Definitions

I've been getting some questions about the various acronyms used to describe chronic diseases.  Here's a breif description of each:


Late Stage Lyme Disease - An infectious tick borne disease that is transmitted through the bite of a tick. When first bitten, if a person develops a bulls eye rash and is aware that they have been infected, the disease is easily treated with antibiotics. When the tick bite is missed and a person goes months or even years without knowing that they have been infected, the disease enters its later stages where it is excruciatingly difficult to treat. Years of antimicrobials and complicated treatment plans are necessary to heal a late stage lyme patient.


Celiac:  CD, Gluten Intolerance - an autoimune disease in which the lining of the small intestine is damaged from eating gluten and other proteins found is wheat, barley, rye and oats.  For more information you can read my post on Celiac Disease.  For some unknown reason, gluten intolerance is very common in Lyme patients.


Dysautonomia: autonomic dysfunction - is a broad term that describes any disease or malfunction of the autonomic nervous system.  Your autonomic nervous system is the part of the brain that controls your heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, breathing, and stomach function. In a patient with dysautonomia, their autonomic nervous system misfires, and their blood pressure and heart become unstable, therefore making it difficult to even stand up without their blood pressure dropping and their heart rate sky-rocketing to keep up. This causes a multitude of debilitating symptoms, such as dizziness, fainting, shortness of breath, chest pain, inability to stand or walk, and more. This includes postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), vasovagal syncope, mitral valve prolapse dysautonomia, pure autonomic failure, neurocardiogenic syncope (NCS), neurally mediated hypotension (NMH), autonomic instability and a number of lesser-known disorders such as cerebral salt-wasting syndrome.



CFS: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, myalgic encephalomyelitis, ME - is the most common name given to a variably debilitating disorder or disorders generally defined by persistent fatigue, not substantially relieved by rest and accompanied by the presence of other specific symptoms for a minimum of six months.


Post-Exertional Fatigue:  exercise intolerance - is intense exhaustion and other CFS symptoms that last for more than 24 hours following physical exertion of any kind.  This symptom is the hallmark of CFS and causes detectable differences in the blood.

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: MCS - When a patient's body becomes toxic due to lyme disease and treatment, it can begin having difficulties "detoxing" the toxins out of the organs. The patient's body may then begin to reject common toxins that it is no longer able to filter or "detox" anymore due to the large load of toxins already in the body. Chemicals such as those found in perfume, hair spray, lotion, and fabric softener may therefore be rejected by the body, and when the patient is exposed, they begin to have symptoms of inflammation and toxicity such as breathing difficulties, heart rate changes, dizziness, head pains, twitching, "brain fog", and more.

PCOS: Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome/Disease - is a condition in women characterized by irregular or no menstrual periods, acne, obesity, and excess hair growth. PCOS is a disorder of chronically abnormal ovarian function and hyperandrogenism (abnormally elevated androgen levels). It affects 5-10% of women of reproductive age. PCOS is also called the Stein-Leventhal syndrome.  For more information, you can read my post on PCOS.

Herx: Die Off, Herxheimer Reaction - Candace, from Infectiously Optimistic, says, "the dictionary definition of the word should be 'hell' and she's right!  Basically, a herxheimer reaction is what occurs during the treatment of lyme disease. When spirochetal bacteria (like lyme and syphilis) is killed off, it releases a massive load of toxins in the body. These toxins are "neurotoxins" and "endotoxins", which simply means that it is a toxin to the brain and the patients' organs. This could cause a whole host of symptoms, ranging from seizures, migraines, wide spread pain, dizziness, heart rate issues, and much, much more. This therefore makes lyme treatment with antibiotics much like cancer treatment with chemotherapy.

Babesia- A "co-infection" of Lyme Disease, also transmitted through the bite of a tick

Bartonella- Also a "co-infection" of Lyme, transmitted through the bite of a tick

Sources: WebMD, Infectiously Optimistic, and