Complications Of Lyme Disease

Irregularities In Heart Rhythm

An individual who has developed Lyme disease and has undergone treatment that has been unsuccessful may develop Lyme carditis. Lyme carditis produces numerous cardiac symptoms, including irregularities in heart rhythm, chest pain, palpitations, and changes to EKG caused by heart block. Lyme carditis occurs when the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria enters and attacks the individual's heart tissues, where it colonizes in most or all regions of the heart. When the bacteria attack the atrioventricular node and the conduction system around it, the patient has what is called heart block.

Heart block is an irregularity in an individual's heart rhythm when it beats too slowly. This heart rhythm abnormality is the result of the non-communication between the electrical signals between the ventricles and atria that command the heart to beat. Irregularities in heart rhythm occur most often weeks to months following the bite by the tick when the individual is in the early disseminated stage or stage 2 of their Lyme disease.