Lyme and autoimmune.

hello and welcome to the group

actually its quite well known that lyme can trigger auto-immune reactions

in fact any chronic or even acute infection can do so - including viruses ad bacterial infections

chronic intracellular infections - like lyme and bartonella - seem to be more prone to doing so

-auto-immune thyroid disease affects up to a third of chronic lyme patients (acc to Dr H)
-there are studies recording high rates of anti-phospholipid antibodies in acute lyme patients
-auto-immune neuropathies - small fibre, large fibre, temporary localised neuropathies - are all common in lyme disease
-Sjogren's syndrome, Guillain-Barré syndrome and Ehlers-Danlos syndromes are also common in this community

in fact many of the vague aches, pains, stiffness etc that affects chronic lyme sufferers may well be caused by self directed antibodies - but ones that we do not have specific names or syndromes for at present ( there are thousands of potential self targets in the human body and we currently only have names for around 100 auto-immune diseases - so it stands to reason there will be many more so far unidentified)

many of these reactions can resolve when lyme is adequately treated - others seem more persistent

i hope its of some help

From online Hashimoto thyroid information:


“
Alessio Fasano’s research has found that in order for autoimmune disease to develop, there must be three factors present – a genetic predisposition, intestinal permeability, and an environmental trigger (such as an infection or major stressor…”

https://thyroidpharmacist.com/articles/fundamental-gut-health-protocol/

Post Edited (astroman) : 8/11/2024 11:24:42 AM (GMT-8)

As mentioned, Lyme and company can cause autoimmune type symptoms or, as in my case, indirectly led to autoimmune because of Epstein Barr being reactivated a number of years ago. At least that is the theory my LLMD has. But so many people on this forum have treated Lyme and the autoimmune symptoms vanished.

there are some very general screening tests for auto-immunity - like anti-nuclear antibodies etc - but they are not 100% and i am not sure of the benefit of testing - as by the time the antibodies show up - you may be past the point of being able to turn it off again

some types seem to settle down after the infections are dealt with - others not so much
its not well understood why which are which

my guess is everyone with lyme has increased levels of auto-immunity - due to intracellular infection - causing the body to expose more contents from inside cells to to the immune system - these are normally things that the immune system should not see much of.
add in the compromised immune regulation, excess inflammation and compromised gut membrane function of pretty much everyone with lyme and co and you can see why there is a tendency towards developing AI disease

logically - the best protection is likely to be to manage these factors that drive it - but some of them conflict with effective treatment - eg inflammation from herx reactions - so some increased risk is inevitable and just the luck of the draw i think

its likely that the longer we stay infected and sick - the greater the chances of developing AI issues - so that's is an argument to treat - rather than not treat - or try to just get by