Lyme Disease Misdiagnosed
As Alzheimers

Alzheimers and Lyme Disease

It may occur to you: Lyme Disease Misdiagnosed As Alzheimers.

This is not astonishing, because Alzheimer's and Lyme share many symptoms, an unfortunate circumstance that can result in misdiagnoses for elderly people whose caregivers suspect senility.

Alzheimers Disease

Alzheimers warning signals are:

• changes in mood or behavior;
• disorientation of time and place;
• an inability to concentrate;
• problems with abstract thinking;
• difficulty performing familiar tasks, such as buckling a belt or preparing a simple meal.

Brain dysfunction or dementia, what used to be called 'senility', are commonly recognized as disabilities that afflict older citizens.

Lyme Disease Symptoms

Doctors may easily miss the warning signs of Lyme, instead Lyme Disease misdiagnosed as Alzheimers, heart disease or lupus. Seniors have been misdiagnosed with Alzheimer's, when the real problem is Lyme disease.

Lyme Disease ( commonly misspelled as Lime or Lymes ) symptoms may show up fast, with a bang, or very slowly and innocuously.

There may be:

• The Lyme Rash;
• initial flu-like symptoms with fever;
• headache;
• nausea;
• jaw pain;
• light sensitivity;
• red eyes;
• muscle ache;
• stiff neck.

Difficult To Diagnose Lyme Disease

Not everyone who has Lyme disease develops the characteristic bull's-eye rash, which is the commonly accepted evidence of the Borrelia infection, indicating the need to move forward in treatment.

It is not yet known how long the Borrelia bacteria may lie dormant. Some people do not develop symptoms immediately after being infected, and some who have been exposed may never develop them. All these factors contribute to creating tricky grounds for a medical expert to reach a conclusive diagnosis.

Many write the symptoms off as a flu and because the nymph stage of the tick is so tiny many do not recall a tick bite. The classic rash may only occur or have been seen in as few as 30% of cases (many rashes in body hair and indiscrete areas go undetected).
Treatment in this early stage is critical.

If left untreated or treated insufficiently symptoms may creep into ones life over weeks, months or even years. They wax and wane and may even go into remission only to come out at a later date...even years later. With symptoms present, a negative lab result means very little as they are very unreliable.
The diagnosis, with today's limitations in the lab, must be clinical.

Lyme As The Great Imitator

Lyme disease symptoms mimic those of hundreds of other disorders, therefore Lyme is known in the medical profession as the Great Imitator.

There are many examples of Lyme Disease misdiagnosed as Alzheimers Disease or other illnesses such as:

Lyme is a multi-system, multi-stage inflammatory disease caused by a spirochetal bacteria called the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria. Lyme infections affect joints, the nervous system, the heart, and all the systems of the body, including the brain.

Infection Causes Of Lyme Disease

The infection was once assumed to be spread by bacteria carried only by deer ticks, although some Lyme-literate experts maintain that it can be spread through other means, including mosquito bites and the exchange of body fluids..

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