Lyme & Chronic Infection
It’s possible to live a vibrant life again.
Expert understanding of a misunderstood illness.
Chronic pain, unrelenting fatigue, mental cloudiness – these symptoms of chronic infection are very real. But they’re also invisible. Sometimes it’s hard for others to understand how badly you really feel when you look great on the outside, which can add to feelings of isolation.
As frustrating as they can be to live with, Lyme disease and chronic infection don’t have to be a life sentence. With proper diagnosis and treatment, you can live a vibrant life again.
We use advanced diagnostic techniques to see if persistent infections are contributing to your symptoms. Then we use cutting-edge therapies to control the infection and calm your immune response. Treatment is specifically tailored to your unique history, symptoms, and current state of health.
What Is Lyme Disease?
Lyme disease is caused by infection with the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. It’s transmitted through the bite of a blacklegged tick. Lyme disease causes the following symptoms in the early, or acute, stage:
Flu-like symptoms – fever, chills, headache, fatigue, muscle and joint aches, and swollen lymph nodes.
Erythema migrans (EM) rash – while this rash is the “telltale” sign of Lyme, it doesn’t occur in everyone and doesn’t always look the same. Here are general guidelines:
Appears at the site of a tick bite after 3 to 30 days (7 days is the average)
Rash expands slowly over several days and can grow up to 12 inches across
May feel warm to the touch but is rarely painful or itchy
Sometimes clears as it enlarges, resulting in the target or “bull’s-eye” shape
Doesn’t always appear as a “classic” erythema migrans rash
When Lyme disease is discovered and treated promptly, it can usually be cured with a 2- to 4-week course of antibiotics.
But even then, according to the CDC, patients sometimes experience continued symptoms after treatment. These symptoms can include fatigue, pain, or difficulty thinking.
When this lasts more than 6 months, it’s called Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS). While the exact cause is unknown, some experts believe that these patients develop an autoimmune response that contributes to their ongoing symptoms.
What Happens If Lyme Isn’t Treated?
But what if Lyme disease isn’t identified or treated at all? If not caught early and promptly treated, the Lyme bacteria continue to spread throughout the body. Once there, it becomes much more difficult to treat.
There are several reasons why Lyme may not be recognized and diagnosed right away.
You may not have seen a tick on you. Nymph ticks are the size of a poppy seed and not easy to see.
Tick bites don’t typically itch or cause any pain, so you can’t feel that you’ve been bitten.
You may not have had a skin rash, or your skin rash didn’t fit the typical “bullseye rash.”
You didn’t have early symptoms, or you had symptoms but thought it was just a cold or the flu.
You didn’t start treatment soon enough, or your treatment wasn’t long enough.
You were misdiagnosed.
Lack of treatment, late, or inappropriate treatment can lead to late disseminated, or “chronic”, Lyme disease.
What Is Chronic Lyme Disease?
Chronic Lyme disease occurs months to years after the bite, when the bacteria have spread to the rest of the body. This occurs when treatment is started too late due to misdiagnosis or unrecognized symptoms.
In this late stage, symptoms are different and include:
Arthritis
Pain (joints, muscles, and nerves)
Cognitive symptoms (short-term memory problems, anxiety, depression, brain fog)
Neurological symptoms (numbness, tingling, seizures, facial palsy)
Fatigue
Heart Symptoms (shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat, slow heartbeat, feeling faint)
Symptoms in this stage are usually cyclical, meaning you may have periods of time when your symptoms improve, followed by a period of time when your symptoms are worse. But, without treatment, symptoms will continue to get worse as time goes on.
You’ve probably noticed that these symptoms aren’t specific to Lyme disease. Lyme disease can mimic many other conditions including chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, autoimmune disorders, and even neurological disorders like multiple sclerosis.
All of these features make chronic Lyme disease very challenging to diagnose.
Lyme Co-Infections
There are many other infections frequently associated with Lyme disease. These are called “co-infections” and include microorganisms that often coexist with Borrelia.
These co-infections may have occurred at the same time as the original Lyme infection – as the tick transmitted other microbes in addition to Borrelia. Or the co-infections could be microbes that merely took advantage of the weakened immune state that Borrelia caused.
Here are the most common co-infections we see in our patients:
Mycoplasma
Epstein-Barr Virus
Bartonella
Babesia
Ehrlichia
Rickettsia
Anaplasma
Cytomegalovirus
HHV-6
While co-infections are often thought to be “secondary” to Lyme disease, the co-infection(s) may actually be the primary infection.
Since many of these infections have similar symptoms when in the chronic stage, it can be extremely difficult to pinpoint the exact infection.
Bartonella Quintana Bacteria
This is one reason we focus on strengthening your body’s immune system. In chronic infection, the immune system has become hypersensitized to the microorganism.
So not only is the pathogen the problem, but the immune system becomes the problem as well as it creates an atmosphere of chronic inflammation in the body.
Lyme Disease Testing
Testing for Lyme disease and co-infections has been challenging for decades. Fortunately, many diagnostic advances have been made in recent years. While no test is 100% definitive, these advances have allowed us to diagnose with greater accuracy.
ELISA Testing
The ELISA is the screening test recommended by most medical doctors. While the ELISA seems to be accurate in diagnosing acute Lyme disease, research suggests it’s not accurate when screening for patients with chronic or persistent Lyme.
Western Blot testing (IgM, IgG)
The Western Blot detects antibodies to the Borrelia bacteria. It seems to be better than the ELISA at detecting persistent Lyme. But some patients don’t make antibodies to Borrelia because of a weakened immune state. In these cases, they won’t test positive even if the infection is in their bodies.
PCR Testing (“DNA Testing”)
PCR testing is the gold standard in infection testing since it actually searches for microbial DNA. If the microbe’s DNA is found, you can be fairly certain the microbe is in you. One challenge with PCR testing is that there may not be high enough levels of the microbe in your blood to be detected by a PCR test. In other words, there’s a high rate of false negatives. But recent advances in “provoked” PCR testing using urine samples can increase sensitivity of these tests.
Autonomic Response Testing (ART)
Much of the standard lab testing produces confusing or false negative results. We have found that ART testing can help us determine what the primary stressors are for a patient at any given time, since things seem to cycle and there are often multiple layers of immune responses to various microbes. It also helps us determine how your body wants treatment at the time. Maybe this is antimicrobials, or maybe it is more immune modulation and anti-inflammatories. Every person is different and any one body may need different treatments at different times. ART helps us prioritize these treatments.
Which test to run is ultimately dependent on your history and your symptoms and will be determined by your HHA physician. We also try to limit testing so we’re only using tests that will help us direct your care.
Treatments We Use for Lyme & Chronic Infection
Treatment Options
Herbal medicine
Pharmaceuticals
Ozone therapy
Low-dose immunotherapy
Neural therapy
Injections for painful joints
Homeopathy
Supportive Treatments
IV therapy
Ozone and infrared sauna
Lymphatic treatments
Detoxification therapies
Peptide therapy
Nutritional supplementation
Why Choose Holistic Healing Arts for Lyme Treatment?
We use the gentlest treatments possible to achieve results.
Like peeling the layers of an onion, we treat each infection stressing your body in order of priority.
We have more than 20 years of experience treating Lyme and chronic infection.
Treatments are completely individualized to you and your current state of health.
We use the latest diagnostic and therapeutic interventions.
Treatments and protocols are adjusted at each patient visit.
