lyme disease is bad news....
"depression is the most common psychiatric syndrome associated with late stage Lyme disease. Although depression is common in any chronic illness, it is more prevalent with Lyme patients than in most other chronic illnesses. There appears to be multiple causes, including a number of psychological and physical factors.
From a psychological standpoint, many Lyme patients are psychologically overwhelmed by the large multitude of symptoms associated with this disease. Most medical conditions primarily affect only one part of the body, or only one organ system. As a result, patients singularly afflicted can do activities which allow them to take a vacation from their disease. In contrast, multi-system diseases such as Lyme, depression, chronic Lyme disease can penetrate into multiple as pects of a person’s life. It is difficult to escape for periodic recovery. In many cases, this results in a vicious cycle of disappointment, grief; chronic stress, and demoralization.
It should be noted that depression is not only caused by psychological factors. Physical dysfunction can directly cause depression. Endo crine disorders such as hypothyroidism, which cause depression, are sometimes associated with Lyme disease and further strengthen the link be tween Lyme disease and depression.
The most complex link is the association between Lyme disease and central nervous system functioning. Lyme encephalopathy results in the dysfunction of a number of different mental func tions. This in turn results in cognitive, emotional, vegetative, and/or neurological pathology. Although all Lyme disease patients demonstrate many similar symptoms, no two patients present with the exact same symptom profile.
Other mental syndromes associated with late state Lyme disease, such as attention deficit disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, etc., may also contribute to the develop ment of depression. Dysfunction of other specific pathways may more directly cause depression. The link between encephalopathy and depression has been more thoroughly studied in other illnesses, such as stroke. The neura1 injury from a stroke causes neural dysfunction that causes depression. Injury to specific brain regions has different statisti cal correlation with the development of depression. Once depression or other psychiatric syndromes occur with Lyme disease, treating them effectively improves other Lyme disease symptoms as well and prevents the development of more severe conse quences, such as suicide.
Suicidal tendencies are common in neuropsychiatric Lyme patients. There have been a number of completed suicides in Lyme disease patients and one published account of a combined homicide/suicide. Suicide accounts for a significant number of the fatalities associated with Lyme disease. In my database, suicidal tendencies occur in approxi mately 1/3 of Lyme encephalopathy patients."
