What medicine to take for lyme disease?

Lyme disease is a tick-borne illness that can lead to serious complications if not treated promptly. It is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi which enters the skin when an infected tick bites you. Symptoms of this condition include fever, headache, fatigue, and rashes among many others.

In order to treat Lyme disease effectively, it’s important that you receive proper medical treatment as soon as possible after being infected. However, with numerous medications available in the market today (1) deciding on what medicine to take for lyme disease can be quite challenging. This article will provide insights regarding some of the best treatments available out there.

Diagnosing Lyme Disease

Before exploring medication options for treating Lyme disease patients should understand how it’s diagnosed (2):

  1. Clinical Diagnosis- This diagnosis will be made based on symptoms such as erythema migrans (EM) rash or Bell’s Palsy.
  2. Laboratory Diagnosis – A blood test called ELISA followed by Western blot testing will confirm whether you have indeed contracted Lyme disease.

A lot of people who contract lyme never develop EM or classic bullseye rash symptoms; this means they could easily get misdiagnosed and fail to receive appropriate care altogether so laboratory diagnostic tests are particularly vital.

Getting diagnosed early could enhance treatment outcome; usually recovery rates are promising within 30 days post-treatment using most antibiotics protocols but sometimes lack thereof would mean seeking additional alternative therapies like physiotherapy(3).

Antibiotics

Antibiotics remain effective in fighting against bacterial infections including those from ticks carrying B.burgdorferi.(4). Most individuals who were starting with short courses of oral antibiotics end up recovering quickly within several weeks without experiencing any persistent symptoms.(5)

Doxycycline: The Initial Treatment Option

When it comes to Lyme disease antibiotics, one of the most common ones is doxycycline. This treatment option is suitable for individuals with early-stage Lyme and lasts between 14-21 days (6). Ideally, it can also help relieve some symptoms such as rashes or fever within two-three days.

It functions by inhibiting the bacterium’s protein synthesis mechanism hence constraining its multiplication rates leading to eventual death.

Amoxicillin

Amoxicillin could be another choice when treating lyme disease especially in people who may not tolerate tetracycline antibiotic group medications like doxycycline.(7) Usually given as oral administration continuing up to 21days – this medication kills off B.burgdorferi because it interferes with cell wall requirements necessary for bacterial growth and life cycle3

Cefuroxime Axetil

Cefuroxime Axetil happens to be a third clinically approved antibiotic medicine used as first-line therapy against Lyme Disease, primarily in cases where neurological symptoms or widespread rashes arise after tick bite occurrence(8). Essentially taken orally over 2-3 weeks treatment course; generally pretty effective.

Alternative therapies

Sometimes alternative treatments remain vital though they have weaker evidence supporting their efficacy than do antibiotics but worth considering(in conjunction with antibiotics)

Herbal Medicines:

Herbal Medicine; specifically Japanese knotweed, Cat Claw , teasel root extract & samento extract products could all serve therapeutic purposes against borrelia bacteria(9). They’re believed to impede bacterial activity through multiple mechanisms triggering excitement among several studies worldwide since patients’ hope that maybe empirically safer compared-to conventional drugs(for children’s health conditions mostly).

The only hitch here: their effectiveness lacked extensive clinical data hinged on anecdotal reports given -hereby probably insufficient information provided caution therewith.

However, if you’re going down the herbal route, always conduct more extensive research and consult with a qualified medical practitioner beforehand.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is another alternative (10) Lyme disease treatment that has gained significant popularity recently, whereby patients inhale pure oxygen in transparent room-like chambers at high pressure levels back-to-back over several weeks/treatment sessions.

It’s believed to boost our immune system while killing inactive Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria.

However, further studies need to be made regarding the safety of this alternative treatment and its suitability for children and pregnant individuals.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, early diagnosis and antibiotic medication remain one gold-standard when it comes down – how to treat Lyme Disease(.) Usually, Doxycycline & Amoxicillin are first-line prescribed treatments for mild cases where neurological symptoms are absent/less prominent; Cefuroxime axetil may follow through within moderate symptom severity ranges..

Alternative therapies like herbal medicines or hyperbaric oxygen therapy provide additional options of treating/supplementing conventional drugs but preferably in consultation with a physician since the limited data available have not been conclusive on their effectiveness%(11).

Lyme can cause long-term complications if left unattended so any suspicion or confirmatory tests remain paramount to avoid misdiagnosis/mismanagement if lice infested(12).

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