My experience w/Anorexia and Lyme Disease.

Picture this… after four treatment facilities, including seven and a half months in residential facility, I am in the office with a doctor who has told me I have Chronic Lyme disease, three co-infectious diseases, massive allergies, and two parasites. As he tells me what all I will need to start or adjust, he begins speaking of foods that are off limits. Now I just spent years and hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to learn and accept that no food is bad or off limits. I am not just found out something is majorly wrong with me changing the course of my life, but also somehow, I am going to need to cut out many foods and restrict most of the rest.

So, visualize that, just let it sink in for a moment…

I felt like I had stepped into some sort of matrix where I had to choose the blue or red pill and though I was required to pick one, I was forbidden to take either of them.

I had no idea that no matter what pill I had swallowed, I would be swallowing thousands in the coming years. Much less the way I would be confronted with food, habits, restrictions, and so so many physical changes.

I had no idea.

This past year I found out that there is actually a correlation between Lyme disease and eating disorders. I have spoken with more than dozen people in this past week who said that they too have had or are currently juggling Lyme Disease and an eating disorder. Even more interesting there were even more who had an autoimmune disorder and Lyme Disease. Several people mentioned that because of the harsh condition and diet they had to be on with Lyme, food became a fear or that the weight gain or loss caused disordered behavior. Others spoke of having such nausea that they had difficulty eating, becoming more of a problem as symptoms persisted.

There could be many reasons behind this from genetic predispositions, both disease and disorder breakdown the body making one more susceptible to the other. Also, both cause psychological difficulty again lending itself to the other’s conditions.

Oddly enough, I did not have one before the other. For me they both started at the same time. I believe that the severity of both cannot be explained with one reason, but instead involves many factors including history, trauma, predispositions, personality, and not recognizing the symptoms or signs of either early on. (Which of course is no one’s fault!)

There are so many other ways that Lyme Disease and anorexia overlap in my life. I still deal with both, but Lyme has been in the forefront for many years now. With all that said I look forward to more studies and research on the subject. In just this short time of learning about the connections, it has helped me to better understand myself and my journey. Understanding the correlations has also helped me connect with others in knowing I am not alone.

Do you or someone you know have Lyme Disease and an eating disorder or possibly an autoimmune disease?

What has been your experience with the two?

#lymeisstupid #feelinglymie #eatingdisorderawarenessweek #eatingdisorderawareness #Hope. #redorbluepill