Jenna’s Lyme Blog

Early into my diagnosis, I begged my doctor to give me subscription drugs to manage the frightening rage and frustration taking over my fragile central nervous system.

In those early months I spent a lot of time reading other people’s experience with Lyme; and I remember the horror I felt reading about a woman who had been pushed around in the medical system and eventually blew up in uncontrollable frustration screaming, “I have Lyme!  I have Lyme!” and her neighbors called the police who had to physically confine her.

To make a long story short, she spent weeks incarcerated in a state mental hospital and managed to get released only because an employee of the facility recognized her symptoms and became her advocate to get the right medical help.

How many others are incarcerated improperly?

How many flare up in rage hurting others due to lack of medical attention?

Last fall on an average Sunday in southern Illinois, near St. Louis, there was a tragic event that many ascribe to Lyme disease.  One (obviously mentally ill) man walked into a church and killed the pastor and wounded 2 others before he was taken down by church members.

He is alive and went to jail.

The twist on this story is that his defense attorney and family claim he contracted Lyme disease from a tick bite, and this caused neurological damage which led to many violent outbursts.  His appointment book wrote “death day”.  He apparently had enough ammunition to kill up to 30, but miraculously the gun jammed and he only fired 4 times.

But has this conclusion been confirmed by medical authorities?

Was he using the Lyme Epidemic as a defense strategy to stay out of jail?

Have licensed medical doctors supported his claims and the additional symptom that those of us with neurological Lyme disease need to add to our symptom list?

In an article by Dr. Robert Bransfield, “Aggression and Violence” relates the following episodes as evidence that Lyme disease can, and does cause violent behavior:

Several years ago I admitted a patient with Lyme disease (LD) to a psychiatric unit. He was para­noid and assaulted five police officers in an episode of rage. During the hospital stay, the patient went to the river behind the hospital to watch the Fourth of July fireworks display. When the fireworks began, the patient jumped into the river. It appeared the loud noise was responsible for an acoustic startle reaction.

“At the same time, a female patient with LD was also on the unit. She described puzzling symp­toms that consisted of episodes of rage and intrusive, horrific homicidal images. In both cases, the aggres­sive tendencies improved with treatment.

“In reviewing cases involving LD patients, another patient described an incident where some­one else pulled into a parking space that he wanted. Jumping out of his car, he knocked the other driver unconscious.

“Still another patient stated he was driv­ing on the highway when a motorist beeped their horn. He lunged out of his car and began pounding on the windshield of the car, then suddenly stopped in bewilderment because he did not understand or recall why he was behaving in this manner.

“A female patient was arrested for shoplifting during a state of confusion. Another patient was accused of pedophilia. I can cite many more examples. When we look at cases of aggression associated with LD, were all of these cases merely a coincidence or a causal relationship between LD and some of this aggressive behavior?

“Adler methodically interviewing hundreds of patients over a period of years, it was clear that cer­tain patterns were emerging. The same problems were being seen in too many patients. A causal link was becoming increasing apparent.

“I would like to em­phasize that the vast majority of patients who know they have LD are not violent. It is not my intention to draw attention to an issue that further increases the stigma that LD patients already receive. However, it is my intention to methodically look at the association that does seem to exist between LD and aggressive behavior in a minority of chronic LD patients.”

Additionally Dr. Marc Siegel, an internist and FOX News Channel contributor wrote, “Chronic Lyme disease can be associated with seizures, depression, anxiety and even psychosis has been reported,”he said.

“It’s possible, but the problem is, something being reported doesn’t always mean it’s the cause. For example, someone may have psychosis or seizures — but Lyme disease may or may not be the cause — so you have to be really careful.”

The fact is that Lyme disease is very tricky.

“Determining whether Lyme disease is the cause of a related factor is the art of medicine,” Siegel said. “It’s not an automatic — it depends on the case.”

Siegel told FOXNews.com that he would actually like to see the medical records of Sedlacek to to see if psychosis is even a possibility.

“It would depend on if the person has chronic Lyme disease,” he said. “You would have to look at medical records to see when he was treated and diagnosed and to see if this is even a possibility. The key question here is whether this guy ever received proper treatment early on.”

Of course the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, refrain from mentioning the chronic aspect of Lyme disease, and other than very extreme cases do they concede Lyme disease can present a long list of symptoms and the problems that occur with neuro-Lyme.

For more information on this topic read “Emerging Diseases.” by Pamela Weintraub

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Posted on January 19th, 2010 under Chronic Lyme Disease, Coping with Lyme Disease, Discussion, Neurological Lyme disease • Tags: Chronic Lyme disease, Violence and Rage from Lyme disease. • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback