Lyme Disease and Homeopathy

Installment 11 of a series on case analysis

An Anamnesis of Lyme Disease

Applying the process of determining the
Genus Epidemicus to a Subacute Miasm

Sections: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Section 2

The initial infection with Borrelia burgdorferi is characterized by a local skin eruption that grows circumferentially with central clearing, suggestively termed a target rash. Borrelia can be isolated from this eruption, but is apparently disseminated systemically from the moment of initial infection.

Secondary disease expression is highly individually variable, and Lyme disease is known as a great imposter for its ability to mimic many disease conditions. The most common presentations involve inflammation of the large joints and peripheral nerves. Neurologic and Cardiac complications may follow.

The Group Amanesis

If we collect the common symptoms of Lyme disease from reports in the conventional medical literature, we can begin to construct a group anamnesis of the disease, in order to identify the most likely remedies for the disease genus.

The classical target-rash of Lyme disease is not described in our homeopathic literature. The closest description we can find is:

SKIN - ERYSIPELAS

- which can reasonably be expected to include remedies capable of covering the erysipelas-like Lyme target rash.

A common early post-rash symptom of Lyme disease is sore throat:

THROAT - PAIN - sore

The Arthlralgias

The arthralgias of Lyme most commonly begin with rheumatic pain in the neck, with associated headache:

BACK - PAIN - Cervical region
BACK - PAIN - Cervical region - rheumatic
HEAD - PAIN - rheumatic

Lyme classically presents with a combination of inflammatory arthralgic pains and inflammatory neuralgic complaints:

GENERALS - INFLAMMATION - Joints; of
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - rheumatic
GENERALS - INFLAMMATION - Nerves; of
GENERALS - PAIN - neuralgic

The arthralgias focus in the shoulders, hips and knees, and may be of acute and/or chronic nature:

EXTREMITIES - INFLAMMATION - Joints
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - Joints - rheumatic
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - Shoulder - rheumatic
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - Hip - rheumatic
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - Knee - rheumatic
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - rheumatic - acute
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - rheumatic - chronic

The Neuralgias

The neuralgias are most typically facial or sciatic:

FACE - PAIN - neuralgic
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - Lower limbs - sciatica

There is a characterizing uniqueness in the concomitance of heart symptoms with the arthralgias and neuralgias, with the potential for inflammatory rheumatic myocarditis and/or pericarditis:

EXTREMITIES - PAIN - Joints - alternating with - Heart symptoms
CHEST - HEART; complaints of the - rheumatism, after
CHEST - PAIN - Heart - rheumatic
CHEST - INFLAMMATION - Heart
CHEST - INFLAMMATION - Heart - Endocardium
CHEST - INFLAMMATION - Heart - Pericardium

An important aspect of the "pace" of Lyme disease, is the migratory nature of its arthralgias/neuralgias, and the rapid change and alternation of symptoms:

GENERALS - PAIN - wandering
GENERALS - CHANGE - symptoms; change of - rapid

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