Chronic Lyme Disease Patients Are Still Not Covered By Disability Insurance

Lyme Disease is caused by a bacterial infection resulting from the bite of a tick that is very small and often escapes detection.

While Lyme Disease can be overcome in its earlier stages, chronic Lyme Disease is a much more insidious and debilitating disease, The Cut reports. The bacterial organisms affect the brains of victims in different ways, which makes Lyme Disease difficult to diagnose. Further, the symptoms mimic those of Multiple Sclerosis and even some kinds of cancer.

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Lyme Disease is caused by ticks that carry the bacteria.

According to the CDC, Neurological complications typically show in the second stage of Lyme disease, with numbness, pain, weakness, Bell’s palsy (paralysis of the facial muscles), visual disturbances, and meningitis symptoms such as fever, stiff neck, and severe headache.

Other problems may not appear until weeks, months, or years after a tick bite, and include “foggy brain,” chemical sensitivity and allergies, irritability, memory and sleep disorders, and nerve damage in the arms and legs, the CDC reports.

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The mark of an infected tick bite.

Each year approximately 476,000 Americans are diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease.

Scientific study shows that up to 15-40% of late-stage Lyme patients develop neurological disorders, which are responsible for many common symptoms of chronic Lyme disease.

Moreover, Chronic Lyme disease can be linked to deadly symptoms, such as Lyme carditis, an inflammation of the heart, LymeDisease.org, reports.

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Each year approximately 476,000 Americans are diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease.

The SSA “Blue Book” has the established guidelines for being declared disabled and eligible for benefits. While there are provisions for serious disease related to musculoskeletal, cardiovascular and mental issues, Lyme disease itself does not have a listing.

Volumes of medical evidence show that this disease is not only severe but growing in frequency, and still not widely understood by medical doctors, Healthline reports. The Federal Government should make patients of chronic Lyme Disease eligible for Social Security Benefits just like it does for sufferers of other serious diseases.