The week was full of stories. This time, about how Lyme disease itself affects our lives, and how difficult it is to cope with our new lives after recovery. You could say this is the lesser of two evils.
Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel’s marriage was, on the one hand, affected by the fact that the husband’s behaviour was different – as it later turned out, due to Lyme disease. So they faced many difficulties. However, what helped repair their marital relationship was that it eventually became clear just how difficult it was for them to live with Lyme disease, something they hadn’t even realised. Of course, it would be easy to brush the whole issue aside and say, ‘Sure, a good excuse is never a bad thing.’ But anyone who knows how much life changes for someone who has been living with the illness for years, even decades, would certainly not say, ‘It’s all in your head.’
I’ve been through it myself: from being a university student always eager to go out, a friend who’d chat until dawn and still manage daily tasks the next day, a determined, successful, ambitious businessman, and a parent who always loved getting away from home, I suddenly became uncertain. How on earth had I managed all that before? Was that really me? Had I grown old? Was I worn out? Why was I always sleeping? Then, after a successful course of treatment for Lyme disease, I was capable of even more than before.
And when I ‘came back’, I had to be very careful not to overstep the mark. From being a puppet who just went along with everything, my self-esteem, my will, and my independence suddenly emerged. I had to be very careful not to offend anyone.
The other day I spoke to a patient who had just completed the Foundation’s treatment programme. When I first met and spoke to him, he was a shy little man who barely dared to speak. Now, however, I’ve had to tell him several times that he’s become quite outspoken. Well, yes, his tongue, like his mind, has become sharper.
Why am I bringing this up? I don’t want to boast about the recovery that, fortunately, the Foundation has granted to a few thousand, ten thousand people. But:
WE ONLY UNDERSTAND HOW DEVASTATING THIS ILLNESS IS WHEN WE SEE THE BEFORE-AND-AFTER SITUATION IN A RECOVERED PATIENT!
I beg you, I really do, doctors, please try to respond to the distress signals of a patient who doesn’t even recognise themselves. They may not be able to express themselves clearly. They don’t know what’s wrong with them; all they know is that their life wasn’t like this before. They send out SOS signals, hoping that perhaps someone will pick up the signal, that perhaps someone will even set off towards their sinking ship.
May God grant every person with Lyme disease a helping hand, and the experience of a new life with a capital ‘L’ after recovery.
(C) Lyme Borreliosis Foundation
