Lyme borreliosis better known as Lyme disease is caused by the Borrelia bacterium (Borrelia burgdorferi), and is often spread by ticks. B. burgdorferi can also be transmitted by bites from an infected ticks who got infected after feeding on infected birds, deer or mice.
Most people with Lyme disease have no recollection of tick bites even though a tick must be present on skin for 1 or 2 days to transmit the infection. The transmittable disease was first diagnosed in the town of Old Lyme, Connecticut in the year 1975. Since then it has become the most common diagnosed tick-borne disease in Europe and North America. People living with domesticated animals have a higher risk of acquiring Lyme disease but people who like the outdoors or or spend time in wooded areas also have a higher risk of getting this illness.
For many parts of the North America and Eastern Europe, Lyme disease season is coming to a close. But for some people who spent time in woodlands, parks, or working in their gardens during the summer and autumn, symptoms of chronic Lyme disease have just begun to present themselves. The New England Journal of Medicine reports that between 10% and 20% percent of patients who undergo antibiotic treatment will develop persistent Lyme disease. Chronic Lyme disease symptoms include:
These can persist for as much as six months and, in some cases, even longer. They can become severe enough to impede the patient’s ability to perform normal activities and cause considerable emotional distress. While most people do recover from chronic Lyme disease within a year, there are cases where treatment for chronic Lyme disease must continue beyond this time frame.[1]
Lyme disease becomes chronic when it resists antibiotic treatment. Lyme disease can also develop when someone hasn’t realized they’ve been bitten by a tick until months later when the more serious symptoms emerge. This phase is also known as persistent Lyme disease or post-treatment Lyme disease. When the disease resists antibiotics, treatment of chronic Lyme disease may need to shift to more advanced methods.
Why some people develop chronic Lyme disease while others do not is still unknown. Equally unclear is what triggers the particular symptoms of persistent Lyme. What is understood is that treatment for chronic Lyme disease needs to be highly personalized, according to the patient’s particular history and the combination of symptoms that are present.
Tick bites are by far the most common way to contract Lyme, though medical experts believe there are rare cases in which other biting insect species may carry the bacteria that are responsible for the disease. Not all ticks are infected with the bacterial strain Borrelia burgdorferi. The most common type of tick that spreads Lyme disease is the black-legged tick, also known as the deer tick.[2]
Black-legged ticks are not the originators of Lyme disease. They receive the bacteria when they bite a host that’s infected, such as a deer or mouse. When an infected tick makes its way to you and bites, the bacteria is passed on.
The exact reason why chronic Lyme disease develops is not yet understood. Some medical experts believe it may be due to Borrelia burgdorferi not being entirely eradicated in some people during the antibiotic regimen. Others think the damage to the immune system and the body’s tissues that was caused by the disease persists even after the bacteria have been fully eliminated. They believe chronic Lyme disease is actually the immune system continuing to respond to the damage as if the infection is still present.
Of course, risk factors for developing chronic Lyme disease begin with the bite of an infected tick. So your first best defense against the disease becoming chronic is to thoroughly check yourself, loved ones, and pets for ticks after spending time outdoors.
Not receiving the recommended antibiotics for Lyme treatment may also increase your risk. With that in mind, however, there is a percentage of patients who will develop chronic Lyme disease even with the proper antibiotic regimen. Generally speaking, symptoms of chronic Lyme disease are very similar to those of the earlier stages. The main difference is the persistent nature of chronic Lyme disease symptoms.[3] These include:
Chronic Lyme disease can result in symptoms that become debilitating and cause extreme changes to the patient’s lifestyle.
In order to plan the right treatment for chronic Lyme disease, the patient undergoes a test to check antibody levels in the blood. Antibodies are what the body produces when confronted with disease-causing bacteria. The two most commonly used blood tests are the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test and the Western blot test.
Additionally, your physician may order certain tests and exams that address the specific chronic Lyme disease symptoms that are being expressed. These may include:
For most patients, this early intervention requires a 2 to 3 week course of oral antibiotics. The three antibiotics generally used are amoxicillin, doxycycline and cefuroxime axetil. But actual treatment will depends on each person health and the types of symptoms being experienced.[4]
When it comes to treating persistent Lyme disease, stem cell therapy has quickly emerged as one of the most advanced treatments to date. Since chronic Lyme disease exhibits many symptoms similar to autoimmune conditions, it is believed that stem cell therapy works by repairing and rejuvenating damaged cells, nerves, and tissues. Stem cell therapy is also gaining in popularity among physicians because it is a non-pharmaceutical based natural therapy as prolonged use of prescription medications and antibiotics can cause other complications.
Common variable immunodeficiency or CVID is considered a primary immune deficiency disease and is characterized by very low levels of protecting antibodies which increases the risk of getting infections. The disease usually is diagnosed in adults, but can also occur in children. Patients with CVID , often have chronic ear infections, infections in the sinuses and respiratory infections that can lead to COPD or pulmonary fibrosis.
If left undiagnosed for too long, the neurological effects of Lyme disease can be difficult to treat with conventional medicine. But the real tragedy is the life-altering difficulties these symptoms can cause those afflicted and their loved ones. However, regenerative medical techniques like stem cell therapy is opening up promising possibilities for those suffering from neurological Lyme disease symptoms.
Stem cells are a natural product of the body. Among their functions, stem cells are what the body uses to help heal tissue and organ damage. For example, when you experience a cut to the skin, stem cells are the cellular “EMS” and “medical crews” that help in the healing of tissue and blood vessels. They also promote the healing of muscles and stimulate cell re-growth. Stem cells have also been shown to be highly effective in the treatment of neurological conditions such as brain injuries, ALS, MND and multiple sclerosis.
The long-term effects of Lyme disease are hard to address and just as difficult to live with, which is why stem cell therapy for Lyme disease offers such a promising solution for immunomodulatory and reversal of immunosuppressive effects. The Borrelia bacterias effect on an adaptive immune is due largely to its ability to evade our immune system checkpoints by hiding in protected niches in the body such intracellular compartments and biofilms.
Lyme disease is also associated with killing of circulating lymphocytes and immunodeficiency syndromes, because humoral immunity and immunoglobulin production has been suppressed after a Borrelia burgdorferi infection. Other infections like Mycoplasma and Bartonella (bartonellosis) are also frequently associated with immunological dysfunctions. Mycoplasmas are also often found to interact with B cells in the body and affects the production of antibodies.[5]
Circulating stem cells in the body and are what helps the body heal from injury, disease or infections by targeting the antibody deficiency. If you cut yourself, the body would release chemical signals to recruit stem cells to help the skin, tissues, blood vessels, and muscles heal and regrow completing the regenerative cycle. Stem cell therapy involves using autologous stem cells the body or allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells for cord tissue or placenta. This stem cells and tissue specific growth factors are then delivered back to the body in areas that need healing. This regenerative process is used to help speed recovery following surgery or medical therapies or to speed healing from a sports injury or other illnesses or injuries that the body has sustained.
Stem cells Lyme disease therapy is focused on new applications for these powerhouse cells that can help all the Lyme disease patients who suffered advanced cases and are now left with life-altering effects. Stem cells being used in testing for Lyme disease cell therapy can be taken from the patient’s own body or matched to the patient so there is little to no risk of negative side effects of the therapy.
The majority of patients diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease will eventually recover from their symptoms. It is not unusual for people to experience them for months and sometimes years. However, the advancements being made in regenerative medicine methods like stem cell therapy point to speedier recoveries for many people.
Following practices that lower your risk of tick bites is always your first and best defense against chronic Lyme disease. Below are several recommendations for Lyme disease prevention:
If you find an attached tick or think an insect bite may be from one, notify your doctor of possible infection. Your doctor will likely advise you to be on alert for symptoms for 30 days. Symptoms of early Lyme disease include:
The Regeneration Center offers minimally invasive procedures via MSC+ stem cells. Our procedures are safe and have exceptionally low risk for side effects. Using isolated and enhanced stem cells and cell growth factors, The Regen Center protocol offers a concentrated amount of mesenchymal stem cells that are both exceptionally potent and abundant.
For over 15 years the Regeneration center has been very successful in treating similar neurological conditions such as FMS, Strokes, ataxia and Parkinson’s. Our stem cell therapy for patients with Lyme disease is ideal for those with advanced neurological symptoms. The goal our our treatment is to heal the body from the neurological damage caused by Lyme disease and Borrelia burgdorferi bacterial infections.
Our results have been very promising and patients report far better energy, a far-reaching decrease in severe symptoms, a reduction in the overall number of symptoms (Antibiotic‐refractory Lyme arthritis), and impressive improvement in their general health. The majority of Regeneration Center patients report improvement a few days after therapy begins and get verified using updated immunoglobulin level tests. Treatment recommendations are based on patient needs and might require multiple treatment stages over the course of approximately two weeks. In general, our unique protocol has shown to be the most effective in reaching the full potential of the therapy.
[1] ^ Ross Russell, A. L., Dryden, M. S., Pinto, A. A., & Lovett, J. K. (2018). Lyme disease: diagnosis and management. Practical neurology, 18(6), 455–464. https://doi.org/10.1136/practneurol-2018-001998
[2] ^ Ji, Z., Jian, M., Yue, P., Cao, W., Xu, X., Zhang, Y., Pan, Y., Yang, J., Chen, J., Liu, M., Fan, Y., Su, X., Wen, S., Kong, J., Li, B., Dong, Y., Zhou, G., Liu, A., & Bao, F. (2022). Prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi in Ixodidae Tick around Asia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland), 11(2), 143. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens11020143
[3] ^ Zhao, H., Liu, A., Shen, L., Xu, C., Zhu, Z., Yang, J., Han, X., Bao, F., & Yang, W. (2017). Isoforskolin downregulates proinflammatory responses induced by Borrelia burgdorferi basic membrane protein A. Experimental and therapeutic medicine, 14(6), 5974–5980. https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2017.5300
[4] ^Horowitz R, Freeman PR. Improvement of common variable immunodeficiency using embryonic stem cell therapy in a patient with lyme disease: a clinical case report. Clin Case Rep. 2018 May 2;6(6):1166-1171. doi: 10.1002/ccr3.1556. PMID: 29881587; PMCID: PMC5986024.
[5] ^Krause, P. J., Telford, S. R., 3rd, Spielman, A., Sikand, V., Ryan, R., Christianson, D., Burke, G., Brassard, P., Pollack, R., Peck, J., & Persing, D. H. (1996). Concurrent Lyme disease and babesiosis. Evidence for increased severity and duration of illness. JAMA, 275(21), 1657–1660.