Lyme Disease And Urinary Problems

Constipation In Lyme Disease

It is estimated that up to 25% of the worlds population struggles with constipation. Not only is constipation uncomfortable and can affect daily activities, but it can also predispose individuals to develop more severe health issues. What about people who are doing all the right things to prevent constipation drinking plenty of water, eating plenty of fiber, and exercising regularly but still experience constipation?

Constipation in Lyme has been referred to as Bells palsy of the gut. Just like facial paralysis that can occur in Lyme disease, the nerves that innervate the intestines can be affected causing a decrease in the muscular wave of contractions that usually move the contents of the intestines downstream. Chronic constipation ensues, and people end up taking magnesium, Dulcolax, or other laxative medications for long periods because the underlying cause of their constipation was never identified. Nerve dysfunction can occur elsewhere in the gastrointestinal tract, including the esophagus, which leads to difficulty swallowing.

When constipation or difficulty swallowing is related to nervous system dysfunction from Lyme disease, treating the infection also helps to improve nerve signaling. Prokinetic medications help with bowel movements but also serve as physical therapy for the large intestine by increasing the activity of intestinal muscular contraction.

Lyme Disease And Interstitial Cystitis

If you are an IC patient not improving with treatment, its time to be proactive and ask Why am I getting worse? and Could something else be contributing to my pain? The AUA Guidelines for IC/BPS clearly state that if a patient is not responding to treatment and/or is progressively getting worse, its time to revisit the diagnosis. And, for some patients, revisiting that diagnosis requires a look at rarer causes of bladder symptoms, such as Lyme Disease.

Megan is a forty something mother of three who had disabling bladder symptoms and pain for five years. She said I couldnt sleep, shop, drive or go anywhere without having to use the bathroom. I didnt want to leave my house.

After her diagnosis with IC, she read about a possible connection to Lyme. Ironically, she had had numerous Lyme tests done in the previous fifteen years, all of which were negative. She offered I learned that the tests used by doctors are often unreliable to diagnose lyme and co-infections. Other blood tests were ordered for me and sure enough I tested positive for lyme, a bacteria infection and protozoa infection. She believes that these infections caused her bladder disease.

Bladder symptoms have been reported by patients struggling with Lyme disease, including frequent or painful urination and/or symptoms consistent with a bladder infection. IC Researcher Michael Chancellor found B. burgdorferi in bladder biopsy samples early in his career.

Transmission Of Bb Via Ixodes Spp Vectors

The black-legged ticks, Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes pacificus on the West Coast, are the primary vectors of Bb in the USA. In endemic areas, the proportion of Ixodes spp. ticks infected with Bb can be remarkably high. One recent survey of the pathogen burden of 197 Ixodes scapularis ticks collected from New York and Connecticut where LD is endemic, revealed 111 ticks were infected with Bb and 37 were co-infected with more than one human pathogen . The high pathogen burden is consistent with previous tick surveys in the same region . In contrast, the percent of infected ticks in other regions of the USA is much lower. In recently published surveys across California, for example, fewer than 5% of Ixodes spp. ticks were infected . Ixodes ticks sometimes carry multiple strains of Bb that may impact the course of disease in people that are co-infected. One tick survey showed that 39% of Ixodes ticks in North America are infected with multiple genotypes of Bb .

Read Also: What Is The Best Prescription For Urinary Tract Infection

Diagnosing Lyme Disease In Dogs

You will need to provide a thorough history of your dog’s health to give your veterinarian clues as to which organs are being affected.

Clinical diagnosis of Lyme disease is usually confirmed with a positive blood test for Lyme along with the clinical signs associated with Lyme disease.

Its important to note that tests can take 4-6 weeks to show up as positive after exposure, which is why veterinarians will use a combination of diagnostics to diagnose your dog:

• Blood chemistry tests
• X-rays and tests specific to diagnosing Lyme disease
• Fluid from the affected joints may also be drawn for analysis

Arthritis Caused By Lyme Disease

There are many causes for arthritis, and your veterinarian will focus on differentiating arthritis initiated by Lyme disease from other inflammatory arthritic disorders, such as trauma and degenerative joint disease.

Immune-mediated diseases will also be considered as a possible cause of the symptoms. X-rays of the painful joints will allow your doctor to examine the bones for abnormalities.

Recommended Reading: Augmentin For Urinary Tract Infection

He Passed Out Three Times In 10 Days What Was Wrong

Could all this really be a result of a urinary-tract infection?

• Send any friend a story

  As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.

  Give this articleGive this articleGive this article

By Lisa Sanders, M.D.

The 75-year-old man lay sprawled on the floor between the kitchen counter and the island, surrounded by a halo of pills. What happened? his wife asked as she hurried to his side, although she suspected she already knew.

He wasnt sure, he told her. One minute he was standing at the counter, getting ready to take his morning medications the next, just like that, he was on the floor. She helped him sit up. When he was able to, he slowly rose to his feet. It was the third time he fainted in the last week and a half. The first spell came when his wife was out of town. He was dozing on the patio and woke up hot and sweaty. As he made his way into the house, he felt unsteady and braced himself on the wall. He made it to a chair but passed out a couple of times just sitting there. And when awake, he was confused. He was trying to read a text from his daughter but couldnt remember how.

After finishing her exam, the physician assistant sent him to the lab. This was probably a urinary-tract infection, she told him after reviewing his test results. These are not uncommon in older men, because an enlarging prostate can make it hard to urinate. She started him on an antibiotic often used to treat this kind of infection.

Digestive Symptoms Related To Mast Cell Activation Syndrome

Bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine, in conjunction with the inflammation caused by leaky gut, primes the immune system that surrounds the digestive tract. Mast cells are part of the immune system and tend to be located where the outside world interfaces with the inside of the body. The skin, lungs and gastrointestinal tract are examples of these locations.

When mast cells are triggered by a variety of stimuli, they release histamine and other chemical mediators. In MCAS, mast cells are more prone to releasing their contents leading to a myriad of symptoms. The most common digestive symptoms experienced in MCAS are nausea and heartburn, but abdominal pain, diarrhea, and constipation also be present. MCAS also contributes to systemic symptoms and digestive dysfunction needs to be addressed if it is contributing to MCAS.

Read Also: Green Tea For Urinary Tract Infection

Preventing Lyme Disease In Dogs

If possible, keep your dog away from tick-infested environments where Lyme disease is common.

Check your dogs coat and skin daily to make sure you find any ticks hiding on your pet, and remove ticks by hand.

The most effective way to prevent Lyme disease and protect pets from other tick-borne diseases is to use flea and tick prevention.

Your veterinarian can prescribe a variety of prescription flea and tick options, including collars, topical solutions, and tablets and chews that kill and repel ticks. These products should be used under a veterinarian’s supervision and according to the label’s directions.

If you live in an area where ticks are abundant, Lyme vaccines are available. However, not all dogs are a good candidate for the vaccine. Talk to your veterinarian to see if the Lyme vaccination is right for your dog.

References:

1. Lyme Disease. Companion Animal Parasite Council. https://capcvet.org/guidelines/lyme-disease/.

2. Littman MP, Gerber B, Goldstein RE, Anna M, Michael L, George RL. ACVIM consensus update on Lyme borreliosis in dogs and cats. J Vet Intern Med. 2018 :887-903. doi:10.1111/jvim.15085

What Is Neurologic Lyme Disease

Neurologic symptoms of Lyme disease occur when the Lyme disease bacteria affect the peripheral or central nervous systems.

• Cranial nerve involvement: When the cranial nerves are affected, facial palsy can occur on one or both sides of the face.
• Peripheral nerve involvement: When the peripheral nerves are affected, patients can develop radiculoneuropathy which can cause numbness, tingling, shooting pain, or weakness in the arms or legs.
• Central nervous system involvement: When the central nervous system is affected, Lyme meningitis can cause fever, headache, sensitivity to light, and stiff neck.

Out of every 100 patients whose cases are reported to CDC, 9 have facial palsy, 4 have radiculopathy, and 3 have meningitis or encephalitis. Because of reporting practices, this statistic may overestimate how often these manifestations are seen by clinicians.

Don’t Miss: Instant Relief For Urinary Tract Infection

Chronic Lyme: What Happens When Lyme Goes Untreated

The Lyme community typically uses the term chronic Lyme disease to describe a range of physical, cognitive, and emotional symptoms that crop up after getting Lyme disease and persist for months to years after infection.

The risk of chronic Lyme increases the longer a Lyme infection goes untreated or undertreated. In other words, patients are more likely to recover fully if their Lyme infection is detected and treated as early as possible after the discovery of a tick bite. This stage is usually marked by symptoms such as fevers, chills, muscle aches, and sometimes rashes.

When left untreated or undertreated, however, Lyme disease can spread throughout the body and affect:

• The central nervous system
• Muscles and joints

As Lymedisease.org points out, these symptoms can evolve, disappear, and reappear at different times.

What Are The Symptoms Of Renal Problems Caused By Lyme Disease

When Lyme disease causes glomerular disease in patients, the symptoms can be serious and debilitating. They include:

• Edema in the face, hands, feet, and other parts of the body
• Muscle and tissue loss caused by low amounts of protein in the blood
• Kidney disease leading to tiredness, insomnia, weight loss, itchy skin
• Blood in the urine

These signs and symptoms need to be addressed immediately as they can lead to permanent damage to kidney function, which can cause seizures, coma, or in the worst cases, death.

Other symptoms to look out for if you suspect the development of chronic kidney disease include:

• Gastrointestinal issues such as nausea, vomiting, and appetite loss
• Chest pain or shortness of breath from the build-up of fluids
• Skin irritations such as pigmentation changes and unexplainable scratch marks
• Muscle issues such as twitching and cramping
• Cognitive decline
• Chronic fatigue and widespread weakness

Recommended Reading: Cvs Prostate Health & Urinary Flow

Can Lyme Disease Affect Kidney Function

Kidney disease can be a prevalent problem in patients who suffer from Lyme disease. In cases of chronic Lyme disease-induced kidney disease, the bacteria causes lesions on the kidneys, and can also cause glomerular disease.

Glomerular disease is a condition that causes red blood cells and proteins to leak out of the bloodstream and body and into the urinary tract. The condition can also cause the build-up of certain wastes because it damages the kidneys ability to rid the body properly of that waste.

Image by on The urinary system is designed to rid the body of waste, but what happens when its not doing its job?

Treatment Of Lyme Disease

Although all stages of Lyme disease respond to antibiotics, early treatment is more likely to prevent complications.

Antibiotics such as doxycycline, amoxicillin, or cefuroxime, taken by mouth for 2 to 3 weeks, are effective during the early stages of the disease. If early disease is localized, people may need treatment for only 10 days. If people cannot take any of these drugs, azithromycin is sometimes used but is less effective. Usually, doxycycline is not given to children under 8 years old or to pregnant or breastfeeding women.

Antibiotics can also help relieve many of the symptoms of Lyme disease.

For arthritis due to Lyme disease, antibiotics such as amoxicillin, cefuroxime, or doxycycline are given by mouth for 28 days, or ceftriaxone is given intravenously for 28 days.

Antibiotics eradicate the bacteria and, in most people, relieve arthritis. However, arthritis sometimes lasts even after all the bacteria are gone because inflammation continues. Even after successful antibiotic treatment, some people still have other symptoms such as fatigue, headache, and mental problems.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs , such as aspirin or ibuprofen, may relieve the pain of swollen joints. Fluid that collects in affected joints may be drained. Using crutches may help.

Recommended Reading: Amoxicillin For Urinary Tract Infection Dosage

Creatinine Assay Validates Lc

One putative metabolite identified in the negative-ion mode biosignature was creatinine. To evaluate the accuracy of our methods, this metabolite was targeted for structural identification. Creatinine was identified according to the metabolomics standards initiative definition using an authentic chemical standard,. Specifically, the MF with a monoisotopic mass of 113.0582 and RT of 1.90min and designated as creatinine, yielded a retention time and MS/MS spectrum that was identical to the creatinine standard . Creatinine concentrations were also determined in all urine samples by the alkaline picrate based colorimetric assay. The average creatinine concentrations were estimated at 125±79mg/dL for ELD samples, 164±101mg/dL for MONO samples and 84±44mg/dL for HC donors . The abundance trend observed for this metabolite among the three groups using creatinine concentration data was HC< ELD< MONO on average. The same trend in the creatinine abundance differences was observed when relative abundances were extracted from the LC-MS data .

Figure 1

Prediction And Verification Of Mfs

The workflow utilized to assign presumptive metabolite identification of the MFs comprising the four metabolic biosignatures developed with a 1.5-fold change cutoff is described in Supplementary Fig. . Experimental accurate masses were searched in the HMDB with a tolerance of 15 ppm to obtain putative metabolite identifications. Plant specific metabolites, alkaloids, non-endogenous metabolites and peptides were excluded from the results. Level identification was performed using the guidelines outlined in the Metabolomics Standards Initiative,. A RT window of ±10sec was applied as a cut-off to match the urine metabolite with the authentic standard.

Read Also: Causes Of Urinary Incontinence After Stroke

Touched By Lyme: A Close Look At Six Lyme

When mainstream medicine talks about Lyme disease , its usually couched in simple terms: A tick infected with one organism bites a person, causing a few specific symptoms. Treatment is a short course of doxycyclineand then you are good to go. Next!

Alas, people who spend any time in Lyme world soon discover that they live in a parallel universe far, far away from the one portrayed in mainstream world.

Instead of being infected with one errant pathogen, they may have several diseases at once, causing a weird complex of symptoms that are difficult to sort out.

Instead of needing just a short course of one specific drugwell, lets just say things are much more complicated than that!

People with Lyme-related diseases typically have to do their own research to figure out whats wrong with them and then track down a doctor to help them fix it.

An excellent source of such information is the recent book, New Paradigms in Lyme Disease Treatment, by Connie Strasheim.

In this book, Strasheim interviews 10 top doctors about their approach to treating Lyme-related illnesses. The following article, an excerpt of Dr. Wayne Andersons chapter, discusses six of the most common Lyme-related infections.

Reprinted from New Paradigms in Lyme Disease Treatment with the kind permission of Connie Strasheim and Wayne Anderson ND. To learn more about the book and read more of Dr. Andersons chapter, see: www.NewLymeTreatments.com.

Babesia or Babesia-like Organism Symptom Patterns

What Are The Symptoms Of Chronic Lyme Disease

Despite some skepticism in the medical community, chronic Lyme disease is a growing epidemic in the U.S. This stems partly from the shortcomings of many of the officially recommended Lyme disease tests, which leave too many patients with untreated infections that then become persistent and debilitating.

The following article will cover what you should know about chronic Lyme and provide an introductory but non-exhaustive chronic Lyme disease symptoms checklist.

Read Also: Botox For Urinary Incontinence Side Effects

Lyme Disease In Dogs: Symptoms And Treatment

Lyme disease in dogs is one of the most common tick-transmitted diseases in the world, but it only causes symptoms in 5-10% of affected dogs. So some dogs may have it, but never show symptoms.

Transmission of Lyme disease has been reported in dogs throughout the United States and Europe, but its most prevalent in the upper Midwestern states, the Atlantic seaboard and the Pacific coastal states.

However, the disease is spreading and becoming more common throughout the United States. Heres some info about the causes and prevention of Lyme disease, as well as the symptoms you should look for and treatment options.

Targeted Analysis Of Tryptophan Metabolites

A summary of the methods used for targeted analysis of tryptophan metabolites is shown in Supplementary Fig. . Authentic chemical standards for tryptophan, anthranilic acid, kynurenic acid, kynurenine, quinolinic acid and xanthurenic acid were obtained from Sigma . Spiked and unspiked aliquots of diluted pooled urine were analyzed by LC-MS as described. Experimental m/z and RT obtained from spiking experiments were used to create methods for quantitation in the MassHunter Quantitative analysis software . Abundances were normalized according to methods used for biosignature development. Normalized log2 transformed abundances were plotted using GraphPad Prism 6. A DAgostino-Pearson omnibus normality test was used to determine if residuals came from a Gaussian distribution. Statistically significant changes between ELD and MONO and ELD and HC were determined using one-way ANOVA with Sidaks multiple comparisons test. Statistically significant changes between ELL and EDL were determined using an unpaired t-test or a Mann-Whitney test depending on normality.

You May Like: How Treat Urinary Tract Infection Naturally