Depression Talk

One of the points that the book I shredded yesterday was trying to make is that many people are misdiagnosed with major depression or bipolar disorder. Actually, quite a lot of doctors and therapists think that many depressives are under diagnosed, but we’ll save that argument for another blog post.

Lyme disease, for example, has as a symptom, major depression. The co-authors of yesterday’s book gave a scary example about how a woman was misdiagnosed with depression actually had Lyme disease. However, you have to get the Lyme disease before the depression starts to become a problem. By then, depression is probably one of the least of your concerns.

Causes of Lyme Disease

You have to get bit by a tick in order to get Lyme disease. If you haven’t ever been bit by a tick in your life, chances are that the reason you are depressed is not Lyme disease. Still, you should go see your doctor, whether you have Lyme disease or any type of depression.

Lyme disease is caused by bacteria which seem to be carried by tick mouths. It can be found in Europe and Asia as well as North America. Usually, deer ticks are the usual suspects. “Limeys” play no part in Lyme disease.

Diagnosing Lyme Disease

It’s generally not that difficult to diagnose Lyme disease, unless you’ve completely forgotten about the horror of removing a tick from your body. That’s an experience that is not easy to forget, especailly if you remove the tick too franitcally and rip the body from the head, which is still embedded in your skin.

The first signs of Lyme disease are irritation at the tick bite area, which can quickly lead to skin problems. Often, your joints are also inflamed as if you have arthritits. You also may get palsies, seizures or meningitis. This is because Lyme disease attacks the central nervous system, so getting depressed is only natural.

Again, this is all quite dramatic, so I’m not sure how they can be overlooked and be misdiagnosed — unless the misdiagnosis was for arthritis, epliepsy or meningitis. But people do react to deer tick bites differently, some with not so dramatic a reaction as others.

A simple blood test can also be used to diagnose Lyme disease. So, if you’re feeling generally miserable, you are ill, but at least you don;t have to worry about it being Lyme disease.