NEW STUDY PROVIDES INSIGHT RELATED TO LYME BRAIN FOG

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January 24, 2019 | Lyme Stories, News, Symptoms, Treatment
By Bay Area Lyme Foundation
– Bonnie Crater, founder and vice-chair of the Board of Directors, Bay Area Lyme Foundation

“I was driving down a road that I’ve driven 1,000 times and suddenly I had no idea where I was or where I was going. So, I pull over to the side of the road to get myself oriented, and then 5-10 minutes later, I remembered and drove to my destination.”

Several friends affected by Lyme have told me of this same experience. It’s caused by the brain fog symptom of Lyme disease, which is often called “mild cognitive impairment” by physicians. I first learned about brain fog when my friend Laure and I founded the Bay Area Lyme Foundation. She explains it like this:

“My nature is to be prompt, attentive and on top of things. It’s important to me to remember people and conversations, and follow up later. Brain fog makes me feel like my brain is muffled with cotton, and it turns me into a “flake” which is very frustrating and hard for me to accept. There are times my brain has been so confused and my spatial awareness is so poor that I’ve actually walked right into a wall. Often, when I am experiencing brain fog, I have to read paragraphs numerous times, and can’t comprehend the content or remember the beginning of the paragraph by the time I’ve gotten to the end.”

As you can imagine, experiencing brain fog—and the cognitive dysfunction involving memory problems, lack of mental clarity, and poor concentration that comes along with it—is very scary for Lyme patients.

So, what is brain fog? Brain fog can affect your ability to think, can cause you to feel confused or disorganized and make it difficult to focus or put thoughts into words. So, why do Lyme patients suffer from it? To unpack this a bit, let’s look at some research. Nearly 20 years ago in 2000, Dr. Diego Cadavid and other researchers published a study in Nature where they explored the dissemination of the Lyme bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) in non-human primates. They found the bacteria in several organs including the skeletal muscle, heart, aorta, and bladder. They also found the bacteria in the primate brains (pictured below).

More at the link below:

https://www.bayarealyme.org/blog/new-study-provides-insight-related-to-lyme-brain-fog/?fbclid=IwAR1ZBJfBxQqDVh_lVcl-yxacz5jcqqTe7IAw32hEQ_XR_1ByfVAl47eWWqc#.XEprNhQFCyh.facebook

Discovered at: Charles E. Holman Foundation Facebook Group

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Hi Folks,

Really excited to read it myself but just came upon it and wanted to make sure to bring it to you!

Many Blessings,
CrystalRiver

Will comment in post below if so needed in the morning:)