Scientific evidence for "Lyme Rage"

http://www.underourskin.com/news/scientific-evidence-lyme-rage


Scientific evidence for "Lyme Rage" 

"So the spirochete certainly can, in the lab, attach to nerve cells, and it certainly causes acute inflammation of nervous tissue," Paul Mead said

Isn’t it worth keeping our minds open to the emerging evidence that the Lyme bacteria -- a neurologically invasive spirochete just like syphilis -- could be the root cause of a myriad of psychiatric disorders that are currently considered incurable? How costly to our society and inhumane to medicate and lock up thousands of supposedly mentally ill people, when they may have a treatable bacterial infection. Lyme-Induced Psychiatric Disorders Peer-Reviewed Literature from Around the World Lyme disease: a neuropsychiatric illness. Fallon BA, Nields JA. Am J Psychiatry. 1994 Nov;151(11):1571-83.

“A broad range of psychiatric reactions have been associated with Lyme disease including paranoia, dementia, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, panic attacks, major depression, anorexia nervosa, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.”

Late-stage neuropsychiatric Lyme borreliosis. Differential diagnosis and treatment. Fallon BA, Schwartzberg M, Bransfield R, Zimmerman B, Scotti A, Weber CA, Liebowitz MR. Psychosomatics. 1995 May-Jun;36(3):295-300.

“Although dermatologic, articular, cardiac, ophthalmologic, and neurologic manifestations are well known, it is less well known that psychiatric disorders may also arise. Depression, panic attacks, schizophrenia-like psychotic state, bipolar disorder, and dementia have been attributed to Lyme borreliosis.”

Functional brain imaging and neuropsychological testing in Lyme disease. Fallon BA, Das S, Plutchok JJ, Tager F, Liegner K, Van Heertum R. Clin Infect Dis. 1997 Jul;25 Suppl 1:S57-63. Review.

“Patients with Lyme disease may experience short-term memory loss, severe depression, panic attacks, unrelenting anxiety, impulsivity, paranoia, obsessive compulsive disorder, personality changes marked by irritability and mood swings, and rarely, manic episodes or psychotic states.”

The underdiagnosis of neuropsychiatric Lyme disease in children and adults. Fallon BA, Kochevar JM, Gaito A, Nields JA. Psychiatr Clin North Am. 1998 Sep;21(3):693-703, viii.

“In addition to the disorders listed by Kohler and Omasitis, Lyme disease appears to be capable of causing syndromes that manifest as personality change, depersonalization, mania, hallucinations, (auditory, visual, and olfactory), paranoia, cataonia with stupor and mutism, somatization disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, violent outbursts, panic attacks and disorientation.”

The neuropsychiatric manifestations of Lyme borreliosis. Fallon BA, Nields JA, Burrascano JJ, Liegner K, DelBene D, Liebowitz MR. Psychiatr Q. 1992 Spring;63(1):95-117. Review.

“Lyme disease is aptly called the “new great imitator,” and it can imitate psychiatric disorders no less than medical ones. Psychiatrists working in endemic areas are well advised, then, to keep Lyme disease in mind as part of their differential diagnosis for a broad range of disorders including, for instance, panic attacks, somatization disorder, depression, and dementia.”

A 25-year-old woman with hallucinations, hypersexuality, nightmares, and a rash. Stein SL, Solvason HB, Biggart E, Spiegel D. Am J Psychiatry. 1996 Apr;153(4):545-51.

“The [Lyme] patient expressed a delusional belief that she was controlled by an attractive popular male former high school teacher who had put a curse on her family before her birth and was now sexually obsessed with her.”

Germany: Neurologische Klinik mit Poliklinik, Universität Freiburg. Lyme borreliosis in neurology and psychiatry Kohler J. Fortschr Med. 1990 Apr 10;108(10):191-3, 197.

“Involvements of the CNS are expressed not so much in focal deficits, as in diffuse psychopathological disorders… The clinical symptomatology may be dominated by severe psychiatric syndromes.”

Czechoslovakia: Prague Psychiatric Center T. Hajek: hajek@pcp.lf3.cuni.cz Higher prevalence of antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in psychiatric patients than in healthy subjects. Hájek T, Pasková B, Janovská D, Bahbouh R, Hájek P, Libiger J, Höschl C. Am J Psychiatry. 2002 Feb;159(2):297-301.

“These findings support the hypothesis that there is an association between Borrelia burgdorferi infection and psychiatric morbidity. In countries where this infection is endemic, a proportion of psychiatric inpatients may be suffering from neuropathogenic effects of Borrelia burgdorferi.”

Poland: Klinika Psychiatrii, Białymstoku. Rudnik I, Konarzewska B, Zajkowska J, Juchnowicz D, Markowski T, Pancewicz SA. Pol Merkur Lekarski. 2004 Apr;16(94):328-31.

“Mental state examinations and psychometric testing revealed in majority of the patients, mainly in those suffered from neuroborreliosis and erythrema migrans evidence of various psychiatric symptomatology. The range of psychiatric presentations included: mild cognitive deficits, organic mood disorders, mild dementias, depressive and anxiety episodes with non organic etiology.”