The Surprising Link Between Fibromyalgia and Lyme Disease

by Naomi Prex Arbaa, MD

If you have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia then the pain, anxiety and frustration associated with this disease is well understood by you. Whenever you ask someone about the worst thing in fibromyalgia they will tell you about the pain, problem in sleeping and numbness associated with it.

Lyme disease

Lyme disease is also called “the great imitator”. It is called the great imitator because Lyme mimics so many other diseases and illnesses, including Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Lyme disease is a transmissible disease; it can be transferred from mother to fetus or through sexual contact.

Lyme disease mainly develops after an insect bite like ticks.  Borrelia is a tube like bacterium that releases bacterial lipoproteins and it causes a spirochete infection.  The lipoproteins released by these bacteria are neurotoxins that cause a lot of memory problems, generalized inflammation, burning neurological pain, numbness, gastrointestinal discomfort, fever chills and swollen lymph nodes.

The more the spirochete moves through your body the more lipoproteins are produced, hence more is your immune system affected. That’s y this spirochete infection is linked with other autoimmune diseases like chronic fatigue syndrome.

Link between fibromyalgia and Lyme disease

In initial stages Lyme disease is not diagnosed by any blood tests. Doctors simply rely on physical examination and history of snake bites. But when we look upon fibromyalgia, some symptoms of fibromyalgia and Lyme disease do overlap like fatigue and muscle pain. Let us explain it by hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal axis. HPA is a network of communication and feedbacks between hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal gland.

It is a connection that controls the master hormones in your body. The link of HPA with Lyme disease is very interesting. Some people can get infection at some stage of their life but this infection remains dormant until that person encountered any trauma that weakens its immune system. That trauma will affect the HPA axis on varying degree.

Treatment

Treatment of Lyme disease is not easy at all. If it is diagnosed in early stages, antibiotics may help. But it’s very rare that Lyme disease gets detected in early stages. And the second factor is that the oral antibiotics can only be administered in 4 to 6 weeks.

After that the borrelia can make a comeback and make the patient to relapse. The purpose of antibiotics is not to strengthen the immune system; they only address the secondary infections. Sometimes antibiotics are given along with supplements. These supplements can strengthen the immune system a little and the antibiotics brought down the infections. Advanced immunotherapy, aggressive natural antiviral, antifungal, IV antibiotics and biodetoxification must be used if you really want to treat Lyme disease and its co infections.

The last and final step is utilizing the biodetoxification process in order to rid the body of the neurotoxins and the BLPs. Eventually the neurotoxins are challenging every nerve and hormone receptor within the patient’s body. Follow-up care may include hormone balancing, neurotransmitter and immune system support. If you know anyone suffering from fibromyalgia or Lyme disease, pass this information on. The best prescription is education.

 

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References:

  • The Surprising Link Between Fibromyalgia and Lyme Disease By ENVITA MEDICAL CENTER
  • Is Fibromyalgia Really Lyme Disease? by kimmiecakeskickslyme

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