Prior Trauma May Worsen Lyme Disease Symptom Severity
Prior trauma may influence the severity of symptoms in Lyme disease. Research suggests that individuals with a history of traumatic life events may experience more severe cognitive, mood, and functional symptoms after Lyme infection.
The authors cited earlier research by Solomon and colleagues examining the role of trauma history in Lyme disease.² The investigators reported that patients with a higher number of lifetime traumatic events at initial presentation were more likely to experience a painful and disabling course of illness during follow-up.
Study Examines Trauma History in Persistent Lyme Symptoms
Mustafiz and colleagues evaluated trauma history in 60 individuals diagnosed with Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS).
Among the participants, 25 met the criteria for highly probable PTLDS and 35 met the criteria for definite PTLDS.
PTLDS is a term used to describe patients who remain ill after treatment for Lyme disease and experience persistent symptoms such as fatigue, pain, cognitive problems, and impaired daily functioning.
Measuring Traumatic Life Events
The investigators assessed trauma history using the Trauma History Screen (THS), a standardized questionnaire that evaluates exposure to major life stressors.
“This self-report assesses exposure to 14 types of high-magnitude stressor events that could be traumatic (e.g., natural disasters, sexual or physical abuse, military trauma, loss of a loved one),” the authors wrote.²
Trauma Linked to Greater Symptom Severity
The researchers found that prior traumatic experiences were associated with greater symptom severity across several domains.
Patients with higher trauma scores reported worse outcomes in:
- Mood symptoms including stress, anxiety, and depression
- Cognitive function
- Overall multisystem symptom burden
- Mental and physical functional status
Interestingly, the association was not observed for measures of pain or fatigue.
“A greater number of traumatic events were significantly associated with greater symptom severity on the scales of mood, cognition, multisystem symptom burden, and functional status, but not on measures of pain and fatigue,” the authors reported.
Trauma Is Only One Possible Factor
The influence of prior trauma on Lyme disease symptom severity was modest. The authors suggested that many additional factors likely contribute to persistent symptoms.
These factors may include differences in Borrelia strains, variations in immune response, and the biological characteristics or clinical history of the individual patient.
Clinical Perspective
Some clinicians use the term PTLDS to describe patients who remain ill after standard antibiotic treatment.
Editor’s note: I generally avoid the term PTLDS until reliable diagnostic testing is available to rule out the possibility of persistent infection.
Related Articles
References
- Mustafiz F, Moeller J, Kuvaldina M, Bennett C, Fallon BA. Persistent Symptoms, Lyme Disease, and Prior Trauma. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2022.
- Solomon SP, Hilton E, Weinschel BS, Pollack S, Grolnick E. Psychological factors in the prediction of Lyme disease course. Arthritis Care Res. 1998.
Hmm I’m confused. They say trauma made a difference in long-term severity of symptoms. Then just below the blue box you state just the opposite. I don’t think we can tie it to one thing like trauma. holistically …body, mind and spirit are all interconnected. To study one aspect in only 60 patients when there are thousands of Lyme patients to study makes the results questionable.
The author was not so supportive of trauma in their closing statement. They suspect other factors were also important. I find prior trauma quite important in my patient.
I hear you on this. We all know that Lyme, especially if it goes into PTLDS is enough on its OWN to cause trauma, add life and the daily stressors, especially in our current world,the lyme flare ups could happen. I feel this is happening to me a lot lately. Having this forum to be able to connect and read about others experiences has been helping me a lot, like a form of therapy in a way.
Thank you Dr. Cameron and all for this blog!
I don’t think Lyme disease gets credit as a stressor.
Same old story life is a trauma for everyone
Thank you for speaking about this subject. I recently got diagnosed with PTLDS. I never knew why it was so hard for me to leave my house, etc…Even though I am better after three years of ABX treatment, Lyme Disease did a number on my psychology.
I was parenting 6 children through high school and college after my husband died in 2011. I had lost my father, my husband, my mother, and infant granddaughter ,Ella Lee. Lyme hit me like a runaway train . In the end, severe sepsis almost took my life but cured the Lyme.and confections. As I read the stories in the Facebook from people with the worst Lyme symptoms, the number of folks had stories like mine. The worse the trauma, the worse and more persistent the symptoms of Lyme and coinfections.
Oh my the challenges you endured ❣️
Thankful Lyme is cured.
Oh m struggling with Lyme and mold.
May I asked how yours was cured?
Suzanne Meub, how were you healed? Was it massive antibiotics? I’m so sorry for your tragic losses❤️
Lyme disease attacks areas of the body that have been previously injured. I disagree with the finding of not worsening the pain or fatigue. People who have trauma have a much higher pain threshold,therefore they judge pain differently than those without significant trauma. The scale of 1 to 10 doesn’t work accurately for those who have suffered excruciating pain. You can’t compare the pain of a toothache with the pain of torturous beatings. The pain scale is subjective.
Also,people who have suffered significant trauma have had to power through their fatigue in order to have any semblance of a normal life,so reporting on that factor is also skewed.
After receiving trial study 1995-96 LD vaccines(3) within 1 yr., I tested positive for 20 years after that! I now know my symptoms go back to age 7. The vaccine OspA, was not a live vax & could not have given me the + test result alone. But it did awaken, exasperate & accelerate my past LD/tick bite symptoms! Off the charts! Stress literally made me sick after shots.. To the point of now, 25 yrs later it’s Autoimmune.. my body over responds & fights itself. Serology as ONLY.. test is BS.. clinical diagnosis & history is key! Anything less is false diagnosis! It never leaves your system..
I absolutely believe this.
The ACE Study is a good indicator of how someone’s health may develop later in life.
My ACE total is very high…..My life was in danger multiple times before 12, and other ACE factors..
Imho my body was quite compromised bc of that, and so when exposed to Lyme/co infxns and other things, I was already very worn down and my body unable to deal with any of it.
It helps me to do trauma and somatic work, to get in touch with those parts of me that have been repressed for a long time…