It is not an infectious disease but it is a disease which is very difficult to diagnose as the bacteria which causes the disease has an evasive nature so it is not easily caught in the tests that are normally done to diagnose different types of diseases.

Lyme disease spreads in those areas where deer tick is found in large numbers, where there are rodents, deer and wild animals.

These ticks survive on the animals and as soon as these animals come in human contact the ticks immediately change their host and it becomes lyme disease. The ticks prefer to stay in warm and moist areas so they mostly settle into armpits and the different other places on the human body like the scalp and the crevices of the joints.

There are many species of these ticks and some are so tiny that it is impossible to locate them. Moreover the bite of the ticks does not create any type of irritation or sting so it often goes unnoticed until the initial symptom of the rash develops into lyme disease.

Cure for Lyme Disease
In the initial stage the cure for lyme disease consists of administering antibiotics for some weeks so that the bacteria can be killed. The antibiotics have to be taken orally by those patients who have been diagnosed as soon as the rash appears on the skin which is called the localized stage as the bacteria has still not spread to other parts of the body.

In the secondary stage cure for lyme disease it is possible but intravenous injections have to be given to the patients as they develop problems in the joints and the muscles.

A patient has to take medicines for at least two weeks to one month depending on the severity of the problem and the spread of lyme disease. There other types of natural cures available for lyme disease which helps in providing total relief from the disease. It has been found that sodium is very effective in killing the bacteria and curing the disease.

People suffering with lyme disease not only suffer physically but also mental problems because the nerves are affected with leads to neurological and psychiatric problems.

The bacteria of lyme disease can only be transmitted into the human blood stream if a person is bitten by the infected deer tick which is normally found on rodents, deer and other wild animals.

A cure of lyme disease is possible if it is diagnosed at the early stage and proper treatment is provided with antibiotics to eliminate the bacteria from the body. But most of the time lyme disease is diagnosed only in the late stage with much difficulty which not only needs intensive treatment but develops many types of complicated problems which require psychiatric help.

Lyme Disease and Neuropsychiatry
Lyme disease is a very complex disease as it is often difficult to diagnose the disease even through all the tests that are done in the laboratory as the bacteria can easily evade the normal blood and urine tests. Due to this the bacteria can easily spread in the body of the patient and not only affect the vital organs but it also has adverse effects on the nervous system and the brain which leads to loss of memory, sudden changes in mood and behavior, visual hallucinations, suicidal tendency and brain fog.

Due to the effect on the nervous system lyme disease can cause many kinds of neurological problems also develop like paralysis, cognitive symptoms, inflammation of the brain, hormonal misbalances and many other problems related to the sensory organs. The thought processes and the executive functions are also impaired from lyme disease due to the effects on the nervous system. Agnosia also develops which means that the patient loses the power of recognition and sometimes cannot recognize his own things.

Lyme disease can be diagnosed in different ways which are based on the symptoms, knowledge about the area where the patient lives as this will help to identify whether the area is infected with deer ticks and laboratory testing for the symptoms that develop in the later stages.

Though Lyme disease is not infectious it can easily be transmitted by a pregnant mother to the fetus which leads to the death of the fetus and babies are stillborn. In the initial stage it is difficult to diagnose lyme disease as the symptoms like fever, muscle and joint pain, headache and fatigue resemble the symptoms of influenza or flu.

Lyme disease is very common in the suburban or rural areas as deer or mice are found in maximum numbers in these areas. The ticks that carry these bacteria prefer to live in warm and moist spots.

The lyme disease rash is the initial symptom of the disease which is also known as the localized symptom as it begins at that spot where the tick bites a person on the skin. The lyme disease rash appears on the skin after a few days or weeks of the tick bite. The skin develops an expanded ring which is reddish in color but the inflammation is not quite prominent. The ring looks like a bull’s eye as the outer edge is red and the center area is clear. This rash is known as erythema migrans but it is not necessary that all the patients will develop this rash after the tick bite.

There are other symptoms of the disease which affect the patients along with the lyme disease rash but these symptoms mimic the symptoms of flu so it is very difficult to decide whether the patient is suffering from Lyme disease or flu if the patient does not have any rash. The localized redness of the lyme disease rash disappears within one month even if no treatment is taken.

So Lyme disease is not infectious as it cannot be transferred through any type of contact of the infected person with a healthy person. The ticks require nearly one and a half to two days for passing on the bacteria to human beings through their bite for the lyme disease to set in.

Symptoms of Lyme Disease
Lyme disease symptoms have different affects on different parts of the body as the symptoms go on changing according to the progress of the disease. The first symptom of lyme disease starts at the place where the tick bites a person. This is the part of the skin from where the bacteria enter the body of a person. So the initial symptom is localized at the place of the bite where a reddish rash appears on the skin and the person develops symptoms that are similar to flu. As the bacteria moves in other parts of the body through the blood stream other abnormalities can be observed.

The most common lyme disease symptoms which can be found with the progress of the disease are the different types of abnormalities that develop in the heart, joints and the nervous system. The symptoms of lyme disease are medically divided into three phases which are early localized, early disseminated and the late disease.

In the early localized stage of lyme disease skin inflammation takes place at the point where the tick bites on the skin. In the disseminated stage the heart and the nervous system is affected and the patient suffers from meningitis and palsies.

In the late stage of lyme disease damage is caused to the sensory and the motor nerves along with inflammation in the brain and development of arthritis. In the early stage the skin where the tick has bitten a reddish ring appears on the skin which is darker on the outside edge and the inside central area is clear which gives the look like a bull’s-eye. Though many patients do not get the lyme disease rash all patients suffer from headache, stiffness of the joint and muscles, fatigue and swollen glands which resembles viral infection.

In the same manner Lyme disease has also to be diagnosed through proper tests but the main problem with lyme disease is that most of the time the doctors are unable to recognize the symptoms as they are similar to symptoms of many other diseases.

Even the bacteria that causes lyme disease has an evasive nature as it can easily avoid the immune system in the body and if it is detected it can easily turn to a ball from the shape of a spiral and pull a protective shell over itself which is called fibrin.

Different Lyme Disease Tests
The Lyme disease test is used to detect any kind of antibodies that may be present in the patient’s body. The doctor will look into the patient’s medical history and perform some tests to find out about the presence of Lyme disease bacteria.

Antibody tests are commonly used to detect Lyme disease picture and also to monitor the treatment of the disease. The antibody test is done with the help of fluid that is taken from a joint or from the spine. The antibody test is not possible with blood samples as it takes nearly two months for the antibodies to be detected in the blood.

Three types of antibody tests can be performed for lyme disease like ELISA which is the most sensitive type of antibody test for detecting Lyme disease.

Indirect fluorescent test which also is a screening test for diagnosing Lyme disease and the Western blot test which is often used for detecting chronic Lyme disease can be used for confirming the reports of ELISA and other antibody tests.

The ELISA is more reliable amongst all the antibody tests but Western blot test should always be performed on patients who have positive reports in other antibody tests.

The other types of lyme disease tests that can be done to detect Lyme disease are skin culture which is done with the help of the tissue that is taken from the skin for testing. Polymerase test of chain reaction helps to detect the material that is related to the bacteria of Lyme disease. But the PCR test is not done very often as it is costly and sometimes gives false results.

The person who has been bitten by the tick can suffer from many types of complications which lead to intense pain and suffering as the bacteria spreads in the body and affects the vital organs of the body like heart, brain, joints and muscles. The ticks that carry lyme disease bacteria are found in several species which are so small that sometimes they are not visible with the naked eye.

The bite of the ticks cannot be felt by the person as it is not painful or stinging like the bites of other insects so most of the time it goes unnoticed. The localized symptoms of lyme disease is the red rash which develops after a long gap of the bite so most of the time it is ignored as a simple insect bite and proper treatment is not taken as the rash disappears automatically within one month.

The other lyme disease symptoms that develop after the disappearance of the rash also takes time and are so similar to flu symptoms that it becomes difficult to diagnose whether the patient is suffering from flu or lyme disease.

Treatments of Lyme Disease
The most common lyme disease treatment is antibiotics which can totally cure the patient if it is taken and the initial stage of the disease. The antibiotic that has to be administered to the patient is totally based on the fact that the patient is suffering from which stage of the disease.

The early stage of lyme disease is treated with antibiotics that are taken orally like amoxicillin of penicillin-based drug and doxycycline which is a tetracycline that is easily absorbed by the body. Doxycycline is preferred to amoxicillin as it has to be taken in lesser dosage and doesn’t cause gastrointestinal side effects.

In the later stage of lyme disease when the nervous system is affected intravenous injections like ceftriaxone has to be given to provide relief from the pain of the muscles and the joints. Sometimes the doctors remove the fluid from the joints to reduce the swelling of the joints. Other types of lyme disease treatment totally depend on the symptoms. It has been observed that the joint pains can be used with the use of anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen.