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

So!! you don't think Lyme disease can touch you...

Never say Never...  For the person who thinks they cannot be touched by Lyme disease, please read the above link.  Chances are if you have ever been bitten by a tick, flea or mosquito, your aches and pains, arthritis and stiff neck, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, MS, etc. ,etc. could just be caused by the bite of any of these bugs...

We're Misunderstood

This blog is written by a young lady who was diagnosed with Lyme disease in January 2011.

As she says:  "Lyme disease is an epidemic larger than AIDS, West Nile Virus, and Bird Flu combined. The "great imitator", Lyme affects each person differently. Millions are silently suffering, improperly diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, ALS, Alzheimer's, Psychiatric Disorders, and many others."

It is bad enough dealing with Chronic Lyme Disease and the many co-infections that go with it, but sometimes it is even harder trying to deal with the may sceptics and critics who pass comment when they are ignornant about the ravages of these illnesses.  It really is like having the sword of Damocleas hanging over you.


This blog is truely inspirational and the article "We're Misunderstood" could have been written by me, but after 30 years of battling this illness with no diagnosis, I don't think I could have stated it so well.

What you can expect to happen after you have been bitten by a tick

Let it be said, that treatment with tetracycline is VERY important if you don't want to land up feeling like a bus has run you over in a few years time...  antibiotic therapy is most important, and can be life saving. 

Tick bite fever is a bacterial infection (rickettsia) transmitted by ticks. The symptoms of tick bite fever can vary considerably in severity and should be treated with antibiotics such as doxycycline.  This condition occurs in many areas of the world and is often known by a variety of names.  Where there is rickettsia, more often than not, lurks Lyme disease (borrelia burgdorferi).

A course of 3 weeks of Doxycycline can stem the development of Lyme disease and it's co-infections, but there is no guarantee.  This tiny little creature, sometimes the size of a poppy seed, is deadly.

Without proper treatment, you may experience joint pain and stiffness of th body if your disease progresses as well as neurological symptoms. A great number of people who develop Lyme disease experience joint pain and usually one or two joints are affected at a time,.  The knee is the the most common joint, followed by the shoulder, ankle, elbow, and hip.  Initially, joint discomfort may come and go but after months of infection, more typical symptoms of arthritis occur, with swelling, redness, and pain in the affected joint that may last for months if not years.

Some patients have no symptoms, despite evidence in the spinal fluid of the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. Others develop typical symptoms of meningitis, which include headache, stiff neck, and light avoidance. Nerve inflammation can manifest as facial muscle paralysis, often with just one side affected, causing a distorted appearance and drooling, or as pain or paralysis in the arms or legs. Seizures, eye inflammation, emotional changes, depression, and poor memory and concentration can also develop. Children tend to develop irregular, jerky movements of the arms, legs, or face. Some say that Neurological symptoms usually resolve within a few months, but mine have persisted for 11 years.  They started about 5 years after my last bout of tick bite fever.

Heart symptoms can occur in up to 10% of patients with untreated Lyme disease. and can show up as abnormal rhythms, which may be noticeable as palpitations, or as confusion, fatigue, dizziness and/or fainting. Sometimes patients are not aware of symptoms.  I thought my symptoms were related to my age, until I received a true diagnosis after blood tests.

Neurological changes can also happen, with memory and concentration problems, inability to sleep, chronic fatigue, and even personality changes. Specific nerve disorders may also persist, causing partial paralysis in affected muscles. i.e. Bell's Palsy and Parkinson's disease.

Sometimes musculoskeletal problems become chronic even after correct Lyme disease treatment has appeared to have been successful.   Lyme disease has symptoms similar to those of chronic fatigue syndrome, including chronic pain, headache, fatigue, joint stiffness, and sleep disturbances. All are difficult to diagnose with certainty. Fibromyalgia, which can occur after Lyme disease, is also characterized by similar symptoms.

My advice.  Don't mess about with any tick bite.  Seek a doctor who is WELL VERSED in the treatment of Rickettsia and Lyme to ensure you don't relapse.  After 16 years of mis-diagnosis, I ended up having to stop work at age 57 due to my ill health caused by rickettsia, Lyme disease and Q Fever, all of which I pick up in South Africa in my own garden in Johannesburg, despite the fact that the Department of Health deny this is possible !!

Will Family and Friends ever understand... ?

I continually get frustrated as family just do not get what Lyme is all about, despite seeing me live with it for about 25 years.  Now matter how much you try to explain to others what is is like living with Lyme, unless they themselves have Lyme, they just won't get it.

If you are lucky, they may grasp certain aspects of your suffering, but don't waste your energy trying to justify why you can't work or why even a trip to the shops for groceries can feel like a major expedition for you.  You can talk yourself blue in the face trying to explain why you should eat organic at every meal, why loud places, loud noises and music can drive you demented.  Why even perfume no longer smells as good as it  did year before your illness...

The problem is, people with Lyme generally look so well and healthy that it is difficult for others to comprehend they are not well.  Maybe even trying to pull the wool over everyone's eyes...

Even telling your family and friends that Lyme disease is the reason for your memory loss, they will still wonder why you forget to turn off the tap, put the frozen food back in the fridge instead of the microwave to defrost or even why you leave the stove on.  They will tell you to pull yourself towards yourself and won't understand your bouts of anxiety and/or depression.

Lyme Disease - Misdiagnoses And Medical Dictatorship

QUOTE:

"Hundreds of thousands of sick, disabled and dying people are intentionally being denied proper testing, diagnoses and treatment. Many feel that this is due to the greed of the pharmeceutical companies and perhaps the depopulation goals of the bureaucratic elite. The later isn't such a far fetched idea. Henry Kissenger himself, in his National Security Memorandum, advised the President that there were 13 countries in Africa which were growing much too rapidly, were threatening the availability of certain resources, and that we needed to either decrease the birth rate or increase the death rate. Not too long after this proposal, the World health Organization visited these countries with free smallpox vaccines. Several years later 60% of the people who recieved these shots, presented with the AIDS virus. A similar scenerio took place in NYC. Hepatitis B vaccines were given out free to promiscuous gay men. Soon after, 60% of this population also came down with AIDS."

~7~ SEVEN LYME FACTS THAT COULD HAVE SAVED ME!!!