anxiety, social awkwardness, spacing out. What causes it?

I mean, yeah, stress could be, likely IS, playing a part, but it's always been my understanding that a lot of the more mental, spiritual symptoms are caused by just that -> the presence of the infections, the toxins that they create, in the very areas that deal with those things (thoughts, emotions, et cetera). Your brain.

I also feel like most here caution against getting a spinal tap actually, but I forget why. I think they're dangerous, and with the Lyme tests being so faulty, not really worth it.

I could be wrong though.

Hi Jackie, I guess because in early stage lyme the bacteria might not have migrated to the brain yet? Or maybe the blood/brain barrier takes time to cross? I'm not sure about that last one. I know certain antibiotics can't pas the BBB easily unless you have meningitis, but I doubt a bacteria like borrelia has any trouble getting to the brain. But I've had the infection for at least 2 years now, so I'm pretty sure it could have infected my brain by now. I just don't know what to believe anymore. My cognitive difficulties, anxiety, depression all point to it being neurological.

I might be getting treatment at the lyme specialist clinic in Amsterdam where they suspect neurolyme, but I have my doubts about their competence. They believe in Post Treatment Lyme, not in Chronic lyme. And they will only treat with IV ceftriaxon once they have a confirmation that it's infected the CNS. With an accuracy of less than 9%, it's not promising. There are no LLMD's in the Netherlands as far as I know. It's a public healthcare system which is far behind Germany, Belgium and the US when it comes to lyme treatment. It's so frustrating. That's why I've traveled to Malaysia where my mother lives to start treatment there. The ID specialist has started me on oral Doxycycline, I'm one week into treatment.

Thanks Jackie, I will consider that. The biggest problem at the moment for me is finances. I know treatment is extremely expensive in Germany, and my insurance doesn't cover that because they say that one can just get treatment in the Netherlands. The cost of oral antibiotics in Malaysia, where I am right now, is extremely low. It's like 20 dollars for a month of doxycycline. IV-antibiotics is way more expensive on the other hand.

But I was just wondering how LLMD's in the US diagnose you when you've got psychological issues with lyme. How do they know whether it's the bacteria doing damage to the brain, whether it's the toxins or whether it's a co-infection? Is it just based on blood work? MRI scans for white matter? Spinal taps as well or just a clinical diagnosis based on symptoms?

"But I was just wondering how LLMD's in the US diagnose you when you've got psychological issues with lyme."

None, unless they are Lyme literate and even then it can be hard.

And yes, these bacteria do take time to cross the blood-brain barrier. Molecules have to be a small enough size to cross that barrier, so it does keep many things out, but given enough time and the Lyme bacteria's shape (spiral to burrow through tissues better), and it will happen.

It's partly due to the stress of the infections, of course, but it's mostly due to the effects of the infection itself on the brain - the inflammation and nervous system dysfunction. I'm not sure what symptoms are caused only by the bacteria actually being in the brain. I honestly don't believe that we know enough yet. For instance, Dr. MacDonald has recently discovered that within Alzheimer's plaques are actually two separate (yet joined) Borrelia bacteria - at least for some people. This is only just now being found, so I don't believe the research has gone far enough to know what symptoms actually appear when the bacteria physically move into the brain.