Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is an infection that derives from a tick bite. The disease has a variety of symptoms, including changes affecting the skin, heart, joints and nervous system. It is caused by an infection from a micro-organism (Borrelia burghdorferi), itself transmitted by a bite from the wood tick, a blood-sucking parasite which normally lives on deer.
The wood tick is found in many areas, particularly in wooded areas where deer are common. A tick will settle anywhere on a human body, but prefers warm, moist and dark places such as the crotch or armpits. When the tick has found a suitable place on the body, it sticks in its probe to draw up blood, exposing the host to the risk of infection.
The symptoms of Lyme disease are extremely variable, as is the incubation period, which may take anywhere from two to thirty-two days. The first sign may be the appearance of a red, circular lesion or rash on the skin. This is caused by the migration of the infected organism outward through the skin and it may appear anywhere from a few days to a few weeks after the bite. The lesion gradually expands into a circular pattern while the centre appears to clear up. For this reason it is sometimes referred to as a 'Bulls Eye' rash.
Lyme disease symptoms can be flu-like; fatigue, difficulty sleeping, muscle weakness, achiness, headache, stiff neck, joint and muscle pains, mild fever, swollen glands. Occasionally nausea and vomiting may occur.
The symptoms often begin with back pain, typically between the shoulder blades and in the neck like a slipped disc. There may be distorted feelings around the area of the bite. The pain worsens at night.
Facial paralysis may occur weeks to months later. Enlargement of the spleen and lymph glands, severe headaches, enlargement of the heart muscle and abnormal heart rhythm may also occur about this time.
Over the long term, persistent backache, stiff neck, joint pains that attack the knees, swelling and pain in other joints and even degenerative muscle disease may be caused by Lyme disease.
Once arthritis appears, the joint pain and stiffness can come and go recurring even years later. An estimated 10 percent of those with Lyme disease arthritis are left with permanent stiffness in their joints
In rare cases, the disease may become chronic, with a slowly developing destruction of the nervous system, numbing, partial hearing impairment and the development of dementia.
Because tick bites are usually painless, the incubation period is so long and the symptoms are so varied, the disorder may go unrecognised for weeks or even months. A doctor may fail to diagnose the disease before it is at its advanced stages. Lyme disease produces symptoms that resemble those of multiple sclerosis, gout, lupus and chronic fatigue syndrome and mis-diagnosis is not uncommon.
If caught in the early stages Lyme Disease is treatable. The doctor may take a blood sample to determine whether the patient has developed an antibody towards Lyme disease in their blood although a positive antibody test does not necessarily mean that borrelia has recently been contracted. The antibodies may be found in the blood several years after an infection is over. Unfortunately, the antibody test is not a very efficient diagnostic tool: false-positive results are common.
A swift diagnosis of Lyme disease is more likely if the person remembers a tick bite and mentions this to the doctor while the rash is present.
If the doctor suspects neuro borrelia then hospital admission is required for tests on fluids from the spinal canal. This is to determine whether Lyme disease has entered the nervous system.
In cases of chronic neuro borrelia, the treatment may include a CT scan of the nervous system and if there are other symptoms, the doctor will arrange hospital admission for further investigation and possible further treatment with antibiotics.
How Natural Practices can help with Lyme Disease:
First stage - Screening with the 'Health Detective' Screening System
Second stage - Bio-Resonance therapy
When Lyme disease is already at the chronic stage, the orthodox medical treatment with antibiotics can be unsuccessful. The experience of many practitioners of Bio-Energetic Medicine across the world suggests that Bio-Resonance therapy combined with nutrition and herbal remedies can be extremely effective.
Worryingly, it has been established that not only ticks can carry the Lyme disease bacteria, mosquitoes, fleas and other bloodsucking insects can spread Lyme disease to humans.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) estimated that the number of cases of Lyme disease in England and Wales could be up to 3000 per annum. Lyme Disease Action has evidence that even this figure may be an underestimate (Daily Mail, 11 April 2008).
