How is Lyme Disease Treated?
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If you believe that you have been bitten by a tick, schedule an appointment with Dr. Constantine Kotsanis, the medical director of Kotsanis Institute of Functional Medicine. When left untreated, Lyme disease can cause inflammation around the heart, memory loss, nerve damage, autoimmune diseases, and other serious and permanent health problems. Thankfully, Lyme disease is very treatable, especially when symptoms are caught early on. Dr. Kotsanis knows how to treat Lyme disease with treatments that have been proven to control or remove the body of the infection to help treat his patients in Grapevine, TX.
What is Lyme disease?
Lyme disease is caused by four different bacteria. In the United States, borrelia burgdorferi and borrelia mayonii are responsible for causing Lyme disease, while borrelia afzelii and borrelia garinii are the leading causes in Europe and Asia. Lyme disease is transmitted by the bite of an infected deer tick. It’s important to note that “Lyme-like disease” has the exact same symptoms as Lyme disease and is transmitted differently. This makes it important to schedule an appointment with Dr. Kotsanis when you suspect you’ve been bitten by any tick.
Signs of Lyme disease
Most of our patients experience flu-like symptoms when they are infected. Some common symptoms of Lyme disease include:
1. Rash: A bullseye pattern rash 3 – 30 days after a tick bite develops. This rash slowly expands over time. It isn’t usually painful or itchy, it just feels warm.
2. Fever
3. Chills
4. Fatigue
5. Body aches
6. Stiff neck
7. Headaches
8. Memory problems
At Kotsanis Institute, we use the western blot test and other specialty tests to detect the presence of Lyme disease in our patients. However, it can take several weeks to detect the disease after an initial bite.
How long do Lyme disease symptoms last?
Your Lyme disease symptoms can last from 3 – 30 days after being infected. However, when you’re treated early on with antibiotics, you can feel better within a few weeks. Some lingering symptoms, including joint or muscle pain and fatigue, can be felt for months after treatment and even years after finishing your antibiotics. This is what we call chronic Lyme disease.
Lyme disease treatments
When you’re diagnosed with Lyme disease early, Dr. Kotsanis can begin treatment with antibiotics that clear the infection and help you feel better faster. This usually is able to clear most infections with no lasting long-term effects of Lyme disease. When it isn’t diagnosed early, it will need a month of oral antibiotics and, in more severe cases, IV antibiotics too. When you think that you have a tick bite, you should start antibiotic treatment immediately. Lyme-like or chronic-Lyme disease will usually require oxidative therapies too as well as antibiotics.
Some Lyme disease treatments offered by Dr. Kotsanis include:
1. Insulin potentiation therapy: This special form of antibiotics is given to the most at-risk patients.
2. IV therapy: Either a glutathione or Meyer’s Cocktail is used to help patients with more severe cases of Lyme disease.
3. Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy: This is used for pain management and helps recharge cells for optimal health.
4. Ultraviolet blood irradiation therapy: This oxidative therapy is given intravenously and removes any viruses and bacteria in the blood.
Does Lyme disease ever go away on its own?
Some people are able to clear the infection without treatment, but Dr. Kotsanis doesn’t recommend that. Severe complications can occur when Lyme disease is left untreated. This is because it can hide in the body for a while and then cause serious health problems. It is important to schedule an appointment at Kotsanis Institute in Grapevine, TX whenever you suspect you have been bitten by a tick.
Learn more about Lyme disease treatment options
When you think you’ve experienced a tick bite, it’s important to seek medical attention from Dr. Constantine Kotsanis at the Kotsanis Institute of Functional Medicine. We understand how serious Lyme disease treatment is and our team is committed to ensuring our patients stay healthy. Because you can get Lyme disease more than once, it’s important to learn how to protect yourself from ticks. Just because you clear an infection doesn’t mean that you are immune to getting it again. While Lyme disease is curable in most cases we treat, getting professional Lyme disease treatment helps resolve your symptoms most successfully.