The most common tick-borne disease is Lyme borreliosis. It is caused by spirochetes of the Borrelia genus, which, after penetrating the skin, cause the appearance of “migrating” erythema, and then penetrate with blood to various parts of the body. An infected person may then experience symptoms from multiple organs. The course of the disease is divided into an early period (several weeks or months) and a late period. Can Lyme cause rheumatoid arthritis?
Lyme disease is called the “great imitator” of our time because it can impersonate many diseases. The treatment would be much more effective if the patients were diagnosed right away. Meanwhile, only 15% of cases worldwide are properly recognized. Many doctors say that Lyme disease underlies a large proportion of the nervous system’s degenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, gastrointestinal diseases and endocrine disorders. In their opinion, Lyme disease should be considered in cases such as:
- migraines
- rheumatoid arthritis (RA) – 95% of people with RA are infected with Borrelia bacteria
- ankylosing spondylitis (ZZSK) – Bechterew’s disease
- rheumatic polymyalgia (PMR)
- chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)
- fibromyalgia (FMS)
- myasthenia gravis – Erb-Goldflam disease
- systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)
- amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (SLA, ALS) – if Lyme disease is very stormy with extensive neurological defects
- multiple sclerosis (MS) – up to 50% of cases
- skin diseases – most often atrophic dermatitis, systemic sclerosis (scleroderma) and others
- various mental disorders, most often depression and news
- Hashimoto’s disease
- Graves-Basedow disease
- paroxysmal arrhythmia
- Guillian-Barre syndrome
- ADHD
- Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease
- autism (ASD)
Late Lyme disease
Quite typical after Lyme disease is recurrent, migratory rheumatoid arthritis, usually large (e.g. knee), with swelling. Local involvement of the nervous system, neuropathy (a condition affecting peripheral nerves is also a manifestation of the second period of Lyme disease.
Facial palsy appears relatively often among children and may be the only symptom of Lyme disease. Older people get radiculopathy more often. It is often a very strong neuropathic pain accompanied by sensory and movement disorders. The picture of such ailments of Lyme disease is called root syndrome.
