Neuropsychiatric symptoms of Lyme Disease

[Josie]

I thought this was interesting. Just thought I would share.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140625161557/http://www.ilads.org/lyme/Psychiatric_Brochure_08_08.pdf

 

[tiredmommy]

Wow! Thank you. That was very interesting.

 

[klmno]

Well that's a frightening thought. I didn't notice any time frame for all this to happen- did anyone else? difficult child had been in scouts and gotten a tick bite a couple of times while hiking and cleaning up parks.

 

[Josie]

I think the psychiatric symptoms can come about at any time, from shortly after the bite to years later.

Here is a link to a symptom list: http://www.canlyme.com If it doesn't show up, click on "symptoms" on the left and scroll down.

Apparently, the tests done for Lyme are not very accurate so some doctors diagnosis Lyme clinically.

I'm looking into this for my difficult child/easy child because of her physical symptoms but looking back, she did start having psychiatric symptoms about 3 months after she had a suspicious bite.

The good news in there is that frequently with long term antibiotic treatment, the neuropsychiatric symptoms improve.

A good book about this is "Coping with Lyme Disease: A Practical Guide to Dealing with Treatment and Diagnosis" by Denise Lang.

ETA: The book is about Lyme in general with one chapter about the psychiatric problems.

 

[flutterbee]

Wow. Thank you for sharing. I don't remember having a tick bite, but I tell you that a lot of those symptoms sound like what I've been experiencing and is getting worse. I'm going to do more research and talk to my doctor about this as well.

Do you know? Do the cognitive/neurological things return to normal after successfully completing the antibiotics?

 

[Josie]

I'm just in the beginning of reading about this so I'm not sure but I think it's likely that the symptoms improve but it is a long process. Months or years depending on how long it has been there. I'm not sure if things ever get back to normal. I'm afraid to really look into this part of it right now.

This whole Lyme thing is very controversial. Most doctors believe the information I am reading online is inaccurate. There are doctors who have had success with improving symptoms, maybe even curing, by treating for Lyme based on symptoms with long term antibiotics. There is a large group of patients who strongly believe in these doctors.

A board for people with Lyme is http://www.lymenet.org. It is not as well organized as this board but there is a lot of information there if you can find it.

 

[Scent of Cedar II]

The Mayo Clinic has a web site which is an excellent reference site for learning about the various tick-borne illnesses, and for learning which are prevalent in your area. Physicians are often reluctant to treat without a positive blood test ~ but the tests are notoriously unreliable.

Treatment for both Lyme's and ehrlichiosis is a two to three week course of oral doxycycline, which is a member of the tetracycline family.

Let's see if I can reference the site here for you.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/lyme-disease/DS00116

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ehrlichiosis/DS00702

Barbara