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Addiction and Mental health

May 2, 2014

Addiction and Mental health-Treatment

Addiction

Your mental health can be affected by addiction and substance abuse, but wait a minute, did you know that event like team building could help you overcome some of these problems?

For people with dual disorders also known as “dual diagnosis”, the attempt to obtain professional help can be frustrating and confusing. They may have problems arising within themselves as a result of their psychiatric and alcohol and other drug (AOD) use disorders as well as problems of external origin that derive from the conflicts, limitations, and clashing philosophies of the mental health and addiction treatment systems. For example, internal problems such as frustration, denial, or depression may hinder their ability to recognize the need for help and diminish their ability to ask for help. A typical external problem might be the confusion experienced when individuals need services but lack knowledge about the different goals and processes of various types of available services. Other problems of external origin may be very fundamental, such as the inability to pay for child care services or the lack of transportation to the only available outpatient program.

Historically, when patients in alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment exhibited vivid and acute psychiatric symptoms, the symptoms were either unrecognized or observed but miss-described as toxicity or acting-out behavior or accurately identified, prompting the patients to be discharged or referred to a mental health program. Virtually the same process occurred for patients in mental health treatment who exhibited vivid and acute symptoms of AOD use disorders.

Mislabeling, rejecting, failing to recognize, or automatically transferring patients with dual disorders can result in inadequate treatment, with patients falling between the cracks of treatment systems. The symptoms of psychiatric and AOD use disorders often fluctuate in intensity and frequency. Current symptom presentation may reflect a short-term change in the course of long-term dual disorders. Thus, even when patients receive traditional professional help, treatment may address only selected aspects of their overall problem unless treatment is coordinated among services including AOD, mental health, social, and medical programs.

As a result, the treatment system itself may be a stumbling block for some people attempting to receive ongoing, appropriate, and comprehensive treatment for combined psychiatric and AOD use disorders. Thus, treatment services for patients with dual disorders must be sensitive to both the individual’s and the treatment system’s impediments to the initiation and continuation of treatment.

Addiction and Mental health-Treatment Systems

People with dual disorders who want to engage in the treatment process (or who need to do so) frequently encounter several treatment systems, each having its own strengths and weaknesses. These treatment systems have different clinical approaches.

Addiction and Mental health-The Mental Health System

Actually, there is no single mental health system, although most States have a set of public mental health centers. Rather, mental health services are provided by a variety of mental health professionals including psychiatrists; psychologists; clinical social workers; clinical nurse specialists; other therapists and counselors including marriage, family, and child counselors (MFCCs); and paraprofessionals.

These mental health personnel work in a variety of settings, using a variety of theories about the treatment of specific psychiatric disorders. Different types of mental health professionals for example, social workers and MFCCs have differing perspectives; moreover, practitioners within a given group often use different approaches.

A major strength of the mental health system is the comprehensive array of services offered, including counseling, case management, partial hospitalization, inpatient treatment, vocational rehabilitation, and a variety of residential programs. The mental health system has a relatively large variety of treatment settings. These settings are designed to provide treatment services for patients with acute, sub-acute, and long-term symptoms.

  • Acute services are provided by personnel in emergency rooms and hospital units of several types and by crisis-line personnel, outreach teams, and mental health law commitment specialists.
  • Sub-acute services are provided by hospitals, day treatment programs, mental health center programs, and several types of individual practitioners.
  • Long-term settings include mental health centers, residential units, and practitioners’ offices.
  • Clinicians vary with regard to academic degrees, styles, expertise, and training.
  • Strength of the mental health system is the growing recognition at all system levels of the role of case management as a means to individualize and coordinate services and secures entitlements.

Medication is more often used in psychiatric treatment than in addiction treatment, especially for severe disorders. Medications used to treat psychiatric symptoms include psychoactive and non-psychoactive medications. Psychoactive medications cause an acute change in mood, thinking, or behavior, such as sedation, stimulation, or euphoria.

Psychoactive medications (such as benzodiazepines) prescribed to the average patient with psychiatric problems are generally taken in an appropriate fashion and pose little or no risk of abuse or addiction. In contrast, the use of psychoactive medications by patients with a personal or family history of an AOD use disorder is associated with a high risk of abuse or addiction.

Some medications used in psychiatry that have mild psychoactive effects (such as some tricyclic antidepressants with mild sedative effects) appear to be misused more by patients with an AOD disorder than by others. Thus, a potential pitfall is prescribing psychoactive medications to a patient with psychiatric problems without first determining whether the individual also has an AOD use disorder.

While most clinicians in the mental health system generally have expertise in a bio-psychosocial approach to the identification, diagnosis, and treatment of psychiatric disorders, some lack similar skills and knowledge about the specific drugs of abuse, the bio-psychosocial processes of abuse and addiction, and AOD treatment, recovery, and relapse. Similarly, AOD treatment professionals may have a thorough understanding of AOD abuse treatment but not psychiatric treatment.

Addiction and Mental health-The Addiction Treatment System

As with mental health treatment, no single addiction treatment system exists. Rather, there is a collection of different types of services such as social and medical model detoxification programs, short- and long-term treatment programs, methadone detoxification and maintenance programs, long-term therapeutic communities, and self-help adjuncts such as the 12-step programs. These programs can vary greatly with respect to treatment goals and philosophies. For example, abstinence is a prerequisite for entry into some programs, while it is a long-term goal in other programs. Some AOD treatment programs are not abstinence oriented. For example, some methadone maintenance programs have the overt goal of eventual abstinence for all patients, while others promote continued methadone use to encourage psychosocial stabilization.

As with mental health treatment, addiction treatment is provided by a diverse group of practitioners, including physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, certified addiction counselors, MFCCs, and other therapists, counselors, and recovering paraprofessionals. There can be a wide difference in experience, expertise, and knowledge among these diverse providers. As with mental health treatment, most States have public and private AOD treatment systems.

The strengths of addiction treatment services include the multidisciplinary team approach with a bio-psychosocial emphasis, and an understanding of the addictive process combined with knowledge of the drugs of abuse and the 12-step programs. In typical addiction treatment, medications are used to treat the complications of addiction, such as overdose and withdrawal. However, few medications that directly treat or interrupt the addictive process, such as disulfiram and naltrexone, have been identified or regularly used. Maintenance medications such as methadone are crucial for certain patients. However, most addiction treatment professionals attempt to eliminate patients’ use of all drugs.

Addiction and Mental health-Similarities Treatment Systems
  • Variety of treatment settings and program types
  • Public and private settings
  • Multiple levels of care
  • Bio-psychosocial models
  • Increasing use of case and care management
  • Value of self-help adjuncts.

Many who work in the addiction treatment field have only a limited understanding of medications used for psychiatric disorders. Historically, some people have mistakenly assumed that all or most psychiatric medications are psychoactive or potentially addictive. Many addiction treatment staff tends to avoid the use of any medication with their patients, probably in reaction to those whose addiction included prescription medications such as diazepam. Many staff lack proper training and experience in the use of such medications. In the treatment of dual disorders, a balance must be made between behavioral interventions and the appropriate use of non-addicting psychiatric medications for those who need them to participate in the recovery process. Withholding medications from such individuals increases their chances of AOD relapse.

Because of these variances in administering addiction medication you need to specifically take the lead role in offering addiction treatment. Dr. Dalal Akoury Founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center is the expert you need. She is offering her exclusive NER Recovery Treatment to other physicians and health care professionals through training, clinical apprenticeships, webinars and seminars. Contacting her would be the beginning of your journey to truly successful and fast addiction recovery treatment.

Addiction and Mental health-Treatment

 

 

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Neurotransmitter Restoration (NTR)

April 18, 2014

Neurotransmitter Restoration (NTR)-Addiction Recovery using Intravenous NAD & amino acids

Neurotransmitter

Besides Neurotransmitter Restoration (NTR), Addiction Recovery can be achieved by physical activities.

The first step in addiction recovery is a functional medical investigation targeting the conditions in the body that facilitates fatigue, anxiety, depression, reduced pain tolerance, poor focus and the likes. These common underlying conditions include food sensitivities, gluten intolerance, adrenal and thyroid imbalances, malabsorption, neurotransmitter deficiency and NAD deficiency. Since these issues are treatable, normally with nutritional supplements and diet, the patient receives intravenous NAD and amino acids based in individually designed protocols for a 10 day period of time. The IV NAD and amino acids improves brain function based on higher levels of cellular energy production along with increased neurotransmitters, such as serotonin. There could be some withdrawal symptoms for a period of two or three days which is easily manageable and so should not worry you much. After three to five days as withdrawal symptoms disappear, craving subsides and clarity of thinking is restored.

It should be noted that this treatment is not a substitute for recovery, but it is the beginning of the process of healing. The moment the brain and body are functioning better, the patient has the energy, clarity and focus to engage in the recovery process. The patient will be able to understand the reasons for compulsive behavior and with better health and motivation they can stop compulsive behaviors and make informed choices that are self-supportive rather than self-destructive.

Some studies done in the past five decades reveals the efficacy and safety of IV NAD in detoxifying patients from alcohol, opiates, tranquilizers and stimulants.  Like the early studies, our experience with the protocol over the past five years substantiates its benefits in greatly reducing withdrawal symptoms, as well as reducing, and often eliminating the cravings.

At AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under Doctor Akoury’s there are tailor made programs provided to individual, family and group therapy. Patients are provided with continued integrative care for their underlying medical problems, which helps them to timely feel better physically and mentally. This way they are more likely to continue healing psychologically, emotionally, socially and spiritually. Depending on case by case at least two year commitment to after care treatment is critical because the underlying psychological issues which often lead to substance abuse must be resolved for long lasting recovery.

Neurotransmitter Restoration (NTR)-Addiction

It is a disease in the body and the mind and successful therapy depends on treating both.  Mind-Body medicine is based on the unity of mind and body and focuses on promoting health and balance in the mind-body, thereby providing highly effective therapy for addiction.  If you detoxify, or withdraw, from alcohol or a drug, but do not address the conditions in the body that create fatigue, depression, and anxiety, then relapse is more likely and therapy has been incomplete. Similarly, if you withdraw from a substance and do not understand the psychological and spiritual issues that promoted the need for it, then relapse is likely and the “lessons of disease” have not been learned.

Neurotransmitter Restoration (NTR)-The body

Integrative, or, functional medicine provides the tools to assess and treat the conditions in the body that contribute to fatigue, depression, and anxiety, thereby increasing the likelihood of chemical dependency.  These include:

  • Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) deficiency
  • Neurotransmitter deficiency (serotonin, GABA, adrenaline, noradrenaline, dopamine, etc)
  • Metabolic cofactor deficiency
  • Pyroluria
  • Hypothyroidism
  • Adrenal fatigue
  • Intestinal yeast overgrowth
  • Delayed onset food sensitivities
  • Gluten intolerance

These “terrain issues” in the body need to be properly treated in order to make detoxification easier and to prevent relapse.

Neurotransmitter Restoration (NTR)-The mind and spirit

However, addiction is also disease in the mind. The fact that the mind rules the body is, in spite of its neglect by biology and medicine, the most fundamental fact which we know about the process of life.

The origins of most physical disease are within consciousness – the body is the messenger of the conflicts, sustained fears, suppressed emotional traumas, disturbed patterns of thinking, and other imbalances that lie within the conscious and unconscious mind.  Many people have painful childhood experiences, including patterns of neglect, smothering control, abandonment, and emotional, physical and sexual abuse. Later on there can be failed relationships, years of marital conflict, and the pain of loneliness. Many experience decades of unfulfilling employment, foiled personal creativity and the quiet desperation of a slowly dying spirit. These life experiences contribute to relentless anxiety, depression, denied emotions, destructive beliefs, hopelessness, helplessness, “giving up”, and an endless variety of recurrent stresses.

Disease of any kind is the body’s way of getting your attention and inviting this self-exploration, thereby offering true healing.

Neurotransmitter Restoration (NTR)-Brain disease Reward Deficiency Syndrome
  • Neurotransmitters are chemicals in the brain that help to control states of consciousness, including moods.
  • Serotonin and GABA down-regulate electrical activity in the brain, thereby contributing to calm, peacefulness, or less anxiety.
  • Adrenaline and nor-adrenaline up-regulate electrical activity thereby promoting excitement, motivation, or, reducing depression and apathy.
  • Dopamine is the “feel good” brain chemical. It is the dance of these electro-chemicals that produce emotional balance and feelings of well-being.

When the proper flow, or cascade, of these neurochemicals is impaired, or, the brain’s receptors are blocked, then a variety of problems can develop, including:

  • Mood instability
  • Irritability
  • Agitation
  • Hypersensitivity
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Apathy
  • Impaired concentration
  • Trouble focusing
  • Despair

A host of medical and lifestyle issues can disturb the healthy flow of neurotransmitters, including chronic stress, alcohol, drug abuse, genetics, poor diet, digestive disturbances and malabsorption, micronutrient deficiency and more.  The result can be Reward Deficiency Syndrome (RDS), a term primarily used for hereditary chemical imbalances wherein the pleasure centers, which regulate feelings of well-being in the brain, fail to receive appropriate neural signals.  As a result, the brain sends out urgent messages of craving. In the brains of addicts, various neurotransmissions are affected, depending upon the drug or drugs that have been used. As a result addicts experience difficulty concentrating and have mood swings, for example, as well as having other physical symptoms. Collectively, these symptoms are called cravings and withdrawals. Craving and withdrawal symptoms are a result of a neurochemical imbalance in the brain.

It is the Reward Deficiency Syndrome that causes the compulsive use of alcohol and drugs that help to feel good, at least temporarily. In addition to alcohol, people use nicotine, other stimulants, illicit drugs, junk foods, sugars, or thrill-seeking behaviors such as gambling, sex and Internet porn. Unfortunately, this only provides temporary relief while bringing with it the possibility of more long-term problems. For lasting solution to addiction, only experts in the same line will liberate you from this problem. Doctor Dalal Akoury is an expert you can rely on for whatever addiction you are going through.

Neurotransmitter Restoration (NTR)-Addiction Recovery using Intravenous NAD & amino acids

 

 

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Food that inspire food addiction

April 9, 2014

Food that inspire food addiction-They cause physical and emotional dependencies

Food

mind much a bout the kind of food you eat, you may be feeding on food that cause addiction

In many cases overweight people are often seen or believed to be either lazy or just don’t have the will power to actively operate normally. The choice of food you eat, when you eat and frequencies of exercise you do affect your weight significantly. The previously ignored element may be food addiction; this does not necessarily mean that we are desperate for a candy bar. By the way some of the food that causes addiction are:

  • Chocolate
  • Sugar
  • Cheese
  • Milk
  • Meat

Food that inspire food addiction-Chocolate

Experts have found out that chocolate stimulates the same part of the brain that opiate drugs do, that is to say chocolate acts like a drug producing food addiction which causes us to crave for more and more of it.

Before we know, we are on the road to being addicted to chocolate. Emphasis should be made to the public that food addiction is not a laughing matter. Chocolate as food contains other stimulant drugs like caffeine, theobromine and pheylethylamine, according to expert’s chocolate is not just a drug but a whole drug store wrapped up in one.

Food that inspire food addiction-Cheese

But chocolate’s not the only food addiction studies have established that when people who were consuming meat and other dairy products are stopped from consuming the same, the yearning for cheese was described as a “deep seated craving” that stayed with them much longer than their compulsion for other foods. Researchers also found a chemical in cow’s milk similar to morphine, and after testing it repeatedly, they discovered that it was, in fact, morphine. It was only a trace amount, and not all the samples contained the chemical in recognizable levels, but there was indeed a small amount of morphine in cow’s milk.

Assuming that the morphine must have come from the cows’ diets, they were shocked to find that the cows actually made traces of it within their bodies, along with codeine and other opiates that were produced in their livers. They were also surprised to learn that cow’s milk (and the milk of any species) contains the protein, casein that breaks down during the digestion process, and releases other opiate-like compounds called casomorphins. What does this have to with cheese? Casein is concentrated in cheese. So we have the makings of another possible food addiction.

Food that inspire food addiction-Milk

Why are there traces of morphine in milk? (Actually, it’s not some environmental problem.) Scientists believe that the mother’s milk has a relaxing effect on the baby, and this drug-like effect on the brain is responsible for the bonding that is necessary, for the baby to get the nutrition he needs. Researchers gave volunteers yogurt and skim milk, and found that the casein (milk opiates) not only acted within the digestive tract, but some of the fragments actually entered the bloodstream, with direct access to the brain. The effect was greatest about 40 minutes after eating. As mentioned before, cheese has more casein than other dairy products. (Recent studies have found that meat also stimulates the brain’s pleasure centers.) To further prove their theory, researchers found that when volunteers were given naloxone, (a drug that blocks opiates, used in the treatment of heroin and morphine overdoses), their desire for cheese, meat, chocolate, and other addictive foods was greatly decreased.

Food that inspire food addiction-Sugar

In addition, scientists have discovered that fast foods, like hamburgers and fries, may also be responsible for food addictions. The high fat and carbohydrate content causes changes in the brain that are normally correlated with drug addiction, (and the result is food addiction.) Sugar and fat stimulates the release of natural opiates in the brain, and may be triggering the same response as heroin. After giving rats a diet that was one quarter sugar, he abruptly withdrew the sugar, and the rats went into high anxiety mode, experiencing trembling and teeth chattering, similar to the effects that occur during morphine or nicotine withdrawal. So, in review, the sugar produced the same withdrawal effects that highly addictive drugs do.

Food addiction plays an enormous role in our eating habits, when we’re depressed, tired, lonely, anxious, worried, fearful, etc. We run to the addictive food of choice. For me many people, it is chocolate and sugar, with carbohydrates following close behind, which is particularly bad and that explains why diabetic is rising. Certain foods act as drugs, because our body responds to the natural opiates in them, just as it would to drug opiates. As we experience these effects over and over, we may develop a food addiction.

Medical scans have even been able to document these findings about food addiction. Researchers compared the brain scans of drug addicts with chronic over-eaters, and found startling similarities. If you think about it, many of the behaviors are the same–the obsession, compulsion, and preoccupation with drugs, is often also experienced with food. The overwhelming guilt, the tendency to use drugs to relieve emotional problems, and even the secrecy that is often involved in drug use, is also a part of compulsive overeating. While none of the researchers are suggesting that the physical and emotional drive is as strong with food, as it is with heroin, what they have found is that some of the previously mentioned food addictions are a part of the overall problem of obesity or overeating. Food addiction is real, according to scientific research.

So how do we kick the habit of food addiction? Interesting unlike coming off of drugs, we can’t just stop eating. Nutritionist suggests starting your day with a good breakfast that will help you keep food cravings at a minimum. Try to keep blood sugar levels normal by staying away from white sugar, white flour, white bread, and other starchy foods such as white potatoes, rice, and pasta. Instead substitute low-fat protein, vegetables, beans, low-sugar fruits, and whole grains. Eat enough healthy foods to satisfy your hunger, and don’t go on starvation diets. You’ll just end up binging sooner or later, because your body feels so deprived.

Take a break from some of the more addictive foods, and you will soon experience less of a craving for them. Food addictions are just one component of overeating, and obesity. There are often metabolic issues, genetic variables, and complex physical and emotional reasons why we overeat. But learning about the addictive nature of some foods, can enable us to understand the powerful cravings that we sometimes experience, and help us on our path to healthy food choices.

Food that inspire food addiction-They cause physical and emotional dependencies

 

 

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Buprenorphine for the treatment of addiction

March 15, 2014

Buprenorphine for the treatment of addiction-Is it the best

Buprenorphine

If you are suffering from addiction seek treatment but remember Buprenorphine may not be a better option.

Buprenorphine is used to help you keep off street drugs such as heroin. It can prevent or reduce the unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when you stop using such drugs. It is a medicine that is similar to heroin and works as a replacement treatment. Many people choose to stay on buprenorphine long-term, although some people gradually reduce their dose and come off it.

The effects of buprenorphine last longer than heroin so it is usually prescribed as a once-daily dose. To begin with, you will usually be asked to take it under the supervision of the pharmacist who dispenses the buprenorphine to you. This means there can be no doubt about how much buprenorphine you take at each dose. This supervision may be relaxed after a few months of your taking a regular maintenance dose.

Buprenorphine is also available combined with another medicine called naloxone (the tablet brand name is Suboxone). Naloxone blocks the action of buprenorphine and the effect of the combination is that, if you are tempted to crush the tablet and try to inject it, you will start to get withdrawal effects.

Buprenorphine for the treatment of addiction-Can buprenorphine cause problems?

As with all medications, Buprenorphine (Suboxone) drug treatment also has some disadvantages. It is still a medication and if you prefer to break free from any kind of addiction immediately, then Buprenorphine may not be the way to go. Also, you may not be completely Buprenorphine-free by the time you leave drug treatment, even if you opt for an inpatient drug rehab program.

Some may consider these disadvantages while others consider them well worth the advantage of avoiding opiate withdrawal symptoms. Also, some initial studies on long-term use of Buprenorphine suggest that there are anti-depressant effects of the drug as well. The dosing schedule is also relatively easy to maintain as most don’t even have to take it every day. Additionally, you can’t abuse Suboxone, get high off of it or overdose on it like you can with some other opiate addiction maintenance or detox drugs, like methadone. Much as this may offer treatment for addiction, it is in itself addiction and should not be encouraged. Its demerits far much out ways the merits just have a look at the conditions lined below before and during its usage.

Buprenorphine for the treatment of addiction-Before taking buprenorphine

Some medicines are not suitable for people with certain conditions, and sometimes a medicine may only be used if extra care is taken. For these reasons, before you start taking buprenorphine it is important that your doctor knows:

  • If you have liver or kidney problems.
  • If you have prostate problems or any difficulties passing urine.
  • If you have any breathing problems, such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
  • If you have been told you have low blood pressure.
  • If you have any problems with your thyroid or adrenal glands.
  • If you have epilepsy.
  • If you have a problem with your bile duct.
  • If you are pregnant or breast-feeding.
  • If you have been constipated for more than a week or have an inflammatory bowel problem.
  • If you have a condition causing muscle weakness, called myasthenia gravis.
  • If you have recently had a severe head injury.
  • If you have ever had an allergic reaction to a medicine.
  • If you are taking any other street drugs or medicines. This includes any medicines you are taking which are available to buy without a prescription, such as herbal and complementary medicines.

Buprenorphine for the treatment of addiction-Getting the most from your treatment

  • Some people feel uncomfortable during the first 2 to 3 days of taking buprenorphine. Do not be tempted to take heroin on top, and do not take more than the dose your doctor has prescribed for you.
  • It is important that you keep your regular appointments with your doctor or clinic so your progress can be reviewed. You will be asked to give a urine sample from time to time.
  • Buprenorphine cannot be supplied to you without a prescription. You will not be able to ask for any changes to be made to your supply, as your pharmacist can only dispense the prescription exactly as your doctor has directed.
  • There are several different brands and strengths of buprenorphine tablets, so each time you collect a supply, check to make sure it contains what you are expecting.
  • You are more likely to succeed in staying off heroin if you have support and counseling in addition to taking buprenorphine. Local drug community teams, self-help groups and other agencies may be of help. It is much harder to ‘do it alone’, so go for counseling and help if it is available in your area.
  • You should not take any street drugs or drink too much alcohol while you are on buprenorphine. This is because other street drugs such as benzodiazepines (benzos) and alcohol can affect buprenorphine and increase the chance of unwanted effects.
  • You should tell the DVLA that you are taking buprenorphine if you are a driver. You are likely to be banned from driving at first, although you may be allowed to drive again later, subject to an annual medical review. Your doctor will tell you when you can resume driving.
  • Do not stop taking buprenorphine without discussing this with your doctor or drug-team worker first. It is important that buprenorphine should be taken regularly to reduce the risk of withdrawal symptoms occurring. When you are ready to consider becoming drug-free, your doctor or drug-team worker will be able to help you decide on the best way to do this in order to keep withdrawal effects to a minimum.
  • If you are planning any trip abroad, you should carry a letter with you from your doctor to explain that you have been prescribed buprenorphine. This is because buprenorphine is classed as a ‘controlled drug’ and is subject to certain restrictions.
  • If you buy any medicines, check with a pharmacist that they are suitable for you to take with buprenorphine. Many other medicines have similar side-effects to buprenorphine and taking them together will increase the risk of unwanted effects.
  • If you are having an operation or dental treatment, tell the person carrying out the treatment that you are taking buprenorphine.

So many side effects and so many conditions attached making buprenorphine not to be right for addiction treatment not now and certainly not ever.

Buprenorphine for the treatment of addiction-Is it the best

 

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Lyme disease and Climate Change

March 11, 2014

Lyme disease and Climate Change-New Findings

Climate

Research has found out that Lyme disease is greatly associated with climate change.

Historically, Lyme disease is heavily present in the Northeastern United States due to its moderate climate. The feeding period of these ticks in the northeast is being prolonged due to the extended summer temperatures, allowing more time for uninfected larval ticks to become a carrier of the Lyme disease-causing bacteria. Researchers at Yale University have seen clear implications that as the planet warms, more reports of Lyme disease will be expected in the upper Midwest to match the amount of cases in the upper Northeast.

Lyme disease and Climate Change-Borrelia burgdorferi

Borrelia burgdorferi is the name of the bacteria that causes Lyme disease and the nymphal deer tick is the carrier of this pathogen, contracting it from its blood meal. When a pathogen carrying tick bites, the bacteria enters the bloodstream and the victim becomes infected

Lyme disease and Climate Change-Transportation of Lyme disease

Deer ticks have an average two year life span, with three main life stages larval, nymphal and adult. They obtain one meal consisting of blood during each main life phase in order to survive. If the source of their meal is infected with the Lyme disease-causing bacteria (Borrelia burgdorferi) then it is passed onto the tick. In the tick’s nymphal stage, it passes the infection to its next meal source human or other animal. This feeding cycle is seasonal and innately influenced by climate.

Lyme disease and Climate Change-How Lyme Enters the Food Chain

At the propagation of the larval deer tick is born it is not born as a carrier of the disease. The ticks need to obtain sustenance in order to survive; this nutrition comes in the form of a blood meal which they obtain by sucking the blood of other animals. If the larval tick gets a blood meal from a deer or in a more likely case, a mouse already carrying the disease, the larval tick is then infected with B. burgdorferi.

In order to reach the next phase of the tick’s life, the tick must obtain another blood meal in its nymphal stage, and in the feeding process the tick passes the pathogen on to its meal source, which in some cases is a human. The human will, as a result, become a host for the pathogen. Deer have been the main suspect in being the carrier of the B. burgdorferi, but research shows that this may not be the case because the deer has the ability to flush the disease out of its system. The new suspect is the white-footed mouse, whose body does not entirely dispose of the bacteria.

Lyme disease and Climate Change-What Climate Change means for Lyme disease?

Climate change will have the following effects on Lyme disease: An acceleration of the tick’s developmental cycle, a prolonged developmental cycle, increased egg production, increased population density, and a broader range of risk areas. The ideal habitat for these disease-carrying ticks is one with 85% humidity and a temperature higher than 45°F. The tick finds a suitable microclimate by using its thermo receptors.

Once the larvae have molted into the nymphal stage, the winter forces them to remain dormant until spring. An adult tick no longer needs to hibernate during the winter, so these ticks may become active on warm winter days, yielding a larger nymph population the following year. With an earlier winter thawing, nymphal-staged ticks will become active sooner. The warmer winters will also allow for a higher survival rate of the white-footed mouse, a popular host for the ticks, meaning an increased tick population in the spring and summer.

After discovering how global warming could impact on infectious disease, scientists from Yale University, in collaboration with other institutions, have determined that climate impacts the severity of Lyme disease by influencing the feeding patterns of deer ticks that carry and transmit it.

But, as the Yale team demonstrates, it’s the seasonal cycle of feeding for each stage of the tick’s life that determines the severity of infection in a given region. The researchers found that this cycle is heavily influenced by climate. In the moderate climate of the Northeastern United States, larval deer ticks feed in the late summer, long after the spring feeding of infected nymphs. This long gap between feeding times directly correlates to more cases of Lyme disease reported in the Northeast by the scientists.

When there is a longer gap, the most persistent infections are more likely to survive. These persistent bacterial strains cause more severe disease in humans, leading more people to seek medical attention and resulting in more cases.

But in the Midwest, where there are greater extremes of temperature, there is a shorter window of opportunity for tick feeding, and therefore a shorter gap between nymphal and larval feedings. Due to this, Midwestern wildlife and ticks are infected with less persistent strains, which correlates with fewer cases of Lyme disease reported in the Midwest.

The clear implication of this research is that, as the planet warms, the Upper Midwest could find itself in the same situation as the Northeast: longer gaps between nymphal and larval feeding, and therefore, stronger, more persistent strains of Lyme disease. Other diseases, like malaria, have also been projected to expand in response to climate change, but this is the first study to show how the severity of disease can also be related to climate.

Lyme disease and Climate Change-New Findings

 

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