Thursday, March 14, 2024

What Are The Symptoms Of Lyme Disease In Adults

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A Quick Checklist Of Lyme Disease Symptoms

Lifespan Lyme Disease Center enrolling RI adults to learn more about ongoing symptoms

Lyme disease is not just a bug bite. It can be a debilitating disease that affects every aspect of your life. Especially if Lyme disease is diagnosed late. While advanced Lyme disease may take longer to treat, most people recover completely.

The symptoms of early, late, and chronic Lyme disease may cross over to many other illnesses, its important to understand how you can get Lyme disease and what the various symptoms are so you can stay healthy.

Many of the following symptoms of Lyme disease are indicative or common in other illnesses. That said, the more symptoms of Lyme disease you have, the greater the need to have your illness evaluated.

Who’s At Risk And Where Are Ticks Found

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

Ticks are found throughout the UK and in other parts of Europe and North America. There are a high number of ticks in the Scottish Highlands.

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.

How To Avoid Tick Bites

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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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.

Other Causes Of Lyme Disease Symptoms

Treatment for Lyme Disease

Sometimes people think they have the symptoms of Lyme disease, but it is a different disease caused by ticks. Diseases caused by tick bites that are known in Australia are:

  • Queensland tick typhus
  • Q fever
  • mammalian meat allergy

Sometimes there is no known diagnosis for symptoms such as fatigue, disordered thinking, disturbances of the senses, joint pain and headaches. These symptoms are real and can be very debilitating. In this case, you doctor will work with you to manage the symptoms and improve your quality of life.

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New Tests And Treatments For Lyme Disease

The bacterium that breeds in the body of ticks causes Lyme disease. This was how I got this disease. However, there is an increase in discussion amongst scientists, as to whether Lyme disease is genetic or not. Recently, they have found a genetic factor that increases the chances of people suffering from chronic arthritis. This can change the disease from an almost unnoticeable ailment to an affliction that may last for many years.

This form of arthritis develops in only, one in ten people amongst whom the disease is untreated. All of them have an inherited factor, a component on the surface of the white blood cells. This chronic arthritis usually contains the same antibiotics that cure arthritis in its initial stage. Often, these drugs are ineffective in their chronic phases.

Recently, scientists and researchers have reported these findings at Stockholm on the Fourth International Meeting on Lyme disease. Researchers are carrying out more studies on the nature of the disease. Until that period, it is important for people who suffer from Lyme disease to have early treatment and undertake preventive measures.

In short, prevention and early detection is the best way to treat this disease.

Conventional Treatment Options For Lyme Disease

If you were bitten by a tick and you have either a rash or flulike symptoms, you will likely be prescribed antibiotics, which are usually effective in treating the infection. On the other hand, there is not yet a clear understanding of or treatment for PTLDS. It is not generally accepted that antibiotics are helpful in PTLDS.

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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.

Is Lyme Disease In Virginia

Lifespan Lyme Disease Center enrolling RI adults to learn more about ongoing symptoms

It doesnt matter if you are in Virginia or any other part of the world. These pesky little ticks have migrated almost all over the world. And whats sad is because it mimics over 300 other diseases, research is at its infancy when many have suffered through the ages thinking it was something else. And if Im correct by listening to my body and curing myself through simple means, its a shame we all dont know about how simple it can be, and quick you can heal.

Heres more info Iv found simple to get on top of Google, but please do visit my 15 minute read of how and what I did to cure myself. It just may help you or others you know suffering from Lyme Disease.

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What You Need To Know About Lyme Disease

  • Lyme disease is an infection caused by the spiral-shaped bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, which is most commonly transmitted by a tick bite.

  • There are over 300,000 estimated new cases of Lyme disease in the United States each year.

  • The symptoms of Lyme disease depend on the how long the infection has been present in the body. The first sign of Lyme disease is often an expanding round or oval red “bullseye” rash.

  • If left untreated, people may develop neurological symptoms and heart problems, and have an approximately 60 percent chance of developing Lyme arthritis.

Late Stage Lyme Disease: Symptoms And Treatment

by Lyme Mexico | Mar 17, 2021 | News |

There are three stages of Lyme disease. If you are experiencing the symptoms in the late stage, that means you have already passed through the first two stages of early localized and early disseminated Lyme disease.

During the early localized phase, you may have had a rash associated with the bite given by the infected tick. Symptoms following the bite may have included chills, fever, headaches, fatigue, stiff neck, muscle soreness, and possibly swollen lymph nodes.

If you did not receive the right treatment at the onset, you quickly moved into the next stage. During the early disseminated phase, the Lyme infection started spreading through your body.

Symptoms in the second stage include all of the signs from the early localized stage, only worse. You may also experience vision problems, pain or weakness in your limbs, heart palpitations, and facial paralysis such as bells palsy.

If left untreated, stage two will turn into late stage Lyme disease.

If you are in stage three, or the late disseminated stage, you have been struggling with symptoms for a long while and without treatment specific to Lyme disease.

The symptoms of late stage Lyme disease are genuine and can interfere with daily functioning.

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What Causes Lyme Disease In A Child

Lyme disease is caused by bacteria that are spread to people by tick bites. The ticks that carry the bacteria are:

  • Black-legged deer tick. These are found in the Northeastern, Mid-Atlantic, and North-Central U.S.
  • Western black-legged tick. These are found on the West Coast of the U.S.

Not all ticks carry the Lyme disease bacteria. Depending on the location, less than 1 in 100 to more than half of ticks in that area may be infected with Lyme.

How To Diagnose Symptoms For Lyme Disease

4 Common Signs And Symptoms Of Lyme Disease In Adults

Do you feel like something is going disastrously wrong with your body and nobody knows what the hell you are going through? You may be suffering from Lyme disease which is caused by Borrelia Burgdorferi and transmitted by ticks. One tick bite can be the reason of the disaster. But you may hardly notice it or even be unaware of tick bite because of its small size.

How long do you think it takes to recognize an new disease? 2 years? 10 years?

It took them 3 years to discover HIV disease first observed in 1980 and recognized in 1983. So on average no less then 5 years sounds reasonable. Take a wild guess, how may years did it take for modern medical science to discover Lyme?

It was first medically determined as an illness by Reverend Dr. John Walker in 1764. It was 1982, when they found the bug itself – Borrelia Burgdorferi. And only then they confirmed, that it comes from the tick saliva. It took them 218 years to figure out what was going on. And they had modern equipment and resources.

How did it happen, that the HIV virus 120 nanometers in size was discovered 72 times faster, that the Lyme disease spirochete, which is 12,000 times bigger then the HIV virus – 10 micrometers in size?

If you look at it under the microscope, you will see snakes. The causative agent of Lyme disease Borrelia Burgdorferi looks like a snake, as well as syphilis. Somehow it was very difficult to identify those microorganisms that look like snakes.

Bottom line is simple:

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Achy Stiff Or Swollen Joints

Joint pain and stiffness, often intermittent, are early Lyme symptoms. Your joints may be inflamed, warm to the touch, painful, and swollen. You may have stiffness and limited range of motion in some joints .

Pain may move around. Sometimes your knees may hurt, whereas other times its your neck or your heels. You may also have bursitis . Bursae are the thin cushions between bone and surrounding tissue.

The pain may be severe, and it may be transitory. More than one joint may be affected. Most often the large joints are involved .

People often attribute joint problems to age, genetics, or sports. Lyme should be added to that list, as these statistics indicate:

  • One study estimates that 80 percent of people with untreated Lyme have muscle and joint symptoms .
  • Fifty percent of people with untreated Lyme have intermittent episodes of arthritis .
  • Two-thirds of people have their first episode of joint pain within six months of the infection .
  • Use of anti-inflammatory drugs may mask the actual number of people with joint swelling .

Summary:

Joint pain that comes and goes, or moves from joint to joint, could be a sign of Lyme.

The Chance Of Getting Lyme Disease

Not all ticks in England carry the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.

But it’s still important to be aware of ticks and to safely remove them as soon as possible, just in case.

Ticks that may cause Lyme disease are found all over the UK, but high-risk places include grassy and wooded areas in southern and northern England and the Scottish Highlands.

Ticks are tiny spider-like creatures that live in woods, areas with long grass, and sometimes in urban parks and gardens. They’re found all over the UK.

Ticks do not jump or fly. They attach to the skin of animals or humans that brush past them.

Once a tick bites into the skin, it feeds on blood for a few days before dropping off.

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Chronic Lyme Disease Vs Acute And Late Stage Lyme

One reason chronic Lyme disease is harder to detect and treat than Lyme at earlier stages is that chronic Lyme disease symptoms are more wide-ranging and varied. Chronic Lyme disease can cause symptoms of early Lyme disease such as fatigue and muscle aches to recur, but it can also cause new symptoms that affect different parts of the body.

Advanced Symptoms Of Lyme Disease In Adults

Symptoms of Lyme Disease can seem similar to those of COVID-19

If you fail to diagnose or treat Lyme disease in the early stages, new signs and symptoms of advanced Lyme disease could appear in the following weeks and months.

More advanced symptoms of Lyme disease can infect the skin and joints and cause a stiff neck. This can be followed by severe headaches and shooting pain in your body that can keep you up at night. Changes in your heart rate or palpitations and dizziness are also advanced symptoms of Lyme disease.

Lyme disease that has been left untreated for several months can lead to much more serious problems. Including symptoms that affect your nervous system. For example, Bells palsy is a neurological complication of Lyme disease and leads to the loss of muscle function in your face.

People with Bells palsy sometimes look like theyve had a stroke because they cannot move the muscles on one side of their face. Pain, weakness, and numbness can also spread to the arms or legs. So too is poor memory, the reduced ability to concentrate, conjunctivitis , or even deep tissue damage to the eyes.

While heart problems and inflammation of the eyes and liver are rare, they are possible symptoms of late stage Lyme disease.

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What Causes Lyme Disease

Lyme disease is caused by bacteria. In the United States, this is usually a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi. It spreads to humans through the bite of an infected tick. The ticks that spread it are blacklegged ticks . They are usually found in the:

  • Northeast
  • Upper Midwest
  • Pacific coast, especially northern California

These ticks can attach to any part your body. But they are often found in hard-to-see areas such as your groin, armpits, and scalp. Usually the tick must be attached to you for 36 to 48 hours or more to spread the bacterium to you.

When Should You See A Doctor If You Think You Have Lyme

The rash is a pretty good indication that you may have been bitten. Take a photo of the rash and see your doctor. At this stage, treatment with antibiotics will probably work.

If you dont have the rash but have symptoms like fatigue, fever, and headache but no respiratory symptoms like a cough, you may want to talk to your doctor.

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Get An Accurate Diagnosis

To get an accurate diagnosis, you must first find the right doctor specializing in Lyme disease. Do the research and look for a doctor who has extensive knowledge, licensure and certification, and a high success rate working with patients.

This doctor may not be in the United States. One of the most well-renowned infectious diseases clinics is Lyme Mexico.

You may be thinking you cant travel to Mexico for help, but you can. You can spend the same amount of time and money visiting multiple doctors near your home without results. Or, you can meet with a top expert in Lyme disease and receive the treatment that gives you back the life you deserve.

Lyme literate doctors have modern and more aggressive treatments to help heal your Lyme disease. Lyme specialists not only know about more aggressive treatments, but they also provide them in their clinics on an outpatient basis.

Early Symptoms Of Lyme Disease In Adults

Feeling Weak Recently? It May Be From a Tick Bite

It might take just 24 hours for a deer tick to pass Lyme disease onto us, but the signs and symptoms of Lyme disease can vary. Lyme disease symptoms also usually appear in different stages.

Its not entirely uncommon for the early stages of Lyme disease to be misdiagnosed. Thats because the early symptoms of Lyme disease can feel like the flu. This includes a fever, sore muscles, headache and feeling tired.

One of the most obvious signs of Lyme disease is a rash that looks like a bullseye or a bruise. Lyme disease rashes can also look like spider bites, ringworm, or cellulitis. Multiple rashes can also appear on different parts of the body.

This obvious early symptom of Lyme disease can start a few days or even a few weeks after being bitten. It then expands over a period of days or weeks, reaching several inches across sometimes as large as 12 inches.

It is typically not painful or itchy. If left untreated, the rash can last for weeks as well as blister or scab over. While it will eventually fade, there is a chance it could reappear.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the trademark rash only occurs in 60% to 80% of all Lyme disease cases. If you do develop a rash that has a bullseye shape with a darker edge, then you definitely have Lyme disease. But again, this distinctive sign of early Lyme disease occurs in less than 10% of people who contract Lyme disease.

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Chronic Lyme: What Happens When Lyme Goes Untreated

The Lyme community typically uses the term chronic Lyme disease to describe a range of physical, cognitive, and emotional symptoms that crop up after getting Lyme disease and persist for months to years after infection.

The risk of chronic Lyme increases the longer a Lyme infection goes untreated or undertreated. In other words, patients are more likely to recover fully if their Lyme infection is detected and treated as early as possible after the discovery of a tick bite. This stage is usually marked by symptoms such as fevers, chills, muscle aches, and sometimes rashes.

When left untreated or undertreated, however, Lyme disease can spread throughout the body and affect:

  • The central nervous system
  • Muscles and joints

As Lymedisease.org points out, these symptoms can evolve, disappear, and reappear at different times.

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