ANXIETY OR PANIC ATTACKS

Here's how to gauge whether your anxiety is linked to Lyme disease or other tick-borne diseases:

• Know how different panic attacks work. Panic attacks spurred by Lyme disease or other tick-borne infections are generally different than non-infectious-based panic attacks, explains Dr. Bransfield. A regular panic attack lasts a few minutes, but he says those brought on by tick-related ailments can go on for more than a half hour. If your panic attack symptoms grow worse while on once-effective antianxiety treatment, it's another sign that Lyme or a related infection could be causing the attacks.

• Know when to consider tick-borne diseases. Don't rely on finding a tick attached to your body to gauge your Lyme disease risk: Many people don’t recall being bitten at all, while others notice migrating rashes or red or black-and-blue splotches shortly after being bitten. Other early Lyme symptoms sometimes pop up a few days to a month after infection and include fatigue, fever, and chills. If the disease becomes more established in your body, it could cause cardiac and neurological problems. If you think you've been recently infected with Lyme, ask your doctor to perform blood tests, and if negative, have them repeated about six weeks later. If the results are still negative and you still suspect Lyme, you may want to see a doctor who specializes in treating Lyme aggressively. Doctors should first test to rule out other conditions with similar symptoms.

• Fight with your doctor if you need to. Lyme disease is a contentious subject, with two different schools of thought: Some consider to be a short-term infection, others believe it can be chronic. Some doctors take the threat of chronic Lyme seriously, and believe it should be treated with longer courses of antibiotics; others believe chronic Lyme doesn't exist. (Read Lyme Hearing Highlights a Broken System and Lyme Disease Treatment Guidelines: All Wrong? for more background.) Until more doctors recognize the severity of the disease, if you believe you have Lyme it's best to advocate for a clinical diagnosis using the strategy above.

The above is an extract from a recent article on Rodale to read the full article click here

There are many other interesting posts on work done by Dr Bransfied which searching in the search box on the right of this blog will find or looking at flipcard link top right may help.