We patients must remember that Lyme is an inflammatory disease. Flare-ups often involve increased inflammation. by Jennifer Crystal Last week I had an incredibly busy schedule. I did research, had several long conversations over Zoom, taught a class, and wrote a lot. The work required a good amount of mental energy, or “spoons”. I also happened to have a physically busy week, running around doing errands and going to doctor’s appointments, as well as meeting friends for socially distanced walks. But what Lyme patients need to do and what we want to do don’t always match up. By Thursday eve ..read more

by Jennifer Crystal Time management is not easy for the chronically ill, but these tips have helped me to make my life not just manageable, but also enjoyable. During my acute phase of Lyme disease, babesiosis and chronic active Epstein-Barr virus, I once emailed a friend telling him my plans for the week. I had physical therapy on Monday and Wednesday, neurofeedback for sleep disturbances on Tuesday and Thursday, and talk therapy on Friday. “If I have energy,” I added, “I’ll do some writing one morning, or over the weekend.” “Do you like having your schedule all mapped out like that ..read more

by Jennifer Crystal When would I get better? Why was I not seeing improvement every day? Recently a friend’s toddler son asked her for a snack. Holding his baby sister, my friend told her son he’d need to wait a minute. He looked at her squarely and asked, “Does anyone like to wait?” Kids have a way of telling it like it is. The truth is, no one is great at patience, especially when we’re hungry, tired, or anticipating a big event. Perhaps the hardest time to wait is when we’re sick. “Patients” are ironically named because when we’re stuck in bed waiting to feel better, waiting for medicatio ..read more

by Jennifer Crystal Every few months, Jennifer Crystal devotes a column to answering your questions. Do you have a question for Jennifer? If so, email her at lymewarriorjennifercrystal@gmail.com. Why do certain Lyme tests show positive bands and others don’t? How do I know which to believe? Unlike other illnesses for which there is a definitive, fool-proof diagnostic test, Lyme tests are far less clear or accurate A common myth about Lyme disease is that if you test negative, you don’t have it. In fact, you might. First, there are different types of Lyme disease tests, all of which measure onl ..read more

by Jennifer Crystal One of my earliest symptoms of tick-borne illness was excessive thirst. It was also one of the most prolonged, because it was so readily brushed off. A few weeks after I developed a blotchy red rash on my right forearm while working at a summer camp in Maine, I had a low blood sugar reaction. At the time, neither the camp nurse nor I thought to link the two events; it would be another eight years before I’d learn that both were the result of a tick bite that caused Lyme disease, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis and possibly bartonella. That first low blood sugar reaction was follow ..read more

George Aranjuez, Ph.D. is faculty research associate at University of Central Florida. His postdoctoral research was supported by a Deborah and Mark Blackman-GLA fellowship award. His most recent peer-reviewed articles, about the replication of Borrelia burgdorferi, appear here and here. Why did you want to become a scientist? When I was young, the things most interesting to me were how do things work? Before cable TV and the internet, my dad bought encyclopedias. We had junior encyclopedias, and I would go through, A,B,C,D and read, and those were my afternoons in the summers. I just enjoyed ..read more

By Jennifer Crystal The “Spoon Theory” has become well-known in the chronic illness world. Originally coined by lupus patient Christine Miserandino, the theory stems from a conversation she had with a friend in which she tried to explain what her daily life is like. She handed the friend a bunch of spoons and asked her to describe daily activities. With each basic task her friend listed off—showering, driving, dressing—Miserandino took a spoon or two away. The spoons represented energy. Most healthy people don’t need to think about having enough energy to do everyday tasks, but people with chr ..read more

By Richard Gillespie In spring and through much of the year, you may find yourself exercising your green thumbs in your garden. The last thing you want is to have a thumb, ankle, or some other body part bitten by a tick — especially one carrying Lyme disease. While blacklegged ticks — sometimes called “deer ticks” — migrate most easily through forests and along rivers, they can also find their way into your garden and pose a threat to you and your pets. While the world focuses on COVID-19, it’s important not to forget other health threats lurking in our communities. One of the most worrisome i ..read more

By Jennifer Crystal In my “I Have Lyme Disease. Should I Get the COVID-19 Vaccine?” post, I addressed the question many Lyme patients have been asking. These patients are understandably concerned, wondering if the vaccine might spur their already highly activated immune systems into a Lyme flare-up. Unfortunately, there’s no set answer to this question, as Drs. Daniel Cameron and Casey Kelley recently noted in the GLA webinar “COVID-19 Vaccines and Lyme Patients: What You Need to Know”. As with Lyme disease itself, each case is different. The way a person’s immune system responds to a COVID-19 ..read more

By Jennifer Crystal In the best of times, late winter can drag for people. Cabin fever and a longing for sunshine and warmth make us feel like we’re in the movie Groundhog Day, repeating the same scene over and over and over. The pandemic has only made the usual winter blues worse. We’ve already been repeating the same isolated days, with many people working or learning from home, for a year. Now the dismal weather makes it seem like this period will never end. This is a feeling that tick-borne illness patients understood long before the pandemic. For many patients, especially those with late ..read more