Lyme disease is an unfortunate condition that many people are afflicted with. Despite being relatively treatable, the condition can take quite some time to get rid of. Following that, there can be multiple long-term side effects to the illness. As a result, living with Lyme disease can be difficult.

If you’ve been diagnosed with it, you’ll know that life in the future can be difficult; however, it doesn’t need to be as complicated as you’d initially expect. While you should expect changes in the coming months or years, these can be manageable.

You’ll naturally have to work with your medical professional for the majority of this. The more you know about the condition, the better capable you will be of living with it.

How Lyme Disease Works

Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria that, once it gets into your bloodstream, can cause multiple issues. In the days and weeks after being infected, symptoms can include a fever, headache, and multiple other things.

These are just the short-term effects of the illness, however. If left untreated for too long, it can spread to other parts of your body. Typically, that’s seen in the heart and nervous system. Should this happen, then treatment will be much more complicated and take quite a long time.

Treating the Disease

Treating Lyme disease can be relatively simple, provided you get the initial infection taken care of quickly. Typically, that will involve a few days or a few weeks of antibiotics. Many people find that they suffer from the symptoms of Lyme disease and need to live with the condition much longer than this.

For these patients, there are multiple treatment options available. One of the more notable is biofilm eradication. The process targets biofilms, which can be areas that protect Lyme disease deposits. As these can cause issues over time, removing them reduces the longevity of the disease.

Throughout this time, antibiotics will still be prescribed. Doing so should get rid of the initial infection. A round of antibiotics for the illness will typically last between a few days and a few weeks. It doesn’t typically last beyond four weeks, as that could do more harm than good.

The initial infection should be treated by this point, however. If it spreads to the heart and nervous system, then it can be much more difficult to treat. While multiple treatments, such as steroids and a mix of others, have shown a certain amount of effectiveness, these can vary from patient to patient.

Living with Lyme Disease

Living with Lyme disease, especially the more long-term effects of the illness, can be difficult. Getting the infection treated early will be the first step in this. Once done, the body can begin to heal. The heart and nervous system may take a while to heal, even with treatments.

There are multiple ways that the long-term effects can be managed, including using anti-inflammatory medicine, getting a good amount of sleep, and reducing stress. These should reduce the impact of the symptoms while treatment takes effect.