Valerie's Story of Healing of Lyme Disease

In June of 2014, I was diagnosed with Lyme disease and Babesia, after a lot of coaxing by my sister-in-law. My daughter and son had already tested Igenex and CDC positive for Lyme in February, my husband came back Igenex positive in March. I figured that I did not have Lyme because I "didn't" have any symptoms.

Little did I know that I had quite a few symptoms, heavy menstrual cycles, migraine headaches, severe fatigue, muscle aches, you get the picture. We were devastated!

I didn't want to add to our financial burden with 3 of us already treating. Testing was $200 for each test at that time. My husband's father and sister helped us financially with testing and some treatment. One year in to treatment, we had run our credit cards up paying for treatment and didn't want to get behind on any of our other bills. So my husband and I made the very hard decision to sell our land that we had planned to build our dream home on. During all this, my husband and I continued to work full time. We tried to miss as little work as possible. The fatigue and pain were unbearable at times. We would get home from work, make supper and head to bed by 6:00 some nights.

    I was determined to beat this horrible disease. It was a long road for all of us. Three of us treated for 18 months, my daughter treated for 24 months. We saw an LLMD 35 minutes from our home. We used a combination of antibiotics, herbal supplements, vitamins and minerals to treat Lyme and co-infections.

We used the weekends to rest and try to catch up on daily household chores. My husband and I also tried to help the kids with school work. It was never ending. Not one of my family members offered to help us. I never reached out for help. A few weeks after my diagnosis, I had reached out to my mom about what we were going through. We got in to a huge argument about it. She had talked to one of my 4 brothers and they had decided that there was no way that all 4 of us had Lyme disease. I left and didn't speak to her for 2 weeks. I finally sent her a letter letting her know that we were all sick and barely holding it together. I never told her how bad it really was, I couldn't trust her. I didn't want her gossiping about us. I told her that there was no way that we would "fake" having Lyme disease. I still talk to my mom, but our relationship is strained. She never once asked if we needed financial help or help with anything else. The worst part of this journey was watching my kids suffer.

12 months in, I finally started feeling better. When I hit remission I decided to do all I could to raise awareness about Lyme Disease. I've walked 5K's and ridden in bike rides in honor of others with Lyme Disease. I've also helped quite a few people figure out they have Lyme Disease. I am so grateful that my husband and I stayed together and made it through this awful journey. I believe our family has grown closer because of this. We helped each other emotionally and physically when no one else would step up and help.

    This year I feel the best I've felt in a long time. Remission is possible, it takes a lot of hard work and patience.

Stay strong Lyme Warriors!