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By Dr. Michael Miles
The prevalence of Lyme Disease has been reassessed recently. It is believed to be much more pervasive than originally thought. It is the fastest growing vector born infectious disease in this country. It has been found in every state in the Union. Statistics reveal an infection ratio of 8.6 cases for every 100,000 persons. In the 10 states where Lyme disease is most common the ratio increases to 58.8 cases per 100,000. Some researchers believe these figures to be off by 10 to 100 fold. It was first described in the community of Old Lyme, Connecticut, in 1975.
The disease is caused by a spirochete bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, which is most often transmitted by the bite of a tick found usually on deer and dogs. It has also been detected in fleas and mosquitoes. The likelihood of infection increases dramatically if the tick stays imbedded in the skin for 36 to 48 hours. Lyme Disease is the most common tick born disease in the United States. There is some evidence that it can also be transmitted through bodily fluids from person to person.
Commonly, symptoms of an infection with Lyme’s Disease begin with redness around the site of a bite that expands into a circular rash. It takes on the form of a bull’s eye. Fever, headache, lethargy and muscle pains often develop. This is followed by joint inflammation that can persist. The symptoms may appear as early as three days after a bite. However, it may also take months for the symptoms to show up. It is believed that less than 50 percent of those infected with Lyme’s Disease exhibit the bull’s eye rash and the initial joint swelling is even less frequently seen. If the early stage of Lyme disease goes unnoticed, later symptoms include swelling and pain in joints (similar to arthritis), numbness and tingling in the hands and feet, persistent fatigue, poor memory and reduced ability to concentrate and weakness or paralysis in the muscles of the face.
Because it is often left untreated for years and has many varied symptoms, it has developed the reputation as the new “Great Imitator.” Though primarily an arthritic type disease, Lyme can also present as atypical illness in the brain, spinal cord, pericardium, gastrointestinal tract, endocrine organs and glands, skin and other tissues and systems.
Due to the corkscrew shape of this bacterium, it can burrow into multiple cells and organs and lay dormant for many years much like tuberculosis. This makes treatment difficult. Long term antibiotic treatment is often required because the bacterium are hard to reach, hard to kill and hard to detect in order to determine eradication. Blood tests can be used to detect an infection, though there are notoriously high rates of false negatives meaning that the test shows no infection where there actually is one.
It is a good idea to consider this ever increasing infection when seeking help with ailments that resemble arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, chronic yeast infections and other degenerative conditions. It is especially prudent to consider after having been bit by a tick in the Northeasterly states or the Northwesterly states. The bull’s eye rash should be considered a big red flag.
Conventional treatment is often laborious, harsh and expensive. It usually includes large amounts of antibiotics administered over many months and years. Additional drugs are incorporated in an attempt to control the multitude of symptoms and side effects.
Outstanding results have been seen with the use of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. This treatment drives pure oxygen deep inside each cell to eradicate the Lyme spirochetes.
Dr. Michael Miles’ Clinic is located at 15601 N. Oracle Rd. in Catalina behind Golf Cars of Arizona.You can learn more about the Catalina Clinic and Dr. Miles by visiting the website: www.catalinaclinic.com. To contact Dr. Miles or make an appointment at the clinic call 520-825-8100.
Gary Every is an award winning author who has won consecutive Arizona Newspaper Awards for best lifestyle feature for pieces “The Apache Naichee Ceremony” and “Losing Geronimo’s Language”. The best of the first decade of his newspaper columns for The Oracle newspaper were compiled by Ellie Mattausch into a book titled Shadow of the OhshaD. Mr. Every has also been a four time finalist for the Rhysling Award for years best science fiction poetry. Mr. Every is the author of ten books and his books such as Shadow of the Ohshad or the steampunk thriller The Saint and The Robot are available either through Amazon or www.garyevery.com.
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