Dr. Kyle Warren
Meghan Feir Walker
Out of all the tick-borne diseases, Lyme gets the most spotlight, especially in recent years. More funding, research, and acknowledgement of chronic Lyme have finally been increasing. While it has taken decades for chronic Lyme to get the attention it deserves, we can’t make the same mistake of ignoring the other tick-borne diseases, aka Lyme disease co-infections.
Known as Lyme co-infections because they so often accompany cases of Lyme, infections like Bartonella, Babesia, Ehrlichia, Rickettsia, Anaplasma, flavirviruses (like tick-borne encephalitis and Powassan virus), Alpha-Gal, and others must be tested for regularly and given more attention as well.
This topic is extremely important because 93% of people with chronic Lyme are also suffering from at least one co-infection. If you want to feel better again, chronic Lyme and these co-infections must be tested for and properly addressed.
How do these co-infections relate to and differ from Lyme when it comes to symptoms, how they affect the body, and treatment options? Read on to learn more.
Common co-infections that occur with Lyme
Ticks are called “nature's dirty needle” for a reason. These blood-sucking organisms will feast on any mammal they can find using their disgusting, yet fascinating, heat sensors. Ticks can detect oncoming mammals with these sensors and will jump from trees, blades of grass, or whatever else to get their next meal. They don’t just stick to deer, dogs, and humans. They hitch rides on various types of animals. The spread of ticks has been extremely noticeable over the last few decades, and the spread of their diseases has skyrocketed.
Before we dive into information about co-infections, you have to know this: The standard tests for Lyme only test for one species of Lyme, the infamous Borrelia burgdorferi. To know whether or not you are dealing with Lyme, you must be tested for multiple strains of Lyme disease (Borrelia). You can still have Lyme and not have the B. burgdorferi species.
The same goes for Lyme co-infections. For example, with Bartonella, the main species that gets checked is Bartonella henselae (aka, cat scratch fever). However, there are multiple species and strains that should be tested that can cause equally debilitating neurological and pain symptoms.
The top co-infections we see in our clinic through testing are Babesia, Bartonella, Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, Rickettsia, Mycoplasma, and a host of flaviviruses, mainly tick-borne encephalitis virus and Powassan virus.
Lyme co-infections: Common symptoms
Babesia
Babesia is a protozoan parasite that often causes flu-like symptoms, night sweats, and fatigue. One of its signature symptoms is air hunger, where you feel like you can’t catch a satisfying breath. Many patients feel like they’re suffocating from it. Babesia can also cause migraine-like headaches.
Common symptoms of Babesia:
- Flu-like symptoms
- Night sweats
- Fatigue
- Air hunger
- Migraine-like headaches
- And many others
Bartonella
As mentioned, Bartonella, a type of bacteria, can cause a surprisingly terrifying array of neurological and cardiovascular symptoms, pain, and mood changes. It’s common for Bartonella sufferers to visit the ER because they think they’re having a heart attack, but every test comes back “normal.”
The headache most typical of Bartonella is more of an ice pick-like headache than the Lyme headache, which typically feels more like a vice is squeezing your head.
Common symptoms of Bartonella:
- Neurological symptoms
- Cardiovascular symptoms
- Pain (especially shin and foot pain)
- Skin marks that resemble scratches or stretch marks
- Mood changes, severe anxiety, OCD, and other mental health issues
- Ice-pick-like headaches
- Strange neurological symptoms, including skin sensations, weakness, etc.
- Vision changes and eye floaters
- And many others
Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, and Rickettsial infections
Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, and Rickettsia are bacteria. All of these infections can cause a wide array of symptoms. Because of their involvement with the liver and macrophages, these infections can also lead to mast cell activation and histamine intolerance.
Common symptoms of Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, and Rickettsia:
- Fatigue
- Low white blood cell counts
- Liver enzyme imbalances
- Fevers
- Headaches
- Muscle aches
- Joint pain
- Chills
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Joint pain
- More severe symptoms
- These infections can also lead to MCAS and histamine intolerance
- And many others
Flaviviruses: Powassan virus and other emerging infections
Flaviviruses, like Powassan and other emerging infections, can also cause many flu-like symptoms, and in severe cases, encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), meningitis (inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord), seizures, confusion, loss of coordination, difficulty speaking, and other issues.
Common symptoms of flaviviruses, like Powassan virus:
- Headaches
- Muscle aches
- Weakness
- Nausea
- Encephalitis
- Meningitis
- Seizures
- Confusion
- Loss of coordination
- Difficulty speaking
- And many others
Many other symptoms could be mentioned for each of these infections. If you want to get over chronic Lyme, you need to know about these co-infections and how to test for them. And don’t disregard the fact that you could be suffering from one of these infections without having Lyme.
Exploring co-infections: Symptom clusters
Another aspect we consider when dealing with chronic infections is symptom clusters.
Although certain symptoms make us suspicious of specific infections over others, these tick-borne infections often create similar symptoms to one another.
While Lyme is famous for migrating pain, it can also cause pressurized vice-grip headaches, just like Babesia can cause migraine-like headaches. And don’t leave out Bartonella and all the other infections because those can also cause major, chronic headache issues.
Babesia is famous for night sweats and air hunger/shortness of breath. However, Bartonella can also cause shortness of breath because of its effects on the cardiovascular system.
All three of these co-infections and many of the others can cause fatigue, horrible headaches, pain, brain symptoms, inflammation, muscle and joint aches, shortness of breath, mast cell activation, and other overlapping, similar symptoms.
While some symptoms immediately remind us of certain infections (like the skin marks Bartonella can cause), there can be numerous overlapping symptoms among the many co-infections. This can make it confusing when you’re trying to get over Lyme and co-infections alone or with an inexperienced practitioner.
While recording symptoms and tracking them is extremely important, we strongly suggest accurate testing, not only for Lyme and its multiple strains/species, but for all of the co-infections and their many species/strains. This is the only way to know exactly what you’re fighting.
Each co-infection inhibits your immune system differently
Having Lyme disease or one of the co-infections alone can be an absolutely devastating experience. Having more than one infection can be absolutely debilitating.
You and your doctor need to know what infections your body is fighting, so you can specifically help your immune system and effectively treat the right infections, because each of these bugs uses a different strategy to circumvent your immune system.
Each co-infection uniquely suppresses and inhibits a different part of your immune system. Many people think of their immune system as a singular part, but it actually has many components. Think of your immune system as an army. You have tanks, boats, guns, fighter jets, missiles, etc. Just like those different weapons, you have many wings of your immune system that go to battle for you every day.
Lyme disease is known to hinder natural killer cell activity. Because of this, part of the strategy for Lyme patients is to support the immune system by improving natural killer cell activity.
While Bartonella doesn't hinder natural killer cells, it messes with another part of the immune system that defends against bacteria, fungi, and the development of autoimmune diseases called Th17. When you have Bartonella, we frequently need to support the Th17 side of the immune system and the nitric oxide system.
Babesia, which is the most common co-infection, suppresses the B cells or the adaptive immune system. It affects a different part of the immune system than Lyme or Bartonella.
Anaplasma is known to inhibit neutrophils, your big bacteria fighters, and Ehrlichia and Rickettsia inhibit macrophages (another type of white blood cell).
Different infections harm your immune system in different ways, so when we know what you have, we can be more specific with the type of immune support you need.
This is also why thorough, accurate, up-to-date testing, not just for Lyme, but for all the co-infections and their various strains/species, makes such a huge difference in how you can recover.
Supporting the body through co-infections: Your unique recipe
Since co-infections affect various systems in the body, including the nervous, immune, respiratory, cardiovascular, and other systems, multi-system support is often necessary.
Throughout our process of helping patients at RHS, we focus on much more than just killing the bacteria and parasites. We also focus on detoxification, immune system support, and implementing herbal and supplemental protocols tailored to each person’s specific needs.
Every patient is unique, and so are you. You need support strategies that are personalized and adaptive to your unique history, test results, and symptoms.
The value of a root-cause approach: Test and retest for success
To recover from Lyme and co-infections, you have to look at the root cause of why and how these bugs and infections are thriving in your body. We have to help your body at a core level, pivot when necessary, and have patience—because it’s unlikely you will beat all these bugs simultaneously.
I recently chatted with a previous patient who has completely recovered from the three infections he was fighting. He's fully living life again, feeling well and thriving. When he first came in, he had Lyme, Bartonella, and a rickettsial infection. And although he’s over all three of these infections now, he didn’t beat all three of them at the same time.
This is why testing and retesting are necessary for a full recovery. Retesting is so often overlooked, but you must know what progress you are or aren’t making. This can help you and your Lyme practitioner determine whether the protocol has been effective or whether you need to change the approach.
I can't tell you how many people get halfway through a program with a practitioner, only to abandon ship because they don’t feel better yet. However, if they were to get retested, they’d be able to see whether or not they’ve made progress. Most of the time, they have taken at least a few steps forward, but it takes time to get over these infections. This is why testing levels and tracking symptoms are so important for any tick-borne infection protocol.
Another important aspect of our personalized approach at RHS is that we generally have people come in who have already tried defeating their tick-borne diseases with antibiotics and failed. While we will occasionally have a patient who chooses to go the antibiotic route, by and large, our patients choose to go more natural with herbals and nutraceuticals that address root cause infections. I’ve found this route to be much more effective for whole-body healing. For more information on antibiotics vs. herbals for Lyme and co-infections, click here.
What makes you fast or slow to heal?
If you come into my office and only have one or two infections, it’s likely your progress will be faster than someone who’s fighting five or six infections. Someone fighting multiple infections will almost always be more complicated and slower going than another person with fewer infections. Also, someone who has just developed a chronic infection will usually heal faster than someone who’s had an infection for years.
Being able to track which infections are getting better and which ones aren’t will help us make adjustments after trying a protocol for a few months. Knowing what bugs I’m fighting has been the single biggest factor in helping patients recover.
Take control of your health
If you know you have chronic Lyme, you also have to test for co-infections. They could be a huge reason your recovery is taking longer.
Are you ready to take control of your health? Reach out to our clinic and set up your free consultation with one of our team members. They will go through your history, symptoms, and next steps with you.
Discovering what your body is fighting is the first step in recovering. You can get better from Lyme, co-infections, and autoimmunity!
To learn more about Lyme disease and co-infections, check out our Lyme page and blog.
Watch the video
Click here or the image below to watch the accompanying video.
Follow us to learn more
If you found this information helpful, consider sharing it with friends. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, and sign up for our weekly Restorative Health Solutions newsletter that features the topic of each week.
