Lyme Disease & Complex Chronic Illness

Is Chronic Lyme Disease Your Root Cause?

Many of you are already familiar with my Lyme journey, which I wrote about last year in honor of Lyme Disease Awareness Month. I shared a bit about my history with Lyme disease, hypothyroidism, and Hashimoto’s, and discussed how Lyme infections can be a major trigger for autoimmunity and complex chronic illness. And while there are many potential root causes of thyroid dysfunction, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and other complex medical conditions — chronic Lyme disease is one Dr. Fox and I see frequently in our practice.

This year, in honor of Lyme Disease Awareness Month, we’re going to take an even closer look at the connection between Lyme and complex chronic illness. Read on as we discuss Lyme symptoms, testing, treatments, co-infections, and more.

What is Chronic Lyme Disease?

If you’ve been a part of the complex chronic illness community for a while, we’re sure you’re no stranger to the controversies surrounding chronic Lyme. Both persistent Lyme disease and post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS) are all-too-frequently responsible for causing debilitating symptoms that linger for weeks, months, or decades after a tick bite — even in the event that a patient receives antibiotic treatment early on in the disease.

As a great “imitator” of other medical conditions, Lyme disease symptoms often resemble those of autoimmune diseases, dementia, depression, arthritis, viruses, and even Alzheimer’s. It’s certainly possible to have Lyme in addition to these other conditions, but for many Lyme Warriors, a bite from an infected black-legged tick is at the root of their most troublesome symptoms.

This is because most ticks carry so much more than “just” Borrelia burgdorferi — the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Ticks often carry other infections like Babesia, Bartonella, Ehrlichiosis, Anaplasma, Mycoplasma, and Rickettsia. In fact, a survey conducted by LymeDisease.org found that more than half of the 3,000 individuals they surveyed had at least one confirmed co-infection; 30 percent had two or more.

To put it simply, ticks are nature’s dirty needle. One bite from an infected tick can bring on years and years of unexplained symptoms; headaches, fatigue, cognitive impairment, joint and muscle pain, and sleep issues are just a few of them. It’s not uncommon for Lyme patients to experience multiple symptoms each day and for symptoms to come and go for no obvious reason.

Lyme Disease, Mold Toxicity, and Mast Cell Activation

Lyme-Literate Doctors like Dr. Fox understand the importance of testing patients for not only Lyme bacteria but also Lyme disease co-infections. Babesia and Bartonella are thought to be two of the most common co-infections associated with Lyme disease, though mold toxicity, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) often go hand-in-hand with Lyme as well.

If you’ve been experiencing “unexplained” symptoms that never really seem to resolve, or you suspect you could have Lyme disease, mold illness, or any other complex chronic illness, please book a free 15-minute Discovery Call with our team. Dr. Fox and I offer Lyme and tick-borne disease testing, as well as testing for other complex chronic illnesses like mold toxicity.

Tick-Borne Disease Testing

Lyme disease testing is a great starting point when tick-borne illness is suspected, especially when we’re desperately seeking a diagnosis after struggling with our health for so long. Despite how overwhelming a Lyme diagnosis can be, having a test result that validates the symptoms we’ve been experiencing often feels like such a relief. I’ve been there in my health journey and can totally relate!

But with that being said, we’d like you to please keep in mind that many tests for Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections are highly unreliable. Medical practitioners must be aware of this because diagnosing Lyme and tick-borne infections requires so much more than a positive or negative test result. You can receive a negative test result for Lyme (and other tick-borne diseases) and still have chronic Lyme disease.

Lyme testing has come a long way in recent years, but it’s still far from perfect. This is just one of the reasons why it’s so important to work with a Lyme-Literate Doctor (LLMD) if you’ve been bitten by a tick or believe you could have Lyme disease. Dr. Fox is an LLMD, and you can learn all about our Doctor-Coach Model of healthcare here.

Diagnosing & Treating Chronic Lyme Disease

In order to make an accurate diagnosis, we need to look at each unique patient’s symptoms, medical history, intestinal health, hormones, nutritional status, diet, and living environment. This allows us to develop an individualized action plan that treats the Lyme infection, reduces inflammation, and addresses immune dysfunction.

A few of the more common treatments for Lyme and other tick-borne infections include:

Antibiotics
Herbal therapies
Homeopathic treatments
Detoxification and herx support*
Integrative therapies (e.g. ozone, Rife machines, lymphatic drainage massage, and essential oils)
Broad-spectrum binders and probiotics (for eliminating mold, mycotoxins, and other toxins from the body)
Mold remediation (when mold illness is suspected)
Mast cell stabilizers (when MCAS is suspected)

*Jarisch Herxheimer reactions (JHR) (or die-off symptoms) are commonly experienced during treatment for Lyme and tick-borne illnesses. Far infrared saunas, warm lemon water, Epsom salt baths, broad-spectrum binders, castor-oil packs, and liposomal glutathione can all help to reduce herx reactions.

What You Can Do This Lyme Disease Awareness Month

If you’ve been struggling with your health for some time, Lyme Awareness Month is an important reminder to keep fighting for the healthcare (and life) you deserve. We know how discouraging it is to live with complex chronic illness, but remember, your body is meant to heal! Give yourself some much-needed love this Lyme Disease Awareness Month and book a Discovery Call today.

Is Lyme disease at the root of your complex chronic illness? Schedule your Vital You Consult or book a call for the Vital Basics Method™ to learn how Dr. Fox and I can help you heal from chronic Lyme disease and other complex medical conditions. And be sure to download our Naturopathic First Aid Kit to learn how to repel ticks, treat bug bites (including tick bites), and safely remove a tick from your body.

References:

Nathan, N. (2018). Toxic: Heal your body from mold toxicity, lyme disease, multiple chemical sensitivities, and chronic environmental illness. Victory Belt Publishing, Inc.
Horowitz, R. (2017). How can I get better? St. Martin’s Griffin.
https://www.lymedisease.org/lyme-sci-coinfections/