Lyme

Lyme season runs from March through the first frost (usually end of November). Lyme is found all over, including Canada and Europe.  Lyme is transmitted to humans and animals through ticks, such as the Ixodes scapularis (Deer Tick) and Amblyomma americanum (Lone Star tick).  A small percentage of Dog Ticks (Dermacenter variables) can also carry Lyme.  All developmental stages of the tick can transmit Lyme.

4 Life Stages of Hard Ticks:

• 1. Egg – hatches to a larva

  2. Larva – has 6 legs. It takes a blood meal and then molts to a nymph

  3. Nymph – has 8 legs. It tales a blood meal and then molts to either an adult female or adult male

  4. Adult – has 8 legs and sex differentiation to male and female

Female  - has a small shield covering only the top 1/3 of its body. This leaves the rest of the body flexible so it can engorge with blood.  When the female feeds the shield is pushed forward.  The female takes a blood meal, mates, lays eggs, and dies.

Male – has a hard shield covering the full length of the tick. The male feeds for moisture, but cannot engorge.

Ticks are usually founds in wooded areas, including tall grass, but it can be found in your own backyard.  Mice live around deer, gets the tick, and then travels to your backyard.  Also birds will use ticks as food and can drop the tick into your backyard, hair, etc.  Mosquitoes can transit Lyme from one person to another, by biting an infected person, then biting you.  

 Signs and Symptoms of Lyme:

The most common sign of Lyme is the Bull’s Eye rash.  Some people get this rash, while others do not.  This is because of the type of bacteria the tick is carrying when it bits you.  Some other symptoms are flu-like illness, joint pain, brain fog or memory loss, headaches, chest pain, heart palpitations, Bell’s Palsy, MS, etc.

 Co-Infections:

These are other tick-borne infections that can be contracted at the same time as the Lyme.

• • Babesiosis – parasite that mimics Lyme symptoms

  • Bartonellosis – caused by intracellular bacteria. AKA Cat-Scratch Fever.

  • Ehrlichosis – parasite that mimics Lyme symptoms

  • Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever – caused by a parasite

  • Tularemia – caused by a bacteria

  • Variety of Miasms – caused from having chronic Lyme.

Borrellia burgforferi (Lyme Bacteria):

·        Goes inter cellular and hides; goes dormant & mutates (from antibiotic use)

·        Becomes sequestered in difficult to penetrate sites (central nervous system, joints, eyes)

·        Use body’s own cells to shield them

·        May have other than spirochete forms such as L-form (cell wall deficient) and cystic form (giant L-body)

·        Have been found in clients after long-term treatment of antibiotics

·        May be associated with a neurotoxin

What to do if you get bit:

Call the office immediately to schedule an appointment.  If you have any of the Homeopathic Remedies and Herbal Compounds for Lyme, (such as Homeopathic Lyme I-V and Herbal Compound Lyme T, PLEASE TAKE WHAT YOU HAVE.  Take each of the Homeopathic Remedies every hour and the Herbal Compound (s) 6x a day.  If you do not have everything listed above, take what you have, or call the office to pick-up these products or have us mail them to you. 

The sooner we can catch Lyme, the quicker your body will be able to get rid of it.