Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome What Is It?

By Mary Babcock, DO

Artius Integrative Medicine

. http://www.artiusmedical.com/

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Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome What Is It?

The CDC estimates that 300,000 people yearly are diagnosed with Lyme disease. Unfortunately, in an estimated 10-20% of cases Lyme disease antibodies persist in an individual's system long after antibiotics were presumed to have eradicated the tick-borne infection.
This lingering presence can result in post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS). PTLDS is the fatigue, musculoskeletal pain or cognitive difficulties that arise within six months of completing antibiotic therapy for diagnosed Lyme disease, which lasts for at least six months. In more than half of PTLDS cases the syndrome may result from a delayed diagnosis or inappropriate initial treatment.
While this syndrome has previously been difficult to diagnose and even harder to treat researchers at Johns Hopkins University have recently more clearly identified the symptoms surrounding the syndrome, paving the way for successful future treatment.
This is excellent news for the people who have been diagnosed with and treated for Lyme disease, but who are still suffering from the after-effects.
How Is PTLDS Diagnosed?
“PTLDS is a real disorder that causes severe symptoms in the absence of clinically detectable infection,” says John N. Aucott, M.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Clinical Research Center, in a Bustle.com article.
But that doesn't mean PTLDS is easy to diagnose When given a battery of tests, those with PTLDS have the same healthy results (on paper) than controls without a Lyme disease history. But these individuals are clearly not healthy, reporting symptoms like severe pain, severe sleep difficulty, severe numbness or tingling in the hands/feet, and severe irritability. That means an accurate diagnosis of PTLDS requires careful and comprehensive testing, including an examination of symptoms, cognitive testing and blood samples.
Current Treatment
Options for Sufferers
Current treatment options haven't had promising results. Courses of antibiotics haven't improved symptoms, and providing prompt treatment after a Lyme diagnosis seems to not affect the likelihood of a patient developing PLTDS. As a result, current treatment options, like cognitive behavioral therapy and low-impact exercise, are best described as palliative.
Future Treatment Plans
But that isn't deterring researchers, who are using what they know today to further tomorrow's research. Aucott says the first step is to clarify the general term of chronic Lyme disease; then, researchers must find a blood test that identifies the PTLDS marker and then design treatment studies that help patients feel better.
If you have a history of Lyme disease, it's important to find a doctor who understands how severe these symptoms can be and who believes in the PTLDS diagnosis.
If you're suffering from symptoms of PTLDS and haven't been able to find relief, now may be the right time to explore integrative treatment options with a qualified physician. It may even be covered by your insurance plan, so it's worth a look.