Things to Know about Chronic Lyme

Chronic Lyme is tricky.  It's such an inner battle that half of my symptoms I have I thought were totally normal for the longest time.  I suppose that eventually you just numb yourself to what you're feeling and pretend it's normal.  It's easier to do that than it is to face it, and endure to then end.  With that said, there are so many people that are uneducated and naive as to how bad this illness can get.  This is why I feel it is extremely important to educate ourselves and be aware of the horror that can take place simply because of a bacteria born infection.  

Chronic Lyme disease is a bacteria born infection that primarily comes from the bite of what's referred to as a deer tick.  With that said it can also be transmitted through the bite of a spider, mosquito, or any bug that just happens to carry the infection.  Studies have also shown that pregnant women who are infected can pass Lyme disease down to their unborn children.  That would be how I obtained it.  My mother got bit by a tick when she was only nine, and the scary thing about Lyme disease is that sometimes symptoms don't begin to show until days, weeks, months, or even years later. (Which just happened to be my mom's case.) 

Lyme is directly caused by a bacteria referred to as a spirochete- a spiral shaped bacteria that is capable of drilling into literally any part of the body.  This is what makes Lyme so scary.  Lyme can affect anything in your body and lead to problems in your brain, nervous system, muscles, joints, heart, etc.  The symptoms are never ending.  And depending on the severity of it all, it can dull your quality of life to almost nothing.  
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Here's the thing about Lyme that most people don't get.  Something that I hope with all my heart that I can get the point across.  Chronic Lyme IS REAL.  It's as real as chicken pox, and as tragic as any other disease that people are actually aware of.  It's painful, it's exhausting, and it's discouraging.  Yeah, we look fine, but that's beside the point.  When you have a chronic illness, you learn to numb yourself to the pain.  You numb yourself to the exhaustion.  You numb yourself to what's going on in your body and you keep moving forward because if you don't than your quality of life is reduced to almost no life at all.  It's not just "all in our head." It's not all psychosomatic. It's not something we make up just to get attention.  It's REAL.  I've experienced it, and I've seen first hand how bad it can get.  I can only hope that people understand that.  And with that said, I can only hope that the people who fight this know that they are not alone.  

For more information on Chronic Lyme you can visit: ​https://www.lymedisease.org/