June 2019
by Patrick Ryan
Chronic Lyme is a disease of inflammation. Although the primary cause of the disorder is an infection, transmitted by ticks, as the disease matures, the symptoms change drastically. Antibiotics, which have been proven to be very effective in the initial acute stages of Lyme disease, are not enough to treat the condition once it reaches its chronic stages. This is because very little of the initial bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, remains in a patient’s system over time. Instead, the majority of symptoms are caused by an inflammation response, which becomes constant and overreactive when it can’t eradicate its target. The foundations for effective treatment for chronic Lyme are laid in a person’s diet. Naturally, as with any disorder, there are foods you should eat, and foods you should avoid.
Some foods deter inflammation, and some encourage it. Lyme patients regularly complain of joint and muscle pain; in fact, this is one of the primary symptoms of chronic Lyme. This is a direct result of inflammation and should be one of the first things doctors look to mitigate when it comes to chronic Lyme. Constant fatigue is also a big factor in patients’ lives; this is due to the immune response perceiving an attack and demanding sleep from the body. The problem is that sleep never remedies the underlying infection, because at this point, the inflammation response is trapped in a vicious circle, and is essentially reacting to itself. Again, there are foods that will add to this sense of fatigue, and those that can mitigate it. Let’s look at three things Lyme disease patients should avoid in their diets.
