Lyme Science Blog

It starts small. A tick bite you never noticed. A fever that comes and goes. An ache you blame on a long day, a restless night, a bad chair. But Lyme disease, left unchecked, doesn’t stay small. It spreads. It settles. It rewires. And sometimes, it doesn’t leave.   The Joints: A Slow, Relentless Ache

If Lyme disease is identified and treated promptly, many people recover fully. A standard course of antibiotics can effectively clear the infection, and symptoms typically resolve. However, some individuals experience lingering effects even after treatment.   What Happens If Lyme Disease Is Left Untreated? If the infection spreads or is not diagnosed early, it can

When timing changes everything What this page coversThis page explains what recovery from Lyme disease can look like, why some patients improve quickly while others don’t, and where to find more detailed information if symptoms persist. Lyme disease recovery looks different for each patient and depends heavily on timing, treatment, and whether symptoms persist after

Preventing Chronic Lyme Disease Preventing chronic Lyme disease has been a central focus of my clinical practice for more than 37 years. While many patients recover fully with early recognition and treatment, others—despite appropriate care—develop persistent, disabling symptoms affecting multiple body systems. Chronic Lyme disease is rarely caused by a single failure. It is usually

In 2020, investigators published a case involving a 13-year-old boy with Lyme arthritis, a common manifestation of Lyme disease, who developed a Herxheimer reaction when treated with doxycycline. On the 7th day of treatment, the boy developed a low-grade fever and severe arthralgias with intense hip, ankle and cervical spine pain and myalgias. You can

A 23-year-old woman, who lived in Brooklyn, NY, had visited her primary care doctor complaining of bilateral knee swelling and pain. Three days prior, she had delivered a healthy baby girl. The pain was reported as 8/10 in severity and was exacerbated by walking, according to the authors. When the woman was 6 months pregnant,

Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) is an autoimmune disorder in which your immune system mistakenly attacks the peripheral nerves surrounding the brain and spinal cord. GBS symptoms typically include weakness and/or tingling sensations in the legs, which can spread to the arms and upper body. This patient also reported having three episodes of loose stools, two episodes

The man, in his 70’s, presented with dactylitis (severe swelling of the fingers or toes), onycholysis of the nails (nail separates from the skin) and scalp psoriasis, which lead to the diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis. However, he did not respond to treatment with corticosteroids or disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs. “A skin biopsy was performed showing histopathological