Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Symptoms Of Untreated Lyme Disease

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Chronic Lyme Dos And Don’ts

What Is Lyme Disease? Signs and Symptoms of Untreated Lyme Disease in Humans | Doctor ER

Chronic Lyme disease is an ongoing Borrelia burgdorferi infection that can involve any body system or tissue. The infection produces a wide range of symptoms and signs, which can be debilitating for some patients. Common symptoms include severe fatigue, migratory musculoskeletal pain, headaches, and impaired memory. Unfortunately, chronic Lyme disease is complex and often misunderstood, which means that many patients will struggle to obtain the care they need to regain their health. Every patient concerned about Lyme disease and tick-borne illness should know the following.

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.

Early Detection Is Key

Lyme disease is easiest to treat at the early or acute stage, within the first 30 days of exposure. This is why its so important to take precautions to prevent tick bites, both during and outside of tick season. Protect yourself when near potential tick habitats, always perform tick checks after outdoor activity , and dont delay seeking medical attention if you notice any symptoms that might be related to tick-borne illness. Its important to get tested as soon as possible for the best chances of recovery.

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What Are The Treatments For Lyme Disease

Lyme disease is treated with antibiotics. The earlier you are treated, the better it gives you the best chance of fully recovering quickly.

After treatment, some patients may still have pain, fatigue, or difficulty thinking that lasts more than 6 months. This is called post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome . Researchers don’t know why some people have PTLDS. There is no proven treatment for PTLDS long-term antibiotics have not been shown to help. However, there are ways to help with the symptoms of PTLDS. If you have been treated for Lyme disease and still feel unwell, contact your health care provider about how to manage your symptoms. Most people do get better with time. But it can take several months before you feel all better.

How To Avoid Tick Bites

Lyme disease and other tick

To reduce the chance of being bitten:

  • cover your skin while walking outdoors and tuck your trousers into your socks
  • use insect repellent on your clothes and skin products containing DEET are best
  • stay on clear paths whenever possible
  • wear light-coloured clothing so ticks are easier to see and brush off

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Can You Prevent Lyme Disease

The best way to prevent Lyme disease is to protect yourself from ticks. Cover up as much skin as you can when you’re going to be in wooded or grassy areas. Wear a hat, a long-sleeved shirt, and long pants with the legs tucked into your socks. And keep in mind that it’s easier to see ticks on light-coloured clothes.

Use a bug repellent that has the chemical DEET to keep away ticks. Use products that contain 0.5% permethrin on your clothing and outdoor gear, such as your tent. You can also buy clothing already treated with permethrin. Permethrin is not available as an insect repellent in Canada, but travel health clinics may be able to advise you on how to buy permethrin or permethrin-treated gear.

Check your pets for ticks after they’ve been outside. You can’t get Lyme disease from your pet. But your pet can bring infected ticks inside. These ticks can fall off your pet and attach to you. Check your clothing and outdoor gear after you have been outside. Remove any ticks you find. Then put your clothing in a clothes dryer on high heat for 1 hour to kill any ticks that might remain.

Signs And Symptoms Of Untreated Lyme Disease

A person should look for medical attention if he observes any signs of a tick bite, reside in an area popular for Lyme disease, or if they have traveled from a place where Lyme disease is common.

If the disease is not treated, it can cause various other infections. The most common infections include fever, rashes on the skin, paralysis in the facial area and arthritis.

Early Signs and Symptoms of the Lyme disease:

These symptoms happen in the first 3-30 days after the tick bite. If the rashes are not present, then the symptoms like chills, headache, fatigue, muscle and joint aches, the and swollen lymph nodes, fever, etc. happen.

  • Erythema migrans rash:
  • Happens to around 70 to 80 % of the people who get infected from the disease.
  • it starts spreading from the area of the bite and the time span of spread in 3-30 days.
  • Infection increases gradually as the days pass and reach up to more than 12 inches.
  • There is a feeling of hotness on the infected areas and there are less itchiness and pain.
  • At some cases, the infection clears with the expansion, which then shapes itself into a bulls-eye shape.
  • The infection can happen in any area of the body
  • Mostly it is different from the erythema migrans rash

Signs and Symptoms WHICH HAPPENS IN THE LYME DISEASE AT LATER STAGES:

Swollen Knee

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Persistent Symptoms Following Treatment

In most cases, timely treatment according to the appropriate regimen described in the chart above is effective. However, some Lyme disease patients have persistent symptoms following treatment. Research continues into the causes and methods of treatment.

There is no definitive evidence that persistent symptoms represent ongoing infection. Post-infectious inflammation due to damage from the infectious process may respond to anti-inflammatory drugs.

What Is Lyme Disease

CDC: How to spot signs, symptoms of Lyme disease

Lyme disease is a multisystem illness caused by infection with the microorganism, Borrelia burgdorferi, and the bodys immune response to its infection. The illness is transmitted from tick bites when the tick regurgitates the microorganism.

Thus, Lyme disease is known as a vector-borne disease. Because the ticks are extremely small and their bites are painless, the biting event very often goes unnoticed.

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Lyme Disease Signs And Symptoms

Most symptoms of Lyme disease in humans usually appear between three and 30 days after a bite from an infected blacklegged tick.

You should contact your local public health unit or speak to a health care professional right away if you have been somewhere that ticks might live and experience any of the following symptoms:

  • rash
  • a bulls-eye rash (a red patch on the skin that is usually round or oval and more than 5 cm that spreads outwards and is getting bigger
  • a bruise-like rash
  • another type of unusual rash
  • muscle aches and joint pains
  • fatigue
  • swollen lymph nodes
  • spasms, numbness or tingling
  • facial paralysis

If not treated, Lyme disease can make you feel tired and weak and, if it gets really bad, it can even harm your heart, nerves, liver and joints. Symptoms from untreated Lyme disease can last years and include recurring arthritis and neurological problems, numbness, paralysis and, in very rare cases, death.

Why Is Chronic Persistent Lyme So Severe Infections

In these patients there appears to be a high spirochete load through either multiple tick bites or long duration that was unrecognized by them. Interestingly many people do not remember a bite or get a rash. After long duration there is a creation of biofilms were protected niches made up of mucopolysaccharides are formed. In addition, there are alternative forms of Lyme such as the cyst form and the L form which cause an additional suppression to the patients immune system.

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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.

How You Get Lyme Disease

Signs and Symptoms of Untreated Lyme Disease

If a tick bites an animal carrying the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, the tick can become infected. The tick can then transfer the bacteria to a human by biting them.

Ticks can be found in any areas with deep or overgrown plants where they have access to animals to feed on.

They’re common in woodland and moorland areas, but can also be found in gardens or parks.

Ticks don’t jump or fly. They climb on to your clothes or skin if you brush against something they’re on. They then bite into the skin and start to feed on your blood.

Generally, you’re more likely to become infected if the tick is attached to your skin for more than 24 hours. Ticks are very small and their bites are not painful, so you may not realise you have one attached to your skin.

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Symptoms Of Lyme Disease

Lyme disease causes a range of symptoms that change and intensify as the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria, first introduced by the tick, spread to the rest of the body. Untreated cases can cause serious problems or lead to a fatal condition. Whats tricky, too, is that the onset of initial symptoms occurs anywhere from three to 30 days after exposure.

Clinically, there are three stages of Lyme disease: early localized disease, early disseminated disease, and late disseminated disease. Early localized disease, the initial manifestation, is characterized by:

  • Bullseye rash and swelling,the most notorious symptom, occurs in 70% to 80% of cases. Clinically referred to as erythema migrans, its appearance variesit can be a different color or shapeespecially in people of color. It arises about a week after exposure to the bacteria.
  • Other symptoms of the first stage include fever, fatigue, headache, and joint pain. Very often, those with the conditionespecially if there is no rashfeel as if theyre experiencing the flu.

Disseminated Lyme disease symptoms arise as the bacterial infection works its way to other bodily systems, organs, and structures. Typically a month or more after exposureand potentially chronicsymptoms have changed and include:

In its late disseminated phase, the bacterial infection has begun affecting nerve and joint structures, causing significant complications. Chronic arthritis, continued swelling of the brain , and nerve damage can all result.

What Happens At Your Appointment

The GP will ask about your symptoms and consider any rash or recent tick bites you know about.

Lyme disease can be difficult to diagnose. It has similar symptoms to other conditions and there’s not always an obvious rash.

2 types of blood test are available to help confirm or rule out Lyme disease. But these tests are not always accurate in the early stages of the disease.

You may need to be retested if you still have Lyme disease symptoms after a negative result.

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Supportive Oligonucleotide Technique From Rgcc

SOT therapy from RGCC as a treatment uses the messenger RNA to influence the genes in the Lyme or viral infection. I also use them with cancer. The laboratory can identify certain genes in the Lyme organism and viruses and target them to damage and silence those genes effectively killing the organism. This is called anti-sense therapy where there is a creation of up to 1 billion copies of SOT molecules to fight the Lyme or viral infection. This is called gene silencing therapy. I have taken them myself and have found them to be very effective.

Learn More About Lyme Disease Treatment

Treating Lyme disease symptoms with cannabis

When youre experiencing Lyme disease symptoms, schedule an appointment with Dr. Constantine Kotsanis at the Kotsanis Institute of Functional Medicine. He has years of experience treating Lyme disease, and he understands the seriousness of Lyme disease treatment. Best of all, he is committed to ensuring his patients stay as healthy as possible. Lyme disease is curable, so getting effective Lyme disease treatment will help resolve your symptoms and ensure your health remains intact.

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What Is Late Lyme Disease

Lyme disease, also known as Lyme borreliosis, is caused by an infection with the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi. This bacteria is disseminated through tick bites. Infected ticks usually bite small mammals, who do not develop any kind of infection from the bacteria. When humans are exposed to B. Burgdorferi from a tick bite, however, they can develop Lyme disease.

People who work outside or spend time in woodland areas, where there is greater potential for exposure to tick bites, are most at risk of infection.

Lyme disease is a condition which progresses in stages:

  • A person will initially develop early localized lyme disease, in which the bacteria have not yet spread through the body. At this stage, which generally has its onset days or weeks after the tick bite, a personâs symptoms will usually include a fever, fatigue, and a rash, called the Erythema Migrans rash, which has a distinctive bullsâ eye shape and affects around two thirds of people who develop Lyme disease. See this resource for more information on symptoms and treatment of early localized Lyme disease.
  • If Lyme disease is not diagnosed in either of these early stages, and is not treated effectively with antibiotics, the bacteria that cause LD can spread throughout the body from the site of the tick bite, resulting in late disseminated Lyme disease, or late lyme disease. The onset of symptoms and complications of late disseminated Lyme disease is usually around 6-36 months after the original infection.
  • Signs And Symptoms Of Untreated Chronic Lyme Disease

    Acute symptoms can turn chronic after several months of going untreated. Chronic Lyme disease can be debilitating, preventing you from functioning in activities you once enjoyed. As the bacteria spread throughout your body, so does inflammation.

    You may begin to feel numbness and tingling in your limbs, dizziness, shortness of breath, tremors, respiratory infections, frequent sore throats, and severe stiffness in your neck. Headaches can become migraines the brain or spinal cord can become inflamed, facial paralysis and heart palpitations also appear.

    Mentally, you can experience severe depression, anxiety, paranoia, rage, and even hallucinations.

    The longer you go with an incorrect diagnosis and without proper treatment, the harder it can be to eliminate your symptoms.

    However, just because they may be hard to eliminate, it does not mean impossible.

    The first line of treatment for anyone with Lyme disease includes the use of antibiotics. Unfortunately, depending on how long your Lyme disease went untreated, antibiotics may not be enough.

    The good news is that there are many new alternative treatments and therapies for Lyme disease sufferers showing great success. Alternative medicine in the fight against Lyme disease should only be administered by a Lyme literate physician.

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    When To See A Healthcare Provider

    Since Lyme disease can take different forms, and since its often confused with other conditions, its important to be proactive if you suspect the condition. What signs prompt medical help? Call the healthcare provider if:

    • You have a bullseye rashor any kind of rashfollowing a tick bite.
    • You experience flu-like symptoms after a tick bite.
    • You experience symptoms of more advanced Lyme disease: arthritis, heart palpitations, facial paralysis, dizziness, and others.

    Alternative Treatments For Lyme Disease

    PPT

    Hyperthermia utilizes your bodys temperature to fight infection. When you have fevers, that is when your body goes to work fighting off bacteria that can make you ill. Uncontrolled fevers can be risky if the temperature rises too high. However, controlled hyperthermia is medically supervised to help your body reach a high temperature slowly and boost your immune system.

    Chelation is a detoxifying process that removes toxins from the body. Oxygen therapies use extra oxygen as a medical process to treat over 100 diseases, including Lyme disease. Apheresis can be used to replace your infected blood and plasma with clean, healthy, and usually donated blood and plasma. Nutraceuticals are products created from foods and herbs that offer antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that can help boost your immune system so you can fight off infections.

    Biofilm eradication protocols, parasite inactivation, and immune modulation are additional treatments. You may even opt for IV therapies in which your doctor can give your immune system great strength by sending Vitamin C, Silver, and other antioxidant properties straight into your bloodstream.

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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.

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