Understanding Depersonalization and Derealization from Lyme Disease and coinfections

A Perpetual State of Mental Apathy:

It is important to remember ~

"Depersonalization can make it seem like a person doesn't really care about anything and everything. And it's true, they very likely don't! This includes important dates, traditions, best friends, close family, and experiences and happenings in life that would otherwise invoke an emotional response from a person that doesn't suffer from depersonalization and derealization...

This doesn't mean that they don't want to care, or that they aren't conscious of their inability to care or express concern, interest, enthusiasm, etc, but that they can't to the extent and level that they once were able to as a person who did not suffer from the effects of chronic Lyme Disease and its co-infections."

For more on this subject which touches many Lyme patients, Click here.



Floating:

"Floating or "floating through life" can be defined as the ever present feeling of immunity or disconnect from all of life's meaning, purpose, reason, values and experiences while maintaining normal life functions and activities.  

 When a person with Lyme Disease stops and reflects on this feeling, feelings of isolation, worthlessness, self-pity, failure, estrangement tend to overwhelm a person's thought process.  

 The reality in which they exist in appears to be surreal or dream like.  They start to question reason, purpose, existence and even their own sanity.  Truth appears to blend in with fiction, making it extremely difficult to distinguish between the two.  

 It may appear through the lens of the person that the entire world feels the same as they do and can't consciously accept this illusion.   They may feel the need or wish to "get out of their head" and stand a distance from this state of cognitive distortion."

The ever present feeling of Dis-connect.

Do you suspect Lyme disease...

Some of the many symptoms of Lyme disease are listed below:

Originally set out by Lyme Research Alliance.

Head, Face, Neck: Headache Facial paralysis (like Bell’s palsy) Tingling of nose, cheek, or face Stiff neck Sore throat, swollen glands Heightened allergic sensitivities Twitching of facial/other muscles Jaw pain/stiffness (like TMJ) Change in smell, taste Digestive/excretory System: Upset stomach (nausea, vomiting) Irritable bladder Unexplained weight loss or gain Loss of appetite, anorexia Respiratory/Circulatory Systems: Difficulty breathingNight sweats or unexplained chills Heart palpitations Diminished exercise tolerance Heart block, murmur Chest pain or rib soreness Psychiatric Symptoms: Mood swings, irritability, agitation Depression and anxiety Personality changes Malaise Aggressive behavior / impulsiveness Suicidal thoughts (rare cases of suicide) Overemotional reactions, crying easily Disturbed sleep: too much, too little, difficulty falling or staying asleep Suspiciousness, paranoia, hallucinations Feeling as though you are losing your mind Obsessive-compulsive behavior Bipolar disorder/manic behavior Schizophrenic-like state, including hallucinations Cognitive Symptoms: Dementia Forgetfulness, memory loss (short or long term) Poor school or work performance Attention deficit problems, distractibility Confusion, difficulty thinking Difficulty with concentration, reading, spelling Disorientation: getting or feeling lost Reproduction and Sexuality Females: Unexplained menstrual pain, irregularity Reproduction problems, miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth, neonatal Death, congenital Lyme disease Extreme PMS symptoms Males: Testicular or pelvic pain Eye, Vision: Double or blurry vision, vision changes Wandering or lazy eye Conjunctivitis (pink eye) Oversensitivity to light Eye pain or swelling around eyes Floaters/spots in the line of sight Red eyes Ears/Hearing: Decreased hearing Ringing or buzzing in ears Sound sensitivity Pain in ears Musculoskeletal System: Joint pain, swelling, or stiffness Shifting joint pains Muscle pain or cramps Poor muscle coordination, loss of reflexes Loss of muscle tone, muscle weakness Neurologic System: Numbness in body, tingling, pinpricks Burning/stabbing sensations in the body Burning in feet Weakness or paralysis of limbs Tremors or unexplained shaking Seizures, stroke Poor balance, dizziness, difficulty walking Increased motion sickness, wooziness Lightheadedness, fainting Encephalopathy (cognitive impairment from brain involvement) Encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) Meningitis (inflammation of the protective membrane around the brain) Encephalomyelitis (inflammation of the brain and spinal cord) Academic or vocational decline Difficulty with multitasking Difficulty with organization and planning Auditory processing problems Word finding problems Slowed speed of processing Skin Problems: Benign tumor-like nodules Erethyma Migrans (rash) General Well-being: Decreased interest in play (children) Extreme fatigue, tiredness, exhaustion Unexplained fevers (high or low grade) Flu-like symptoms (early in the illness) Symptoms seem to change, come and go Other Organ Problems: Dysfunction of the thyroid (under or over active thyroid glands) Liver inflammation Bladder & Kidney problems (including bed wetting) When to suspect Lyme:       https://cassia.org/essay.htm "This essay, written by John D. Bleiweiss, M.D. in April, 1994 is very long, but  also very comprehensive. The reader suspecting Lyme symptoms should either  identify with a number of sections of this article, or in this absence, be fairly  certain of excluding the possibility of Lyme.  Any Doctor investigating prudent treatment for Lyme Disease would  do well by reading this essay."

Munchausen's syndrome by proxy and Lyme disease: medical misogyny or diagnostic mystery?

Sadly, this is an on going situation around the world.  Mothers who are concerned for their child's health are vilified by the very people who should be helping to regain the child's health. 

Abstract: Dr VT Sherr.
Chronic, tertiary Lyme disease, a vector-borne infection most accurately designated neuroborreliosis, is often misdiagnosed.

Infectors of the human brain, Lyme borrelial spirochetes are neurotropic, similar to the spirochetes of syphilis. Symptoms of either disease may be stable and persistent, transient and inconsistent or severe yet fleeting. Characteristics may be incompatible with established knowledge of neurological dermatomes, appearing to conventional medical eyes as anatomically impossible, thus creating confusion for doctors, parents and child patients.

Physicians unfamiliar with Lyme patients' shifting, seemingly vague, emotional, and/or bizarre-sounding complaints, frequently know little about late-stage spirochetal disease.

Consequently, they may accuse mothers of fabricating their children's symptoms--the so-called Munchausen's by proxy (MBP) "diagnoses."

Women, following ancient losses of feminine authority in provinces of religion, ethics, and healing - disciplines comprising known fields of early medicine, have been scapegoated throughout history.

In the Middle Ages, women considered potentially weak-minded devil's apprentices became victims of witch-hunts throughout Europe and America.  Millions of women were burned alive at the stake.

Modern medicine's tendency to trivialize women's "offbeat" concerns and the fact that today's hurried physicians of both genders tend to seek easy panaceas, frequently result in the misogyny of mother-devaluation, especially by doctors who are spirochetally naïve.

These factors, when involving cases of cryptic neuroborreliosis, may lead to accusations of MBP.

Thousands of children, sick from complex diseases, have been forcibly removed from mothers who insist, contrary to customary evaluations, that their children are ill.

The charges against these mothers relate to the idea they believe their children sick to satisfy warped internal agendas of their own. "MBP mothers" are then vilified, frequently jailed and publicly shamed for the "sins" of advocating for their children.

In actuality, many such cases involve an unrecognized Lyme borreliosis causation that mothers may insist is valid despite negative tests. 

Doctors who have utilized MBP tactics against mothers are likely to be unaware that in advanced borreliosis, seronegativity is often the rule, a principle disagreed upon by its two extant, published, peer-reviewed, Standards of Care.
These are guidelines for Lyme disease management--the older system questioning the existence of persistent Lyme and the newer system relying on established clinical criteria.

Mothers must be free to obtain the family's preferred medical care by choosing between physicians practicing within either system without fear of reprisal.
Doctors and mothers together may then explore medical options with renewed mutual respect toward the best interest of children's health.

PMID: 15925450 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

The New 'Kid on the Block'... Dietrich Klinghardt ~ MD PhD

Lyme disease - a look beyond antibiotics.

"The new kid on the block is Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) and some of us have looked at it for a long time as possibly being the bug that opens the door for all the other infections to enter the system.

Lyme disease has become a buzzword in the alternative medical field. Since none of the recommended treatments are specific to either one of the microbes, we can never assume that we really know what we treated once a patient has recovered."

"In the last decade the majority of outcome-oriented physicians observed a major shift: we realized that it was neither the lack of vitamins or growth hormone that made our patients ill.

We discovered that toxicity and chronic infections were most often at the core of the client’s suffering.

We watched the discussion, which infection may be the primary one: mycoplasma, stealth viruses, HHV-6, trichomonas, Chlamydia pneumoniae, leptospirosis, mutated strep, or what else?"


http://www.klinghardtacademy.com/images/stories/Lyme_Disease/Lyme_protocol_Jan06.pdf

Lyme disease: A multi-systemic disease

There are many more symptoms for Lyme disease than the ones listed in this link. This is because Lyme is a multi-systemic disease. Aches and pains come and go and move about the body with consistent inconsistency...!!

This information is only meant to help you decide if you need to seek medical treatment to increase the quality of your life.
Just remember tho, a bit bite is not something to be ignored. The sooner you can get treatment, the less chance you have of developing Neuroborreliosis.

http://www.lyme-symptoms.com/1Lyme-Symptoms.html


Lyme is often Misdiagnosed as other Diseases and Disorders.
This is because it tends to mimic about 300 different illnesses which makes it very important to rule them out.
If you have ever experienced bites from ticks, fleas, mosquitoes, lice, biting flys, do not discount them.
You will do so at your peril !

http://www.lyme-symptoms.com/LymeMimics.html


Comparison of Lyme disease and co-infection symptoms.

http://www.lyme-symptoms.com/LymeCoinfectionChart.html

Tick-borne encephalitis or meningoencephalitis: is a bacterial infection of the brain, such as Lyme disease. The symptoms of encephalitis range from mild to severe and can be life threatening. Possible symptoms: Fever, headache, nausea, decreased alertness, malaise, visual disturbances, stiff neck and back decreased consciousness, tremor, seizures. Encephalitis can last from a few days to several months. Permanent neurological consequences may follow recovery in some cases. Consequences may include personality changes, memory loss, language difficulties, seizures, and partial paralysis. Tick-borne meningoencephalitis is caused by a virus and may be a coinfection of lyme.

Lyme Meningitis inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord called the meninges. It often occurs when an infection elsewhere in the body spreads through the blood and into the cerebrospinal fluid (the fluid that circulates in the spaces in and around the brain and spinal cord). One form of bacterial meningitis is related to Lyme disease. Lyme meningitis is generally less severe than other forms of bacterial meningitis and is not fatal. Lyme meningitis may be the first evidence of Lyme disease, occurring without a history of erythema chronicum migrans or flu-like illness. Symptoms in milder cases of encephalitis usually include: headache, fever, stiff neck, sensitivity to light, nausea, sleepiness, confusion.

Chronic meningitis is a slowly developing inflammation of the subarachnoid space (located within the layers of tissues covering the brain and spinal cord) associated neurological involvement affecting the lower extremities. The infection and inflammation develop more slowly, over weeks and months that lasts a month or longer. If symptoms have been present for a month or more, meningitis is described as chronic. People may have a fever, a stiff neck, a headache, double vision, or difficulty walking, or they may become confused. Headache lasting weeks to months persistent/severe/ head pressure /congestion /burning. Burning in the brain and sometimes the neck and spinal cord or parts of the head, forehead or most of the head.

Aseptic meningitis(The space between middle and inner layers of tissues covering the brain and spinal cord (meninges) is inflamed.) Sometimes aseptic meningitis is diagnosed when meningitis is caused by bacteria that are hard to identify, such as the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, syphilis, or tuberculosis. Symptoms Headache, stiff neck, malaise, nausea and muscle aches may develop over days. Usually, aseptic meningitis causes symptoms that are similar to those of bacterial meningitis (fever, headache, vomiting, sluggishness, and a stiff neck). However, people do not become as ill. People may not have a fever, particularly when the cause is not an infection.

http://www.lyme-symptoms.com/2Lyme-Symptoms.html#meningoencephalitis

The Official ILADS Guideline for treating Lyme disease and other tick borne infections.

These Guidelines should be a Bible for any doctor who cares enough to treat his or her patients for any tick borne infections.

One week of antibiotics is NOT enough to kill off the soup of bacteria which can eventually lead to the patient developing severe illnesses from tick bites. Sadly, many people have suffered permanent disability through this oversight and many lives have been ruined both physically and financially. Not to mention the mental anguish caused to the patients by this shortsightedness.

http://www.ilads.org/lyme_disease/B_guidelines_12_17_08.pdf

DIAGNOSTIC HINTS AND TREATMENT GUIDELINES FOR LYME AND OTHER TICK BORNE ILLNESSES
by JOSEPH J. BURRASCANO JR, MD
SEPTEMBER, 2008

In general, you can think of Lyme Borreliosis as having three categories:
acute, early disseminated, and chronic.

The sooner treatment is begun after the start of the infection, the higher the success rate.

However, since it is easiest to cure early disease, this category of Lyme Borreliosis must be taken VERY seriously.

Under-treated infections will inevitably resurface, usually as chronic Lyme, with its tremendous problems of morbidity and difficulty with diagnosis and treatment and high cost in every sense of the word.

So, while the bulk of this document focuses of the more problematic chronic patient, strong emphasis is also placed on earlier stages of this illness where closest attention and care must be made.



If you suspect that you may be affected by a tick borne infection like Rickettsia, Lyme disease and it's many co-infections, please take a look at this link which has invaluable information.

http://chronicfatiguesyndrome.co.za

Forgive them All, for they know not what they should now... !!

If you have seen 15+ Specialists and you still have no idea what is wrong with you.... Then it IS Lyme... !!