Lyme disease can cause a variety of psychiatric maladies. Published research has shown a higher incidence of Borrelia burgdorferi, the tick-borne bacteria that cause Lyme disease, in psychiatric patients than in healthy subjects. There is also a geographic correlation of schizophrenia with ticks and Lyme outbreaks, and peer-reviewed literature showing an association of Lyme disease with schizophrenia.
Dr Brian Fallon has linked Lyme disease to paranoia, thought disorders, delusions, depression, panic attacks, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), anorexia, violent outbursts, mania, personality changes, catatonia, dementia, bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and intermittent explosive disorders.
Minocycline, as well as other tetracycline antibiotics, are well known treatments for Lyme disease, but a controlled clinical trial showed that minocycline is also effective in treating early-phase schizophrenia. While minocycline could be affecting the central nervous system, blocking neurotoxicity, or inhibiting inflammation in the brain, it is an antibiotic that may also be treating the Lyme disease that manifests as schizophrenia. So is the antibiotic treating the symptom or the cause?
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