Conversation: 37-year-old anxious suicidal patient with a history of Lyme disease – benefits of a Lyme Disease Second Opinion.

Discussion of the case of a 37-year-old anxious, suicidal patient with a history of Lyme disease. This case study offers insight into the complexity of evaluating and treating a patient with neuropsychiatric symptoms and a history of Lyme disease. Although the evaluation and treatment may have been well thought out, additional treatment options could have been discussed with the patient. 
Alternatively, the 37-year-old man might have benefited from a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and antibiotics.

Host: Dr. Daniel Cameron

Conversation: Guidelines for treating a tick bite.

Doctors are divided over the best treatment for a tick bite. The Infectious Diseases Society of American (IDSA) advises a single 200mg dose of doxycycline for an adult patient and 4m/kg up to 200 mg for a child at least 8 years of age based on a single study. The International Lyme and Associated Disease Society (ILADS) is opposed to a single dose of doxycycline for a tick bite. There is no evidence that a single dose of antibiotics is effective to prevent complications of Lyme disease or co-infections. I will review what we know, what we don’t know and what I do in practice.

Host: Dr. Daniel Cameron

Conversation: Teen Lyme

It has been more than 40 years since Steere and colleagues Logigian described Lyme disease in children and young adults. I will include a discussion of a 16-year-old boy, named David, with Lyme disease who was initially presumed to suffer from long-standing depression. He presented with anger, frustration, insomnia, poor appetite, mild weight loss, passive suicidal ideation, and steep decline in cognitive behavior. His longstanding depression was “exacerbated recently when he stopped dating a girl after only two weeks because he felt too tired and not smart enough,” according Fallon and colleagues in Psychiatric Clinics of North America.

Host: Dr. Daniel Cameron

Conversation: Rage, extreme irritability, and Lyme disease

It has been 28 years since Logigian and colleagues described seven chronic neurologic patients with extreme irritability. “They became angry over circumstances that previously caused minor annoyance,” writes Logigian in the 1990 New England Journal of Medicine. The same investigators describe irritability in a case series of 18 patients who met strict criteria for Lyme encephalopathy.

Host: Dr. Daniel Cameron

Conversation: Dementia And Lyme Disease

Dementia and Lyme disease are common. Kris Kristofferson was thought to have suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for ten years before he was diagnosed with Lyme disease. Two other individuals who were thought to suffer from dementia before being diagnosed with Lyme disease were also described in my book, Lyme Disease takes on Medicine. I will discuss these three cases during my next live Lyme Hangout Tuesday, March 27, 8PM EST.

Host: Dr. Daniel Cameron

Conversation: Good, bad, and ugly side of Post-Treatment-Lyme-Disease-Syndrome (PTLDS)

We will discuss the good, bad, and ugly side of PTLDS. The good news is that a chronic manifestation of Lyme disease has been recognized. The bad news is that PTLDS is a serious illness that can last for years. The ugly news are the obstacles to solving the PTLDS. I don’t even like the term PTLDS. I will explain in my next live Lyme Hangout Tuesday, March 13, 8PM EST.

I will start the discussion with a 23 year-old-woman with severe chronic pain due to PTLDS. “Her functionality was severely affected; she was bedbound for approximately 5 years and required a wheelchair,” writes Lim from the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, University of California, San Francisco in the Saudi Journal of Anaesthesia.¹ The case was initially described in the latest All Things Lyme Blog.

Host: Dr. Daniel Cameron

Conversation: Three Newborn children contract Babesia through blood transfusions

We discussed three newborn children who contracted Babesia, a parasitic tick borne pathogen, through blood transfusions. The newborn children contracted Babesia through a transfusion from an asymptomatic donor. The cases were initially described in the 2017 issues of Journal Pediatric Infectious Disease Society and in my book “Lyme Disease takes on Medicine.”

Host: Dr. Daniel Cameron

Conversation: Newborns contracted Babesia, a parasitic tick borne pathogen

We discussed five newborn children who contracted Babesia, a parasitic tick borne disease. Three of the newborn children contracted Babesia through a transfusion. Two of the new born children contracted Lyme disease from their mother while in utero. The cases were featured in the 2017 issues of Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal and the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society and in my book “Lyme Disease takes on Medicine.”

Host: Dr. Daniel Cameron