Bb-induced inflammation causes nervous system changes

Excerpts from the article:

"Nearly 15 percent of Lyme disease patients develop peripheral and central nervous system involvement, which is accompanied by painful symptoms. Inflammation plays a role in these neurological changes, but the researchers found that the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone prevents many of these reactions.

Researcher Mario T. Philipp said, “These results suggest that inflammation has a causal role in the pathogenesis of acute Lyme neuroborreliosis.”"

Another part I found interesting:
"Dr. Phillip concluded, “Importantly, we found necrotizing myelitis and degeneration in the spinal cord, neurodegeneration in the dorsal root ganglia, and demyelination in the nerve roots only when lymphocytic inflammatory lesions were also observed in both the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system. Our results suggest that ongoing cytokine activation in the nervous system can contribute to the persistent symptoms of fatigue, pain, and cognitive dysfunction that patients sometimes experience despite having been treated for Lyme disease.”"

www.belmarrahealth.com/lyme-disease-induced-inflammation-causes-nervous-system-changes-new-research/

-p

I have a couple of questions:
!) If you've had the inflammation for a while - i.e. many months or years....taking the dexamethasone at that point - will it work?
2) Was the dosage mentioned? I quickly read the article.


Traveler - maybe it's a low dose - as in 5 mg or less? That may not have the immune suppression?

I know that some people with lyme do take low dose of cortisone - when they have low adrenal function - in fact Heather's Dad posted that Heather was put on a low dose - I think he mentioned 5 mg?
That is a low dose - as it is often prescribed at 20 mg daily.

I am interested in this - as I'm waiting for my Saliva test results to come back - cortisol levels, etc.
My LLND does prescribe low dose of cortisol when the adrenals are suffering...
But, I am on the fence about it...I'll see what the results show.

For those that wish to see that article that Pirouette just posted, you'll have to copy and paste it. Links won't work.

I do understand about how very low doses of corticosteroids can be helpful for adrenal issues, even for Lyme patients, but they don't say the amount used in this study - yet it was enough to lower what they call significant inflammation, so I doubt that it's low dosages - but it also can't be verified.

I actually support the use of cortisone for supporting the adrenals, as long as it's those really low doses. "Normal" doses of Dexamethasone are around 20 - 40 mgs, not the 5 mgs that may be prescribed for adrenal issues.

I'm not saying that it's completely wrong, I'm just saying that this definitely needs more research before any Lyme patients act on it.

Well, it looks like I won't be needing any low dose cortisone - just got my saliva lab test results..I will start a thread...I'm a wee bit high on the last two of the day....interesting that I don't have issues falling asleep at night.