Knowledge is Power

Browse the topics below or view the FAQ

Knowledge is Power

 

Browse the topics below or view the FAQ

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has invited public feedback on tick-borne disease research strategy. LymeDisease.org will be submitting comments, and we want to include your opinions! Surveys take 5-10 min to complete.

What is Lyme Disease?

 Lyme disease is a bacterial infection caused by a spiral shaped bacteria (spirochete) called Borrelia burgdorferi. It is transmitted via black legged ticks (AKA – deer ticks).

Lyme Disease can cause many different symptoms including fever, headache, body aches, chills, fatigue, joint pain, muscle pain, skin rashes, numbness, tingling, cognitive dysfunction, and heart symptoms. Because it can cause such a variety of symptoms and infect a number of areas of the body, it is often referred to as a “great imitator”, and can be very difficult to diagnose. If left untreated, Lyme can cause significant disability and dysfunction.

The CDC estimates that there are over 300,000 new cases of Lyme disease in the United States each year. View a full list of symptoms below as well as our FAQ. 

Lyme Disease Symptoms

Lyme Disease can affect the whole body and has many symptoms. Symptoms can come and go but typically worsen over time if not treated. 

  •  Flu Like Illness
  • Rash
  • Extreme Fatigue
  • Headaches
  • Joint Pain and Swelling
  • Difficulty Concentrating
  • Facial Paralysis
  • Palpitations
  • Chest Pains
  • Sick feeling
  • Stiff Aching Neck
  • Muscle Pain
  • Muscle Twitching
  • Dizziness
  • Depression
  • Irritability, Mood Swings
  • Anxiety, Panic Attacks
  • Memory Loss
  • Insomnia
  • Abdominal Pain
  • Nausea, Diarrhea
  • Shortness of Breath
  • Tingling, Burning, Shooting Pains
  • Numbness

Browse our FAQ

What is Lyme Disease?

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection caused by a spiral shaped bacteria (spirochete) called Borrelia burgdorferi. It is transmitted via black legged ticks (AKA – deer ticks). It can cause many different symptoms including fever, headache, body aches, chills, fatigue, joint pain, muscle pain, skin rashes, numbness, tingling, cognitive dysfunction, and heart symptoms. Because it can cause such a variety of symptoms and infect a number of areas of the body, it is often referred to as a “great imitator”, and can be very difficult to diagnose. If left untreated, Lyme can cause significant disability and dysfunction. The CDC estimates that there are over 300,000 new cases of Lyme disease in the United States each year.

What do I do if I have been bitten by a tick?

    Removing and treating a tick bite within the first 24 hours can prevent Chronic Lyme Disease.

  • Remove the tick, following the directions in the question below. Making sure to save the tick.
  • Place all clothing in a hot dryer for 60 min to kill an additional ticks.
  • Contact your doctor to inquire about antibiotic treatment.
  • Check yourself thoroughly for additional ticks for the next few days.
  • Remember ticks can be as small as a poppy seed and are painless making them easily missed.

Tick bites caught within 24 hours rarely result in Lyme Disease. Ticks who have fed for 3-4 days have a 90% chance of infecting their host with Lyme Disease.

How do I remove a tick?
  • Do NOT place products or ointments on the tick to encourage it to “back out”.
  • Use tweezers or a tick removing tool.
  • Grasp tick firmly and pull straight out. 
  • Do NOT squeeze, twist, burn or smash tick. 
  • Do NOT allow any blood to remain on skin
  • Place tick in a plastic zip bag to bring to your doctor.
  • Wash throughly with soap and water.
  • Contact your doctor to discuss any additional treatment.
How do I prevent tick bites.

Ticks prefer moist, shaded areas. Removing long grass and wet leaves from your yard and keeping logs and various objects to a minimum can help discourage ticks from living there. 

When enjoying the outdoors, especially in grassy areas, place socks over pants and where possible use long sleeved clothing. Use permethrin sprays on clothing and shoes. Use 30% Deet or 20% Picaridin on your skin. 

After coming indoors, promptly remove clothing and place in a hot dryer for 60 min to kill ticks. Check yourself and animals for ticks. Remember, ticks are as small as a poppy seed and can be easily missed. Check your self regularly over the next few days. Tick bites caught within 24 hours rarely result in Lyme Disease. Ticks who have fed for 3-4 days have a 90% chance of infecting their host with Lyme Disease. 

Save any ticks you have found on yourself, in a plastic zip bag and bring to your doctor. 

What are the symptoms of Lyme Disease?
  • Flu Like Illness
  • Rash
  • Extreme Fatigue
  • Headaches
  • Joint Pain and Swelling
  • Difficulty Concentrating
  • Facial Paralysis
  • Palpitations
  • Chest Pains
  • Sick Feeling
  • Stiff Aching Neck
  • Muscle Pain
  • Muscle Twitching
  • Dizziness
  • Depression
  • Irritability, Mood Swings
  • Anxiety, Panic Attacks
  • Memory Loss
  • Insomnia
  • Abdominal Pain
  • Nausea, Diarrhea
  • Shortness of Breath
  • Tingling, Burning, Shooting Pains
  • Numbness

Recommended Lyme Books

 

Victory: A Lyme Story : Aimee Goodwin

After fighting a seven-year battle with Lyme disease, Aimee Goodwin has written of her struggles with the disease and with the medical community to receive a diagnosis and treatment. She writes of the dark moments of sickness and of her eventual triumph over Lyme disease. Passionate in the cause of “Lyme awareness” she desires her book to be a message of hope for all of those who may be on a similar path, and to help others have a better understanding of those close to them that may be fighting this silent monster.

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Aimee Goodwin is a long time resident of Minnesota. Together with her husband, she is busy raising her family and enjoying all the things that entails. A survivor of Lyme disease, she is a passionate activist for the cause and works to spread awareness and to support those affected by Lyme disease.

Recipes for Repair

Now back in an updated and expanded second edition, Recipes for Repair is your go-to guide for adopting the highly acclaimed Lyme Inflammation Diet. Allowable foods are gradually introduced over the first 10 weeks, which will help you to combat inflammation, discover any unidentified food sensitivities and ultimately provide you with an individualized nutrition plan.

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This 312-page book features more than 180 recipes that are:

– developed by Gail Piazza, a professional food stylist and recipe developer, with taste and ease in mind

– free of cane sugar, refined and artificial ingredients

– labeled with icons for quick identification of the many meals appropriate for vegetarian (155), dairy-free (161), egg-free (136) and/or Paleo (111)

 

Additionally, the book:

– Features a foreword by Dr. Singleton, author of The Lyme Disease Solution

– Explains Dr. Singleton s anti-inflammation diet including how to incorporate it into your life

– Includes money-saving suggestions

– Provides practical preparation and equipment tips for cooks of any experience level; and

– Defines the beneficial characteristics of many foods

 

New to this edition, you ll find:

– 52 new recipes and 25 revised recipes

– Updated diet guidelines

– Symptom journal instructions

– Information on how to incorporate cultured foods into your meals

– Preparation tips and a 7-day meal plan to get you started

– And, now, every recipe is gluten-free!

 

The first edition of the book was a Bronze Medal Winner in the Living Now Book Awards and a Finalist in The USA Best Book Awards

Believe Me: My Battle with The Invisible Disability of Lyme Disease

From the star of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills comes an emotional and eye opening behind-the-scenes look at her descent into uncovering the mystery of chronic Lyme disease.

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In early 2011, Yolanda was struck by mysterious symptoms including brain fog, severe exhaustion, migraines and more. Over the months and years that followed, she went from being an outspoken, multi-tasking, hands-on mother of three, reality TV star, and social butterfly, to a woman who spent most of her time in bed. Yolanda was turned inside out by some of the country’s top hospitals and doctors, but due to the lack of definitive diagnostic testing, she landed in a dark maze of conflicting medical opinions, where many were quick to treat her symptoms but could never provide clear answers to their possible causes.

In this moving, behind the scenes memoir, Yolanda Hadid opens up in a way she has never been able to in the media before. Suffering from late stage Lyme, a disease that is an undeniable epidemic and more debilitating than anyone realizes, Yolanda had to fight with everything she had to hold onto her life. While her struggle was lived publicly, it impacted her privately in every aspect of her existence, affecting her family, friends and professional prospects. Her perfect marriage became strained and led to divorce. It was the strong bond with her children, Gigi, Bella and Anwar, that provided her greatest motivation to fight through the darkest days of her life. Hers is an emotional narrative and all-important read for anyone unseated by an unexpected catastrophe. With candor, authenticity and an unwavering inner strength, Yolanda reveals intimate details of her journey crisscrossing the world to find answers for herself and two of her children who suffer from Lyme and shares her tireless research into eastern and western medicine. Believe Me is an inspiring lesson in the importance of having courage and hope, even in those moments when you think you can’t go on.

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….

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…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.

Brain Under Attack: A Resource for Parents and Caregivers of Children with PANS, PANDAS, and Autoimmune Encephalitis.

Does your child have rages, OCD, tics, aggressive behavior, prolonged tantrums and/or anxiety? Is your child exhibiting sudden behavioral changes or a developmental regression? Your child may have PANS. 

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PANS (Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome) is an umbrella term which includes diagnoses such as PANDAS, PITANDS, and Autoimmune Encephalitis–all of which describe a condition marked by concerning psychiatric and physical symptoms that often appear suddenly. Children in the US are being diagnosed with PANS at a very concerning rate. What is behind this epidemic? What makes a child vulnerable to these conditions? Most importantly, what can be done to bring to bring our kids back to good health? In this book you will learn:• What PANS, PANDAS, and Autoimmune Encephalitis are and why so many children are being diagnosed with these conditions.• What causes PANS.• Why PANS is so commonly seen in children with autism.• How PANS is treated.• How to get to the root cause(s) of PANS.• What parents of children with PANS have done to bring their children back to good health.• What leading PANS experts have to say about the cause and treatment of PANS. Epidemic Answers is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to reestablishing vibrant health in our children and ourselves through education, empowerment and prevention.

Why Can’t I Get Better? Solving the Mystery of Lyme and Chronic Disease.

From one of the country’s foremost doctors comes a ground-breaking book about diagnosing, treating and healing Lyme, and peeling away the layers that lead to chronic disease.

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You may not know that you have Lyme. It can mimic every disease process including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, autoimmune conditions like MS, psychiatric conditions like depression and anxiety, and cause significant memory and concentration problems, mimicking early dementia. It is called the “Great Imitator,” and inaccurate testing-combined with a fierce, ongoing debate that questions chronic infection-makes it difficult for sufferers to find effective care.

When Dr. Richard Horowitz moved to the Hudson Valley over two decades ago to start his own medical practice, he had no idea that he was jumping into a hotbed of Lyme disease. He would soon realize that many of the chronic disease diagnoses people were receiving were also the result of Lyme-and he would discover how once-treatable infections, in the absence of timely intervention, could cause disabling conditions. In a field where the number of cases is growing exponentially around the world and answers remain elusive, Dr. Horowitz has treated over 12,000 patients and made extraordinary progress. His plan represents a crucial paradigm shift, without which the suffering will continue.

In this book, Dr. Horowitz:

– Breaks new ground with a 16 Point Differential Diagnostic Map, the basis for his revolutionary Lyme treatment plan, and an overarching approach to treating all chronic illness.

– Introduces MSIDS, or Multiple Systemic Infectious Disease Syndrome, a new lens on chronic illness that may prove to be an important missing link.

– Covers in detail Lyme’s leading symptoms and co-infections, including immune dysfunction, sleep disorders, chronic pain and neurodegenerative disorders – pro­viding a unique functional and integrative health care model, based on the most up-to-date scientific research, for physicians and health care providers to effectively treat Lyme and other chronic illnesses.

Cutting through the frustration, misinformation and endless questions, Dr. Horowitz’s enlightening story of medical discovery, science and politics is an all-in-one source for patients of chronic illness to identify their own symptoms and work with their doctors for the best possible treatment outcome.

What to Do When You Worry Too Much: A Kid’s Guide to Overcoming Anxiety (What-to-Do Guides for Kids)

Did you know that worries are like tomatoes? No, you can’t eat them, but you can make them grow, simply by paying attention to them. If your worries have grown so big that they bother you almost every day, this book is for you.

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What to Do When You Worry Too Much guides children and parents through the cognitive-behavioral techniques most often used in the treatment of anxiety. Lively metaphors and humorous illustrations make the concepts and strategies easy to understand, while clear how-to steps and prompts to draw and write help children to master new skills related to reducing anxiety. This interactive self-help book is the complete resource for educating, motivating, and empowering kids to overcoming their overgrown worries.

Engaging, encouraging, and easy to follow, this book educates, motivates, and empowers children to work towards change. Includes a note to parents by psychologist and author Dawn Huebner, PhD.

From the Note to Parents:

If you are the parent or caregiver of an anxious child, you know what it feels like to be held hostage. So does your child. Children who  worry too much are held captive by their fears. They go to great lengths to avoid frightening situations, and ask the same anxiety-based questions over and over again. Yet the answers give them virtually no relief. Parents and caregivers find themselves spending huge amounts of time reassuring, coaxing, accommodating, and doing whatever else they can think of to minimize their child’s distress.

But it doesn’t work. The anxiety remains in control. As you have undoubtedly discovered, simply telling an anxious child to stop worrying doesn’t help at all. Nor does applying adult logic, or allowing your child to avoid feared situations, or offering reassurance every time the fears are expressed.

This book is part of the Magination Press What-to-Do Guides for Kids® series and includes an “Introduction to Parents and Caregivers.” What-to-Guides for Kids® are interactive self-help books designed to guide 6–12 year olds and their parents through the cognitive-behavioral techniques most often used in the treatment of various psychological concerns. Engaging, encouraging, and easy to follow, these books educate, motivate, and empower children to work towards change.

Nick, the No Good, Icky Tick

Abby and her favorite four-footed friend Chowser discover all kinds of creatures while walking in the wild, wild woods one day. What they don’t expect to find is Nick, a no good, icky, black-legged tick. Find out what happens when Nick the icky tick finds them…and the lessons they learn about how to stay safe on future outdoor adventures!

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Author Karen Gloyer, a Lyme disease survivor, created Nick, the No Good, Icky Tick as a simple way to teach children and families the importance of tick prevention and awareness. Gloyer knows, firsthand, the hardships that come with this debilitating ailment–and that prevention and awareness are key. Let Abby, Chowser, and Nick, the No Good, Icky Tick help teach the children in your life to “look carefully!” as they learn to keep safe outdoors. Helpful tips and an afterword by Kenneth B. Singleton, M.D., M.P.H., a leading U.S. authority on Lyme disease treatment and prevention, round out this important book.

Grace and Scout

The story of friendship through Lyme Disease. **All proceeds go to Lyme Disease research and programs for children battling Lyme Disease*** Grace and Scout are very best friends. 

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They build forts and sandcastles and play in the snow together. But one day Grace becomes sick and can’t come out and play with Scout any more. Scout is sad and misses his friend but he figures out a way to make Grace feel better. The story of Grace and Scout teaches children what true friendship is all about.

Online Resources

Our Trusted Sites for Additional Lyme Disease Information and Support

International Lyme Association

The ILA is a foundation devoted to educating medical professionals about Lyme Disease and its associated diseases.

Global Lyme Alliance

The Global Lyme Alliance is a Lyme Research Institution whose objective is to conduct research, spread awareness, and educate about Lyme Disease.

Lyme Awareness Minnesota

Lyme Awareness Minnesota is designed to raise awareness and  funds to educate children about tick safety and  Lyme Disease.

Minnesota Lyme Association

The mission of the MLA is to provide support for those affected by Lyme Disease and also spread awareness to both the public and medical professionals.

Facebook Support Groups

One of the easiest steps you can take is joining a Facebook support group. Knowing you are not alone and sharing first hand info can get you started down the right path.

Find local groups,  attend support meetings, raise funds, or discuss Lyme problems with others  to help you or your family cope with Lyme Disease.

Still Have Questions?

New Hope Healing and Resource Center | 460 Northside Dr NE Suite 50, Alexandria, MN. 56308   |  (320) 460-8088