However it is extraordinarily rare for there to be any permanent damage to the brain itself. More importantly, there are many symptoms that occur in patients with Lyme disease and most other infections that may make one think there is a problem with the brain; however, that is not the case.
Can Lyme disease affect your brain?
Lyme disease can cause meningitis and encephalitis. Meningitis is a swelling of the lining of the brain and spinal cord. Encephalitis is a swelling of the brain itself. Meningitis is more common with Lyme disease than encephalitis.
Does Lyme disease cause neurological damage?
Neurological complications most often occur in early disseminated Lyme disease, with numbness, pain, weakness, facial palsy/droop (paralysis of the facial muscles), visual disturbances, and meningitis symptoms such as fever, stiff neck, and severe headache.
Can Lyme cause permanent memory loss?
70% of those afflicted with Lyme disease report changes in their thinking such as memory loss and reduced mental sharpness. Lyme is often a serious, chronic illness that the medical community at large has misunderstood at best, and at worse unacknowledged.
Can you have Lyme disease for 20 years?
If treated, Lyme disease does not last for years. However, for some people, the after-effects of the disease can linger for months and sometimes even years. Alternative medicine providers call this condition Chronic Lyme disease, but this title is simply wrong.
Does Lyme show up on MRI?
Lyme disease symptoms may also have a relapsing-remitting course. In addition, Lyme disease occasionally produces other abnormalities that are similar to those seen in MS, including positive findings on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the brain and analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
Can Lyme disease cause mental health problems?
A broad range of psychiatric reactions have been associated with Lyme disease including paranoia, dementia, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, panic attacks, major depression, anorexia nervosa, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Does Lyme disease cause personality changes?
ABC News medical contributor Dr. Marie Savard, who had lyme disease, said that the possibility of personality changes should at least be taken into consideration. It does affect the central nervous system. You can have behavior changes, personality changes, she said.
Does caffeine affect Lyme disease?
Caffeine is not the answer to increasing energy levels in Lyme because it doesnt provide any nutrients needed for energy production. When youre feeling lethargic and drowsy, your go-to may be a caffeinated beverage such as coffee, tea, chocolate or a cola drink.
Can Lyme turn into MS?
When it does, it is known as neurologic Lyme disease. Sometimes, people who think they may have Lyme disease find out they have MS (an immune-mediated central nervous system disorder). Lyme disease as an infection can act to trigger MS attacks.
Can neuropathy from Lyme be reversed?
This neuropathy presents with intermittent paresthesias without significant deficits on clinical examination and is reversible with appropriate antibiotic treatment.
Do you live with Lyme disease forever?
If treated, Lyme disease does not last for years. However, for some people, the after-effects of the disease can linger for months and sometimes even years.
Can Lyme disease make you feel crazy?
A broad range of psychiatric reactions have been associated with Lyme disease including paranoia, dementia, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, panic attacks, major depression, anorexia nervosa, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Can you eat bananas with Lyme disease?
Very sweet fruits: banana, grapes, dried fruits, candied fruit, raisins, dates, canned fruits.
Does Lyme brain fog go away?
More than one in 10 people successfully treated with antibiotics for Lyme disease go on to develop chronic, sometimes debilitating and poorly understood symptoms of fatigue and brain fog that may last for years after their initial infection has cleared up.