What Is Lyme Disease

Why is it called Lyme Disease?

Lyme Disease is named after Lyme, Old Lyme & East Lyme, which are towns in New London County, Connecticut which is about 125 miles away from New York City along the east coast past Long Island.

Lyme Disease History

In 1975, Lyme disease was diagnosed as a separate illness for the first time in Old Lyme. Lyme disease was originally mistaken for ‘JUVENILE RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS’. In 1981 scientist Willy Burgdorfer discovered the connection from deer ticks and the disease. The medical community honoured him by naming lyme disease after him, ‘Borrelia Burgdorferi’.

Tick or vector borne diseases are nothing new and have been around for a long time, in fact an autopsy on a 5300-year-old Egyptian mummy showed the presence of the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
What was different was the amount of people in a small area that caught the infectious disease in such a short space of time.

Erythema migrans (EM), this is the red Lyme bullseye rash, was first recorded in the UK in 1977, since then the number has been rising ever since.

The bacteria/parasite that causes Lyme disease is called Borrelia Burgdorferi or Lyme Borreliosis. Borrelia Burgdorferi is a member of a larger family of bacteria called spirochetes, the bacteria that causes syphilis is also a family member, so it keeps excellent company.

There about 15 genospecies worldwide are associated with the genus Borrelia, about five are significantly pathogenic to humans.

A victim is bitten by a blacklegged tick, they then develop a large bullseye rash in the area. The blacklegged tick actually burrows into the skin head first, the victim then either scratches it unknowingly or attempts to pull out the tick, these will only break the tick and probably squeeze more infection into the area.

These ticks, are generally picked up from pastures or wooded areas, so wearing long trousers while walking will reduce the risk of being bitten by a tick. Proper tick removal is essential, and you can purchase tick removal kits if you walk in the countryside a lot.

However, it is estimated that 50% of people never experience a tick bite or a bullseye rash!

Lyme Disease Symptoms

Early Stage Symptoms of Lyme Disease

In the early stages of Lyme disease, the victim will initially get symptoms like a headache or nausea, joint and muscle aches, and tiredness, sickness & swollen glands. It will feel like a bad cold or flu infection.

Chronic Lyme Disease Symptoms

There are far too many Lyme symptoms to list on this post, however here are some top-level symptoms;

Arthritis
Chronic Sinusitis infections
CV irregularities
Digestive problems e.g. IBS, food intolerances
Fibromyalgia
Headaches e.g. migraines
Hormonal Changes
Infections e.g. Lupus, Chlamydia Pneumoniae
ME/CFS
Mental disturbances e.g. anxiety, depression
MS symptoms
Muscle Weakness
Nervous System
Neurological Damage e.g. Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s
Skin Problems, Hives, Eczema, Psoriasis

Lyme Disease Symptoms

This is not a definitive list, we will drill down into individual health problems, infections, symptoms and syndromes in further posts.

People with Lyme disease can suffer multiple symptoms that change to other symptoms on an hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly basis, we also found that some appeared around the same time of year, or after eating certain foods, or coming into contact with chemicals, or on cold or hot days or day and night.

The symptoms can migrate to other areas, and random pain can shift continually round the body only to appear and disappear just as quickly as it arrived. The irregularity of multiple symptoms and the damage caused are debilitating for a Lyme disease patient and almost impossible to diagnose and treat correctly.

Number of UK and Global Lyme Disease Cases

It’s very difficult to nail down exact figures, but here in the UK there are officially about 2000-3000 new Lyme disease cases diagnosed each year. (in 2016 Lyme cases in the UK increased by 35%), however there is a large amount of people having independent blood tests and a lot of undiagnosed cases.
The US has around 330,000 new Lyme disease cases per year with literally millions of patients, (between 2005-10 329,000 per year).

But given the poor diagnosis, inadequate testing there could be millions of sufferers worldwide that remain undiagnosed. The figure is rising fast. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Europe there are 360,000 reported new cases each year and from 1982-2012 and there are now over 5 million cases in the USA.

Just to give it some parity, Measles cases in the UK number about 1000 per year, and literally billions have been spent on vaccines to try and prevent it. Most people with measles recover naturally after treatment without any future issues.

Chronic Lyme disease patients never recover naturally.

Some Famous people with Lyme Disease
Kris Kristofferson, Daryl Hall, Avril Lavigne, Shania Twain, Debbie Gibson, Alec Baldwin, Yolanda, Anwar, & Bella Hadid, Kelly Osbourne, Ben Stiller.

Health Bunker

Can you imagine what would happen if all of a sudden there were 2000 new cases of Bird Flu in a year in the UK. It would be all over every 24hr news channels, radio stations, newspapers & magazines, social media. Government agencies would be leafleting and schools would be shut down for fear of spreading an unknown debilitating disease.

Let’s run a quick rudimentary numbers test. There are about 2500 new cases are recorded by the NHS every year. And let’s say we match that figure and there are 2500 positive tests done independently by Lyme disease sufferers. Also let’s just say there 2500 people who are ill but are undiagnosed, in any year. I don’t think I’m being unreasonable, do you? That means there could be at least 7500 new Lyme sufferers in the UK every year. And I think I’m undercooking the figures massively by the way.

That means there will 750,000 new Lyme disease cases in the next 10 years, in the UK alone! This my Lyme suffering friends is a travesty of justice, and it’s a global health disaster. Not everyone fully recovers from Chronic Lyme, we can get better with varying success, but may never fully recover. One thing is for sure life will not be the same again for the majority of people with Lyme disease.

Be Well

Dom & Nic
Health Bunker
It’s your life. Own it

*Disclaimer. Please note, we are not Doctors or medical professionals. We are not giving medical advice. Check with your Doctor or medical practitioner before trying anything.

REFERENCE

Public Health England 2018 Lyme Statistics (NHS tested)
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/786463/hpr0919_zoos.pdf

Lyme Disease Action
https://www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/about-lyme/faq/

www.gov.uk
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/lyme-disease-guidance-data-and-analysis

Nice – www.nice.org.uk – The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng95/chapter/recommendations#clinical-assessment

What is Lyme Disease, and how is it Spreading?

Why is it called Lyme Disease?

Lyme Disease History