Question: The Center for Natural and Integrated Medicine Asks, “What have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Migraine, Fibromyalgia, autoimmune conditions, MS, lupus, depression, anxiety, and memory problems got in common?”
Answer: All of these diseases can be imitated by Lyme disease. Named “The Great Imitator,” by the medical profession, Lyme disease can disguise itself and masquerade as many other diseases.
This week, the blog from the Center for Natural and Integrative Medicine focuses on Lyme disease.
We hope you will mark your calendars for our seminar, October 16th, 2014 at 6:00. Our seminar, entitled, “Solving the Mystery of Lyme & Chronic Disease,” is sure to open your eyes about this much misunderstood disease. At the Center for Natural and Integrative Medicine, patients who have been diagnosed with Lyme, as well as many who have not received any diagnosis, bring us the same questions. Among the many symptoms, the question are these:
Why Can’t I Get Better?
Why am I so tired, exhausted and overly fatigued all the timed?
Why do I feel like I am in a fog?
What is PTLDS?
According to the experts, “With treatment and time, the symptoms of Lyme disease, which is caused by a tick bite, usually get better.” If you are bitten by an infected tick, and if you are treated promptly you can conquer Lyme disease. If you have no treatment, this disease can result in death. The treatment usually given involves about two to four weeks of antibiotics.
For one out of ten patients, the symptoms continue when the regime of antibiotics is completed. “When symptoms linger well beyond the typical treatment time, you may have what’s called “post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome” (PTLDS). It’s also called “chronic Lyme disease.” As you can imagine, terrible problems can result from misdiagnosing or ignoring the indicators of Lyme disease.
A Brief Primer Of Lyme Disguises and Symptoms–Disease Stages:
As with any disease, the medical community has divided some of the major symptoms of Lyme Disease into stages, which progress as time continues from the initial insect bite.
STAGE I At the beginning of Lyme disease, the patient might exhibit simple, generalized symptoms such as fever, headache and crushing feelings of fatigue. Some patients exhibit a rash, termed “erythema migrans.” This very unique rash helps to diagnose Lyme disease. The rash is curiously shaped in the form of a bull’s-eye, like a target. Fewer than half the patients bitten actually contract this symptom, but if you have it, or remember having it, it is a good indicator you were bitten by an infected tick. .
STAGE II During the second stage of this disease, patients often note joint swelling and pain. It often centers in the knees. Neurological problems can show up a few weeks, months or, years after the insect bite.
The membranes surrounding your brain (meningitis) might become inflamed.
You might appear to have Bell’s Palsy, which is a twisted expression stemming from paralysis of one side of your face. Likewise you could feel an overwhelming weakness in your legs.
This is the PDLDS or the chronic stage of Lyme’s Disease. All of the above list of symptoms continue in unrelenting and painful action, but increases the pain intensity.
You might suddenly notice an irregular heart beat or other heart problems.
You might suffer Inflammation of both the liver and the eyes. In addition to these symptoms, fatigue continues to zap your strength and drain the joy out of your life.
We urge you to come to the seminar, to discover our integrative, cutting edge ways to diagnose and treat Lyme Disease, the Great Imitator. RSVP at this phone 407-355-9246
The Masquerade: Are You Suspicious of The Great Imitator?
The Center for Natural and Integrative Medicine has an integrated, holistic and personalized approach that has been very successful for many patients. Part of the secret of defeating PTLDS is breaking through its many disguises. That is why the first step in your treatment is clearly diagnostic. As we say in our special Lyme page, on this site, a careful medical exam is necessary to determine if chronic Lyme disease is the key to understanding your health problems. We add to this, an extensive discussion of your medical history.
In some cases, microscopic tests can discover antibodies that tell the tale on the Great Imitator. “Typically, we will use results from: Enzyme (5) linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test. The ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) test for Lyme disease determines titers of IgM and IgG antibodies in the blood against the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria.”
If you were bitten by an infected tic, the Borrelia burgdoferi made you sick, not the insect itself. Thus, we look for those specific antibodies.
Once we assemble your history, medical exam and laboratory tests, we will create your individualized treatment plan. No matter what the disguises, the Imitator will not escape from our treatment plans at the Center for Natural and Integrative Medicine.