eli5: what is the difference between chronic lyme disease and lyme disease? How can it be debilitating?
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Lyme disease is a bacterial infection you can get from tick bites. It can cause a bullseye shaped rash, arthritis, paralysis, fever, and heart and nerve problems. It’s treatable with antibiotics, though some of the damage may be permanent even after the bacteria are gone.
Chronic Lyme disease is a collection of chronic inflammatory symptoms that people attribute to having had Lyme disease before. The evidence that it’s actually related to Lyme disease in most cases isn’t all that strong. People just get chronic illnesses sometimes, and there’s an industry of persuading people to blame Lyme disease for their chronic illness, whether or not that makes sense in their particular case.
If you want a more in-depth look at both, I recommend a podcast called “[Patient Zero](https://www.patientzeropodcast.com/)” which was created by New Hampshire Public Radio
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