Lyme Disease

Lyme disease has over 100 different symptoms and no two people infected present exactly the same way.

What is Lyme Disease?

Lyme Disease is caused by an infection by a spiral-shaped bacteria called Borrelia Burgdorferi. This infection can be transmitted by ticks, but also mosquitos.

When a person is infected with this bacteria, symptoms produced can mimic virtually any disease making it difficult to diagnose and is the reason why people are often misdiagnosed with a different condition and don't receive appropriate treatment. Anyone with a chronic illness and especially those diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia or immune dysfunction need to consider Lyme Disease as the cause.

How is Lyme Disease diagnosed?

At Portal To Healing our physicians are experts in treating chronic disease with holistic alternative medicine and are educated about Lyme Disease and other chronic infections. The most advanced diagnostics are utilized and testing from laboratories that specialize in testing tick-borne illness exclusively are used.

Once a diagnosis is made, an individualized program is created using a integrative approach. Using naturopathic medicine such as Lyme-specific supplements, immune building and antimicrobial IV's, as well as conventional medications, most patients are back on track to a full quality of life.

Lyme disease is often missed as the cause of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Anyone with a chronic illness, whether it be chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia or an autoimmune illness, needs to consider Lyme disease as the cause. Lyme disease can mimic virtually any disease and as such has been called the "great imitator".

Patients with chronic Lyme disease usually have symptoms of fatigue, sleep problems, joint and/or muscle pain as well as brain fog. Infection with Lyme can be even more serious causing low-grade encephalopathy (infection of the brain) which can results in psychiatric symptoms such as depression, bipolar disorder, panic attacks or anxiety, dementia, Alzheimer's disease as well as many other neurological diseases and psychiatric illnesses.

Since the symptoms can be so variable and can manifest in over 100 different symptoms with no two people being the same, Lyme Disease is usually not even considered. Even if testing is performed, standard testing misses over 90% of the cases of chronic Lyme disease. This is because the standard methods of testing were designed to test for Acute Lyme Disease and not Chronic Lyme. The standard testing method is an immunoassay test of IgG and IgM antibodies followed by Western blot for confirmation. In addition, most doctors use the CDC (Center for Disease Control) criteria to identify a positive test. The problem with this is that the the CDC criteria was never meant for diagnosis, it was meant for epidemiological surveillance (tracking). At Portal To Healing our doctors use an expanded Western blot with revised requirement criteria for diagnosis. This allows for improved sensitivity for detection as well as a low false-positive rate. Our tests are run at IGeneX Labs in California. IGeneX is a laboratory the specializes in the testing of tick-borne illness exclusively and is considered the top laboratory for Lyme testing.

What is the treatment for Lyme Disease?

If one is diagnosed with Lyme Disease, the traditional alternative medical treatment is not as simple as the FDA claims. Since infection with Lyme can transform itself into various forms – the standard, cell walled form, the non-cell walled form L-form as well the cyst form treatment with antibiotics alone is often ineffective as the antibiotic treatment is only effective against the standard, cell-walled form of Lyme. With this being said, even using antibiotics for extended periods such as months or even years can be of little benefit. In our opinion, it is important to have a multi-factorial, multi-system, integrative approach to be effective against Lyme Disease.

At Portal To Healing, our doctors use combination antibiotics to treat the various forms of Lyme and at the same time use other combination medications to increase immune function, modulate hormones, treat coagulation disorders as well as detoxify the body of the infection. The integration of traditional medicine with alternative medicine dramatically increases the success of treatment for Lyme Disease.

For answers to your questions or to make an appointment, call us at (949) 722-6797 to speak with our office staff. Let us help you get your life back.

Lyme Disease is often misdiagnosed as:

Common symptoms often associated with Lyme Disease include:

Frequently asked questions about Lyme Disease:

Q:What are some common conditions that people with Lyme are misdiagnosed with?
A:Mononucleosis, Epstein Barr Virus, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Anxiety, Depression, Migraine Headaches, Insomnia, Gluten sensitivity, and so on. Because symptoms of lyme disease mimic so many other conditions it is difficult to get a true diagnosis. It is common for these patients to see 10-30 different doctors or practitioners.

Q: What exactly is Lyme Disease?
A: A tick borne or biting insect borne disease that affects literally every organ system of the body but initially affects the musculoskeletal and neurological systems. Once the bacteria enters your system it begins to create an auto-immune type of dysfunction. Headaches, nausea, fatigue, muscle and joint pains. After the acute infections the bacteria is driven deeper into the body and begins to hide. This is why testing for acute infection does not produce a result in patients who have been infected for a long time.

Q: Is Lyme disease contagious?
A: Lyme disease is transmitted via blood transfusions, and through maternal/fetal development to newborns.

Q: Does the person remember being bitten by a tick?
A: Sometimes. If a tick bites behind someone's head, or knee, or in the groin, it may be difficult to spot and not every person gets the classic presentation of a bulls-eye rash with the initial tick bite.

Q: Isn't the east coast the primary reservoir of deer ticks?
A: Yes, however as more folks travel & relocate ticks and Lyme infections can be carried along for the ride. Other biting insects also carry lyme bacteria and can be found in the mountains, tall grass, and especially on the east coast.

Q: Can Lyme disease cause death?
A: Yes, in severe cases but for most it dramatically affects quality of life and function.

Q: What else do I need to know about Lyme?
A: Lyme infection from a tick bite can also mean that other infectious bacteria were transmitted along with it. It is common for these patients to have concominant infections such as Bartonella, Babezia, or other opportunistic infections that arise when the immune system is under attack.