Lyme disease is transmitted by the bite of a tick infected with Borrelia burgdorferi. Get the facts on Lyme disease symptoms, treatment, signs, vaccine, diagnosis, stages, and prevention from someone whose best friend lives with lyme for more then 16 years now.
Lyme disease is not like any other bacterial infection. With most bacterial infections, you expect to take an antibiotic and be over the infection within a week or 10 days. Despite treatment, however, many people with Lyme disease often end up with more serious, widespread infections.
The thing with Lyme is that it creates a dysfunctional immune system in our bodies and on its own the immune system cannot fight off the Lyme and without the body’s own immune vigilance there is a slow progression to health.
Your immune system is important as it serves to protect you from even the simplest of colds. For this reason it is essential that you try to support your immune system and keep it bolstered against any potential illnesses. This is where taking acai berries can be truly beneficial to your health. Nutrition plays an important part in maintaining immune function.
How does your immune system work?
Using a unique combination of enzymes, good bacteria, proteins, cells and tissues; these mechanisms work together to protect you against the influences of viruses, diseases, parasites and bad bacteria. Without them, the mildest of colds/infections could cause serious damage to your body.
Fortunately 2 and a half centuries worth of scientific research has ensured we are better prepared for taking care of our immune system and ultimately our health. From simply receiving enough sleep to keeping our bodies hydrated, each of these tools has been proven to have a positive influence on our immunity.
However, there are other equally effective measures for protecting your immune system, that many of you are unaware of and in some cases don’t even know about: antioxidants, vitamins and good bacteria.
Each of these ‘invisible nutrients’ is available in a variety of different foods, but are not as potent as in acai berry, as we’ll now explain:
• Antioxidants – through a combination of antioxidants and anthocyanins, these can help your blood to cancel out the effects of ‘free radicals’ (caused by pollutants, smoke and external elements) and ultimately prevent cell damage.
Recent studies by the Linus Pauling Institute have found that by naturally increasing your vegetable and fruit consumption, this antioxidant boost can decrease an individual’s risk of developing cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes.
• Vitamin A – your skin is an organ too so it is essential to protect it from the outside world and the easier easy to do this is to ensure you receive enough vitamin A. Not only can it help you fight aging, but vitamin A is the best source for clear, smooth skin.
• Vitamin C – look back over history and you’ll soon realize the importance of vitamin C in your diet. The leading cause of scurvy in sailors over 100 years ago, the complete exclusion of this vital vitamin (for an extended period of time) can result in spots, spongy gums, bleeding from mucous membranes, fatigue and partial immobilization.
Whilst eating sensibly can provide you with the nutrients you need to protect your immune system, incorporating such fruits as acai berry can offer you all 3 elements in one fruit.
I am not saying with this article that the Acai Berry all alone will heal lyme disease, of course the person with lyme needs treatment. But the Acai Berry will for sure build up your immune system to fight this illness the best way it can and the immune system of each individual must ultimately assume the management of infections like Lyme disease.
Lyme disease can affect different body systems, such as the nervous system, joints, skin, and heart. Symptoms are often described as happening in three stages (although not everyone experiences all three):
1. A circular rash, typically within 1-2 weeks of infection, often is the first sign of infection. Although it's considered typical of Lyme, many people never develop one.
The rash usually has a characteristic "bull's-eye" appearance, with a central red spot surrounded by clear skin that is ringed by an expanding red rash. It also can appear as an expanding ring of solid redness. It may be warm to the touch and usually is not painful or itchy. The rash might be more difficult to see on people with darker skin tones, where it can look like a bruise. The rash usually resolves in about a month.
2. Along with the rash, a person may have flu-like symptoms such as swollen lymph nodes, fatigue, headache and muscle aches. Left untreated, symptoms of the initial illness may go away on their own. But in some cases, the infection can spread to other parts of the body. Symptoms of this stage of Lyme disease usually appear within several weeks after the tick bite, even in someone who has not developed the initial rash. A person might feel very tired and unwell or have more areas of rash that aren't at the site of the bite.
Lyme disease can affect the heart, leading to an irregular heart rhythm or chest pain. It can spread to the nervous system, causing facial paralysis (Bell's palsy), or tingling and numbness in the arms and legs. It can start to cause headaches and neck stiffness, which may be signs of meningitis.
3. The last stage of Lyme disease can occur if the early stages were not detected or appropriately treated. Symptoms of late Lyme disease can appear anytime from weeks to years (average of 6 months) after an infectious tick bite, and in children is almost always in the form of arthritis, particularly in the knee or other large joints.
Having such a wide range of symptoms can make Lyme disease difficult for doctors to diagnose, although certain blood tests can be done to look for evidence of the body's reaction to Lyme disease.
1. Lyme disease is contagious.
Lyme disease is not transmitted from an affected person to someone else. Therefore, Lyme disease is not contagious.
2. What is Lyme disease?
Lyme disease is a bacterial illness caused by a bacterium called a "spirochete."
3. You've found a tick on your leg. Now what?
The longer a tick remains attached to someone, the greater the chance it will be able to spread a disease-causing germ. Therefore, any attached tick should be removed as soon as possible using a fine-point tweezers. The tick should not be squeezed or twisted but grasped close to the skin and pulled straight out with steady pressure.
4. Ticks are carriers of the Lyme bacterium...
Ticks are carriers of the Lyme bacterium in their stomachs.
5. Where was Lyme disease first identified?
Lyme disease only became apparent in 1975 when mothers of a group of children who lived near each other in Lyme, Connecticut, made researchers aware that their children had all been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. This unusual grouping of illness that appeared "rheumatoid" eventually led researchers to the identification of the bacterial cause of the children's condition, what was then called "Lyme disease" in 1982.
6. Lyme disease is reported most often in the southeastern U.S.
Lyme disease has been reported most often in the northeastern United States, but it has been reported in all 50 states, as well as China, Europe, Japan, Australia, and parts of the former Soviet Union. In certain areas of New York, where Lyme disease is common, over half of the ticks are infected.
7. What are early symptoms and signs of Lyme disease?
As the bacteria spread in the skin away from the initial tick bite, the infection causes an expanding reddish rash that is often associated with "flu-like" symptoms.
8. The characteristic Lyme disease rash looks like...
In the early phase of the illness, within days to weeks of the tick bite, the skin around the bite develops an expanding ring of unraised redness. There may be an outer ring of brighter redness and a central area of clearing, leading to a "bull's-eye" appearance.
9. Lyme disease rash is called...
This classic initial rash of Lyme disease is called "erythema migrans" (formerly called erythema chronicum migrans).
10. What is one of the effects of late-stage Lyme disease?
The later phases of Lyme disease can affect the heart, causing inflammation of the heart muscle. This can result in abnormal heart rhythms and heart failure. The nervous system can develop facial muscle paralysis (Bell's palsy), abnormal sensation due to disease of peripheral nerves (peripheral neuropathy), meningitis, and confusion. Inflammation in the joints (arthritis) begins with swelling, stiffness, and pain, and particularly affects one knee.
11. How do doctors diagnose Lyme disease?
In early Lyme disease, doctors can sometimes make a diagnosis simply by finding the classic red rash. Currently, the confirmatory test that is most reliable is the Western Blot assay antibody test.
12. Which drug is used to treat early stage Lyme disease?
Early illness is usually treated with medicines taken by mouth, for example, doxycycline (Vibramycin), amoxicillin (Amoxil), or cefuroxime axetil (Ceftin).
13. How can Lyme disease be prevented?
Because Lyme disease is transmitted by ticks attaching to the body, it is important to use tick-bite avoidance techniques when visiting known tick areas. Spraying insect repellant containing DEET onto exposed skin can help. Wearing long pants tucked into boots and long sleeves can protect the skin. Clothing, children, and pets should be examined for ticks. Ticks can be removed gently with tweezers and saved in a jar for later identification. Bathing the skin and scalp and washing clothing upon returning home might prevent the bite and transmission of the disease.
1. You can't feel ticks crawl 2. They numb you before biting 3. They follow your breath (C02) and track you down 4. Deer ticks love all animals 5. Lyme is a dangerous, virulent spirochete 6. Insurance doesn't cover proper treatment for most people 7. Most new lyme victims are children
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The term "chronic Lyme disease" or "post-Lyme disease syndrome" is often applied to several different sets of patients. One usage refers to people suffering from the symptoms of untreated and disseminated late-stage Lyme disease: arthritis, peripheral neuropathy and /or encephalomyelitis. The term is also applied to people who have had the disease in the past and some symptoms remain after antibiotic treatment, which is also called post-Lyme disease syndrome. A third and controversial use of the term applies to patients with nonspecific symptoms, such as fatigue, who show no objective evidence they have been infected with Lyme disease in the past, since the standard diagnostic tests for infection are negative.
Up to one third of Lyme disease patients who have completed a course of antibiotic treatment continue to have symptoms, such as severe fatigue, sleep disturbance, unconsciousness, and cognitive difficulties, with these symptoms being severe in about 2% of cases.
The symptoms may represent "for all intents and purposes" fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome. A few doctors attribute these symptoms to persistent infection with Borrelia, or coinfections with other tick-borne infections, such as Ehrlichia and Babesia. Other doctors believe that the initial infection may cause an autoimmune reaction that continues to cause serious symptoms even after the bacteria have been eliminated by antibiotics.
Antibiotic treatment is the central pillar in the management of Lyme disease. However, in the late stages of borreliosis, symptoms may persist despite extensive and repeated antibiotic treatment. Although these chronic symptoms are possibly due to either autoimmunity or residual bacteria (see immunological studies below), no Borrelia DNA can usually be detected in the joints after antibiotic treatment, which suggests the arthritis may continue, even after the bacteria have been killed. Lyme arthritis that persists after antibiotic treatment may be treated with hydroxychloroquine or methotrexate. Corticosteroid injections into the affected joint are not recommended for any stage of Lyme arthritis.
Patients with chronic neuropathic pain responded well to gabapentin monotherapy with residual pain after intravenous ceftriaxone treatment in a pilot study. Some antibiotics may have a dual effect on Lyme disease, since minocycline and doxycycline have anti-inflammatory effects in addition to their antibiotic actions, including anti-inflammatory effects specific to the inflammation caused by Lyme disease. Indeed, minocycline is used in other neurodegenerative and inflammatory disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, rheumatoid arthritis and ALS.
Lyme disease, or Lyme borreliosis, is an emerging infectious disease caused by at least three species of bacteria belonging to the genus Borrelia. Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto is the main cause of Lyme disease in the United States, whereas Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii cause most European cases. The disease is named after the town of Lyme, Connecticut, USA, where a number of cases were identified in 1975.
Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere. Borrelia is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected ticks belonging to a few species of the genus Ixodes ("hard ticks"). Early symptoms may include fever, headache, fatigue, depression, and a characteristic circular skin rash called erythema migrans (EM). Left untreated, later symptoms may involve the joints, heart, and central nervous system. In most cases, the infection and its symptoms are eliminated by antibiotics, especially if the illness is treated early. Delayed or inadequate treatment can lead to the more serious symptoms, which can be disabling and difficult to treat.
Lyme disease can affect multiple body systems and produce a range of symptoms. Not all patients with Lyme disease will have all symptoms, and many of the symptoms are not specific to Lyme disease, but can occur with other diseases as well. The incubation period from infection to the onset of symptoms is usually one to two weeks, but can be much shorter (days), or much longer (months to years).
The classic sign of early local infection with Lyme disease is a circular, outwardly expanding rash called erythema chronicum migrans (also erythema migrans or EM), which occurs at the site of the tick bite three to thirty days after the tick bite. The rash is red, and may be warm, but is generally painless. Classically, the innermost portion remains dark red and is thicker and firmer; the outer edge remains red; and the portion in between clears, giving the appearance of a bullseye(the centre of a target). However, partial clearing is uncommon, and the bullseye pattern more often involves central redness.
Not all lyme patients show a rash, that is why some don't even know they contracted lyme. Lyme disease can progress to later stages even in patients who do not develop a rash.
Within days to weeks after the onset of local infection, the Borrelia bacteria may begin to spread through the bloodstream. EM may develop at sites across the body that bear no relation to the original tick bite. Another skin condition that is apparently absent in North American patients, but occurs in Europe, is borrelial lymphocytoma, a purplish lump that develops on the ear lobe, nipple, or scrotum. Other discrete symptoms include migrating pain in muscles, joints, and tendons, and heart palpitations and dizziness caused by changes in heartbeat.
Various acute neurological problems, termed neuroborreliosis, appear in 10–15% of untreated patients. These include facial palsy, which is the loss of muscle tone on one or both sides of the face, as well as meningitis, which involves severe headaches, neck stiffness, and sensitivity to light. Radiculoneuritis causes shooting pains that may interfere with sleep, as well as abnormal skin sensations. Mild encephalitis may lead to memory loss, sleep disturbances, or mood changes. In addition, some case reports have described altered mental status as the only symptom seen in a few cases of early neuroborreliosis.
After several months, untreated or inadequately treated patients may go on to develop severe and chronic symptoms that affect many parts of the body, including the brain, nerves, eyes, joints and heart. Many disabling symptoms can occur, including permanent paraplegia in the most extreme cases.
Chronic neurologic symptoms occur in up to 5% of untreated patients. A polyneuropathy that involves shooting pains, numbness, and tingling in the hands or feet may develop. A neurologic syndrome called Lyme encephalopathy is associated with subtle cognitive problems, such as difficulties with concentration and short-term memory. These patients may also experience profound fatigue. However, other problems, such as depression and fibromyalgia, are no more common in people who have been infected with Lyme than in the general population. Chronic encephalomyelitis, which may be progressive, can involve cognitive impairment, weakness in the legs, awkward gait, facial palsy, bladder problems, vertigo, and back pain. In rare cases untreated Lyme disease may cause frank psychosis, which has been mis-diagnosed as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Panic attacks and anxiety can occur; there may also be delusional behavior, including somatoform delusions, sometimes accompanied by a depersonalization or derealization syndrome, where the patients begin to feel detached from themselves or from reality.
Lyme arthritis usually affects the knees. In a minority of patients, arthritis can occur in other joints, including the ankles, elbows, wrist, hips, and shoulders. Pain is often mild or moderate, usually with swelling at the involved joint.
Lyme disease is diagnosed clinically based on symptoms, objective physical findings (such as erythema migrans, facial palsy or arthritis) or a history of possible exposure to infected ticks, as well as serological blood tests.
Several forms of laboratory testing for Lyme disease are available, some of which have not been adequately validated. The most widely used tests are serologies, which measure levels of specific antibodies in a patient's blood. These tests may be negative in early infection, as the body may not have produced a significant quantity of antibodies, but they are considered a reliable aid in the diagnosis of later stages of Lyme disease.
Diagnosis of late-stage Lyme disease is often complicated by a multifaceted appearance and nonspecific symptoms, prompting one reviewer to call Lyme the new "great imitator". Lyme disease may be misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, Crohn's disease or other autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases.
Lyme disease is not like any other bacterial infection. With most bacterial infections, you expect to take an antibiotic and be over the infection within a week or 10 days. Despite treatment, however, many people with Lyme disease often end up with more serious, widespread infections.
