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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Phillipa on December 29, 2008, at 19:49:26
Since have chronic but been treated still test positive thought this small study on chronic lymes interest especially since it takes various forms lymes throughout the world. Phillipa
Chronic Lyme Disease Patients Often Have Comorbid Psychiatric Illness
Information from Industry.
By Megan RauscherNEW YORK (Reuters Health) Dec 26 - Psychiatric comorbidity and other psychological factors distinguish chronic Lyme disease patients from other medical patients commonly seen in Lyme disease referral centers, researchers report.
They also found that psychiatric comorbid illnesses correlate with poor functional outcomes in chronic Lyme disease patients.
Dr. Afton L. Hassett from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, and colleagues studied a total of 159 patients seen at an academic Lyme disease referral center. Their findings appear in the December 15 issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism (Arthritis Care and Research).
They evaluated the prevalence and role of psychiatric comorbidity and psychological factors in 77 patients with chronic Lyme disease and 82 (comparison) patients without chronic Lyme disease -- either recovered from Lyme disease or with Lyme-like symptoms explained by other conditions.
After adjusting for age and sex, the investigators found that depressive and anxiety disorders were more prevalent in chronic Lyme disease patients than in comparison patients (odds ratio, 2.64; p = 0.02).
The chronic Lyme disease patients also displayed a greater tendency to catastrophize pain, higher levels of negative affect, lower levels of positive affect, a greater number of symptoms and worse functioning.
"The results, related to the prevalence of depression and anxiety and the powerful role of psychological variables (like catastrophizing and negative affect) in functional outcomes, were striking and more pronounced than we expected," Dr. Hassett noted in comments to Reuters Health.
"This is not to say that patients' symptoms are purely psychological, because in most cases they are not, but it is clear that depression and anxiety are common in this and many medical populations and need to be treated," he added.
It was not evident from the study whether depression and/or anxiety came before the physical symptoms or resulted from symptom chronicity and decreased quality of life, Dr. Hassett explained.
He and his colleagues also found that almost 47% of the chronic Lyme disease patients qualified for a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. "Sleep disturbance is common in most patients with fibromyalgia and this appeared to be the case in many of our chronic Lyme disease subjects," Dr. Hassett mentioned. "Often detecting and treating the sleep problems can result in significant symptomatic improvement," he added.
Posted by JadeKelly on December 29, 2008, at 21:50:37
In reply to Chronic Lymes Increase Dep/ Anxiety and Fibromyalg, posted by Phillipa on December 29, 2008, at 19:49:26
This would explain alot of your symptoms. What to do about it?
~Jade
Posted by Phillipa on December 29, 2008, at 23:42:08
In reply to Re: Chronic Lymes Increase Dep/ Anxiety and Fibromyalg » Phillipa, posted by JadeKelly on December 29, 2008, at 21:50:37
Don't know any ideas? Love Phillipa
Posted by SLS on December 30, 2008, at 15:22:23
In reply to Chronic Lymes Increase Dep/ Anxiety and Fibromyalg, posted by Phillipa on December 29, 2008, at 19:49:26
Here is one of the best sites on the Internet addressing Lyme disease:
- Scott
Posted by bleauberry on December 30, 2008, at 18:52:33
In reply to Chronic Lymes Increase Dep/ Anxiety and Fibromyalg, posted by Phillipa on December 29, 2008, at 19:49:26
I have studied a lot about this topic. Among all the symptoms of Lyme, psychiatric ones are prominent, along with pains and fatigue. Cases of CFS, MS, and FM are often misdiagnosed when they are actually Lyme. Those names don't even mean anything, except a title to some mysterious cluster of symptoms. Lyme on the other hands means something.
The disease often goes undiagnosed, or missed in a faulty diagnosis, and treated as a generic form of depression/anxiety/whatever. Even if the treatment helps, the disease continues to grow, eventually overwhelming anything a psych drug can do. Maybe that is one form of poopout?
Lyme can be spread by mosquitos, mites, and horseflies, and even semen, not just ticks. One not need know they got bit by a tick. Not everyone will have the telltale rash. The time the person contracted Lyme may be a mystery.
My opinion is there are hundreds of thousands of undiagnosed or misdiagnosed cases in the USA, chalked up instead as some other mysterious disease. Lyme is after all "The Great Imitator". It is a genius at deception and hiding.
If someone has been treated and then later relapse, they need to be treated again, and sometimes for life. Treatment less than 6 months is destined for failure. Most require 1 to 2 years. Lyme lives in 3 forms. Three different antibiotics are needed to address each, usually starting with one for the primary organism, adding a second for the cyst form, and adding a third for the cell-less wall form hiding in your own cells where other antibiotics and your own immune system can't see them. Only a couple antibiotics can get them. The growth cycle is so slow, that it takes long term treatment to get all stages, since antibiotics don't actually kill anything, they just stop growth.
A great place for info is www.lymenet.org. Probably the most important thing is to have a doctor who is a LLMD. That is, Lyme Literate MD. Unlike so-called Infectious Disease specialists, LLMDs are not constrained by the Association's rigid methods of diagnosis and treatment, which, long story, are full of flaws. LLMDs are also up on the other co-infections that come with Lyme.
In any case, yeah, Lyme is a devastating cause of psychiatric problems. Meds can help symptoms, but won't stop the progression of the invasion. The person's depression and anxiety will ultimately be cured by a drug they never considered. Among all the SSRIs, SNRIs, MAOIs, mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, benzos, stimulants, years and years, they never considered...antibiotics.
Posted by Phillipa on December 30, 2008, at 20:29:25
In reply to Re: Chronic Lymes Increase Dep/ Anxiety and Fibromyalg, posted by bleauberry on December 30, 2008, at 18:52:33
Is lymenet still there? Is that the one that Rose the moderator died? As when change e-mail address didn't get it anymore and updates came daily. Spinal fluid was clear, regular arthritis due to age, but the fatigue and tiredness there now but don't meet criteria for eith fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue. I'd like to subscribe to that newsletter again. That Spirochette the way I look at it in simple terms hides in any organ of body and comes out to "play" when resistance is down. ANA was 1:2800 and something when first treated with Iv rocephin. Last time 1:40 which was good till the guidelines lowered it. And NC found a new form last year. Phillipa
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