Lyme Disease
In the mid 1970s, a cluster of children in Lyme, Connecticut, experienced what they thought was an outbreak of juvenile arthritis. But the cause was eventually traced to a bacterium called
Lyme disease is transmitted by deer ticks that become infected by feeding on small rodents. When an infected tick bites a human or animal, it can pass along the bacterium, which then travels into the bloodstream and causes a number of symptoms, some of which can be quite severe. Within days or weeks, the infected person may develop a bull's eye rash around the site of the bite and a flu-like illness.
Anyone who lives, works, or spends time outdoors in areas where deer live is at risk for Lyme disease. Your best way to prevent Lyme is to avoid these areas such as overgrown fields or dense woods. Deer ticks generally lurk in places within three feet off the ground, including leaves, plant stems, and grass, but they can also be found in well-kept lawns and gardens.
Symptoms and Diagnosis
It may be days or weeks before the first symptoms of Lyme infection emerge. In about 80 to 90 percent of cases, you will see an expanding rash that usually radiates from the bite. On some people, the rash may resemble a bull's eye. In dark-skinned people, the rash may look more like a bruise. About the same time, you may experience flu-like symptoms, such as joint pain, fever, chills, and fatigue. Although bothersome, these symptoms may not be severe. They may even disappear, only to recur later.
As the disease progresses, the symptoms may become more severe. You may experience a stiff neck, facial paralysis, severe fatigue, numbness, and tingling. Weeks or months later, you may develop severe headaches, painful arthritis, swelling of the joints, cardiac abnormalities, and neurological problems characterized by memory loss, disorientation, and confusion.
Determining whether you have Lyme disease is usually a two-step process. Many patients are first given an enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) test first. The ELISA can detect elevated blood levels of antibodies produced in response to the
But people who do not have Lyme disease still sometimes test positive, which is why all positive ELISA results are confirmed by the Western blot test. The second test looks for more specific Lyme antibodies in the blood. The combination of the ELISA and Western blot is currently considered the best diagnostic tool for detecting Lyme disease.
Alert
Not all ticks are infected with Lyme disease. And most ticks don't start transmitting the disease until an average of thirty-six to forty-eight hours after they've attached themselves. Your best bet is to find ticks before they can infect you. Scan your body after an outing in tick-infested areas. If you do see a tick, remove it by its head with tweezers, firmly and steadily without twisting.
Treatment
Caught early, the disease can be almost always effectively treated with antibiotics, which may be given for as long as four weeks. In cases that involve arthritis, a second course may be prescribed. Antibiotics may be given orally or by injection.
How Lyme Differs from FMS
There's no doubt that Lyme disease can resemble fibromyalgia. Both conditions cause muscle aches, numbness, and fatigue, and both can resemble arthritis. In the later stages, Lyme can cause the cognitive problems that resemble fibro fog.
A diagnosis of Lyme, however, does not necessarily rule out the possibility of fibromyalgia. In some people, having Lyme disease can be the traumatic event that triggers the onset of fibromyalgia. But getting an accurate diagnosis is important. Long-term treatment with antibiotics for people who have fibromyalgia and not Lyme disease will not relieve FMS. In fact, such treatment can cause troubling gastrointestinal side effects and make you resistant to subsequent antibiotics.
