Summer at a close but we’re spending as much time out of doors as possible – camping, hiking, fishing, swimming and even just hanging out in the parks around Rapid City, picnicking with friends and family. Summertime also means that we are exposed to more of the dangerous little critters that can impact our wellbeing. That includes mosquitos (for West Nile Disease, or Zika) and ticks.
When you get bitten by a mosquito, you usually know it’s happened – if not right at that moment, pretty soon thereafter when the itching begins. But, if you’ve been bitten by a tick, you might not know that it has happened. And this puts you at possible exposure for Lyme Disease.
Lyme Disease is not actually caused by a tick. It’s actually caused by a bacteria called Borellia which is carried by the common Deer Tick. Borellia, a corkscrew-shaped bacteria, is actually a close cousin to Syphilis. (Super creepy, right?)
Lyme Disease is one of the hardest-to-cure diseases that affects humans, and often mimics some of the scariest diseases: PTSD, Chronic Fatigue, Alzheimer’s, Lou Gehrig’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis. It can be very difficult to get a diagnosis of Lyme Disease and often, doctors will have to circle around several times, appreciating your symptoms, before they can conclusively determine whether you have Lyme Disease.
Lyme Disease is a serious condition that leaves many sufferers feeling powerless, in pain and confused about what course of action to take. It feels invasive, and it actually is. Lyme bacteria can actually invade every tissue in your body, potentially destroying it. Scariest of all is that the Lyme bacteria moves through your bloodstream and then HIDES. It blankets itself with copies of your own body’s proteins (like a little snail in its shell). The Lyme bacteria, wrapped up in those proteins, releases a highly toxic ammonia inside your body.
Ammonia suppresses your cells’ ability to create energy. This weakens the cells and inhibits your ability to fight off infections.
Most people diagnosed with Lyme Disease are prescribed the antibiotic Doxycycline. But antibiotics have a side effect – they kill the flora in your digestive tract. This allows candida yeast and other pathogens to grow and this can lead to Leaky Gut Syndrome.
So anyone with Lyme Disease needs to take special care to encourage both their digestive and their immune system, so that neither the disease nor the treatment can wreak too much havoc on your body. As you can imagine, treatment of Lyme Disease can feel like a virtual onslaught to the patient and, even after they manage to successfully overcome Lyme disease, they often battle chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and aches.
But chiropractic adjustments help to reboot your immune system. They also help with those lingering aches and pains during their Lyme Disease treatment, and after. Please contact Rushmore Family Chiropractic if you or someone you know has recently been diagnosed with Lyme Disease. We’re happy to consult with you and support your medical treatment!
