About
There are an estimated 3,000 new cases of Lyme disease reported each year in the UK. However, this is believed to be widely underestimated, as people are often misdiagnosed due to lack of reliable testing through the NHS, and misinformation related to the disease. We are the UK’s leading lyme disease treatment clinic based in London.
Types
Lyme disease is called “The Great Imitator,” because its symptoms mimic various different diseases. It can affect any organ of the body, including the brain and central nervous system, muscles and joints, and the heart.
Lyme disease can either be acute (which can in some cases be treated with antibiotics); or chronic, which has a large array of symptoms and is often misdiagnosed for other long-term illnesses.
Causes & Etiology
Lyme disease is caused by a spirochete—a corkscrew-shaped bacterium called Borrelia Burgdorferi (BB). It is passed on to humans via a bite from an infected tick, and can also be passed from mother to baby too.
Signs and Symptoms
What symptoms should you be looking for or what conditions could be caused by Lyme disease?
A bullseye rash following a tick bite is a recognisable sign of infection and can lead to early diagnosis and antibiotic treatment, which can be effective in eliminating the bacteria. However, not all infected bites produce a rash (only about 1 in 4).
Early symptoms can be flu-like to begin with and slow to develop, leading to a gradual decline in health.
The bacterial infection can then become systemic; spreading to different tissues in the body and affecting multiple systems, often causing debilitating symptoms including:
- Skin rash (like a bullseye) around the bite
- Arthritis and migrating joint pain
- Chronic fatigue
- Migratory numbness and tingling, tinnitus, night sweats and chills
Advanced symptoms can be neurological and systemic throughout the body, affecting joints, digestion, the nervous system and heart. Due to the complexity of the disease, symptoms can also overlap with other conditions such as:
- ME and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Dementia
- Depression and anxiety
- MS and other autoimmune conditions such as lupus, Rheumatoid arthritis and Hashimoto’s
- Fibromyalgia
- Migraine
- Labyrinthitis
- Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and other autoimmune diseases
Treatments
At The London Clinic of Nutrition, we have a team of highly-experienced practitioners who specialise in working with people who have or may suspect Lyme disease.
How we diagnose Lyme disease
- We take a very detailed case history using extensive forms
- We use detailed specific Lyme questionnaires (such as those developed by Richard Horowitz MD)
- Comprehensive blood chemistry
- Differential diagnosis to rule out any other conditions that may be present
- Sensitive Lyme testing from specialist Lyme labs in Germany, such as, Armin, Immunoscience, Melisa and DNA Connexions.
How we diagnose Lyme disease
We treat Lyme as we would any other condition by using the functional medicine approach. This involves understanding which of the bodies systems and processes are not functioning correctly and why. By working with diet, supplements and herbal medicine we are able to improve the function of these systems. After making the body stronger we can then target the Borrelia Burgdorferi and the co-infections.
The approach we take is individualised to each patient, but we pay particular attention to gastrointestinal function, detoxification and immunity. We also have to consider overlapping factors such as heavy metal toxicity, bowel toxemia, nutrient deficiencies, endocrine abnormalities, environmental toxins, sleep disorders and mitochondrial dysfunction.
With additional services such as Intra Venous laser therapy, silver, and immune boosting intravenous cocktails; we aim to be a one-stop shop for all lyme disease and associated conditions. Using the above approach we have been getting very good results with patients – even those who have failed other regimens.
Why is Lyme disease routinely missed?
- GPs do not have the requisite training to look for Lyme Disease.
- There is the assumption that you have to have a bullseye rash when bitten by a tick. Wrong. Only 25% of bites produce a rash.
- The conventional treatment is 2 weeks antibiotics but this will not address chronic Lyme disease.
- The standard tests of the Western Blot and ELISA test often produce false negative results.
- There are few Lyme literate Doctors practicing in the UK currently.
- Lyme is accompanied routinely by co-infections such as Epstein Barr virus, Babesia, Chlamydia Pneumonaie, or Yersinia.
- Misdiagnosis with other diseases is incredibly common. For example a diagnosis of MS is often given and the lesions on an MRI appear the same for both diseases.
