Unexplained Symptoms – Could it be Lyme Disease?

With the arrival of Spring, we will see the appearance of deer ticks and the possibility of exposure to Lyme and other diseases they carry. In April 2009, I had the pleasure and privilege to spend a week studying with perhaps the most knowledgeable Lyme and associated diseases physician in the United States, Joseph Jemsek, M.D. (www.jemsekspecialty.com) It appears to him and many other physicians that Lyme disease should be considered an epidemic in some areas, notably Wisconsin.

We must remember that Willy Burgdorfer, PhD identified the spirochete that now bears his name (Borellia burgdorferi), as the causative agent of Lyme disease only in 1982. Unfortunately, in spite of what the Infectious Disease Society and other orthodox organizations claim that Lyme disease can be diagnosed with a simple screening blood test and if it is negative, no treatment is needed. They also claim that "chronic Lyme Disease" is rare and even if diagnosed by a second blood test called a Western Blot, a 30 day course of intravenous antibiotics will effectively cure the disease. I interviewed patients while working with Dr. Jemsek in South Carolina, who suffered from multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome/fibromyalgia, unusual neurological syndromes, rheumatoid arthritis and other undefined syndromes that turned out to have chronic Lyme infection as at least part of the cause of their symptoms. Most of them had consulted numerous specialists and were told that their symptoms were either "all in your head" or represented a disease that could only be treated by often dangerous drugs. Standard treatments had either no benefit or unacceptable side effects. Fortunately, these patients and their families didn't give up on themselves and finally found Dr. Jemsek.

The spirochete that causes Lyme looks virtually identical to the causative agent of syphilis under the microscope. Also, like syphilis it can cause acute symptoms which may pass, rashes that appear weeks to months after contraction of the disease from a tick bite and a tertiary stage when the disease settles in various organs and creates a chronic, debilitating multi-symptom illness.

It is fairly simple to diagnose and treat an obvious case of Lyme. The patient notices an arthropod bite which develops into an expansive, circular reddish/purplish rash ("erythema migrans") and may get a fever, joint pain and a general sense of unwellness. The later includes fatigue, achiness, mental depression, confusion and even heart rhythm abnormalities. Prompt treatment with antibiotics at this stage can usually effect a cure. I have personally come down with such a syndrome twice after being in the woods and only found a tick on my body one of those times. In neither case did I get a typical rash. This may only be seen in 20-40% of acute Lyme cases. If a patient calls me and states they sustained a tick bite, I usually treat them rather than risk a false negative blood test and the development of symptoms.

Failure to notice and treat a Lyme exposure may result in a smoldering, multi-symptom condition. Most common symptoms are fatigue, achiness in the muscles and connective tissue, joint pain with or without swelling, depression, disordered thinking, shooting pains, numbness in various parts of the body, skipped heartbeats, unusual rashes, etc.

A patient who goes to a doctor with multiple complaints and whose screening blood test is negative is usually not offered a more accurate Western Blot test (or the test is done by a lab that doesn't specialize in Lyme testing) and thus isn't diagnosed with Lyme disease.

We are seeing patients with diagnoses of M.S., Rheumatoid Arthritis or CFS/Fibromyalgia who turn out to have chronic Lyme disease. The use of our nutritional approach to disease along with endocrine gland balancing, correction of digestion issues and the use of pulsed antibiotic therapy usually results in gradual amelioration of the patient's symptoms. It can take many months, but by using this integrative approach, we hope to achieve even faster positive results.

If you or someone you know has an unexplained syndrome after thorough evaluation by neurologists, rheumatologists and other specialists, consider an evaluation for Lyme disease by our office. We use the most Lyme-literate laboratory in the U.S. to evaluate our patients, but laboratory testing alone is not the final arbiter of diagnosis. One must, as in all good medical practice, do a thorough history, physical and laboratory testing for contributing factors in all patients because co-existing adrenal, thyroid, digestive, toxicological and dietary problems are usually at the root of a person's inability to fend off Lyme or other infections.

If you want to learn more, I suggest you go to www.ILADS.org, the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society's website. You could also watch the movie, "Under Our Skin," a documentary on people that were left high and dry by the medical profession, some with near-fatal illnesses, but after evaluation and treatment for Lyme and co-existing medical issues, recovered their health.

Don't give up on yourself or a loved one – there is almost always help if not cure for the worst unexplained illnesses – and all too often it is undiagnosed Lyme disease. As Dr. Jemsek tells his patients with a laundry list of symptoms, "you either have 20 diseases or you have Lyme."