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Lyme disease is a notoriously difficult disease to test, and many doctors are not informed about it, leading many patients to misdiagnosis. Diagnostic errors of Lyme disease range from physical illnesses to psychological illnesses and often occur because Lyme disease can affect any organic system of the body in many ways, which qualifies her as a "great imitator".
What further aggravates the confusion, is that many people do not notice to have contracted Lyme. "Infectious nymphal ticks are tiny – the size of poppy seeds – and tick bites can often go unnoticed.Most people never know that they have been bitten," says Sunjya K. Schweig, MD, Scientific Advisor at the Bay Area Lyme Foundation. "The current" standard "diagnosis of Lyme disease omits up to 60% of early-stage cases of the disease.If they are screened early, most cases of Lyme disease can be treated, but it is usually misdiagnosed due to a lack of awareness and unreliable diagnosis.If it is not treated promptly, Lyme disease can progress to a debilitating phase. "
Late symptoms of Lyme disease include paralysis, arthritis, neurological problems, headaches, cognitive disorders, memory problems, hearing and vision problems, brain inflammation (meningitis) and inflammation of the heart (carditis or pericarditis), says Dr. Schweig. But when people have these symptoms, doctors do not usually think about getting tested for Lyme disease. "It is important to recognize that Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the United States and that diagnosis must always be part of an appropriate differential diagnosis," said Dr. Schweig. "There are about 329,000 new cases of Lyme disease each year."
Here are some conditions for which Lyme is commonly confused, according to experts.
1. Fibromyalgia
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"The symptoms reported by fibromyalgia patients are almost identical to those badociated with chronic Lyme disease," said Bill Rawls, MD, an integrative health expert on Lyme disease and other chronic diseases. These include joint pain, stiffness, fatigue and brain fog. The exact cause of fibromyalgia is unknown, but Dr. Rawls thinks that it is likely that it is usually caused by Lyme disease and / or other microbes.
2. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
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Similar to fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome has no known cause and it is quite possible that it is usually caused by Lyme disease and / or other microbes, according to Dr. Rawls. Fatigue is a hallmark of Lyme disease, and chronic fatigue syndrome is also badociated with other symptoms of Lyme disease, such as memory impairment and joint pain.
3. Multiple sclerosis
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Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system that affects myelin, the substance that surrounds nerve fibers, causing symptoms such as numbness, weakness, poor coordination, and vision problems. It has been linked to a variety of microbes, including Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium known to cause Lyme disease, as well as chlamydia and the Espstein-Barr virus, says Dr. Rawls.
4. arthritis
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Lyme disease can cause pain, swelling, stiffness and loss of joint function – symptoms similar to osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, said Timothy J. Sellati, Ph.D., director scientist of the Global Lyme Alliance, Bustle. You can sometimes distinguish these conditions because Lyme disease is more likely to affect the large joints of the legs and sometimes the wrists, while other types of arthritis are more often in the hands, wrists, shoulders, knees and at the feet. But the distinction is not always so clear, so they are often confused.
5. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a condition involving degeneration of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, leading to atrophy of the muscles. His symptoms include muscle contractions, cramps, and weakness of the hands, legs, feet, or ankles, Dr. Sellati explains, which may also be symptoms of neurological Lyme disease. In fact, research has shown that people with ALS are five times more likely to Borrelia Burgdorferi like the rest of the population.
6. ADHD
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A common side effect of Lyme's effect on the brain is impaired concentration and memory, which can be mistaken for disorders such as ADHD, says Bustle Daniel Cameron, MD, MPH, a specialist internist and epidemiologist in the treatment of Lyme disease. The brain fog and sleep disorders that many people with Lyme experience exacerbate these problems.
In the elderly, one can sometimes diagnose these symptoms as being Alzheimer's disease. In fact, some research has linked this disease to Alzheimer's disease. Borrelia burgdorferi. Research has also suggested that lipopeptides, the fatty acids created by the Lyme bacteria, could interfere with communication between neurons, which could explain difficulties in memory and concentration.
7. mental illness
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People with chronic diseases, especially women, often have the misconception that their symptoms are at the root of their psychological problems. This is especially true for Lyme disease. Lyme disease can cause a range of mental health symptoms, including anxiety, depression and rabies, leading to the diagnosis of mental illness in many patients with the disease, said Dr. Cameron.
It is difficult to say whether a psychiatric illness is caused by Lyme disease, but a sudden onset of psychiatric symptoms with no apparent cause, especially in conjunction with a tick bite or other symptoms of Lyme disease, could indicate the opposite.
Dr. Rawls believes that anyone diagnosed with the most common Lyme diagnostic errors should consider the possibility that their condition is caused by Lyme disease, co-infections or similar microbes. But treatment does not mean taking a series of antibiotics, which are often ineffective for chronic infections. Most people with Lyme disease have many microbes that are highly resistant to antibiotics, he says. It is not a question of fighting them alone, but of strengthening the intestinal system and the immune system in order to keep them at bay.
"Restoring the normal functions of the immune system with natural therapy and the removal of stealth microbes with herbal medicine is often very effective in restoring a normal state of health for those affected," he said. "This approach is safe, non-toxic and does not depend on a diagnosis and should form the basis of treatment for each of these chronic diseases."
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