Keeping your family safe is always a concern. However, when you are trying to keep your family safe from a little-known problem, it becomes much more difficult. People of any age can fall victim to the effects of Lyme disease, but only a small percentage of people know what it is or even what to look out for. Having an idea of how to keep your family safe from this disease is key to having fun in the outdoors. Here are some of the things you need to know about Lyme disease and its co-occurring disorders.
What Is Lyme Disease Exactly?
Lyme disease is more common than most people realize. In fact, it happens to be the top vectorborne illness, meaning that you catch it from a mosquito, or in nearly all cases, a tick bite. Most people wind up with tick bites after going out into wooded areas where ticks love to live. They climb on the skin and bite, often painlessly. Their infection passes to you, and before you know it, you do not feel so good.
Symptoms of Lyme and Its Co-Occurring Disorders
The symptoms of Lyme disease often start the same. Most people, young and old, start off with a rash that looks like a circle with a dot in the middle, or a bullseye. The middle is where the bite occurred. Next, a fever and headache often follow. You may also notice that you feel tired much more easily. If you do not get treatment quickly, you could face heart, nervous system, and joint problems. Early treatment is the key to avoiding most of the severe symptoms in many cases.
Can You Treat Lyme Disease?
Thankfully, Lyme disease has many different treatment options. What type of treatment you or a family member would get depends on the type of symptoms that present with the infection and how long the person has been struggling with those symptoms. Since Lyme can take a month to show up in some people, it is not always easy to get treated immediately.
Most people start off with a course of antibiotics to get the infection under control. This is often effective, but it is not always the only treatment a person requires. If Lyme progresses into chronic Lyme disease, the treatments become ongoing and can vary greatly in their length and intensity.
Most specialists will treat Lyme disease symptoms quite aggressively because the more they do to stop the bacteria from spreading around the body, the fewer issues most people have. This becomes especially true if someone has one or more co-occurring disorders of Lyme disease. They can quickly cause damage to other parts of the body, including the heart and the entire nervous system.
Some people need to have immunotherapy to help their body recognize the Lyme disease and fight it properly. Others need to have anti-fungal therapies to help rid the body of the fungus that can sometimes stem from Lyme. Some people need to have narcotics to manage the discomfort of Lyme disease, while others notice very little or no discomfort at all.
Different medications can be used to help with Lyme disease treatments. Some medications will slow down how quickly this disease can replicate on a viral level. There are also treatments that mimic the body’s natural fever response as a way to cut down on the bacteria present within the body. These treatments involve warming the body or blood artificially, replicating how the body would increase its temperature through a fever to fight a virus or infection.
If Lyme is getting more severe, there are still options. One option is hormone replacement therapy, and another is full sedation. That way, the patient’s body can focus on fighting the effects of Lyme disease on its own. If things become dangerous for the patient, there are also critical care options available.
Know Thy Enemy
If you want to be able to have as much fun outdoors with your family, then get to know this disease. It is not something you want to shrug off. It can become very serious, especially for those who struggle with issues with their immune system or children who have an underdeveloped immune system. Make sure you always cover up, look over your family for ticks if you are out in long grass and wooded areas, and if you suspect a bite, get checked immediately. The sooner you begin with Lyme disease Mexico treatments, the easier it typically is to treat.