Lyme Disease Is Caused By

Should I Get Tested By The Nhs Or A Privately Funded Laboratory Is There A Difference

If patients have a recent tick exposure and symptoms of Lyme disease , guidance to NHS doctors in England is to take a blood sample and send it for testing at an NHS or UKHSA laboratory.

The tests work by looking for antibodies that a person infected with Lyme disease would produce.

The antibodies take some time to reach levels that can be detected,therefore, tests carried out within the first 4 weeks of infection may be negative and may need to be repeated on a fresh blood sample taken 4 to 6 weeks after the first test.

We recommend people exercise caution with private tests and speak to their NHS doctor for advice before spending money on private tests or treatments, as some private laboratories and clinics offer tests and treatments for Lyme disease which may not be supported by scientific evidence.

Diagnostic tests done outside the NHS may also produce false positives where the test shows positive for Lyme disease when the patient doesnt actually have it. Our advice is to seek help through the NHS.

Who Is At Risk For Lyme Disease

Anyone can get a tick bite. But people who spend lots of time outdoors in wooded, grassy areas are at a higher risk. This includes campers, hikers, and people who work in gardens and parks.

Most tick bites happen in the summer months when ticks are most active and people spend more time outdoors. But you can get bitten in the warmer months of early fall, or even late winter if temperatures are unusually high. And if there is a mild winter, ticks may come out earlier than usual.

What Are The Complications Of Lyme Disease

Lyme disease affects people differently. Relapse and incomplete treatment responses happen. Relapse and incomplete treatment responses happen. Complications of untreated early-stage disease include:

• Frequent hospitalizations to manage the disease

Some of these complications result in chronic, debilitating conditions.

Some people may develop post-Lyme disease syndrome . A condition also known as chronic Lyme disease includes PLDS, but also other syndromes. Usually, these are characterized by persistent musculoskeletal and peripheral nerve pain, fatigue, and memory impairment.

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Stopping Lyme Disease Tremors From Wandering Around Your Body

Greg

For people who want to reduce tremors caused by Lyme disease By Greg Lee

People in hang gliders use wind drafts around steep cliffs to sail through the air. These winds are powerful enough to easily lift a hang glider pilot and hundreds of pounds of equipment. Sudden gusts of wind can make flying difficult or dangerous. How are unexpected gusts of wind just like tremors that are caused by Lyme disease?

Recurring Lyme disease symptoms leave people feeling like they are flying off a cliff without a hang gliderSymptoms like tremors, dizziness, and numbness are common in people with Lyme disease. Just like the wind, these symptoms can suddenly appear, disappear, re-appear, and move around the body. This is why the term Wind is used in Chinese medicine to describe these kinds of recurring or migrating symptoms. Wind can produce a wide variety of symptoms1 like:

pulsating headaches ringing in the ears or tinnitus runny nose and itchy eyes colds

Not only does wind affect the body, it also affects the mind and emotions.

Wind can disrupt your mental clarity and emotionsToo much Wind in the mind can cause mental uncertainty, unclear thinking, and difficulty in making decisions. Wind also can create emotional irritability, nervousness, and turmoil. It can also lead to manic-depression, an unstable personality, and the inability to keep commitments.

How is Wind able to enter and disrupt your body, mind and emotions?

Add A Comment4 Comments

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 cant 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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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.

Key Points For Healthcare Providers

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Bacteria Are The Cause Of Alzheimers As Well

So much more could be written about this subject. Such as the fact that spinal cord lesions together with a lesion in the cerebellum or brainstem is very rare in neurological diseases and almost exclusively occurs in only MS and Lyme disease. There is a lot of hard evidence that Fibromyalgia, Parkinsons, CFS, Lupus, Crohns ME, Picks disease , Alzheimers disease and ALS are also caused by spirochetal bacteria. 14 out of 16 deceased Alzheimers patients had living Treponema spirochetes in their brain. Please people it is not normal to have bacteria in your brain! The only result can be brain damage of a type and pace commensurate with the type of bacterium and the state of your immune system and personal genetics. Countless millions of people dying the most horrific slow deaths due to infections that are near-impossible to detect with currently employed diagnostic methods, but certainly treatable in the sense that further deterioration can usually be stopped and often even reversed in clinical trials and anecdotal evidence:

Isnt it strange that the geographic mortality rate for MS is nearly identical to that of Lyme diease? With near-identical hotspots for both diseases, even in areas with a low population density :

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Can Lyme Disease Be Sexually Transmitted

First of all, if you have been treated for Lyme disease, even if your Western blot is positive, it is very unlikely that there are any spirochetes still circulating in your bodily fluids. Second, there is no good documentation that Lyme disease can be contracted by sexual contact. Given the number of cases of Lyme disease that have been diagnosed over the last 20 years and the fact that there are have been instances where people with active infection are having sexual intercourse but have not yet been treated, one would expect there to be many well documented cases of suspect partner to partner transmission this is not the case. Therefore, for all these reasons, it is highly unlikely that a person could acquire Lyme disease through unprotected intercourse or other sexual contact.

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How To Remove Ticks

Tick bites aren’t always painful. You may not notice a tick unless you see it on your skin. Check your skin and your children’s or pets’ skin after being outdoors.

To remove a tick:

The risk of getting ill is low. You don’t need to do anything else unless you become unwell.

Prognosis And Chronic Lyme Disease

The long-term prognosis for individuals who are treated appropriately with antimicrobials for Lyme disease, regardless of the stage of the illness, is excellent. The most common reason for a lack of response to appropriate antimicrobial therapy is misdiagnosis . Nonspecific symptoms, such as fatigue, arthralgia, or myalgia, may persist for several weeks even in patients with early Lyme disease who are treated successfully. Their presence should not be regarded as an indication for additional treatment with antimicrobials. These nonspecific symptoms will usually resolve without additional antimicrobial therapy.

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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:

Early Signs And Symptoms

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What Should You Do If You Find A Tick

• Don’t touch the tick with your bare hand.

• Use a pair of tweezers to remove the tick. Grab the tick firmly by its mouth or head as close to your skin as possible.

• Pull up slowly and steadily without twisting until it lets go. Don’t squeeze the tick, and don’t use petroleum jelly, solvents, knives, or a lit match to kill the tick.

• Save the tick. Place it in a plastic container or bag so it can be tested for disease, if needed.

• Wash the bite area well with soap and water and put an antiseptic lotion or cream on the site.

How To Spot And Remove Ticks

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.

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Can Lyme Disease Be Prevented

To prevent Lyme disease, you should lower your risk of getting a tick bite:

• Avoid areas where ticks live, such as grassy, brushy, or wooded areas. If you are hiking, walk in the center of the trail to avoid brush and grass.
• Use an insect repellent with DEET
• Treat your clothing and gear with a repellant containing 0.5% permethrin
• Wear light-colored protective clothing, so you can easily see any ticks that get on you
• Wear a long-sleeve shirt and long pants. Also tuck your shirt into your pants and your pant legs into your socks.
• Check yourself, your children, and your pets daily for ticks. Carefully remove any ticks you find.
• Take a shower and wash and dry your clothes at high temperatures after being outdoors

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

How Is Lyme Disease Treated

For early Lyme disease, a short course of oral antibiotics such as doxycycline or amoxicillin is curative in the majority of the cases. In more complicated cases, Lyme disease can usually be successfully treated with three to four weeks of antibiotic therapy.

In patients who have non-specific symptoms after being treated for Lyme disease and who have no evidence of active infection , studies have shown that more antibiotic therapy is not helpful and can be dangerous.

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What Do You Do If There’s A Tick Under Your Skin

Use a pair of fine-tipped tweezers to remove it as soon as possible. Pull upward with steady pressure. If parts of the tick are still in your skin, try to get those with the tweezers, too. After everything is out, clean the bite area with rubbing alcohol or soap and water.

You probably wonât get infected if you remove the tick within 36 to 48 hours.

How do you throw away a tick?

Put it in soapy water or alcohol, stick it to a piece of tape, or flush it down the toilet.

Preventing Tick Bites And Lyme Disease

There’s currently no Lyme disease vaccine available for humans. However, there are clinical trials taking place in Europe and the U.S.

The best way to protect yourself from tick-borne diseases is to prevent tick bites. Check your provincial public health authority to find out where infected ticks are most likely to be found.

• Wear light coloured, long-sleeved shirts and pants to spot ticks easily.
• Tuck your shirt into your pants, and your pants into your socks.
• Wear closed-toe shoes.
• Apply insect repellent containing DEET or Icaridin to clothing and exposed skin .
• Wear permethrin-treated clothing .

• Walk on cleared paths or trails.
• Keep children and pets from wandering off paths.
• Avoid using trails created by animals , as ticks are often found on the grass and plants along these trails.

Do a check for ticks on yourself and your:

• Outdoor gear, such as backpacks

• Shower or bathe as soon as possible, as it can help you find unattached ticks. If you don’t shower or bathe, do a full-body tick check on yourself and your children.
• If you find an attached tick, remove it as soon as possible.
• To kill unattached ticks on your clothing, put dry clothes in a dryer on high heat for at least 10 minutes. If your clothes are damp, you may need to dry them for longer.
• If you wash your clothes, use hot water and dry on high heat. Ticks can survive a cold/warm wash cycle.

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Lyme Disease Is Caused By Bacteria

Lyme disease is caused by four main species of bacteria. Borrelia burgdorferi and Borrelia mayonii cause Lyme disease in the United States, while Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii are the leading causes in Europe and Asia. The most common tick-borne illness in these regions, Lyme disease is transmitted by the bite of an infected black-legged tick, commonly known as a deer tick.

You’re more likely to get Lyme disease if you live or spend time in grassy and heavily wooded areas where ticks carrying Lyme disease thrive. It’s important to take common-sense precautions in tick-infested areas.

Later Signs And Symptoms

• Severe headaches and neck stiffness
• Additional EM rashes on other areas of the body
• Arthritis with severe joint pain and swelling, particularly the knees and other large joints.
• Intermittent pain in tendons, muscles, joints, and bones
• Heart palpitations or an irregular heart beat
• Episodes of dizziness or shortness of breath
• Inflammation of the brain and spinal cord

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Treatment Of Erythema Migrans Rash

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.

*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.