May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month, a time to educate the public about this tick-borne illness affecting thousands of people yearly. By educating ourselves and taking precautions to prevent tick bites, we can work towards reducing the spread of Lyme disease and improving outcomes for those affected.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are approximately 30,000 cases of Lyme disease reported each year in the United States. However, because many cases go unreported or undiagnosed, the actual number of cases is likely much higher.
Lyme disease can be a costly and complex illness, and many patients struggle to access the care they need. By raising awareness, we can work towards improving outcomes for Lyme disease patients.
How Lyme Disease is Spread
Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected black-legged ticks (don’t click if you don’t like creepy crawlies.) These ticks are commonly found in wooded areas and can also be found in grassy and brushy areas.
This is a picture of a Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium plushie that I saw on Amazon. They aren’t actually this cute and cuddly…
Signs and Symptoms of Lyme Disease
From the Mayo Clinic
Stage 1
Early symptoms of Lyme disease usually happen within 3 to 30 days after a tick bite. This stage of disease has a limited set of symptoms. This is called early localized disease.
A rash is a common sign of Lyme disease. But it doesn’t always happen. The rash is usually a single circle that slowly spreads from the site of the tick bite. It may become clear in the center and look like a target or bull’s-eye. The rash often feels warm to the touch, But it’s usually not painful or itchy.
Other stage 1 symptoms include:
- Fever
- Headache
- Extreme tiredness
- Joint stiffness
- Muscle aches and pains
- Swollen lymph nodes
Stage 2
Without treatment, Lyme disease can get worse. The symptoms often show up within 3 to 10 weeks after a tick bite. Stage 2 is often more serious and widespread. It is called early disseminated disease.
Stage 2 may include the stage 1 symptoms and the following:
- Many rashes on other parts of the body
- Neck pain or stiffness
- Muscle weakness on one or both sides of the face
- Immune-system activity in heart tissue that causes irregular heartbeats
- Pain that starts from the back and hips and spreads to the legs
- Pain, numbness or weakness in the hands or feet
- Painful swelling in tissues of the eye or eyelid
- Immune-system activity in eye nerves that causes pain or vision loss
Stage 3
In the third stage, you may have symptoms from the earlier stages and other symptoms. This stage is called late disseminated disease.
In the United States, the most common condition of this stage is arthritis in large joints, particularly the knees. Pain, swelling or stiffness may last for a long time. Or the symptoms may come and go. Stage 3 symptoms usually begin 2 to 12 months after a tick bite.
The type of Lyme disease common in Europe can cause a skin condition called acrodermatitis chronic atrophicans. The skin on the backs of the hands and tops of the feet get discolored and swell. It also may show up over the elbows and knees. More-serious cases may cause damage to tissues or joints.
This skin condition may show up many months to many years after a tick bite.
Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS)
It is important to note that Lyme disease can be difficult to diagnose and treat, and there is still much to be learned about it. In rare cases, patients may experience ongoing symptoms even after treatment, a condition known as Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS) or chronic Lyme disease.
Disease Prevention
Prevention is key when it comes to Lyme disease. The CDC recommends wearing long sleeves and pants, using insect repellent, and performing tick checks after spending time outdoors. It is also important to remove any ticks promptly and properly to reduce the risk of infection.
Since some of these ticks can be as small as the head of a pin, it can be very difficult to find them on your body (or your pet’s) even with a careful search. Hairy areas make it even more difficult to see them.
Lyme Disease Research
Research is ongoing to better understand Lyme disease and improve diagnosis and treatment options. The DOD has a Tick-Borne Disease Research Program that supports research on tick-borne diseases, including Lyme disease. Healthcare providers play a crucial role in diagnosing and treating Lyme disease, and patients should seek medical attention if they suspect they have been bitten by a tick or have symptoms of Lyme disease.
To help combat Lyme disease, there are ongoing efforts to develop a vaccine. The FDA approved the first Lyme disease vaccine in 1998 but was later withdrawn from the market. However, there are currently several vaccine candidates in development that show promise.
Find Out More
There are many resources available for those who want to learn more about Lyme disease. You may want to check out the following:
- The Lyme Disease Association
- International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Lyme Disease in Literature
Lyme disease is not something that is regularly addressed in literature (especially fiction)! I have two books that mention it. The major one, of course, is In the Tick of Time, which is focused on the spread of tick-borne diseases, including Lyme disease. I also mention it in the Medical Kidnap Files, as Carmel Oss, one of Gabriel and Renata’s helpers, suffers the long-term effects of an undiagnosed Lyme disease infection. Carmel first appears in Proxy, and also has a major role in Fail.
In the Tick of Time
Do things with lots of legs creep you out? This may not be the book for you…
Matt Malloy, infectious diseases expert, for the DOH vector-borne disease division knew there was something wrong with the Buffalo Head infection cluster as soon as it hit his desk.
But knowing it instinctively and proving it were two completely different things, especially when his boss and coworkers already thought that, battling sleep deprivation, he’d already gone around the bend.
Matt knew that solving the mysteries of the Buffalo Head cluster was a matter of life and death.
He just didn’t know that it could be a matter of his life and death.
It could happen to you. Maybe it already has.
Feast on this new mystery today.
A nail-biting, creepy-crawly, medical-thriller that fans of Robin Cook will devour.
Read it today.
Proxy
Fourteen-year-old Seth Wilcox has been admitted to the hospital forty-eight times, according to his mother’s latest social media posts, when Social Services steps in and takes Seth into care, believing his mother suffers from Munchausen by Proxy and Seth is not safe in her care.
Gabriel Tate is now a veteran in dealing with medical kidnap and reuniting children with their families. He knows Seth and his mom, Leva, a tireless mitochondrial disorder advocate. He knows he needs to get Seth back to Leva as soon as he can.
With the authorities hot on their trails, Gabriel and Renata face increasingly difficult challenges. Can they stay one step ahead of the authorities? Can they finally get Seth somewhere he will be safe?
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was absolutely my favorite out of the series, I need more! … P.D. Workman outdid herself on this one!
Looking for something new in young adult literature? A fast-paced adventure with diverse characters that will keep you turning the pages.
Join Gabriel and Renata on their mission today!
Make it a bundle
Fail
This time, it’s one of their own!
After working underground to reunite apprehended teens with their parents for as long as they have, Gabriel and Renata have seen it all. But this time, it’s personal. When the young children of one of the families who have helped with the movement are seized, they prepare to do whatever it takes to have them returned before more damage can be done.
While Carmel and her family have been staunch supporters of the underground movement, they had never revealed their own experiences with DCFS. Now their history and their alliance with Gabriel and Renata have come back to haunt them.
A family torn apart.
Two innocent children being used to even the score.
It’s time to bring them home.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I found this book to be relevant, well-written, and thoroughly absorbing, if not a bit unsettling. P. D. Workman never fails to engage, enlighten, and entertain with her spellbinding stories and this book is no exception.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Highly recommended! I’m decades past being a “young adult” and find the books in this series to be riveting. They are expertly crafted, with well developed characters and intriguing plots. I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next in the series.
Looking for something new in young adult literature? A fast-paced adventure with diverse characters that will keep you turning the pages.
Join Gabriel and Renata on their mission today!
Other notable books that include Lyme disease as a major focus are:
Bite Me
How Lyme Disease Stole My Childhood, Made Me Crazy, and Almost Killed Me
Ally was at a breaking point when she woke up in a psych ward at the age of eighteen. She couldn’t put a sentence together, let alone take a shower, eat a meal, or pick up a phone. What had gone wrong? In recent years, she had produced a feature film, a popular reality show for a major network, and had acted in an off-Broadway play. But now, Ally was pushed to a psychotic break after struggling since she was seven years old with physical symptoms that no doctor could explain; everything from joint pain, to night sweats, memory loss, nausea, and brain fog. A doctor in the psych ward was finally able to give her the answers her and her family had desperately been searching for, and the diagnosis that all the previous doctors had missed. She learned that she had Lyme disease-and finally had a breakthrough.
What she didn’t know was that this diagnosis would lead her down some of the most excruciating years of her life before beginning her journey to recovery from eleven years of misdiagnosis and physical pain. She would need to find her courage to heal physically, mentally, and emotionally, and become the survivor she is today.
Set against the backdrop of the fast-paced fashion and entertainment industries, Bite Me shares the heartbreaking and hilarious stories that moved Ally forward on her journey from sickness to health. Its themes will be familiar to more than 300,000 Americans diagnosed with Lyme disease each year, many of whom, like Ally, wondered for years what was wrong with them. Bite Me offers readers hope and ideas for how one can transition from victim to survivor, and shares the spiritual principles and actions that have contributed to her wholeness as a human, mother, and international spokesperson against Lyme disease.
Over the Edge
Torn from the front lines of medical debate and the author’s own experience with Lyme Disease, Over the Edge is riveting fiction, full of twists and turns—and powerful truths about today’s medical field.
Janessa McNeil’s husband, Dr. Brock McNeil, a researcher and professor at Stanford University’s Department of Medicine, specializes in tick-borne diseases—especially Lyme. For years he has insisted that Chronic Lyme Disease doesn’t exist. Even as patients across the country are getting sicker, the committee Brock chairs is about to announce its latest findings—which will further seal the door shut for Lyme treatment.
One embittered man sets out to prove Dr. McNeil wrong by giving him a close-up view of the very disease he denies. The man infects Janessa with Lyme, then states his demand: convince her husband to publicly reverse his stand on Lyme—or their young daughter will be next.
But Janessa’s marriage is already rocky. She’s so sick she can hardly move or think. And her husband denies she has Lyme at all.
Welcome to the Lyme wars, Janessa.
The Lyme Conspiracy
What if a single strain of bacteria were responsible for over three hundred diseases affecting Americans today including: Multiple Sclerosis, Fibromyalgia, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? And what if the federal government is responsible for the outbreak of these bacteria?What if a single strain of bacteria were responsible for over three hundred diseases affecting Americans today including: Multiple Sclerosis, Fibromyalgia, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? And what if the federal government is responsible for the outbreak of these bacteria?
Ben is the perfect assassin. A former Navy SEAL with several combat kills, Ben was recruited out of the military by the CIA for one reason; to terminate any potential threats to the federal government. His new mission is to eliminate a series of threats that are attempting to expose top secret biological warfare experiments that were conducted at the Plum Island Infectious Disease Center in Long Island New York.Connecticut State Police Detective Taylor Marshall is contending with an all boys club at work.
When she is assigned a homicide case involving a retired government scientist that worked on Plum Island, she is determined to solve the case to prove herself to her peers, while finding justice for the victim. After a second former Plum Island scientist is killed in Long Island, Taylor is convinced a killer targeted these old friends in order to keep a sinister government secret from being exposed.
As the investigation blossoms, Taylor and investigative reporter, Gary Mitchell, join together in a race to find the truth about what happened on Plum Island and who is committing murder to cover it up. When Gary is nearly killed in a hit and run, Taylor realizes they too have become targets.
Determined to find the killer, Taylor knows she must outsmart a ruthless assassin in order to neutralize him before he gets to her.
And here is some non-fiction you may be interested in. I have not read them, so please read the reviews carefully. There is a lot of false or useless information out there about Lyme disease.
Bitten
The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons
A riveting thriller reminiscent of The Hot Zone, this true story dives into the mystery surrounding one of the most controversial and misdiagnosed conditions of our time—Lyme disease—and of Willy Burgdorfer, the man who discovered the microbe behind it, revealing his secret role in developing bug-borne biological weapons, and raising terrifying questions about the genesis of the epidemic of tick-borne diseases affecting millions of Americans today.
While on vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, Kris Newby was bitten by an unseen tick. That one bite changed her life forever, pulling her into the abyss of a devastating illness that took ten doctors to diagnose and years to recover: Newby had become one of the 300,000 Americans who are afflicted with Lyme disease each year.
As a science writer, she was driven to understand why this disease is so misunderstood, and its patients so mistreated. This quest led her to Willy Burgdorfer, the Lyme microbe’s discoverer, who revealed that he had developed bug-borne bioweapons during the Cold War, and believed that the Lyme epidemic was started by a military experiment gone wrong.
In a superb, meticulous work of narrative journalism, Bitten takes readers on a journey to investigate these claims, from biological weapons facilities to interviews with biosecurity experts and microbiologists doing cutting-edge research, all the while uncovering darker truths about Willy. It also leads her to uncomfortable questions about why Lyme can be so difficult to both diagnose and treat, and why the government is so reluctant to classify chronic Lyme as a disease.
A gripping, infectious page-turner, Bitten will shed a terrifying new light on an epidemic that is exacting an incalculable toll on us, upending much of what we believe we know about it.
Lyme
The First Epidemic of Climate Change
Lyme disease is spreading rapidly around the globe as ticks move into places they could not survive before. The first epidemic to emerge in the era of climate change, the disease infects half a million people in the US and Europe each year, and untold multitudes in Canada, China, Russia, and Australia.
Mary Beth Pfeiffer shows how we have contributed to this growing menace, and how modern medicine has underestimated its danger. She tells the heart-rending stories of families destroyed by a single tick bite, of children disabled, and of one woman’s tragic choice after an exhaustive search for a cure.
Pfeiffer also warns of the emergence of other tick-borne illnesses that make Lyme more difficult to treat and pose their own grave risks. Lyme is an impeccably researched account of an enigmatic disease, making a powerful case for action to fight ticks, heal patients, and recognize humanity’s role in a modern scourge.
Unlocking Lyme
Lyme disease is one of the most puzzling illnesses on the planet. Anyone who has suffered from its debilitating symptoms knows the frustrations of trying to find a cure.
Many sufferers drag themselves from one doctor or alternative practitioner to the next, getting lost in a maze of lab tests, prescription drugs, and treatments. Thousands of dollars and months (or years) later, they realize they are no better off than where they started.
Unlocking Lyme puts an end to this desperate quest. Written by Dr. Bill Rawls, a physician who overcame Lyme disease himself, this book is a comprehensive, practical resource full of solutions that work.
The Lyme Disease 30-Day Meal Plan
Healthy Recipes and Lifestyle Tips to Ease Symptoms
The Lyme Disease 30-Day Meal Plan helps you take back your life through a combination of great tasting recipes and straightforward lifestyle changes. Clinical nutritionist Lindsay Christensen makes it simple with her practical advice for improving your health, reducing inflammation, and easing lethargy and brain fog.
Get a full overview of Lyme disease, including symptoms, when you should talk to your doctor, treatment options, and more. Start your changes at the dinner table with convenient list of the foods you should (and shouldn’t) be eating, plus a delicious selection of healthy recipes. You can also learn how to go beyond your diet and discover the positive effects that detoxing, meditating, and exercising can all have on your health.
Healing Lyme
Natural Healing of Lyme Borreliosis and the Coinfections Chlamydia and Spotted Fever Rickettsiosis
Lyme disease infects a minimum of 300,000 people per year in the United States and millions more throughout the rest of the world. Symptoms run from mild lethargy to severe arthritis to heart disease to incapacitating mental dysfunction. Although tests have improved over the past decade, they are still not completely reliable, and antibiotics are only partially effective. Up to thirty-five percent of those infected will not respond to antibiotic treatment or will relapse. The spirochetes that cause Lyme are stealth pathogens―they can hide within cells or alter their form so that our immune systems cannot find them, as well as inhibit the effectiveness of antibiotics. Lyme disease is, in fact, a potent emerging epidemic disease for which technological medicine is only partially effective. The coinfections that accompany Lyme are often as, or more, incapacitating than Lyme itself. Worldwide, hundreds of millions experience infection with babesia, bartonella, ehrlichia, anaplasma, mycoplasma, chlamydia, and the spotted fever rickettsiosis.
Healing Lyme examines the leading, scientific research on Lyme infection and its tests and treatments, and outlines the most potent natural medicines that offer help, either alone or in combination with antibiotics, for preventing and healing the disease. The book has been a bestseller for over a decade, and during that time the author has had contact with over 25,000 people who have used some form of these protocols during their healing journey. This edition has been significantly updated, fully revised, and expanded to reflect the increased understandings from that extensive contact, including depth-treatment experiences with hundreds during the past decade. Healing Lyme is the primary text in print on what Lyme bacteria do in the body and how natural approaches can heal the disease. It is the first book in print covering depth understanding and treatment of chlamydial and rickettsial coinfections.
This new updated version of Healing Lyme joins the author’s other two books on the treatment of Lyme coinfections (babesia, bartonella, mycoplasma, anaplasma, and ehrlichia) and completes his exhaustive work on these stealth pathogens.
