Only 25% of us who get Lyme disease know that a tick bit us. And missing a tick bite can be devastating, as people who have suffered the ravages of Lyme disease know. Infected ticks spread B Burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. But once symptoms set in, healing from Lyme becomes tough. Here’s why:  After 30 days, B Burgdorferi begins burying itself deep within your cells where antibiotics cannot reach.

Catch Lyme Symptoms Early

If you suspect Lyme, it’s crucial to note even mild symptoms, so you can begin treatment. Routinely inspect for ticks. These like to hide along the hairline, behind ears or where skin is warm and soft, such as your underarm, inner thighs or belly. Vigilance is especially important if you visit or live near deer or white-footed mouse habitat – meadows, scrubland and woods. These cute mammal hosts enable Lyme ticks to thrive.

Early Lyme symptoms include: joint aches, fever, chills, headache, tiredness, and swollen lymph nodes. A painless rash can appear from three days to a month following the bite, expand to a foot or more in diameter, and assume a classic bullseye shape. Thankfully, if you can catch Lyme disease early, antibiotics can restore your health.

Unfortunately, people who don’t get a rash can go for weeks or months before suspecting a tick bite. If you’re like many of us, a fever or chills sends you to bed with an aspirin and heating pad, assuming that you’ll feel better tomorrow. Resist that impulse and get to a doctor right away! If you notice the tell-tale rash anywhere on your body, snap a photo of it as evidence in case you cannot get an immediate appointment.

What If My Doctor Says I Just Have The Flu?

Due to growing antibiotic resistance, your doctor may be understandably reluctant to prescribe antibiotics for flu-like symptoms. If you get a rash following a trip to where ticks are prevalent, insist on antibiotic treatment, especially if you live in the southern or western US, where doctors rarely see Lyme disease. Tests for Lyme routinely yield both false positive and false negative results, making correct diagnosis a challenge. So, regardless of what test results reveal, getting onto antibiotics early could help you avoid far worse symptoms that result from B Burgdorferi’s devious action over time…

What If My Lyme Disease Progresses?

Untreated symptoms will continue to worsen. You may experience:

• Neck, muscle and joint stiffness
• Arthritis, especially in the knees
• Bell’s Palsy (facial paralysis causing one or both sides of the face to droop)
• Nausea and dizziness
• Blurred vision or crossed eyes
• Short term memory loss
• Muscle, joint, bone or tendon pain that comes and goes sporadically
• Nerve pain
• Tingly hands or feet
• Irregular heart beat or heart palpitations (Lyme carditis).

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Reaches Areas That Antibiotics Can’t

During hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for Lyme disease, you sit or lie in a sealed chamber while 100% oxygen at very specific sea-level pressures bathes your body. At these pressures oxygen is able to reach areas of the body it could not normally get to, delivering vital nutrients via the bloodstream to promote healing. Lyme symptoms improve or often resolve completely. Patients find their energy returning and deep-seated symptoms begin to clear so that they can resume normal activities.

In addition, at the National Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Center we routinely see glands and organs resume normal functioning during treatment, because healing oxygen permeates cells that B Burgdorferi hides in and antibiotics cannot reach.

A short phone call with Dr. Allan Spiegel can help you determine if HBOT could end your Lyme symptoms. To schedule a free consultation, simply click here or call 727-787-7077.