When the Fever Fades but the Infection Stays: Chronic Lyme

Most of us know the basics of Lyme disease – tick bite, bullseye rash, antibiotics. What rarely makes headlines is the devastating reality when Lyme transforms from a simple infection into a complex, multi-system condition that conventional medicine struggles to recognize and treat effectively.

This transformation happens when Lyme crosses a critical threshold from acute to chronic. During those early days post-tick bite, the bacteria remain vulnerable, largely confined to the bloodstream where antibiotics can effectively eliminate them. Miss this window, and everything changes. The spirochetes burrow deep into collagen-rich tissues like joints, brain, and nerves, forming protective biofilms and shifting into persister states that standard treatments can't touch. Your immune system becomes simultaneously hyperactive yet ineffective – triggering inflammation, autoimmunity, and mast cell activation while failing to clear the infection.

Perhaps most deceptive is what I call the "false recovery" – that period when acute symptoms like fever and headaches fade, giving patients the illusion they've healed while the infection quietly establishes itself underground. From here, Lyme manifests as a bewildering array of symptoms: brain fog, migrating pain, heart palpitations, digestive issues, crushing fatigue, and more. This symptom diversity contributes to chronic Lyme's controversial status, as patients bounce between specialists who treat isolated symptoms without recognizing the underlying cause.

Functional medicine offers hope through a comprehensive approach that sees Lyme not just as an infection but as a terrain problem – an interaction between the bacteria and your unique biology. Through advanced testing and a six-pillar treatment protocol that includes targeted antimicrobials, ozone therapy, immune modulation, mitochondrial support, and personalized detoxification, we address both the infection and the conditions allowing it to persist. While early intervention provides the best outcomes, even long-standing cases can experience significant improvement with the right approach.

If unexplained symptoms have left you searching for answers, consider whether Lyme might be the missing piece. Schedule a consultation to explore how functional medicine can help you reclaim your health and vitality from this persistent invader.

Support the show

linktr.ee/harmonyhubhealth

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Harmony Hub Health, where my mission is
to provide comprehensive,affordable, integrative care
that addresses the root cause ofhealth issues.
At the Hub, the focus is onindividual patient journeys.
I strive to optimize health,vitality and longevity,
fostering a community where eachperson can thrive in body, mind
and spirit.

(00:21):
Most people have heard of Lymedisease, usually in the context
of a tick bite, a bullseye rashand a round of antibiotics.

(00:41):
What doesn't get nearly enoughattention is what happens when
Lyme is not caught early or whenit lingers long after the
standard treatment window hasclosed.
This is where chronic Lymedisease, or more precisely,
post-treatment Lyme diseasesyndrome and persistent
infection, comes into play andit can change everything about a

(01:03):
person's health into play.
And it can change everythingabout a person's health,
vitality and day-to-dayfunctioning.
So Lyme's going from acute tochronic and I want to talk about
why this window really matters.
First we have acute Lyme.
This is the first days to theweeks after a tick bite, the
exposure.
This is where Lyme is mosttreatable.
The bacteria, borreliaburgdorferi, is still largely in

(01:28):
the bloodstream and connectivetissue, so symptoms can include
fever, chills, fatigue,headaches, swollen lymph nodes,
muscle aches and sometimes thefamous erythema migraine's rash,
although not everybody getsthat.
So when treatment is givenpromptly, ideally within that
first month, the immune systemand antibiotics have the highest

(01:50):
chance of clearing theinfection.
If this window is missed due tolack of symptoms or
misdiagnosis or just delayedrecognition, the bacteria can
burrow deeper into the tissues.
It can form biofilms and evadethe immune system.
At this point Lyme cantransition into a chronic

(02:10):
multi-system condition that'sfar more difficult to treat.
When Lyme shifts from acute tochronic, the biology and the
symptoms transform in severalkey ways.
The first one is, you know, thebacterial behavior changes.
In acute Lyme's, thespirochetes are free moving and
more vulnerable to antibiotics.

(02:31):
Once it turns chronic, thebacteria hide in collagen-rich
tissue.
So this could be in your joints, your brain, your nerves, and
it forms those biofilms and itshifts into persister states
that are resistant to standardtreatment.
Next we have your immune systemdysfunction.
In acute Lyme, immune responseis primarily inflammatory, so it

(02:52):
aims to try to kill off theinvader.
Once it turns chronic, yourimmune system becomes
dysregulated.
It may overreact, it can causeautoimmunity or mast cell
activation, while simultaneouslyfailing to fully eradicate the
infection.
Then we have the symptomevolution, and this is what I
refer to as the false recovery.

(03:13):
When you have acute Lyme andyou have headaches and fever and
flu-like symptoms, they candominate.
But as the infectiontransitions to chronic the
symptoms fade and it gives you afalse sense of recovery.
Patients may think they'rebetter because the fever or the
headaches are gone, but inreality the infection has simply

(03:33):
gone underground, settling intotissues and becoming more
difficult to detect and to treat.
And then comes the multi-systeminvolvement.
So in acute Lyme it can belocalized or flu-like.
Chronic Lyme is very widespread.
It's very unpredictable.
It could be neurological, itcan be musculoskeletal,

(03:55):
cardiovascular and even yourdigestive system.
All of these systems areaffected.
The treatments for both are sodifferent.
In acute Lyme you can resolveit with two to four weeks of
antibiotics.
Once you turn chronic, thisrequires layered long-term care
antimicrobials, immunemodulation, detoxification and

(04:16):
mitochondrial repair.
Chronic Lyme does not show upthe same for everyone, which is
part of why it's socontroversial and misunderstood.
Show up the same for everyone,which is part of why it's so
controversial and misunderstood.
Symptoms can ebb and flow.
They can flare under stress ormasquerade as other conditions
so common.
Chronic Lyme symptoms caninclude brain fog, memory issues

(04:37):
, mood swings, tingling,dizziness and sleep disturbances
.
You can have migrating jointpain or muscle aches, weakness,
stiffness.
You can have where you feellike your heart's skipping a
beat, those palpitations orchest pain.
You can have episodes of highor low blood pressure and you
can even have POTS-like symptoms.
That's the postural orthostatictachycardia syndrome.

(05:01):
Many patients with chronicLyme's have frequent infections.
They can have new allergies,they can have that mast cell
activation at times.
They can have nausea, abdominalpain, bloating, high food
sensitivities and I thinkoverall the most symptoms that I
see in practice are crushingfatigue, temperature
dysregulation and just feelinginflamed all over.

(05:23):
So, unlike a standard antibodytest, functional medicine does
dig deeper to understand boththe infection and the terrain.
So there are Lyme andco-infection panels.
There's Borrelia plusBartonella, babesia, ehrlichia
and Mycoplasma.
This is what brought up thistopic even for the podcast this

(05:46):
week is I've been co-treatingsomebody for a co-infection with
another provider in anotherstate and this poor lovely soul
has to have weekly high dose IVantibiotics that I've been
giving for an extended period oftime to treat these
co-infections.
So we have the co-infectionpanels.

(06:07):
We have the Lyme panel.
We do have the GI map orcomprehensive stool analysis.
This helps to check for thatdysbiosis in the gut.
It looks at leaky gut andimmune activation.
One of my other favorite testsis the OAT test.
It's the organic acid test.
This shows you yourmitochondrial function, the
yeast or mold toxins andneurotransmitter imbalances.

(06:29):
The HTMA, the hair tissue.
Mineral analysis can show yourmineral status.
It can show if you have heavymetal burden or you know how is
your adrenal health doing.
The genetics 3x4, if you wantto look at your methylation and
your genetics, to look at MTHFRor your COMT and your detox
genes that influence yourrecovery with chronic disease.

(06:50):
And then we have all of thoseinflammatory markers.
We can check your cytokines, wecan check C4A, we can check
CD57.
We can look at your DAO forhistamine and oxidative stress
markers.
So the testing shows not onlyif Lyme is present but also why

(07:10):
it persists and what is blockingyour healing.
Functional medicine sees chronicLyme as more than an infection.
It's a terrain problem.
The bacteria interacts withyour genetics, your detox
pathways, your microbiome andyour immune system.
So the core treatment pillarsinclude number one target the
infection.

(07:30):
This could be from herbalantimicrobials, it could be from
pulsed antibiotics or anintegrative protocol.
When appropriate, I love to usebiofilm disruptors.
So that's number one.
Number two is, you know,introducing those advanced
therapies.
This could be ozone therapy.
I love IV ozone.

(07:51):
It's major auto hemotherapy toimprove oxygenation.
It modulates the immune systemand breaks down biofilms that
hide Borrelia.
Then we have that cutting edge,personalized therapy that uses
synthetic oligonucleotides tosilence the replication of
Borrelia DNA and RNA.
Essentially, it tells theinfection to stop reproducing.

(08:12):
It makes it easier for theimmune system and treatments to
clear it.
This is the SOT, or supportiveoligonucleotide therapy that you
can see on my website, alsoknown as Q-Restrain.
Then, number three we have tocalm the immune system.
This is where you can treatwith aquaricetin, the high dose
vitamin C, the omegas, and youcan even use curcumin for

(08:35):
inflammation.
And you also want to supportfor mast cell activation.
Number four is you want torepair and rebuild.
So this is gut healing withprobiotics, glutamine butyrate.
You want to have a lot ofmitochondrial support with CoQ10
, nad+ carnitine, your Bvitamins and then another really
important thing is your detoxpathway.

(08:57):
So glutathione binders likecharcoal or bentonite or sauna
castor oil packs, anything youcan do to open those detox
pathways.
Then number five is addressingthese co-infections, whether
it's Bartonella or Babesia orEhrlichia and Mycoplasma.
They require targeted protocols.

(09:18):
And then, number six we reallywant to support the whole person
.
You need nervous systemregulation, whether it's with
meditation or acupuncture or thevagus nerve exercises.
You can even use that pulsatothat we talked about in previous
podcasts.
And then you need gentleexercise to maintain
conditioning Gentle exercise.

(09:38):
You want to work on emotionalresilience and community support
and that's very important forlong-term healing and community
support, and that's veryimportant for long-term healing.
So when Lyme is treated quickly,many people recover fully.
But untreated or undertreatedLyme can persist for years,
morphing into a chroniccondition that impacts every
organ system.
The earlier it's addressed, theless likely it is to spiral

(10:01):
into long-term disability.
For those already living withchronic Lyme know this Healing
is possible.
It's not a straight line and ittakes time and a layered
approach, but addressing rootcauses and supporting the body's
healing systems can lead toprofound improvements.
If you do suspect Lyme, don'twait.
If you've been struggling withunexplained multi-system

(10:24):
symptoms, chronic fatigue orpain that no one can quite
explain, it's worth exploringchronic Lyme with a functional
medicine lens.
At Harmony Hub Health I combinefunctional testing, advanced
therapies like ozone and SOT andpersonalized protocols to help
your body not just fight the bugbut restore balance and

(10:45):
resilience.
So you can schedule aconsultation with me virtually
or come see me in person.
You can find me atwwwharmonyhubhealthcom.
You can even email me atmichelle that's M-I-C-H-E-L-E at
harmonyhubhealthcom.
Or you can schedule and see mein person in Manchester,
maryland, at Monarch Beauty andSpa.

(11:06):
This podcast is for educationaland informational purposes only.
It is not intended to providemedical advice, diagnosis or
treatment.
The information shared hereabout Lyme disease and chronic
infections reflects currentunderstanding from a functional
medicine perspective and shouldnot replace individualized care
from your own health healthcareprovider.
If you suspect Lyme disease orany related condition, please

(11:29):
consult with a qualified medicalprofessional.
Do not start, stop or changeany medications, supplements or
therapies based on this podcastwithout speaking to your
provider.
Listening to this episode doesnot establish a
patient-practitionerrelationship.