Natural Lyme Disease Support
Lyme Disease has become very prevalent in our area during the last decade.
The symptoms are often scary and lingering, and it sometimes takes doctors years before they discover what is causing them.
Whether newly diagnosed or battling Chronic Lyme Disease, the best outcomes happens when the body is additionally supported with natural medicine.
If your Lyme Disease symptoms are persisting and your health has not returned to its previous state in a timely manner, call Natural Medicine Center to speak with the doctor about other options and supportive therapy in dealing with Lyme Disease.
Natural medicine has a very important role in helping someone with Lyme Disease when partnered with medical treatment. The basis for this is simple- Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria responsible for causing symptoms, is an extremely tricky little bug. Did you know that these bacteria will create a protective shell around themselves so they can hide from both the antibiotics and your immune system? This prevents the antibiotics from getting to them and getting rid of them.
What happens then is that you finish your antibiotics and some of the bacteria are still laying "dormant" in your body, and can come back out at any time and re-infect you- this is why many people suffer from symptoms the rest of their life. This is where natural medicine comes in. Two things are very important here- number one is disabling the bacteria from creating their protective shell. And number two- your immune system. It is so very important in fighting off and prevent further complications from Lyme Disease- and it is important that we give it all the tools it needs. We take a very close look at all the components of your immune system, and make sure each one is performing as we want and need it to. These steps are both achieved using natural medicine.
If you have been diagnosed with Lyme Disease- ask yourself and your doctor a few questions:
Have I been receiving the correct type of antibiotic for my specific Lyme Disease infection?
Did I have the antibiotics long enough and were they able to kill every last bacteria- and how do we know?
What else can I be doing to help my body through this difficult infection?
The symptoms are often scary and lingering, and it sometimes takes doctors years before they discover what is causing them.
Whether newly diagnosed or battling Chronic Lyme Disease, the best outcomes happens when the body is additionally supported with natural medicine.
If your Lyme Disease symptoms are persisting and your health has not returned to its previous state in a timely manner, call Natural Medicine Center to speak with the doctor about other options and supportive therapy in dealing with Lyme Disease.
Natural medicine has a very important role in helping someone with Lyme Disease when partnered with medical treatment. The basis for this is simple- Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria responsible for causing symptoms, is an extremely tricky little bug. Did you know that these bacteria will create a protective shell around themselves so they can hide from both the antibiotics and your immune system? This prevents the antibiotics from getting to them and getting rid of them.
What happens then is that you finish your antibiotics and some of the bacteria are still laying "dormant" in your body, and can come back out at any time and re-infect you- this is why many people suffer from symptoms the rest of their life. This is where natural medicine comes in. Two things are very important here- number one is disabling the bacteria from creating their protective shell. And number two- your immune system. It is so very important in fighting off and prevent further complications from Lyme Disease- and it is important that we give it all the tools it needs. We take a very close look at all the components of your immune system, and make sure each one is performing as we want and need it to. These steps are both achieved using natural medicine.
If you have been diagnosed with Lyme Disease- ask yourself and your doctor a few questions:
Have I been receiving the correct type of antibiotic for my specific Lyme Disease infection?
Did I have the antibiotics long enough and were they able to kill every last bacteria- and how do we know?
What else can I be doing to help my body through this difficult infection?
Lyme Disease Infection, Courtesy of the CDC:
Early localized stage (3-30 days post-tick bite)
• Red, expanding rash called erythema migrans (EM)
• Fatigue, chills, fever, headache, muscle and joint aches, and swollen lymph nodes
Some people may get these general symptoms in addition to an EM rash, but in others, these general symptoms may be the only evidence of infection.
Some people get a small bump or redness at the site of a tick bite that goes away in 1-2 days, like a mosquito bite. This is not a sign that you have Lyme disease. However, ticks can spread other organisms that may cause a different type of rash. For example, Southern Tick-associated Rash Illness (STARI) causes a rash with a very similar appearance.
Early disseminated stage (days to weeks post-tick bite)
Untreated, the infection may spread from the site of the bite to other parts of the body, producing an array of specific symptoms that may come and go, including:
• Additional EM lesions in other areas of the body
• Facial or Bell's palsy (loss of muscle tone on one or both sides of the face)
• Severe headaches and neck stiffness due to meningitis (inflammation of the spinal cord)
• Pain and swelling in the large joints (such as knees)
• Shooting pains that may interfere with sleep
• Heart palpitations and dizziness due to changes in heartbeat
Many of these symptoms will resolve over a period of weeks to months, even without treatment2. However, lack of treatment can result in additional complications, described below.
Late disseminated stage (months-to-years post-tick bite)
Approximately 60% of patients with untreated infection may begin to have intermittent bouts of arthritis, with severe joint pain and swelling. Large joints are most often affected, particularly the knees3. Arthritis caused by Lyme disease manifests differently than other causes of arthritis and must be distinguished from arthralgias (pain, but not swelling, in joints).
Up to 5% of untreated patients may develop chronic neurological complaints months to years after infection4. These include shooting pains, numbness or tingling in the hands or feet, and problems with short-term memory.
Lingering symptoms after treatment (post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome).
Approximately 10-20% of patients with Lyme disease have symptoms that last months to years after treatment with antibiotics5. These symptoms can include muscle and joint pains, cognitive defects, sleep disturbance, or fatigue. The cause of these symptoms is not known, but there is no evidence that these symptoms are due to ongoing infection with B. burgdorferi.
This condition is referred to as Post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS). There is some evidence that PTLDS is caused by an autoimmune response, in which a person's immune system continues to respond, doing damage to the body’s tissues, even after the infection has been cleared. Studies have shown that continuing antibiotic therapy is not helpful and can be harmful for persons with PTLDS.
References:
• Correspondence. The Presenting Manifestations of Lyme Disease and the Outcomes of Treatment. N Engl J Med 2003; 348:2472-2474, June 12, 2003.
• Allen C. Steere, Jenifer Coburn, Lisa Glickstein. The emergence of Lyme disease. J. Clin. Invest. 2004; 113(8):1093.
• Steere, AC, Schoen, RT, Taylor, E. The clinical evolution of Lyme arthritis. Ann. Intern. Med. 1987. 107:725-731.
• Auwaerter PG, Aucott J, Dumler JS. Lyme borreliosis (Lyme disease): molecular and cellular pathobiology and prospects for prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Expert Rev Mol Med. 2004 Jan 19;6(2):1-22.
• Marques, A. Chronic Lyme disease: a review. Infect Dis Clin North Am 2008; 22:341-60.