How is Lyme Disease Contracted?

When you think you’ve been bitten by a tick, it’s important to schedule an appointment in Grapevine, TX. When it’s left untreated, Lyme disease can cause inflammation around your heart, memory loss, nerve damage, autoimmune diseases, and other serious health issues. Thankfully, Lyme disease is treatable, especially when symptoms are caught early. Dr. Constantine Kotsansis helps patients at the Kotsanis Institute of Functional Medicine with different Lyme disease treatments that can remove the infection from your body both successfully and quickly.

How do you get Lyme disease?

Borrelia burgdorferi is a bacterium that is spread to someone from a tick bite. You’re more likely to get it when you spend time in grassy or wooded areas where they live. These ticks can attach to any part of your body. They must be attached for 36 – 48 hours before the bacterium is transmitted. Not all ticks carry Lyme disease. These ticks can cause many life-threatening diseases other than Lyme disease, including:

Anaplasmosis
Babesiosis
Rocky Mountain spotted fever

Signs of Lyme disease

Those infected with Lyme disease usually experience flu-like symptoms in Grapevine, TX. Lyme disease is diagnosed when someone experiences some of these common symptoms of Lyme disease, including:

Rash: Patients experience a bullseye pattern rash from 3 to 30 days after their bite. The rash will slowly expand and isn’t usually painful or itchy, but will feel warm.
Fever
Chills
Fatigue
Body aches
Stiff neck
Headache
Swollen lymph nodes

At Kotsanis Institute, Dr. Kotsanis uses the western blot test to look for Lyme disease antibodies in your blood. However, it can take several weeks to detect them after your initial bite.

Lyme disease treatments

When you’re diagnosed with Lyme disease early, Dr. Kotsanis will start your treatment with antibiotics that will clear the infection. This usually cures most people with no lasting side effects. However, when Lyme disease isn’t diagnosed early, it can require a month of oral antibodies and, in severe cases, IV antibiotics.

Some Lyme disease treatments offered at Kotsanis Institute in Grapevine, TX include:

Insulin potentiation therapy: This special form of antibiotics is administered to more at-risk patients.
IV therapy: A Glutathione or Meyer’s Cocktail helps severe cases of Lyme disease.
Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy: This is used for pain management and helps recharge the cells to restore your health.
Therapeutic apheresis: This blood filtration extracts infection or bacteria from Lyme-infected cells found in your blood.
Ultraviolet blood irradiation therapy: This oxidative therapy is given intravenously and absorbs viruses and bacteria in your blood.

Can Lyme disease go away on its own?

Some people can clear the infection on their own without any treatment. However, Dr. Kotsanis doesn’t recommend it. This is because of the severe complications that can occur when Lyme disease is left untreated. It can hide in the body for a while and cause serious health problems later on. This makes it important to schedule an appointment at Kotsanis Institute in Grapevine, TX whenever you suspect you have been bit by an infected deer tick.

How long do Lyme disease symptoms last?

Your Lyme disease symptoms can last up to 30 days after being infected. However, when you’re treated early with antibiotics, you usually will feel better within a few weeks. Lingering symptoms, such as joint or muscle pain and fatigue, can be experienced for up to six months after treatment. This is known as chronic Lyme disease.

Learn how to treat Lyme disease effectively

When you think you’ve been infected with Lyme disease in Grapevine, TX, it’s important to seek medical help from Dr. Constantine Kotsansis at the Kotsanis Institute of Functional Medicine. We understand how serious Lyme disease treatment is and are committed to making sure our patients stay as healthy as possible. Learning how to protect yourself from ticks is important as you can get Lyme disease more than once. This means that even when you clear yourself of the infection, you aren’t immune to getting it again. While Lyme disease is usually curable, getting professional Lyme disease treatment helps resolve your symptoms the fastest.