The Case:  Kim is 37 and lives in a high-rise in New York City For about a year she felt foggy, tired, and plagued by headaches.  She was also experiencing joint pain that traveled from ankle to shoulder to knee.  She tried anti-inflammatories but it only masked the problems.  Her doctors were unable to find the cause of her issues.  It’s not uncommon for people to turn to functional medicine to deal with headaches and inflammation but there was something that made me think there was something else at play in Kim’s case.  The biggest clues were that aside from the pain, she also said she didn’t feel like herself. I knew that we had to get to the source of the inflammation and the roving joint issues.  The Investigation My suspicion was Lyme disease but Kim is a city girl and hadn’t been hiking in areas where she might have been exposed. I needed to investigate whether this might be the cause of her issues as it certainly seemed to explain the collection of concerns.  Dr. Darin Ingels is an expert in Lyme disease and a respected thought leader in natural medicine. He’s the author of “The Lyme Solution: A 5-Part Plan to Fight the Inflammatory Autoimmune Response and Beat Lyme Disease”. His practice deals with chronic immune dysfunction and he’s been successful in using natural methods to reduce the symptoms of Lyme (including his own).  What is Lyme Disease? Lyme disease (also known as Lyme Borreliosis) is a bacterial infection transmitted primarily by Deer ticks. It’s unique because it has the capacity to penetrate different parts of the body in a way that other bacteria can’t. This means, it can travel around the body and it can be difficult to treat. Lyme is also known as the great mimic because the symptoms of the disease can look like many other illnesses and traditionally, doctors have found it very hard to diagnose. Also, there are upwards of 300 different strains of Lyme disease worldwide, with about 100 strains in the U.S. Know Your Ticks There are many different types of ticks and the one that most commonly carries Lyme disease is the deer tick. If you find a tick on you, it’s helpful to know what kind of tick it is. Here are a few pictures to help you identify them. (HealthMysteriesSolved.com)   If You Find a Tick  If you find a tick crawling on you, brush it off. If it hasn’t bitten you, then you are unlikely to have been infected. However, you should do a full tick check since you now know you’ve been in an area where ticks are. When a tick bites you, it stays attached while it feeds. The disease is transmitted from the saliva it secretes into your bloodstream while it is drinking your blood. If you find a tick that is attached to your skin, remove it using tweezers and a magnifying glass, pinching as close to the bite as possible and pulling the tick out slowly.  Avoid the instinct to squash it or scratch it away. Gentle, intentional removal will decrease the amount of the bug’s fluids that enter your system. If possible, save the tick (in a plastic bag with a moist cotton ball so it doesn’t dry out) and bring it in for testing.  Not Just Ticks Lyme disease is most commonly caused by a bite by a carrier known as a deer tick but it’s not just ticks that transmit the bacteria. Some research suggests that mice, rats, and squirrels may also be carriers. Many people write off the possibility of having contracted Lyme because they haven’t been in nature or in a region that is known for having infected ticks. There is also some research being done about the possibility that Lyme disease may be transmitted by mosquitoes, horseflies, fleas, and through the exchange of human body fluids. None of these have been proven conclusively.  Where in the World are Lyme-Infected Ticks? Another factor that can cause doctors to write off the possibility of Lyme is location. For a long time, Lyme was primarily found in ticks located in specific regions of the US (the Northeastern and Midwestern states) but in the past few years, infect