I used to be a magnificence queen — now Lyme illness has left me bedridden

Health

By Brooke Kato

July 13, 2023 | 4:30pm

Kirstie Haysman was a match mother and wonder queen — till Lyme illness compelled her to be “bedbound.”

The Miss Herfordshire 2015 title holder stayed trim for pageants with high-intensity coaching, however has since developed excruciating bodily ache and fatigue that leaves her unable to go away dwelling, a lot much less her mattress.

Medical doctors instructed Haysman, 34, that she most certainly had an an infection or auto-immune illness when her signs cropped up in 2015, leaving her struggling along with her well being for the years that adopted.

Unhappy along with her obscure analysis, the Brit magnificence traveled to Mexico for additional bloodwork that exposed she had Lyme illness, which is contracted by way of tick bites.

The sickness is most frequently attributable to the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferiin line with the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionand signs included fever, fatigue, headache and the hallmark bulls-eye rash, erythema migrans.

Lyme illness, which infects and estimated 426,000 Americans every year, is commonly resolved with a two to 4 course of antibiotics, although some sufferers may be unfortunate sufficient to develop persistent signs, dubbed Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndromejust like an “auto-immune” response.

Haysman claimed that if she had obtained a correct analysis, she could possibly be dwelling pain-free, however as an alternative, her physique “is shutting down.”

“I pray it will get higher so I can stroll round — I’ve been exterior twice in final the six weeks, aside from that my life is in mattress,” the Watford, England mother instructed SWNS, including that her husband has been tasked with carrying her to the bathroom and tub. “This all might have been averted in the event that they’d completed a easy Lyme check.”

Her first signs appeared as joint ache and persistent fatigue, and he or she stated a rheumatologist prescribed her a excessive dose of steroids.

But, her well being continued to worsen — her joints swelled and he or she was unable to choose gadgets up — and her bloodwork outcomes handed with flying colours.

Physicians recognized her with an auto-immune dysfunction and tried to suppress her immune system as therapy, which Haysman claims most likely made her situation deteriorate even futher. Her long-term steroid use even resulted in “the bones of a 70-year-old,” per her physician.

It wasn’t till January 2023 {that a} good friend steered Lyme illness could possibly be the culpri.

“I’d been taking steroids, dwelling on ache killers and had tried each low irritation food plan you possibly can consider,” she stated. “I simply assumed I had an autoimmune illness like Lupus — Lyme known as ‘the good imitator’ as a result of it imitates these autoimmune circumstances.”

The next month, her bloodwork from Mexico proved she had Lyme illness, prompting docs to prescribe a concoction of three antibiotics for 12 months whereas Haysman makes an attempt natural cures as nicely.

Even again dwelling in England, the previous pageant queen remains to be struggling to seek out a physician who understands her situation.

“I’m bedbound and I had to surrender my job as a healthcare skilled, I used to be a chiropodist and couldn’t use my fingers anymore,” she lamented.

The state of affairs has even prompted her daughter, Harriet, 11, to get examined for the illness as nicely.

“I wish to get the phrase out that when you’ve got autoimmune circumstances or rheumatic illness to get examined for Lyme,” Haysman stated. “It’s so irritating — in your thoughts you wish to be working and socializing however you’re caught in physique that may’t work.”

Her harrowing story follows a scourge of ticks plaguing areas of the US lately.

In 2023, tick season — which ranges from April to October — was predicted to be the worst yetamid information that a Lyme disease vaccine was on the horizon.

As of April, jabs from Moderna in addition to Pfizer and Valneva had been within the works, the latter of which hoped to hunt FDA-approval as early as 2025.