

    While this exercise provides only a solution for some types of seizures , the main goal of the Buteyko breathing method is to normalize ones breathing pattern or to breathe in accordance with the medical norm so as to prevent all types of seizures and achieve clinical remission of epilepsy. This program is explained in the Treatment of Seizures Program . Once you have more than 30 seconds for the body-oxygen test 24/7, you will be free from all types of seizures.

    There are 2 bonus links that lead to pages with the following content. One page provides more details about prevention of seizures during sleep or at night. Another page explains the new therapy that normalizes the electrical charge of the human body. This method alone, as some people claim, can reduce the severity of nearly all seizures by about 50 percent or more.

    Article How to Prevent Seizures During Sleep.

    Or go back to Epilepsy seizures

    Can I Prevent Lyme Disease

    Not all cases of Lyme disease can be prevented. But you can protect yourself from tick bites. If you go into an area where ticks live, be sure to:

    • Stay in the middle of the trail instead of going through high grass or the woods.
    • Wear closed shoes or boots, long-sleeved shirts, and long pants. Tuck pant legs into shoes or boots to prevent ticks from crawling up legs.
    • Use an insect repellent.

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    Recommended Reading: Pictures Of Tick Bites With Lyme Disease

    Q What Is Tbe And What Are The Symptoms

    TBE is a rare viral infection of the brain and spinal cord, which is transmitted to humans via the bite of an infected tick.8

    Most people infected with the TBE virus show no symptoms, but if there are symptoms, they typically appear in two phases.9 In the first phase, people suffer flu-like symptoms, including fever, muscle pain, headache and fatigue. In fact, the disease can often be mistaken for summer flu at first.4,9 After a respite period of a few days or a week, some people will experience the second phase, clinically characterized by meningitis, encephalitis and / or myelitis.9 Encephalitis means that the brain itself is infected and this may result in permanent brain damage with paralyses and/or mental impairment.9,10 One to two percent of patients with TBE die.9

    Causes Of Lyme Disease In Cats

    Back pain. Neck pain. Lyme. Lyme Memes For Education

    Cats get Lyme disease after being bitten by a tick infected with the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi. Immature ticks get the bacteria when they are feeding in the fall. The bacteria spreads to cats through the saliva in the ticks bite, where the Borrelia quickly replicate on the skin and migrate through the cats tissues.

    Ticks must be attached for 24 to 48 hours before Borrelia is transmitted. Therefore, tick preventatives have time to kill the tick before it can transmit the bacteria, which is why keeping all cats on flea and tick preventatives is so important. There are many options of tick control in cats.

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    Check Your Body For Ticks

    Especially after spending time outdoors. And especially if you have a pet that lives indoors.

    Use a full-length mirror to check your entire body, taking special care to check the warmest areas, including:

    • under where elastic clothing straps have been
    • inside the belly button
    • the scalp and your hair
    • behind the knees

    all based on research. Simply click below to check it out.

    Lyme Disease: Prevention Detection And Treatment

    Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne illness in the U.S. Most cases happen in the Northeast, the upper Midwest, and regions of the Pacific Northwest, though you can contract it in other parts of the country. Most people develop Lyme disease during the spring, summer, and fall. But it is possible to contract Lyme in the winter.

    Lyme disease is transmitted through the bite of a tick infected with a bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi.

    Also Check: How To Protect Yourself From Lyme Disease

    Also Check: What Are The Side Effects Of Lyme Disease In Humans

    Q Who Is At Risk Of Tbe And How Can People Help Protect Themselves And Loved Ones

    To date, TBE has been reported in more than 34 countries worldwide, and it is emerging in additional regions where it had not been detected before.2 People who live in, or travel to, these countries or regions are at the most risk when theyre engaging in outdoor activities like walking, camping, horse-riding or having a picnic.2 This applies from spring to autumn, as ticks are most active when the temperature is above 6o C.17,8

    People can take a range of measures to help protect themselves against TBE and other tick-borne diseases. These include wearing long-sleeved tops and trousers, using insect repellent and avoiding tick-infested areas of forest where possible.9 Vaccination is an option for only TBE in certain countries where it is approved for use. For Lyme disease, there is no approved vaccination but it can be treated with antibiotics.7,17 However, because it takes several hours or days for ticks to transmit the agent of Lyme disease to humans ,2,13 people whove been outdoors can reduce their risk of catching Lyme disease by checking their body for ticks and removing any they find as soon as possible.4,21

    Talk to your healthcare professional for further advice on preventing tick-borne diseases.

    Treatment Of Lyme Disease In Cats

    After a sudden Neurological Lyme seizure reaction to yoga bell.

    While veterinarians use a few medications to treat Lyme disease, the gold standard is the antibiotic doxycycline. However, not all cats can tolerate this antibiotic. Antibiotics are typically prescribed for 30 days, but cats may need more courses in the future to safeguard against flare-ups.

    Pet parents should use caution when using doxycycline in cats. In the tablet form, it can cause esophageal stricturesor narrowing, scar-like formations in the esophagusif it gets stuck. Many veterinarians use liquid doxycycline or follow the tablet with a good amount of water.

    Some cats may be helped by non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, or other pain relief medications while they are in acute pain from Lyme disease. Typically, animals start feeling better within one or two doses of antibiotics. If cats do not rapidly improve, other diagnoses should be considered.

    While most cats can be treated on an outpatient basis, some may need IV fluid therapy, kidney medications, anti-nausea medications, and nutritional support during acute crises. They may require long-term hospitalization for severe cases affecting internal organs.

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    Can Lyme Disease Cause Seizures In Dogs

    The thought of your dog being diagnosed with Lyme disease can be a difficult concept to stomach. After all, you love your dog and treat him as if he were just another member of the family.

    Even though no pet owner ever wants to hear this news about their dog, it is still a very realistic situation that may arise as a pet owner. The best thing you can do is to educate yourself on everything you need to know about this health issue and what you can do to make your dog as comfortable as possible.

    If your dog has been diagnosed with Lyme disease, educate yourself. What you want to do is learn about the side effects, its cause, and how to ultimately cure the disease and get your dog back to living his healthy life.

    This article will review the fundamentals of Lyme disease in dogs while also going over possible symptoms such as seizures and neurological issues that may arise in severe cases.

    Lyme Disease: Symptoms & Side Effects

    Lyme disease is a tick-born illness with over 150 symptoms, usually involving multiple systems. There are three stages of Lyme disease: early localized, early disseminated, and late persistent. If left untreated, it may progress into long-term disabilities. However, it is important to note that Lyme disease can lie dormant in your body for a prolonged period of time, and will invade when your immune system is compromised.

    • Irritable bladder
    • Pain in eyes, or swelling around eyes
    • Oversensitivity to light
    • Pain in ears, oversensitivity to sound
    • Ringing in one or both ears
    • Unexplained weight gain or loss
    • Extreme fatigue
    • Symptoms seem to change, come and go
    • Pain migrates to different body parts
    • Early on, experienced a flu-like illness, after which you have not since felt well
    • Twitching of facial or other muscles
    • Facial paralysis
    • Tingling of nose, cheek, or face
    • Stiff or painful neck, creaks and cracks
    • Jaw pain or stiffness
    • Difficulty with concentration or reading
    • Going to the wrong place
    • Speech difficulty
    • Any joint pain or swelling
    • Stiffness of joints, back, neck
    • Muscle pain or cramps
    • Burning or stabbing sensations in the body
    • Weakness or partial paralysis
    • Numbness in body, tingling, pinpricks
    • Poor balance, dizziness, difficulty walking
    • Increased motion sickness

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    What Are The Clinical Signs Of Lyme Disease

    Some people with Lyme disease develop a characteristic bull’s-eye rash at the site of the bite within three to thirty days. If this occurs, the disease can be easily diagnosed at an early stage.

    However, signs of Lyme disease are more difficult to detect in animals than in people. The characteristic rash does not develop in dogs or cats. In fact, Lyme disease is practically unheard of in cats.

    “Affected dogs have been described as if they were walking on eggshells.”

    Many dogs affected with Lyme disease are taken to a veterinarian because they seem to be experiencing generalized pain and have stopped eating. Affected dogs have been described as if they were walking on eggshells. Often these pets have high fevers. Dogs may also begin limping. This painful lameness often appears suddenly and may shift from one leg to another. If untreated, it may eventually disappear, only to recur weeks or months later.

    Some pets are infected with the Lyme disease organism for over a year before they finally show symptoms. By this time, the disease may be widespread throughout the body. Non-specific signs which may indicate that Lyme disease is affecting the kidneys include vomiting, lethargy, anorexia , and weight loss. The kidney form of the disease is less common, but often fatal.

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