Is Air Pollution a Factor for Chronic Lyme Disease?

Is Air Pollution a Factor for Chronic Lyme Disease?

Is air pollution a factor for chronic Lyme disease?  Does it make it worse? I think it does.

I’ve had Lyme disease since 2007. Of course, I was misdiagnosed, put on the wrong protocol that made me worse, then denied proper treatment for long term or chronic Lyme disease once I was correctly diagnosed (unfortunately, the doctor who correctly diagnosed me was retired and unlicensed).

It took me a long time to find a Lyme-literate medical professional (often referred to as an LLMD or LLMP).  As many who have been through it or are going through it will understand, I was in bad shape by the time I found someone! In fact, I was very close to being bedridden.

My energy levels were extremely low, no matter what I did, and my pain levels were just under scream. The only thing that seemed to help at all was serrapeptase and ibuprofen.

Eventually a visiting doctor prescribed Lyrica, which was not covered under our medical plan and was a bit expensive, especially considering it was impossible for me to work. But for the first time in many months I actually slept, and it was amazing! But the dosage wasn’t enough to really deal with the pain well, and when it was increased, my brain fog also increased.

It was at that point that we tried Gabapentin, which is a similar product to Lyrica. I was able to take a much higher dose before the brain fog problem increased, eventually settling on 1800 mg per day.  At that level, I can function fairly well, although the pain is still constant and high, but still well below scream level.

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I was finally able to find an LLMP, a naturopath who is licensed in this province to prescribe antibiotics.  There was a vast improvement in my condition once I got on antibiotics, but it didn’t last. After that, I would go on one antibiotic for a few months, there would be an improvement, then a plateau, then I would go off it and start to crash fairly quickly (usually 2 weeks to 2 months later).

This went on for several years until we had exhausted every antibiotic my doctor knew of that was in any way recommended for Lyme disease. I finally reached the point where I have been able to stay off antibiotics for years.

However, I am still very slowly getting worse. I no longer crash. It’s just a slow, continuous decline, including increasing pain and worse and worse fatigue. What can we do?

Before Covid hit, my wife and I took a trip to the sub-arctic, well above all the major cities in North America, and in fact, above the trade winds from heavily coal-reliant China. We were in Dease Lake, BC, for just under a week, where there is virtually no air pollution, other than a little wood smoke from the very sparsely populated region.

What I realized after being there for a couple of days is that my symptoms were virtually all gone, and my energy was back.  This was the first time in more than ten years that I was pain free and not suffering from fatigue.

Once we left Dease Lake and got down to Prince Rupert, where we were visiting for a few days, my regular symptoms returned quickly.

Last summer, we were able to head north briefly at the end of the season. Unfortunately, our new vehicle had some mechanical problems that prevented us from going to Dease Lake, but even still, my symptoms improved the farther north we went.

In analyzing potential reasons for the differences, eventually leading to the conclusion that there is a link between air pollution and chronic Lyme disease symptoms, several things became apparent.

We had previously been inland as far or farther, with no change in symptoms.

We had been at the same or higher elevation with no change in symptoms.

We had been in drier, hotter areas, colder areas, areas with hard water, and areas with soft water with no change in symptoms.

Indeed, the only difference that we have really been able to conclude could be different is that we were far enough north to be beyond the vast majority of the air pollution that is produced in or that hits North America.

My doctor agrees that this is possibly the key. Since chronic Lyme disease so loads the body all the time, air pollution overloads it to an extreme. Therefore, getting away from the constant load of air pollution gives the body a chance to deal with repairing and restoring the body, perhaps making it possible for it to finally go into remission.

At present, for other reasons related to why we were up there in 2019, we are preparing to move to the Dease Lake area. My hope is that my health will once again improve, perhaps lending more weight to a need for further study of the potential relationship between air pollution and chronic Lyme disease – or even any other chronic illness.

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