Misdiagnosed lyme disease

About Lyme disease

Lyme disease is a disease that is received from ticks. It is caused by a type of bacteria that is called a ''spirochete''. When a tick attaches to your skin, the bacteria enter your body and infects it. One human cannot transfer it to another, it is transferred only by ticks. Lyme disease affects nervous system, joints, and muscles etc. It was first noticed in 1975, and at first, it was misdiagnosed. Children suffering from Lyme disease were diagnosed of rheumatoid arthritis. How much Lyme disease will be spread depends on the number of ticks in that geographic area. In some areas in New York, the half of ticks is infected and therefore, people must be alert if a tick bites them.

Symptoms of Lyme disease

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, symptoms that can indicate the presence of Lyme disease include fever, pain in the muscles, facial paralysis, swelling of joints and skin rash. The fact is that the symptoms can be confusing, leading to misdiagnosis, because one can fail to see a tick bite.

Misdiagnosing of Lyme disease is very often in medical practice because, first of all, it is similar to symptoms of other ailments such as fibromyalgia, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and chronic fatigue syndrome. People working with lab tests are confront with a difficulty in detecting bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Lyme disease can be misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis, leading the treatment in a wrong way. Symptoms such as swelling of knees and joints may convince a doctor that he is dealing with arthritis and flu, and fever may also indicate flu. Meningitis is yet another misdiagnosis that can be caused by headache and stiff neck. Irregular heart rhythm can also indicate a heart rhythm disorder. Rash skin is another symptom and can make a doctor think that a patient has a sunburn, hives, eczema or insect or plant bite. Other conditions that may resemble Lyme disease and therefore be misdiagnosed are ringworm infection and facial palsy.

Because of those symptoms, which can be very misleading, doctors and patients must be aware of the fact that the area they live in is full of ticks and that there is a possibility that they have a tick attached on their skin. That rule goes especially for spring and summer, because it is time when people like to spend weekends in nature. Complications of misdiagnosis of Lyme disease can be loss of concentration, mood disturbance and neuropathy.