The treatment of Lyme disease with modern medicine is straightforward and very effective. Treatment within the first three weeks of infection is most effective and almost always results in a full cure. After the first three weeks, treatment still usually cures the disease, but the cure rate diminishes with time.

Most Lyme disease patients will receive one of three oral antibiotics: amoxicillin, doxycycline, or the more expensive cefuroxime axetil. In some advanced cases when neurological or cardiac abnormalities are severe, oral antibiotics are replaced with intravenous ceftriaxone, cefotaxime, or penicillin.

Intravenous treatment is more expensive and is only recommended for such cases. Neither type of antibiotic treatment has been proven more effective if administered for more than twenty eight days.

As already mentioned, treatment is most successful soon after infection. Later stages of Lyme disease are usually treated successfully, but not in all cases. Some patients, albeit a small percentage, experience the symptoms for months or years after the initial infection. Treatment approaches at this point are a matter of debate.

Some physicians believe that several courses of antibiotics are sometimes necessary in persistent cases. This theory is not clinically proven however. Long-term treatments have been speculated to be more effective than standard length treatments, but also have not been clinically proven and are seldom prescribed because of possible side effects, including death.

Other physicians maintain that no bacterial infection persists after standard antibiotic treatments. The symptoms are not caused by continued infection, but may be a delayed autoimmune system response.

Pregnant women infected with Lyme disease need not worry about treatment harming the fetus. Studies have found no negative effects for proper treatment. However, some documented cases show that untreated Lyme disease may harm, even kill, the baby.

Some people believe that antibiotic treatment should be received by all victims of tick bites. While some physicians routinely prescribe such treatment, it has not been proven to provide a significant benefit to the patient because the risk of infection is only one to three percent, unless the tick was attached for more than forty-eight hours.

It is instead recommended to monitor the bite site closely for thirty days after the bite. If an erythema migrans rash develops, antibiotic treatment is necessary.

While new research or old tradition may yield other forms of treatment – and the internet is bountiful with alleged treatments – the only treatment recommended by the Center for Disease Control and the Infectious Disease Society of America is antibiotics.

Lyme disease strikes fear into the hearts of many. The idea of a small bug crawling from the grass or leaves under our clothes, sucking our blood like a miniature vampire, and leaving behind a disease is creepy at best. Indeed, Lyme disease is the most common arthropod-borne illness in the United States.

Because it is so repugnant and affects so many people but is seldom well-understood, there is a mass of false information out there, but it is time to set the record straight and separate fact from fiction.

Lyme disease is caused by the bacteria borrelia burgdorferi, a spirochete bacterium, and is only transmitted via the bites of Ixodes ticks, i.e. Ixodes scapularis, and Ixodes pacificus.

These ticks are better known as the black-legged tick, or deer tick, and the western black-legged tick. Ticks, disease carrying or not, prefer wooded or bushy areas with tall grass and lots of leaves.

The disease is found in Europe, North America, Australia, and some parts of Asia.

In the United States, it is most prevalent in the Northeast, the upper Midwest, and the Pacific Northwest. In 2004, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania had the majority of the almost twenty thousand cases reported. Connecticut, the state where Lyme disease was first identified and where the city it takes its name from is located, had the most reported cases for many years.

Lyme disease is an inflammatory disease – first of the skin, then of the joints, and finally of the nervous system.

Within thirty days of infection, the skin around the bite usually breaks out in an erythema migrans (EM) rash, often resembling a bull’s eye. The disease later causes arthritis of major joints, especially the knees. In severe cases, there may be damage to the nervous system, such as numbness, and arrhythmia of the heart.

Treatment of Lyme disease is fairly routine and especially effective in the early stages of the disease.

Oral antibiotics such as amoxicillin clear most cases within two to four weeks. Intravenous antibiotics are sometimes prescribed for advanced cases. Combinations of antibiotics and treatments longer than twenty eight days have not been proven any more effective and are therefore not suggested.

Preventing Lyme disease is pretty straight-forward. Avoid tick-prone areas especially in the peak summer season.

If you do enter a tick-prone area, wear long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, and tall socks. After leaving the area, check your body for ticks, especially in the armpits, groin, and scalp. Remove any attached ticks with a tweezers.

Lyme disease, caused by the bacteria B. burgdorferi and spread by deer ticks, is usually treated by physicians with oral antibiotics such as amoxicillin or doxycycline. Advanced cases are sometimes treated with intravenous antibiotics instead.

Although the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Infectious Disease Society of America both affirm the effectiveness of such treatment regimens, both admit that antibiotics are only successful in treating the majority of cases.

Some patients, especially those with long undiagnosed or untreated Lyme disease, may experience symptoms for months or years after the infection has supposedly been cleared. Patients in this position, and those adverse to antibiotics, often seek alternative treatments.

An internet search quickly gives them a variety of pages claiming effective alternative treatments. Whether these claims are true or false is usually unproven, as are the credentials of many proponents. However, some alternative treatments are backed by well-trained doctors and may be valid, effective treatments unpopular with modern mainstream medicine.

Homeopathic medicine offers the most avenues of treatment. Murphy’s Repertory lists three treatments: arsenicum album, mercurius, and thuja. Other resources list carcinosin, lac caninum, ledum, and syphilinum. Sepia and tellurium are helpful in the first stages of the disease.

Arnica is prescribed for muscle pain and soreness; gelsemium for overall weakness; rhus tox for stiffness and pain. Ready preparations include Tick Bite, Lyme Tick, and Borrelia.

In nosode form, homeopathic treatments have been shown both to decrease the chances of infection and reduce symptoms. According to an article in Homeopathy Today, many of these treatments are equally effective in humans and in pets.

There are many herbal supplements recommended for Lyme disease patients. All three echinaceas and cordyseps tincture mixed together can be used to make a beneficial tea known in Tibet to improve stamina and energy, decrease fatigue, and enhance antioxidant function. Cat’s claw, Artemisia, captis, and spilanthes are also known to help. For patients with Lyme disease induced arthritis, the preparation Arthritis Combo can be helpful.

Supplements such as the essential fatty acids, CO-Q 10, vitamin B, herbal calcium, and aloe vera in addition to multivitamins are recommended to reduce the symptoms of Lyme disease and expedite a return to health, especially when combined with other treatments.

For those interested in acupuncture, it too offers a treatment for Lyme disease. Advanced acupuncture of the ear has been shown to strengthen the body and reduce the symptoms of Lyme disease.

Alternative treatments work differently than antibiotics. Instead of attacking the bacteria themselves, homeopathic, herbal, supplementary, and acupunctural treatments strengthen the body. This counters the negative influence of the disease and strengthens the immune system to allow it to naturally destroy the bacteria. This holistic approach can give more wide-ranging and lasting results.