LYME DISEASE AND PROBIOTICS – WHAT SHOULD YOU KNOW?

Lyme disease and probiotics. These two words seemingly do not connect and yet they harmonize with each other. Lyme disease is a disease and probiotics are one of the essential elements of its treatment. Only comprehensive treatment of Lyme disease can bring the expected result – health and probiotics are its obligatory element.

When we take an antibiotic, we automatically also take the probiotic. It is important that all people with Lyme disease, even if they are not treated with an antibiotic, also automatically take the probiotic. An appropiate quality probiotics show not only a protective effect during antibiotic therapy, but also inhibit and reduce inflammation, have a positive effect on the cytokine profile, restore the balance of the immune system, balance the intestinal microbiome and inhibit unwanted metabolic activity in the intestines.

What is Lyme disease?

Lyme disease (Lyme borreliosis) is a chronic multi-organ disease that can occur as a result of a tick bite infected with Borrelia burgdorferi. When we can be bitten by a tick? For most of the calendar year, i.e .:

• March
• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November

We already know when we are exposed to ticks, so now it is worth knowing where we can be bitten by a tick?

We often have a misconception that ticks are only in forests. It seems to us that if we do not go there, we are safe. We explode this myth: Ticks don’t just live in forests. They also feel very well near the our home – both in towns and villages. Ticks can be found in forests, parks, city squares and plots of land.

That is why it is very important to check your body carefully after each walk and see if the tick is in your body. Time is crucial here. The sooner we remove the tick from our body, the less chance of infection.

A tick bite is painless, does not cause any itching, and does not always cause erythema. Often times, people who have symptoms of Lyme disease don’t even know they’ve ever been bitten by a tick.

In the first stage, Lyme disease is most often treated with the use of antibiotics. However, the recovery process should be supported by the use of complementary treatment. This include, among others probiotic therapy. In the case of Lyme disease, taking appropriate quality probiotics alleviates the side effects of antibiotic therapy and has anti-inflammatory properties.

Lyme disease and probiotics – Do probiotics help to the treatment of Lyme disease?

Probiotics – live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host.

The probiotics market is constantly developing. Reports on the development of the probiotic market predict that in the coming years, the European market for probiotics products will growing trend all the time (see chart below). This market is developing strongly due to changing eating patterns and growing consumer awareness of the importance of probiotics and their role on the brain-gut axis.

Probiotics are essential in treating Lyme disease because:

• they play a protective role while taking antibiotics,
• they allow to rebuild the intestinal microbiome disturbed by antibiotics,
• prevent the destruction of the intestinal microbiota and, consequently, the development of pseudomembranous colitis,
• they prevent mycosis and intestinal disorders,
• have anti-inflammatory properties,
• help to maintain the proper level of immunity of the mucous membranes and, consequently, support the overall immunity of the organism.

Lyme disease and probiotics are an inseparable connection. Whenever we talk about Lyme disease, we should remember about probiotics. They are an inseparable element of any Lyme disease treatment. Support with appropriate quality probiotics is necessary for the regeneration of the body and restoring protective functions.

Lyme disease – real-life

The stories of people who survived Lyme disease hell or are constantly struggling with its treatment, tug at the heartstrings. On the Lyme Disease Association website, blogs, forums and Facebook groups dedicated to Lyme disease, we can read all sorts of stories … Here are excerpts from two of them:

1. As you can read on the Barbra Belt blog: „I experienced my „adventure” with transmitted, undiagnosed Lyme disease. „I survived” is not treated accidentally here – it is not about „expose” a beautiful experience, but staying „the living”, because this crud has the characteristic of killing. Tricky, stealthy, but damn effective. I won. (…) “.
2. On the blog „Life written by mountains”, Sebastian Nikiel writes as follows: “Lyme disease is a disease that finds all body weaknesses, damaged areas, and pathologically changed places with extreme precision, immediately attacking there. (…) Suffering, insomnia, paresis, hyper sensitivity to stimuli are just a few of the names of Lyme disease (…) ”.

There are plenty of such stories. Each of them causes goose bumps on the skin and shows the complexity of Lyme disease. Therefore, it is very important not to ignore the possibility of being bitten by a tick. As the stories of people struggling with Lyme disease show, prevention is better than cure. And when it is necessary to treat it only in a comprehensively.

A unique combination of live and active probiotic bacteria in liquid form and organic herbs is available in the food supplement ProbioBorelio: https://www.living-food.pl/en/produkt/our-brands/jedrzejs-herbs-en/eco-probiotic-plant-extracts-jedrzejs-herbs-probioborelio/. The composition of herbs and probiotic bacteria has been especially selected to support the treatment of Lyme disease and tick-borne diseases.

Lyme disease and probiotics share a common denominator – health. The summary of this article should be the words of Mr. Rafał Reinfuss from the Lyme Patients Association: „In the Lyme disease community, we observe a whole group of young people who are nowadays walking on crutches, in wheelchairs or otherwise disabled. If they had been successfully diagnosed earlier and had been properly treated, they would have been able to function normally, live better”.

References:

1. Agnieszka Godek: Nowoczesne metody leczenia boreliozy z koinfekcją (antybiotyki, żywienie). Medycyna Rodzinna 2014, 3: 147-151.
2. Dariusz Krzyczmanik, Halina Sińczuk-Walczak, Tomasz Wittczak, Aleksandra Cyran, Cezary Pałczyński, Jolanta Walusiak-Skorupa: BORELIOZA W PRAKTYCE LEKARZA MEDYCYNY PRACY. Medycyna Pracy 2012, 63(4): 483-492.
3. Hofhuis A, van de Kassteele J, Sprong H, van den Wijngaard CC, Harms MG, Fonville M, et al. (2017) Predicting the risk of Lyme borreliosis after a tick bite, using a structural equation model. PLoS ONE 12(7): e0181807.
4. http://zyciepisanegorami.pl/o-mnie-moja-historia
5. https://barbra-belt.pl/borelioza-przezylam-przeczytaj-moze-tez-pomozesz-komus-przezyc/
6. https://www.medonet.pl/kleszcze-i-borelioza-wszystko-co-musisz-wiedziec,borelioza–mniej-zachorowan-w-2020-r–dlaczego–opinia-ekspertow–raport-medonetu-,artykul,01323728.html
7. https://www.medonet.pl/zdrowie/zdrowie-dla-kazdego,rekordowa-liczba-zachorowan-na-borelioze–czy-tego-niechlubnego-rekordu-mozna-uniknac-,artykul,1702701.html
8. John J Halperin: Chronic Lyme disease: misconceptions and challenges for patient management. Infection and Drug Resistance 2015, 8: 119-128.
9. Katarzyna Kot: Probiotyki na rynku żywności – perspektywy i prognozy. Bezpieczeństwo żywności w praktyce. Numer 15, Luty 2020 (https://bezpieczenstwozywnosci.wip.pl/aktualnosci/probiotyki-na-rynku-zywnosci-perspektywy-i-prognozy-3790.html).
10. Marta Stelmasiak: Probiotykoterapia w leczeniu boreliozy. Współczesna dietetyka 24/2019 (https://www.wspolczesnadietetyka.pl/z-gabinetu-dietetyka/probiotykoterapia-w-leczeniu-boreliozy)
11. Oskar Kaczmarek: Zaburzenia mikrobiologiczne po antybiotykoterapii jako czynnik spustowy wadliwej odpowiedzi immunologicznej. Forum Stomatologii Praktycznej, 2019, nr.44.