Your patient’s long list of health issues might have had them searching high and low for answers. Seemingly separate problems could boil down to one primary source — chronic Lyme disease.
It has many vague, inconsistent, and hidden symptoms. What’s more, it can mimic illnesses like arthritis and chronic fatigue syndrome. And, testing can be unreliable.
Due to this, about half of people with Lyme aren’t diagnosed. (1)
Here’s an in-depth look at what chronic Lyme disease is, including its symptoms and treatment.
Chronic Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is caused by Borrelia burgdorferi and other closely related species of bacteria. The infection is commonly contracted through a tick sting. (Most people think it’s a bite, but technically it’s a sting.) People may not even notice the sting. (2)
Within the first few days to weeks of the infection, people may develop an erythema migrans rash. It’s generally red and circular, and sometimes it has a bullseye pattern. Though it’s a major sign of acute Lyme disease, many infected people don’t get the rash. (3)
During this early stage, symptoms of the flu may surface with aches, pains, and swollen glands. Like other short-term infections, this may last a few weeks. It’s easier to diagnose and treat at this stage.
Chronic Lyme disease, also called “late Lyme,” is much different. Signs of illness may appear gradually over time or may have never entirely subsided with earlier treatment. In some cases, major physical or emotional stress brings the disease to the forefront. (4)
If your patient has chronic Lyme disease, they may develop long-term problems like horrible fatigue, joint pain, and trouble thinking. These may become more debilitating over time. (5)
Blood tests often miss this type of Lyme since the acute phase is past because the infection can suppress the immune system. So, your patient may not create enough antibodies to get a positive test result even if they have Lyme disease symptoms. (6)
Common Chronic Lyme Disease Symptoms
When Borrelia burgdorferi is in the body’s system for a while, it burrows its way into the organs and tissues. This can give someone degenerative health issues that look like something else.
Here are four of the most common chronic Lyme disease symptoms:
1. Autoimmune diseases
It’s one thing for Borrelia burgdorferi to invade the body. But it’s even worse if someone’s own immune system attacks their tissues because of this bacteria. This can lead to autoimmune disease symptoms, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and multiple sclerosis (MS). (7, 8)
The bacteria do whatever they can to protect themselves from the immune system and have learned to hide in the cells. This makes the immune system suspicious and works to get rid of the cell. This happens because some of the proteins in the bacteria look like the body’s protein. The immune system starts to view healthy cells as foreign invaders, and it attacks them to get rid of the Lyme. (9)
This problem can escalate to rheumatoid arthritis. In this condition, the body attempts to stomp out joint cells where the bacteria live. Your patients may have been told they have RA, but chronic Lyme disease is at the root of it. (10)
Furthermore, proteins in the tail of the bacteria look like the cells of the myelin sheath, the cells that cover and insulate the nerves. So, the bacteria can trick the immune system into attacking healthy myelin cells. (9)
The microbes also release enzymes that block the body’s ability to regenerate the myelin. Without this protective nerve covering, the body experiences inflammation and intense pain. (11)
This process looks exactly like multiple sclerosis. Your patient may have been diagnosed with MS, even without considering that chronic Lyme disease may be the issue.
If your patient is genetically prone to autoimmune diseases, they may be more likely to develop these signs of Lyme. (12)
2. Brain fog and cognitive issues
Borrelia burgdorferi can cross the blood-brain barrier and create new problems, such as mimicking other diseases. (13)
The body makes an enzyme called plasmin that dissolves the membrane of the bacteria. But this microbe can counteract this enzyme and protect itself and penetrate the blood-brain barrier. (14)
Lyme bacteria can also change their size and shape so they can migrate to other parts of the body. When they get into the brain, they inhabit glial cells and neurons. They cause these brain cells to become dysfunctional, which can lead to anxiety and depression. (15)
The bacteria can also interfere with neurotransmitters or nerve messengers. For example, they may disrupt the production and use of dopamine. The result can look like Parkinson’s disease. (16)
What’s more, the microbe can increase a neurotransmitter called octopamine. When this accumulates in the brain, it can raise blood pressure and cause headaches. Many people may incorrectly blame these headaches on environmental allergies, stress, or other factors. (17)
When this Lyme bacteria is killed, it sheds parts of itself as endotoxins, which may interfere with brain chemistry. A buildup of toxins can give people intense brain fog and memory issues. (18)
These symptoms look a lot like neurological issues, such as Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. In fact, some experts suspect that chronic Lyme may cause these brain disorders in certain cases. (19)
3. Debilitating chronic fatigue
The severe fatigue from chronic Lyme is different from most forms of tiredness. This exhaustion doesn’t ease up no matter how much rest or self-care the person gets. The smallest, everyday tasks for someone living with chronic Lyme can seem monumental.
As a result, doctors may diagnose a patient with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). So far, CFS has no known cause. It’s a last-resort diagnosis that doctors may give when they cannot find a reason for extreme fatigue. Though it may feel reassuring to get a diagnosis, the wrong one can stand in a patient’s way of getting better. (20)
For many people, the root cause of CFS could be undetected chronic Lyme disease. It can cause a massive amount of fatigue, due in part to taxing the immune system. This is because the bacteria trigger immune cells to produce chemicals called cytokines. These generate inflammation to fight the infection. (21)
The problem is an immune system’s activity may not return to normal even after the infection is reduced because the bacteria can continue to mutate and change their form to look like a new threat to the immune cells. It looks like a new threat to immune cells over and over. They are continuously in emergency mode, which drains energy. (22)
4. Joint pain
Someone can be a fit, healthy person before contracting chronic Lyme disease. The disease damages the joints and can leave someone in crippling pain.
Borrelia burgdorferi affects the joints and connective tissues, including cartilage and ligaments. The microbes bind to collagen in these tissues and break it down, destroying it as they multiply. They also interfere with the body’s efforts to regenerate these tissues. (23, 24, 25)
The bacteria are completely dependent on the body for nutrients. They cannot make certain proteins, so they siphon them from the joints. Hyaluronic acid, a gel-like substance, is essential for strong ligaments. Without it, ligaments can become brittle and lead to stiff joints. Borrelia burgdorferi targets this protein in the body and attacks it, causing joint pain. (26)
The bacteria also cause inflammation in your joints. This is triggered by a specific protein on their cell membranes. Someone may appear to have arthritis, but chronic Lyme disease could be the issue. (27)
Traditional Treatment for Chronic Lyme Disease
As a practitioner, the sooner you detect Lyme disease, the easier it generally is to treat. The less time Borrelia burgdorferi has to spread into your patient’s tissues, the better.
But if your patient is far past the acute stage and you suspect they have the chronic form, you may consider antibiotic therapy. However, it may not be the best course of action.
Conventional Lyme treatment includes weeks or months of antibiotic therapy. This approach not only is proving to be ineffective, but it’s also potentially harmful. Side effects may include anemia, blood clots in the lungs, and intestinal bleeding. The longer your patients take the drugs, the greater their risk of harm. (28)
At the minimum, antibiotics disrupt the health of the gut microbiome. This can also impair immune function since at least 70% of the immune system cells reside in the gut. (29)
And even though antibiotics are powerful, they don’t help the joint pain or nerve problems of the infection.
Some people think that the length of time to take antibiotics makes the difference in their effectiveness. Results are proving otherwise. In two studies of chronic Lyme patients, three months of antibiotics were no better than a placebo. (28)
In some cases, the drugs may produce short-term improvement in certain ailments. However, these may quickly return once someone finish the antibiotics. (30)
Here are four reasons antibiotics are ineffective for chronic Lyme:
1. Lyme bacteria can change their physical shape
The Lyme bacteria are able to communicate with each other. As soon as one detects antibiotics, it sends out a distress call to the others. They can wind into cysts before the drugs harm them. (31)
These bacteria curl up into a ball so antibiotics cannot get into their system and kill them. This cyst form is resilient, and antibiotics are useless against it. Once the threat subsides, the bacteria can return to their typical spiral shape. (32)
2. Lyme bacteria can camouflage themselves
The immune system notes a microbe’s identity by memorizing its protein sequence or genetic code. Each of the immune cells uses this code to scan for the bacteria. (33)
The Lyme bacteria can change little parts of their DNA so they don’t fit the code. This means the immune system has to search for many codes, not one. (34)
Biofilm is another reason Lyme is difficult to detect. This not only protects them from the immune system, but also from being killed by antibiotics. Biofilm can make them up to 10,000 times more resistant to antibiotics. Not only that, antibiotics can trigger them to make the biofilm even stronger. (35)
What’s more, the bacteria morph their DNA every time antibiotics. This makes them increasingly resistant to the drugs. (36)
3. Antibiotics don’t reduce toxins
Borrelia burgdorferi shed endotoxins from their cell wall when they die. Antibiotics cannot detoxify these harmful, inflammatory bacteria byproducts. And they cannot fix the heightened inflammation. (37)
To minimize harm from endotoxins and inflammation, the liver and kidneys need support. Antibiotics cannot provide this support, and in many ways derail digestive health by killing off even the good bacteria.
4. Antibiotics cannot kill parasites
Lyme bacteria love to hide inside parasites. Even if someone gets rid of Lyme in the rest of their body, the bacteria hiding in parasites can reinfect them. This is why the disease may come back, despite long and intense antibiotic treatment. (38)
The Lyme inside the parasites is protected and will reinfect the host. It may be impossible to conquer Lyme without getting rid of the Lyme-carrying parasites because it’s addressing the infection in the wrong order. (31)
Antibiotics also do not always travel past the blood-brain barrier. If the Lyme disease bacteria have settled there, they may not be affected at all. (39)
How to Beat Chronic Lyme Disease
The answer to tackling chronic Lyme disease is to support the main systems in the body that are overwhelmed and address all contributors to the disease in the right order. This means your patient’s drainage pathways have to be open.
Only after this drainage is successful can you approach detoxing your patient from Lyme disease. The recommended sequence for conquering Lyme is:
- Drainage pathways
- Detox organs and lymphatic system
- Parasites
- Lyme
Lyme is last on the list because going after it first will only put a heavier burden on your patient’s exhausted detox organs. These organs need to work well so they can help eliminate Lyme from the body.
Supporting these organs with herbs and nutrients to increase their function will better enable your patients to detox. A large number of toxins are produced when the bacteria are dying off. Ensuring these pathways are running smoothly will ensure the toxins are removed and not causing additional issues.
Lyme infection can clog up the lymphatic and drainage systems. The lymphatic system has two times the amount of fluid as the circulatory system. One of its roles is to transport bacteria to the lymph nodes so it can be destroyed.
If the lymph isn’t moving, the Lyme can sit in the stagnant fluid and replicate without being disturbed. The immune system will have less of a chance of recognizing it if it isn’t moved to where it can adequately fight it. Taking lymphatic system supporting herbs, such as LymphActiv, can get these fluids moving to stir up the Lyme from out of its hiding places.
The next drainage system needing support is the liver and kidneys because they filter out endotoxins from the dead pathogens. Bacterial infections can cause these organs to become inflamed, hampering their ability to detox properly. Consider having your patient use KL Support to help with this detox process.
The colon is the last stop in the body’s detox system. If your patients aren’t moving their bowels at least 2–3 times a day, they will not be able to thoroughly eliminate the toxins caused by Lyme. Patients can support their colon with intestinal-moving herbs, such as the herbs within Bowel Mover.
There is one more step before actually killing the Lyme disease bacteria: getting rid of parasites. Not killing parasites will only result in becoming reinfected again and again. The parasites will release Lyme and infect your patient once more.
Specific herbs combined with fulvic acid extracts can kill the Lyme carrying parasites and mop up the toxins they produce simultaneously.
By supporting your patient’s detox organs first with drainage, they won’t be overwhelmed when the bacteria start to die. This triple action of removing the toxins, then parasites, then Lyme can help your patient recover more quickly.
Getting to the Root Cause
If your patient struggles with chronic illness, Borrelia burgdorferi may be the root cause. It can contribute to:
- Autoimmune disease
- Brain fog and cognitive issues
- Debilitating chronic fatigue
- Joint pain
Eliminating chronic Lyme disease may not be a fast process, but it is a doable one. You just have to help your patients tackle the problems in the right order. Consider using the Foundational or Comprehensive Protocol as a guide. Each protocol focuses on following the order of drainage and detox to get to the core issues necessary to overcome chronic ailments, such as Lyme disease.
You can adapt the protocol according to what you feel will best support your patient’s needs. Each individual that comes to you for help is unique. So, adjusting to what they need as an individual within the protocol will help give your patient the tools necessary for their overall health.
If your patients have mysterious ailments or suspect they’ve been misdiagnosed, it’s time to ask: could it be chronic Lyme disease?
