I’ve had a whirlwind year. I was feeling increasingly unwell toward the middle of last year and was picking up infections left, right and centre. Things worsened to the point where I started to have blackouts and was admitted to hospital on a few occasions. The most serious of which was a blackout whilst driving which resulted in me having an accident.
After numerous tests within the NHS, I was given a very speedy diagnosis of MS. After this, things weren’t improving, I was starting to experience other neurological symptoms including extreme fatigue, brain fog and memory loss, the worst headaches I’ve ever experienced, loss of feeling in my left side of my face, arm and leg. I have also lost pretty much all the hearing capability in my left ear.
With a hunch that is was not MS, we sought the help of a neurologist on Harley St who was quickly able to discount MS. He conducted a whole host of tests (at great personal cost). One of which was complete blood tests. This returned a positive result for Lyme Disease and was confirmed a few weeks later with a positive Western Blot test.
I was put on a 3 week course of Doxycycline, which was not a pleasant experience and hasn’t resulted in a change of symptoms. I am currently 2 weeks into a range of protocols to treat the Lyme disease. Not only medical, but herbal and a complete lifestyle change in terms of diet. Once again I am yet to see any positive results, but I have had my expectations set with what is possible and how long it can take to see progress and make the symptoms manageable at the very least.
A year ago, I had not heard of Lyme Disease. Two years ago I was living my best life as a primary teacher, running half marathons at the weekend for fun and enjoying various physical activities with my young family. In the space of a year, I have had to give up my job, surrender my driving license and lose virtually all the independence I had previously.
If it wasn’t for my incredibly supportive family and friends, I would have gone as far in saying it has ruined my life as I know it. Good days are manageable, bad days are soul destroying. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.