Untreated Lyme disease can develop into a neurological condition with cognitive and psychiatric symptoms.

Early-stage Lyme disease is associated with fever, joint and muscle aches, arthritic symptoms – especially in large joints such as the knee – and sometimes an erythema migrans (or “bull’s eye”) rash. But if left untreated, Lyme can develop into a neurological condition with various cognitive and psychological symptoms that can drastically affect your quality of life and complicate your healing process.

Neurological and Cognitive Symptoms of Lyme

Lyme is sometimes called “the great imitator” because it can affect any system in the body, causing non-specific symptoms that mimic those of other diseases. What’s more, these symptoms can evolve and change the longer the disease has to advance.

This is the case with neurological Lyme disease, or Lyme neuroborreliosis. This condition occurs when the Lyme bacteria invade the central nervous system, causing a range of cognitive and/or psychiatric symptoms. These can include (but are not limited to):

• Poor memory and concentration

• Attention and focus problems

• Confusion and memory problems

• Brain fog

• Irritability and rage

• Depression

• Anxiety and panic attacks

• Sleep disorders

• Obsessive-compulsive behavior

• Hallucinations

Such symptoms can be especially challenging for patients to manage because they can come and go or evolve over time. And if positive Lyme test results are not obtained early, patients can go years experiencing these symptoms without knowing what’s causing them.

Neurological and Psychiatric Lyme Disease Treatment

You might be wondering, isn’t Lyme disease treatable with antibiotics? While this is true for early-stage Lyme disease, unfortunately, antibiotics often don’t fully resolve Lyme that has progressed to the neurological stage.

In fact, the CDC – which is notoriously conservative in its view of and recommendations for Lyme – has acknowledged the problem of Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome, a condition in which patients who have been treated for Lyme disease continue to experience symptoms (including those mentioned above). Many in the Lyme community consider PTLDS to simply be another name for chronic Lyme disease.

Finally, there is the problem of the indirect effects of chronic illness on mental health. Having a chronic disease is a risk factor for mental illness, and research shows a correlation between chronic illness and depression. Mental health professionals and chronic Lyme patients alike note that the day-to-day challenges of living with chronic Lyme – including physical pain, limited mobility, fatigue, and cognitive symptoms that make it difficult to complete basic tasks – can exacerbate existing mental health issues or create new ones.

For the reasons noted above, treating neurological and psychiatric symptoms of Lyme disease usually requires a holistic approach that goes beyond pharmaceuticals. This typically includes lifestyle interventions such as:

• Dietary changes

• Reducing toxins

• Stress management through sleep hygiene, mindfulness, acupuncture, and other wellness practices

• Exercise

• Microbiome management

Preventing Neurological Lyme

The longer Lyme disease has to develop, the more likely it is to progress into neurological and psychiatric symptoms. This is why early detection and intervention is so important.

Unfortunately, mainstream Lyme disease tests such as the ELISA and Western Blot are notorious for leading to false negatives that put patients in danger of missing the disease or receiving a misdiagnosis (for example, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Fibromyalgia).

One reason for this is the testing method itself. ELISA and Western Blots are antibody tests, meaning they are indirect tests. They don’t test for the disease-causing bacteria itself, but rather the presence of antibodies the immune system produces in response to infection. If a patient takes a test before the body has produced enough antibodies to show up, they can get a negative test result.

Another problem with ELISA and Western Blots is that they are not designed to detect all the different types of Borrelia that can cause Lyme. In the nearly 30 years since the discovery of Lyme and subsequent development of tests to detect it, scientists have identified over a dozen different species or strains of the bacteria that causes Lyme – yet many ELISA and Western Blot tests are only designed to detect one or two. This leads to all too many missed diagnoses, which is a risk factor for developing neurological Lyme.

A Holistic Approach to Treating Lyme Disease

The neurological and psychiatric symptoms of chronic Lyme are often tricky to treat with conventional medicine alone. What is needed is a holistic treatment that integrates physical health, mental health, and your environment. Learn more about Be Well's approach to Lyme and the neurological manifestations that are often associated with it.

Be Well Natural Medicine

Be Well Natural Medicine is a boutique natural medicine clinic for women serving the Twin Cities since 2009. To learn more about the doctors and services offered at Be Well here.