My Battle with Lyme Disease

I never remember feeling “good”.  I always felt “decent” or “okay”.  When I was younger, around the age of 12, I started to develop a lot of nausea and pain in my stomach.  My parents didn’t believe me half the time when I told them I was sick because I would always complain of feeling sick.  As time went on, I started to develop migraines and more recently, joint pain. I started getting weird pains that would move all around my body and I developed strange marks on my legs.  My symptoms were getting weirder and weirder and doctors were stumped.

I went to many doctors over the course of my life.  I felt like I was in the doctors office at least every week with a new problem.  After many doctor visits and many tests, I started getting discouraged.  They would tell me they couldn’t find a problem.  “You’re just stressed.” “It’s all in your head.” “Is everything okay at home?”  I felt like they would never be able to help me and I would never know why I was so sick.

A few years ago, I met an amazing family from my church who I have grown very close to.  I started dating one of their sons, Caleb, a year and a half ago.  Caleb’s father had been sick for many years with many strange symptoms.  They had no idea what was wrong with him.  Caleb would tell me that his dad and I had the same mystery illness but I thought he was crazy.

To make a long story short, Caleb and his parents got diagnosed with Lyme disease.  After Caleb’s dad was diagnosed, Caleb and his mom got tested and they were all diagnosed with the pandemic disease.  I had never really heard of Lyme disease before and learned that it was passed on by a tick.  There were many myths about Lyme disease.  One being that you must have a bulls eye rash after a tick bite.  Doctors do not know much about Lyme disease and have been trained to believe is cannot be chronic but in reality Lyme disease lasts longer than a few weeks.  In most cases, people that have Lyme have had it their whole lives.  Symptoms range from GI problems to seizures.  There are hundreds of different symptoms.  After I was more educated about Lyme, I took a quiz online and it turned out I had about 30 symptoms of the disease.  We knew it was time for me to get tested!

March 13, 2015 I was diagnosed with Lyme disease.  When I was first diagnosed I was really scared.  I actually still get pretty scared sometimes.  I didn’t know how I was going to react to the large amount of medication that I had to take and what new symptoms I would develop.  Since starting medication I have felt worse in some areas and better in others.  I thank God that we now know what I have, including what Caleb’s family has and that we are all being treated for it.  God is good!

One thing I wish I could change through this trial is that I trusted God more.  When I was younger I would often get depressed and discouraged when a doctor would give up on treating me.  I felt so weak and scared.  I wish I realized that God is who gives me my strength!

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength

Philippians 4:13

Even though this has been tough, I believe God is using this trial for good.  He is making me stronger mentally and spiritually.  I trust that I will get better one day and that I will be able to use this testimony to encourage others that are going through health issues.

To learn more about Lyme disease, go to:  http://canlyme.com/

If you think you may have Lyme, there is a list of common symptoms here: http://canlyme.com/just-diagnosed/

For more on my story, read this blog post: https://www.homemakingwife.com/trusting-in-god/