What are the long term side effects of Lyme disease?

Chronic symptoms of Lyme are a much longer list and may include vertigo, ringing in the ears, short-term memory loss, light and sound sensitivity, mood swings, anxiety, depression, heart palpitations, and serious cardiac problems.

Can Lyme disease cause long term effects?

Untreated Lyme disease can cause: Chronic joint inflammation (Lyme arthritis), particularly of the knee. Neurological symptoms, such as facial palsy and neuropathy. Cognitive defects, such as impaired memory.

Is Lyme disease a lifelong condition?

If treated, Lyme disease does not last for years. However, for some people, the after-effects of the disease can linger for months and sometimes even years. Alternative medicine providers call this condition "Chronic Lyme disease," but this title is simply wrong.

What are the symptoms of Lyme disease years later?

What are the long term effects of treated Lyme disease?

Although most cases of Lyme disease can be cured with a 2- to 4-week course of oral antibiotics, patients can sometimes have symptoms of pain, fatigue, or difficulty thinking that lasts for more than 6 months after they finish treatment. This condition is called Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS).

A Warning In The Last Stages Of Lyme Disease

Does Lyme disease shorten your life?

Take away message: In the long run, Lyme does not affect your life as much as other health conditions. It is important to live a healthy lifestyle regardless of whether you are struggling with Lyme disease or not.

What can Lyme disease do to body?

Typical symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, and a characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans. If left untreated, infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system. Lyme disease is diagnosed based on symptoms, physical findings (e.g., rash), and the possibility of exposure to infected ticks.

What does a Lyme flare up feel like?

a red, expanding bull's-eye rash at the site of the tick bite. fatigue, chills, and general feeling of illness. itching. headache.

What causes Lyme flare ups?

Triggers for Lyme disease vary by person, but they can include: emotional stress (such as a divorce, death in the family, or accidents) physical stress to the body (i.e., surgery, physical harm, concussion) life stress or stressful events.

What are neurological symptoms of Lyme disease?

Neurological complications most often occur in the second stage of Lyme disease, with numbness, pain, weakness, Bell's palsy (paralysis of the facial muscles), visual disturbances, and meningitis symptoms such as fever, stiff neck, and severe headache.

Is Lyme disease an autoimmune condition?

Lyme disease manifests as an autoimmune disorder, Sjögren's syndrome. Lyme disease symptoms can mimic many other illnesses and have been linked to several autoimmune diseases including Sjögren's syndrome [1], Dermatomyositis [2], and Guillain-Barre syndrome [3].

What are the 3 stages of Lyme disease?

Can you have Lyme disease for 20 years?

In the early 1990s, it also became apparent that patients may develop pain, fatigue, or neurocognitive syndromes soon after contracting Lyme disease, with these conditions sometimes persisting for years [24–26].

Can post Lyme disease syndrome last years?

Post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome can last for years, study finds. According to the study findings, PTLDS can last for years.

Can Lyme cause weight gain?

Stubborn weight gain is not unusual in that the bacteria damage the metabolism, thyroid, adrenals, and gut. It's disheartening, truly.

Can Lyme disease cause lower back pain?

Inflammation caused by the infection may play a role in the development of pain in the nerves, joints, and muscles. Though Lyme disease is most commonly associated with a circular rash on the skin after a tick bite, pain throughout the body — including back pain— is a common symptom, too.

Can you get Lyme disease twice?

Reinfection: You can get Lyme disease again if you are bitten by another infected tick, so protect yourself from tick bites. People treated with antibiotics for early Lyme disease usually recover rapidly and completely.

Does Lyme disease make your legs hurt?

BODY ACHE. If you've contracted Lyme disease, you may experience muscle soreness or joint pain. Your knees are most likely to be affected, and joint pain can get more severe as the disease progresses.

Can Lyme disease affect your eyes?

Fortunately, involvement of the eye is uncommon in lyme disease. But when the eyes can be affected in many different ways by the disease. In the early stage of the disease, many persons have conjunctivitis. In this condition, commonly called pink eye, the eyes are red and uncomfortable, and there is a discharge of pus.

Can Lyme disease affect sleep?

New research says if you have the most severe form of Lyme Disease, your sleep quality and quantity may be impaired. This study reported that a subset of patients who developed post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS), experienced poor sleep for up to 1-year post-treatment.

What Happens If Lyme disease goes untreated for years?

Left untreated, Lyme disease can spread to joints and organs, causing significant damage. Arthritis, heart disease, and nervous system problems are common complications of untreated Lyme disease.

Can Lyme disease affect your heart?

Lyme carditis occurs when Lyme disease bacteria enter the tissues of the heart. This can interfere with the normal movement of electrical signals from the heart's upper to lower chambers, a process that coordinates the beating of the heart.

Does lymes disease get worse with age?

The longer Lyme disease goes untreated in seniors, the harder it becomes to cure. And even if late-stage Lyme disease is treated, the lingering effects, such as fatigue and nausea, may never fully go away.

Can Lyme disease cause personality changes?

A broad range of psychiatric reactions have been associated with Lyme disease including paranoia, dementia, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, panic attacks, major depression, anorexia nervosa, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

What is living with Lyme disease like?

Muscle and joint pain can migrate from one body part to another. Patients can feel sick one day and well the next. Left untreated, Lyme can wreak havoc on the body causing arthritis, persistent joint pain, cognitive issues, neuropathy, encephalitis, exhaustion, tremors and sometimes fatal heart problems.