Symptoms Lyme Disease

Symptoms Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is a bacterial illness caused by a bacterium, called "spirochete", "Borrelia Burgdorferi and Borrelia afzelii. Ticks are the primary carrier of this bacteria which is found in the ticks' stomachs. Lyme disease is spread by these ticks when they bite the skin and permits the bacteria to infect the body.

Lyme disease is not contagious from human to human but can be contagious in a household if the tick keeps biting everyone in the home. This disease can cause abnormalities in the skin, joints, heart, and nervous system.

Lyme disease that is left untreated will progress from mild symptoms to a serious form. There are three stages of Lyme disease

Stage 1 - localized disease with skin inflammation

Stage 2 - disseminated disease with heart and nervous system involvement,

Stage 3 - late disease with sensory nerve damage and brain inflammation, leading to arthritis

Stage 1 - symptoms include, a red rash, like an insect bite (this may not happen always), fever, headache, stiff neck, chills muscle aches, fatigue, lack of energy and swollen lymph nodes. Most patients notice a unique enlarging rash referred as erythema migrans a few days after the bite. The skin around the bite develops an expanding ring of redness. In some instances, the person does not notice any symptoms during this stage. Stage 1 symptoms are similar to those of a viral flu.

Stage 2 - If the Lyme disease is not detected and treated during the early stages, the disease may affect the skin, joints, nervous system, and heart within weeks and up to a month of the initial infection.

Symptoms include, excessive tiredness, the spread of skin rashes all over the body as the infection spreads, slow and poor memory, unable to concentrate, Conjunctivitis and damage to the tissue in the eyes, rapid heartbeats, pain, weakness, or numbness in the arms or legs, heart disease, inability to control the muscles of the face, recurring headaches and severe headaches and fainting.

Stage 3 - Even at the second stage if Lyme disease is not properly treated effectively, damage to the joints, nerves, and brain can develop months or years after the initial encounter. Symptoms include swelling and pain in the joints more often seen in the knee area, numbness, tingling in the hands and feet, severe fatigue, partial facial nerve paralysis, memory problems, mood swings or lack of sleep, and problems with speech. These symptoms may last up to 6 months at a time.

Chronic Lyme arthritis, which causes recurring episodes of swelling, redness, and fluid buildup in one or more, joints that last up to 6 months at a time.

Lyme disease is also treated with antibiotics.