Unusual symptoms of Lyme disease – food, neurological, circulatory, and joint

Lyme disease is a multi-organ disease that is transmitted most often by ticks. It is difficult to diagnose and, if left untreated, can have negative effects on the proper functioning of the human body. At first glance, the symptoms of infection resemble other diseases. Over time, however, symptoms become more and more intense, making it difficult for people to carry out their daily activities. What unusual symptoms does Lyme disease cause? Can this disease be cured?

1. The symptoms of Lyme disease can resemble many other diseases
2. Untreated infection has negative effects on the body
3. The key moment is removing the tick and further diagnostics
4. More information can be found on the Onet homepage

What is Lyme disease?

Lyme disease is a bacterial diseasecaused by spirochetes of the bacteria Borrelia. Their hosts are many species of mammals. Ticks feed on their blood, so they absorb microorganisms along with their food. When this dangerous arachnid sticks into a person’s skin, it transmits an infection to him.

Now that you know what Lyme disease is, the question is, how do you recognize this extremely insidious disease?

How to recognize Lyme disease?

If a person is aware that a tick has bitten him, then it is necessary to control the injection site and check whether there is a migratory erythema there. This is the only specific symptom for Lyme disease. It can occur up to several days after the bite.

Unfortunately, in some people it does not develop at all or is so little visible that some people do not know that they have been infected. In addition to redness, the first and most common symptoms of Lyme disease may initially resemble a cold or the flu.

Infected patients often complain of headaches, general breakdown, fatigue and fever. In the initial stage of the disease, there are also troublesome pains in the joints and spine. In extreme cases, there is also a stiff neck, vomiting and nausea. Then the patient must be hospitalized.

Unfortunately, there are often cases where patients do not know that they have been bitten by a tick, because the very moment of its injection is painless. These arachnids are located in warm and invisible places, such as:

1. knee bends,
2. groin,
3. abdominal area,
4. skin of head,
5. back,
6. smells.

Patients often wonder if Lyme disease is possible without a tick. Some people find out by accident that they are sick, but do not remember the moment of the presence of a tick in their body. Doctors say that this is not possible. The tick may have gone unnoticed and the body was developing latent Lyme disease.

Years later symptoms occur with greater intensity and are more burdensome for the patient. This type of disease is difficult to treat and is characterized by atypical ailments that often resemble other ailments.

You are bitten by a tick and you don’t know what to do? You can perform a laboratory diagnosis of Lyme disease to increase the chances of a complete recovery in the event of a confirmed tick-borne disease.

Lyme disease – unusual symptoms

The occurrence of symptoms and their severity depend primarily on the body and its autoimmune system. Some people experience the first signs of the disease immediately after biting, others a few years after it. The second case is definitely more dangerous.

Untreated Lyme disease can cause symptoms that will stay with you for the rest of your life e.g. heart problems. Some of them are non-standard, which is why this infection is often confused with: chronic fatigue, neurosis, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or heart disease.

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Heart rhythm disturbances

Symptoms related to heart problems are most common in young people. They can resemble bradycardia, which is when the heart muscle is contracting less than 60 beats per minute. The patient then feels drowsy, weary, dizzy or memory lapses.

Lyme disease can also have symptoms similar to tachycardia – increased heart rate. In this case, the resting heart rate reaches over 100 beats per minute, and the person may experience chest pain, weakness and shortness of breath. It is also possible that the two disorders occur alternately.

Digestive symptoms

Symptoms of the digestive system may also be present in patients. Lyme disease and its co-infections also affect the dysfunction of the liver and spleen.

In such situations, patients complain of decreased appetite, diarrhea, anorexia, pain in the right side of the epigastrium and vomiting. There are also cases of constipation and reflux, which is the backflow of stomach contents into the esophagus, causing heartburn and a burning sensation in the throat.

Neurological symptoms

Lyme disease causes neurological symptoms and is thus transformed into Lyme disease. This means that the disease can infect both the central and peripheral nervous systems. Its early form paralyzes the cranial nerve. The patient feels then: tingling in the face, pain intensifying especially at night and the drooping corner of the mouth. It is also possible to experience visual disturbances, drooping eyelids or duplicating the image.

In advanced disease study, the meninges usually become inflamed. Patients are then accompanied by:

1. speech disorders, 
2. vomiting, 
3. fever, 
4. cognitive impairment.

Arthralgia

Other symptoms that may not initially be directly associated with Lyme disease are joint and spine pains. Patients complain of back problems at night and immediately after getting out of bed.

Some people also experience swelling, redness and a feeling of warmth, especially in the knee, ankle, shoulder, elbow and hip joints. They occur periodically on one side only. Over time, the pains turn into chronic arthritis, which requires treatment with antibiotics or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

Pressure surges

An unusual symptom of Lyme disease are pressure surges that are variable, paroxysmal. In sick people, they appear suddenly, usually accompanied by fatigue, dizziness and shortness of breath.

The pressure can be as high as 200/120 at one moment, but after a dozen or so minutes it drops spontaneously to the value of 90/60. It is extremely burdensome and burdensome for the human body.

During these episodes, patients pass out, experience tightness in the chest, and palpitations. These attacks last several minutes and you never know when they will happen.

Lyme disease research

If a person notices any of the above symptoms, it is worth going for a thorough diagnosis that will exclude or confirm Lyme disease. The first step is to perform an ELISA test. It detects the presence of anti-Borrelia antibodies in two classes: IgM and IgG. When the test shows the first of them, it means that the infection was recent. If the IgG antibodies are positive, it indicates a past infection, i.e. passed Lyme disease.

The ELISA test is appropriate for the early stage of disease detection. For advanced and more accurate health information, the Wester-Blott test should be performed in the second phase, the results of which show better sensitivity and specificity parameters.

The next step is to do the Lymphocyte Transformation Test (LTT). Contrary to the previous methods, it allows you to determine whether the disease is still active in the body or whether it has been eliminated, e.g. by effective treatment. Replaced Lyme disease research can be performed in most laboratories in Poland. They are not reimbursed and their price ranges from PLN 100 to PLN 600.

Treatment of Lyme disease

A key element in the entire disease process is effective treatment. A person who notices a tick must see a doctor as soon as possible. In the initial phase of treatment, specialists prescribe antibiotics such as doxycycline, cefuroxime and amoxicillin. If they are taken in the first or second stage of the disease, you can expect the complete disappearance of Lyme symptoms. The treatment of her advanced study is completely different and is performed using the ILADS method. It consists in administering several antibiotics at the same time in order to eliminate spore bacteria.

The above-mentioned methods may be effective, but in return they burden the human body. For opponents of antibiotic therapy, there are two other treatments. The first of them is based solely on the use of herbs such as: pansies and purges, the second is bioresonance. It consists in placing electrodes on the human body, which cause vibrations and thus change pathological vibrations into therapeutic ones. Note, it is good to consult a doctor about the type of therapy beforehand, because he or she will choose the appropriate method.

Lyme disease – prevention is better than cure

Lyme disease is an extremely insidious and multi-organ disease. It can stay with a person for the rest of their lives, so some patients must learn to function with it. If left untreated, it can cause serious changes and damage to organs in the body. The treatment itself is a long process that does not 100% guarantee that the symptoms will disappear.

It is worth noting that Lyme disease vaccine still not developed and available. Due to this, it is best to try to protect yourself from this disease yourself by applying the following rules:

1. after returning from forested places, you should carefully inspect your body,
2. use insecticides that also repel ticks, 
3. wear long pants and sleeves for forest walks,
4. if a tick appears on the body, it must be removed as soon as possible. 

The above methods can help protect against Lyme disease, a disease that is easier to prevent than to cure later.

We encourage you to listen to the latest episode of the RESET podcast. This time we devote it to self-compassion – a trend that has developed very strongly in the United States, but is still in its infancy in Poland. What is it and how does it affect our daily functioning? You will hear about this and many other issues related to self-compassion in the latest episode of our podcast.