My Story With Lyme's Disease
Prior to being diagnosed with Lyme’s Disease I really didn’t know much about it. All I knew was it was something you got from a tick bite and it was something that Avril Lavigne has. I have found out that it is actually much more common than you might think. Also, a lot of people have Lyme’s disease for years and suffer so many symptoms before doctors finally test them for it. Fortunately for me, it only took one year before I figured out I had it, but I’ve heard stories of people having it for 2-8 years before they got treated. I couldn’t even begin to imagine that, just knowing how I felt after one year of having it without treatment.
I am on the tail end of my treatment, but that does not mean I am clear for the rest of my life. I will always have it and I will have to be in tune with my body to know if it ever “flares up” and I need to get back on medication. I am hoping with my healthy diet and lifestyle habits I will keep symptoms at bay for quite some time.
Lyme’s Disease has a very strong mental component as do most diseases that people often don’t initially think about. I am typically a positive, upbeat, full of energy, happy person. I completely lost these qualities for a while. I tried so hard to act like I was happy and everything was fine, but inside I was hurting, sad, and crying all the time. I think I cried at least five times a day for months. I felt like I always had this dark cloud over me.
The best metaphor I can give for what it felt like mentally is comparing it to the last five episodes of season four of “Blackish.” This is one of my favorite TV shows, so much so that I’ve watched the entire series almost four times all the way through. In these five episodes they are filmed with a gray tone filter over all the footage. That is essentially what my life felt like for 10-12 months. No matter what I did to try to get myself out of this mysterious funk I was feeling I still had this gray tone over me in anything I did.
Once I finally got diagnosed with Lyme’s Disease and researched symptoms I found depression, anxiety, and loss of motivation are strong factors in many cases. Pair all those emotions with the other physical symptoms I had, like extreme fatigue, and a rash covering 90% of my body I was a mess.
Lyme’s Disease is very underdiagnosed because it manifests itself in a variety of different ways that doctors won’t test you for it unless your specifically remember getting bit by a tick. I personally don’t remember getting bit by a tick, which is why no one could figure out why my body was covered in eczema, or why I was so depressed and tired all the time. I was so fed up one day that I was googling all these different conditions to see if my rash was consistent with them. I discovered than sometimes with Mono you could develop a rash. I thought well I am insanely tired it has to be Mono. I called my doctor and told her I was SURE I had Mono and I needed to get a blood test. She then decided to throw in Lyme’s Disease too just for good measure. Low and behold it was positive.
If you are ever given a diagnosis and you know in your gut that it’s not the one or there is more to it, keep searching for the answer. We know our own bodies so much better than any doctor, nutritionist, or healer.