Herbs For Lyme Disease Treatment
Herbs have been used as a medicinal treatment for thousands of years. Many people have turned to herbal remedies to help provide relief from Lyme disease when antibiotics didn’t completely help eliminate symptoms.
One research study found that a combination of doxycycline and baicalein provides additional healing benefits. According to a 2020 laboratory study, seven herbal medicines have been shown to kill B. burgdorferi in test tubes:
- Cryptolepis sanguinolenta
- Scutellaria baicalensis
Garlic has antibacterial effects and may help prevent tick bites. One study determined that people who took garlic supplements reported fewer tick bites than the placebo group. Garlic essential oil has been shown to eliminate the bacterium that causes Lyme disease.
Garlic can interact with certain medications, so speak with your healthcare provider before using it to prevent or treat Lyme disease.
Steviaa natural sweetener and sugar substitute derived from the leaves of the Stevia rebaudiana plantmay be effective in treating Lyme disease. A study published in the European Journal of Microbiology and Immunology discovered that stevia extracts are more effective in killing Lyme disease bacterium in the lab than the standard antibiotics.
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.
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 i increased. Other antidepressants may have a therapeutic range one has to achieve at least a certain dosage .
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Pain Treatment Of Active Disease
Pain may be severe enough to require specific analgesic therapy at any stage of LD. The first line of pain treatment is anti-inflammatory agents, because inflammation is always present with LD.4-6 The agents can be delivered topically or systemically. Topical anesthetics such as lidocaine also are helpful for managing joint pain . In addition to anti-inflammatory agents, standard, step-wise multimodal pain treatment is recommendedstarting with agents such as acetaminophen, muscle relaxants , various neuropathic drugs, and complementary therapies. Opioid analgesics may be required for severe pain if non-opioid measures are ineffective. Hypnotic agents may be necessary for insomnia, and anxiolytics often are required as well.
What Do Testing Kits Typically Include
Depending on the method of collection, testing kits may include:
- a device to collect the blood, urine, or saliva sample
- instructions
- a container to ship the sample back to the lab
- a shipping label
Some kits come with a bandage, wipes, and a biohazard bag. Kits may contain extras such as Styrofoam holders, labels, or tubes with varying solutions inside.
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Why Are Antibiotics The First Line Of Treatment For Lyme Disease
The use of antibiotics is critical for treating Lyme disease. Without antibiotic treatment, the Lyme disease causing bacteria can evade the host immune system, disseminate through the blood stream, and persist in the body. Antibiotics go into the bacteria preferentially and either stop the multiplication of the bacteria or disrupt the cell wall of the bacteria and kill the bacteria . By stopping the growth or killing the bacteria the human host immune response is given a leg up to eradicate the residual infection. Without antibiotics, the infection in Lyme disease can evade the host immune system and more readily persist.
How Do My Top Picks Compete On Price
The Lyme disease tests on this list are relatively close on price. The test from Personalabs is the cheapest, but for the low cost, you need to visit a testing location to provide your samples.
The tests from Everlywell and LetsGetCheckedare comparable on price and while affordable, regularly offer special discounts that bring down the cost further.
If you have existing DNA data to upload, SelfDecode offers low-cost and free DNA wellness reports on much more than your predisposition to chronic Lyme disease for active subscribers. If youre interested in learning more about your genetic predispositions, SelfDecode provides excellent value-for-money.
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Protecting Property From Tick Infestation
To decrease the tick population around your yard:
- Clear the yard regularly by raking leaves, trimming bushes, pruning low-lying branches, mowing lawn.
- Create a 3-foot wide barrier around the perimeter of your lawn with wood chips, gravel, or mulch.
- Place cardboard tubes stuffed with permethrin-treated cotton in places where mice can find them. These tubes are available in hardware stores. Mice collect the cotton for lining their nests the pesticide on the cotton kills any immature ticks that feed on the mice. For best results, do several tube applications from early to late summer.
- Erect fences or use repellants or deer-resistant plants to keep deer away.
- Consider spraying once a year a small amount of tick-killing insecticide such as permethrin or bifenthrin around the perimeter of your yard. To avoid health and environmental risks, consult a licensed professional experienced with tick control.
When To Call A Doctor
- A tick is attached to your body and you can’t remove the entire tick.
- You have a circular red rash that expands over the course of several days, especially if you know you were recently exposed to ticks. You may also have flu-like symptoms, such as fatigue, headache, stiff neck, fever, chills, or body aches.
- You feel very tired or have joint pain , irregular heartbeats, severe headache, or neck pain.
- You are pregnant or breastfeeding and you think you may have been exposed to ticks.
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Alternative Medicine For Lyme Disease
The combination of some plant extracts has been shown to have an effect against the replication of Borrelia burgdorferi and other bacteria.
Some in vitrostudies have shown that the combination of Samento and Banderol has an anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial effect. So, in the future, they could be an alternative to antibiotics for the treatment of Lyme disease.
However, its important to note that more research is needed to demonstrate the effect that these plants have on the human body. Therefore, traditional antibiotics remain the only approved and recommended therapeutic option.
Early Localized Lyme Disease
In the majority of cases, the first sign of Lyme disease is the appearance of a bull’s-eye rash called erythema migrans , which surrounds the site of the bite. It usually develops about 1 to 2 weeks after the bite, but can appear as soon as 3 days or as late as 1 month after. In some cases, it is never detected. The rash is often accompanied by flu-like symptoms such as fever, headache, fatigue, neck pain and stiffness, and body aches.
The bull’s-eye skin rash is considered a classic sign of Lyme disease. It usually appears on the thigh, buttock, or trunk in older children and adults, and on the head or neck in younger children.
The bull’s-eye rash may take the following course:
- It can first appear as a pimple-like spot that expands over the next few days into a purplish circle. The circle may reach up to 6 inches in diameter with a deeper red rim. In some cases the ring is incomplete, forming an arc rather than a full circle.
- The center of the rash often clears or may turn bluish. Or secondary concentric rings may develop within the original ring, creating the bull’s-eye pattern. Over the next several days or 1 to 2 weeks, the circular rash may grow to as large as 20 inches across
- The rash has a burning sensation. On darker-skinned people, the rash may resemble a bruise. In most people, the rash fades completely after 3 to 4 weeks. Secondary rashes may appear during the later stages of disease.
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When Inflammation Becomes Chronic
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.
Testing For Kidney Disease
Tests to diagnose kidney disease include complete blood count, serum biochemistry, and urinalysis. These blood tests will determine if your pet is anemic, determine white blood cell counts, measure blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, and electrolytes. A urinalysis is essential for the proper interpretation of the urea and creatinine values in the serum biochemistry profile and may also provide important clues to the possible underlying cause of kidney disease. A urinalysis will also determine the specific gravity, pH, presence of blood in the urine, and the amount of protein in the urine. An evaluation of the urine sediment will determine the presence of red blood cells, white blood cells, bacteria, crystalline material, and cellular casts all of which provide information to determine the underlying cause of kidney disease in your pet. Further diagnostic tests may be recommended based on the results of these initial screening tests.
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What Is Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is an infection that is spread by ticks. You can get Lyme disease if you are bitten by an infected tick. But most people who have had a tick bite don’t get Lyme disease. It’s still important to see your doctor if you have a tick attached to you that you can’t remove.
Lyme disease is found in Canada. It is also found in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
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Essential Oils For Lyme Disease
Essential oils are concentrated liquids from plants. Some of them have antibacterial properties, meaning they can kill bacteria.
A 2017 study evaluated the use of 34 essential oils to kill B. burgdorferi bacteria in a laboratory setting. Cinnamon bark, clove bud, and oregano essential oils killed the bacteria without any regrowth. <
These results are promising, but theres no evidence that they work in humans with Lyme disease. Essential oils are used in aromatherapy, where the fragrant oils are inhaled through a diffuser or diluted in a carrier oil and applied topically. Its not safe to ingest essential oils, especially in the quantities that you would likely need to treat Lyme disease.
Some people claim that immune system-boosting supplements can naturally treat Lyme disease.
These include:
British Columbia Specific Information
Ticks are tiny bugs which feed on blood. For information on ticks, removing ticks, and how to avoid being bitten, see HealthLinkBC File #01 Tick Bites and Disease. You may also be interested in the HealthLinkBC File #96 Insect Repellent and DEET.
While most tick bites do not result in diseases, some can. Some of the diseases passed on by ticks include relapsing fever, tularemia, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever , Q Fever and anaplasmosis. The most well-known is Lyme disease. For more information on Lyme Disease, visit BC Centre for Disease Control – Lyme Disease .
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Other Infections Carried By The Ixodes Tick
Human granulocytic anaplasmosis and babesiosis are also transmitted by the deer tick Ixodes scapularis. Although HGA, babesiosis, and Lyme disease are caused by the same kind of tick, these infections are entirely different diseases.
Deer ticks can also transmit deer tick virus, a disease caused by the Powassan virus. In very rare cases, Powassan virus may cause serious brain infection .
New tick-borne diseases, carried by Ixodes ticks as well as other tick species, continue to emerge.
Banderol And Cats Claw
“These two herbs are commonly dosed together because they work synergistically with clinically proven action against Borrelia species,” Greenspan says. “The goals with any treatment with Lyme disease spirochetes, whether chronic or acute, is to have a combination of herbs to be effective with the shape-shifting behavior of this microbe.”
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Other Integrative And Restorative Therapies
Modalities to help improve strength, mobility, and flexibility can help to relieve pain temporarily. Over time, improved function may help reduce the underlying cause of the pain. I am a big fan of hands-on treatment by a trained professional.
The following is a partial list of therapies you might consider.:
- Acupuncture
- Medications
- Neuromuscular electrical stimulation
- Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation
- Ultrasound therapy
- Vagus nerve stimulation
Biorepositories And Research Cohorts
Well-characterized samples are an essential tool to help researchers develop and validate new diagnostic tests and to better understand the complexities of LD. Well-characterized sample sets can benefit medical providers, test developers, and the public at risk for LD . It is critical that sample users understand the criteria used to enroll participants, how samples were collected and stored, and what additional clinical and testing data may be available. Additional benefits can be realized when multiple sample users are using the same well-characterized sample sets. Current sample sets available for researchers include the CDC Lyme Serum Repository , the Lyme Disease Biobank , and samples from the Studies of Lyme Immunology and Clinical Events at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Additionally, some investigators also have their own sample collections with, in some cases, blood samples, skin biopsy specimens and synovial fluid which form the basis for collaborative studies .
Lyme Disease Biobank
Lyme Disease Research Center
Long Island Outdoor Worker Cohort
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The Patient Who Suspects Chronic Lyme Infection
LD is so prevalent and well known that the public is well aware of its symptoms. Many patients, particularly those who have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, degenerative arthritis, or neuropathies of unknown origin, believe they may have had unrecognized and undiagnosed LD. They may request recurrent LD testing and even antibiotic therapy, despite negative Lyme serologic tests.
In reality, some of these patients may be correct. The authors have encountered several patients who presented with a chronic pain syndrome such as fibromyalgia who were later found to have disseminated LD or PTLDS. At this juncture, we are not prepared to set out any specific diagnostic or treatment protocols. We do, however, believe that pain practitioners must consider LD as an underlying cause of pain in patients who present without a clear event or cause of chronic muscle, nerve, or joint pain. In addition to diffuse musculoskeletal and joint pathologies, cranial neuropathy , and radiculoneuritis are 2 of the most common presentations of acute, early neurologic LD. Given what appears to be an epidemic of LD, we will carefully monitor the situation and bring you updates through Practical Pain Management.