Sudden Onset Dementia: Could It Be Lyme?

It might be trivial. It might produce only an itchy spot or  symptoms that are brief and go away entirely. Or a tick bite could change your life in terrible ways for a long, long time.

And worse, almost 70% of those who get Lyme disease from a tick bite go undiagnosed. Or if treated, they may be getting subclinical results from insufficient antibiotic treatment.

It’s hard to know the facts, but one fact is that we don’t have all the facts. We have underestimated and often failed to detect the reservoir of pathogens a single tick can inject, and have misunderstood how resistant to treatment some of these tick-injected  pathogens truly are.

The possibility of serious mental changes is a fact about Lyme I was unaware of. According to this article from a Martha’s Vineyard hospital publication, Kris Kristofferson’s apparent dementia turned out to be undiagnosed Lyme.

“Sudden-onset dementia should really be a red flag for Lyme [disease], especially in people with compromised immune systems,” she said.

“Everyone over 50 has a compromised immune system.”

So do the regular full-body body scan for ticks several times a day during the warm months. Be sure your dog has proper tick deterrent. (We are getting good results with a Seresto collar).

And if your spouse goes off her nut and stays there longer than usual, it might not be late onset of Obnoxious Personality Disorder after all!