Lyme Science Blog

Lyme-related Tinnitus and Ear Fullness Patients often ask me whether Lyme disease can cause tinnitus or ear fullness. The answer is yes — Lyme tinnitus and ear fullness are well-recognized presentations. Many patients describe ringing or hissing sounds, fluctuating pressure, crackling sensations, a feeling of water trapped in the ear, distorted sound perception, and hypersensitivity […]

The electrical jolts started without warning. Every few minutes, Lisa felt a sudden shock run through her head, like a live wire had touched her brain. The sensation would shoot down her spine, leaving her briefly disoriented, as if her nervous system had misfired. “It feels like my brain is short-circuiting,” she told her doctor.

When Bladder Symptoms Don’t Make Sense Many patients come to me after months of bladder discomfort that no one can explain. They describe pelvic pressure, burning, or an overwhelming urge to urinate — yet every culture, scan, and exam has been normal. They tell me things like, “My bladder feels inflamed,” or, “It’s like interstitial

Someof my patients recovering from Lyme disease describe a familiar pattern: they finally feel well enough to be active—maybe a short walk, a trip to the grocery store, an hour of work—then crash. The next day, fatigue deepens, pain flares, and concentration fades. This isn’t ordinary tiredness. It’s post-exertional malaise in Lyme disease (PEM)—a delayed

When Lyme Symptoms Worsen During Your Period Many women tell me the same thing: their Lyme symptoms get worse during their period, often in the exact same window every month. Fatigue deepens. Pain sharpens. Dizziness, palpitations, and air hunger return. What should be a predictable cycle becomes a predictable crash. Many women don’t realize that

When Your Body Stops Regulating Temperature Normally Many patients with Lyme disease describe something they never struggled with before: they suddenly can’t tolerate heat or cold. They walk into a warm room and feel flushed or dizzy. A mild chill hits them and their body reacts as if winter has arrived. Some swing from sweating

A growing number of my patients tell me something they struggle to say out loud: “Why Lyme disease can feel like PTSD.” They describe a body that reacts like it’s in danger even when nothing is happening, a nervous system that fires alarms without a trigger, and symptoms that feel more like trauma physiology than

She’d seen seven specialists in 18 months, but no one could explain her Lyme disease abdominal pain. The tests were normal. The pain was not. Her doctors never considered that Lyme disease abdominal pain often begins long before anything shows up on imaging. Ultrasound: normal. CT scan: normal. Endoscopy: normal. Colonoscopy: normal. The final GI

When Lyme Disease Mistaken for Child Abuse Sets a Crisis in Motion Some medical cases stay with us long after we read them. One such case—published by Pan and colleagues in 2021—still stands out for how quickly Lyme disease mistaken for child abuse escalated into a family crisis. The case involved a toddler brought to

A 42-year-old man came to me after months of waking drenched in sweat — classic night sweats from Babesia, though no one had considered it. He’d been told it was anxiety, hormones, or medication — anything but infection. Being told “That’s not from Babesia” is more than misinformation — it’s a dismissal that can delay