16-Year-Old Boy With Lyme Disease Presenting as Depression
https://danielcameronmd.com/16-year-old-boy-lyme-disease-presenting-depression/
16-YEAR-OLD BOY WITH LYME DISEASE PRESENTING AS DEPRESSION
There has been increasing research linking COVID-19 with the development of neuropsychiatric symptoms, including depression and anxiety. But multiple studies have already found an association between other infections, such as Lyme disease, and the onset of depression.
One study found a high prevalence of depression in Lyme disease patients. Between January 2008 and December 2014, 1 in 5 patients treated at the Lyme Center Apeldoorn in the Netherlands was diagnosed with depression and Lyme disease. ¹
Meanwhile, Dr. Robert Bransfield, a psychiatrist specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of tick-borne illnesses, reports “In my database, depression is the most common psychiatric syndrome associated with late-stage Lyme disease.”
“I estimate that there are at least 1,200 people per year who commit suicide as the result of Lyme disease,” Bransfield writes in his article “Suicide, Lyme and Associated Diseases.” ²
Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, “may be diagnosed as a persistent infection with immune suppressant and evasive capabilities or there may be a postinfectious process,” Bransfield writes. “In either case, the psychiatric symptoms are associated with an immune-mediated process.”
Brian Fallon, MD, director of the Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases Research Center at Columbia University, describes the case of a 16-year-old adolescent who presented with long-standing depression, which suddenly worsened.³
Neuropsychiatric symptoms
He reported anger, frustration, insomnia, poor appetite, mild weight loss, and passive suicidal ideation. He would say, “I wish I could just die in my sleep.”
The boy complained of brain fog and had a steep decline in cognitive abilities. His symptoms were initially presumed to be caused by “either laziness or mild depression.” He suffered from ongoing knee pain and was forced to quit sports.
His grades dropped from “A’s” in 7th grade to nearly failing by 10th grade. He suffered from fatigue and forgetfulness. “He appeared lazy because he found it hard to get out of bed in the morning,” Fallon writes.
The boy’s symptoms were extensive and included:
• severe headaches
• facial fasciculations, myalgias
• stiff neck
• hyperacusis
• episodic paresthesias of his face and hands
• sudden sweating
• painful joints
• sore throats
• palpitations
• electric shock-like pains
• word-finding problems, such that it was hard to finish sentences
• semantic paraphasias
• short-term memory problems, such that he could not recall conversations
• testicular pain
Since he reported having embedded ticks in the past, Lyme disease was clinically diagnosed “given the suspicious clinical history.”
His Lyme ELISA results were negative twice in the prior 3 months, but his IgG Western blot revealed 4 of the 5 requisite CDC specific bands. A brain SPECT revealed findings consistent with encephalitis, vasculitis, and Lyme disease.
Treatment response
The boy was diagnosed with probable Lyme encephalopathy and treated with 12 weeks of intravenous ceftriaxone.
He improved on sleep, appetite, headaches, joint pains, numbness, distractibility, short-term memory, and emotional behavior. His depression cleared without the need for antidepressant medications. His IQ improved by 22 points, and his school performance markedly improved.
Related Articles:
Don’t confuse somatic symptoms with depression in early Lyme disease
References:
- Zomer, T.P., et al., Depressive Symptoms in Patients Referred to a Tertiary Lyme Center: High Prevalence in Those Without Evidence of Lyme Borreliosis. Clin Infect Dis, 2017. 65(10): p. 1689-1694.
- Bransfield RC. Suicide and Lyme and associated diseases. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2017;13:1575-1587. Published 2017 Jun 16. doi:10.2147/NDT.S136137.
- Fallon BA, Kochevar JM, Gaito A, Nields JA. The underdiagnosis of neuropsychiatric Lyme disease in children and adults. Psychiatr Clin North Am. 1998;21(3):693-703, viii.
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**Comment**
If there was ever a great example of the importance of Lyme/MSIDS being clinically diagnosed, this is it!
This poor teenager would have continued spiraling down until he might just have achieved his wish of dying.
This study points out a number of things parents and doctors should be considering:
- The plethora of symptoms that suggest a systemic infection(s)
- The drop in grades
- The stiff neck (few things cause this – but it’s hallmark for Lyme)
- The fact antibiotics helped so many of the symptoms – including the depression – without any antidepressants
- He was seronegative – and so many are. Doctors have to stop relying upon testing to diagnose this and must become more educated on tick-borne illness.
The CDC just upped numbers again from 300,000 to 476,000 new cases of Lyme diseases per year – highlighting the fact this plague is serious, isn’t going away, and something needs to be done about it.
For more:
- https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/06/05/can-lyme-disease-cause-depression/
- https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/04/11/lyme-disease-neurological-changes-in-children/
- https://www.mercurynews.com/2014/04/19/misdiagnosed-bipolar-one-girls-struggle-through-psych-wards-before-stanford-doctors-make-bold-diagnosis-and-treatment/
- https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/01/panspandas-steroids-autoimmune-disease-lymemsids-the-need-for-medical-collaboration/
- https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/04/07/missing-links-connect-the-dots-between-lyme-mental-health/
- https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/02/16/lyme-is-all-in-your-head-a-wake-up-call-to-mental-health-professionals/
- https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/08/07/understanding-and-treating-depersonalization-and-derealization/
- https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/01/11/sick-shaming-of-lymemsids-patients/
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“CONTAIN AND ELIMINATE is a story that needs to be told not for revenge but for restoration and rehabilitation to the image of chiropractic which was disparaged and destroyed resulting in millions of patients who would never seek the services of a doctor of chiropractic because the image of the profession was so tarnished by the ACTIVITIES of the American Medical Association.” Who should get a copy of the book CONTAIN AND ELIMINATE? Everyone who has been either positively or negatively impacted by the decades of illegal activity of the American Medical Association.
