Alzheimer's and Lyme share many symptoms, an unfortunate circumstance that can result in misdiagnoses for elderly people whose caregivers suspect senility. The Alzheimer's Disease Association lists changes in mood or behavior, disorientation of time and place, and an inability to concentrate among the warning signals of the disease. Symptoms may also include problems with abstract thinking and difficulty performing familiar tasks, such as buckling a belt or preparing a simple meal.

Brain dysfunction or dementia, what used to be called 'senility', are commonly recognized as disabilities that afflict older citizens. Other potential signals of Lyme are joint pain, dizziness, and muscle aches, which are common complaints among seniors. For generations, the prevailing notion has been that old people simply tend toward absent-mindedness, arthritis and fatigue. Therefore, older people's symptoms are less likely to signal anything out of the ordinary to a doctor or health care practitioner. Doctors may easily miss the warning signs of Lyme, instead giving the patient a catch-all diagnoses such as Alzheimer's, heart disease or lupus. Seniors have been misdiagnosed with Alzheimer's, when the real problem is Lyme disease.

Antibiotics are prescribed to kill the Borreliosis bacteria, the bugs that cause the effects of Lyme disease. However, undetected by medical professionals, the patients are unlikely to get the medicine they need. Without proper treatment, Lyme can have devastating effects.

Become a member and learn more

Tags: Alzheimer's and Lyme Disease

Q-RiBb, the newly patented Lyme test, is starting to get the kind of coverage it needs to become well-known. The word on the street is that the test was formally introduced at the Lyme conference in Philadelphia in October. Over 9,000 people have been tested this way. In sharp contrast to the lengthy wait (two or three weeks or more) for the results of the unreliable Western Blot, all of them received their diagnosed with Lyme in just one day!

The difference between the two tests is very easy to understand. The Western Blot tests for antibodies. The Q-RiBb tests for antigens, the bug itself. Simple.

Check it out at lymeresearch.com. And spread the word.

File this under the heading It's All in Your CDC Study:

This week, researchers for the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) published a study that may go a long way towards validating Lyme disease sufferers who have been dismissed or ignored by their medical doctors. The study states that Lyme disease results in acute long-term disorders, or as authors Jill A. Livengood and Robert D. Gilmore Jr. write: “...the organism is able to evade the host’s immune defenses and mobilize to various host tissues eventually resulting in arthritis, carditis, and neurological manifestations."

While this study may impact physicians' attitudes toward patients (let's hope it's a positive impact), it can't undo the damage done to myriads of Lyme sufferers over the years whose doctors have hovered in their examining rooms with one hand on the doorknob, rolled their eyes and muttered, “it's all in your head.”

Thank you, Livengood and Gilmore.