Thinking, Neurological, and Mood Issues with Lyme

Thinking Problems

• Concentration

• Memory

• Thinking

• Making decisions

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Neurological Symptoms

• Lyme disease can cause physical, cognitive, and psychiatric symptoms.

• Symptoms may come and go from week to week, day to day, or even during the day.

• They can vary in intensity throughout the day.

• A person can suddenly get a terrible pain in the knee. It may be fine in a few minutes, and then the elbow may suddenly hurt intensely.

• A headache may last for years but may vary in intensity throughout the day.

• The ability to concentrate and to comprehend oral and written speech may vary throughout the day.

• Blurry vision may come and go from day to day.

• Lyme can affect the brain, heart, vision, and hearing.

• People can suddenly not recognize familiar places.

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Speaking and Conversation Problems

Conversation problems can come and go throughout the day.

It can be difficult to:

• Think of the right words to say.

• Put words in the right order in sentences.

• Hold a thought long enough to finish a sentence.

• Episodes of stuttering and jumbled speech can occur.

 

Mood and Psychiatric Symptoms

• Personality changes

• Mood swings

• Violent outbursts

• Visual and/or auditory hallucinations

• Panic attacks

• Sudden suicidal impulses

• Depression

• Insomnia

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder

• Bipolar disorder

• A wide variety of psychiatric disorders

When these conditions are caused by Lyme disease, antibiotic treatment often helps tremendously.