“Ten years ago, I kept getting chronic bladder infections, so I would go to the doctors and they’d put me on medicine over and over. My symptoms continued to get worse, but at this point there were no longer signs of a bladder infection. I couldn’t get out of bed. I was also going to school full time, working full time and had 2 internships. So in order for me to deflect from my pain and crippling anxiety, I turned to work. It continued to get worse and worse. Then around age 25, it got to the point where I was missing out on things. I would be completely fine but then I would have an event to go to and I would literally crash. My body would shut down. I was put on a heavy antibiotic. I was on that for 3 years straight so my body never really got a chance to repair itself. I was going from doctor to doctor, looking for answers and I just felt like nobody could hear me. I went in and got an MRI. One person told me I should visit a psychiatrist because I was a hypochondriac. The MRI didn’t find anything. I visited with hundreds of doctors. I always left discouraged, hopeless and feeling completely defeated. It was affecting all of my relationships. I was always in pain and had chronic fatigue and for someone who has a ton of energy, it was very debilitating. I started getting different diagnoses. Fibromyalgia, adrenal fatigue, chronic fatigue and accumulatively 10 different autoimmune diseases. It wasn’t until this past year when I got engaged, that I told myself I can’t wake up on my wedding day and wonder if I’ll be able to get out of bed. I finally found a functional medicine doctor and it was the first time a doctor asked me how I was and put together all the pieces of my life. After talking with her, doing an extensive checklist and knowing all of my symptoms, she was 99% certain that I had Lyme’s. And after all this time, I just found out last week that I do in fact have chronic Lyme disease. I can’t even begin to express the relief I feel. It’s validating to have a diagnoses that encompasses the bigger picture, instead of wondering how so many different diagnoses were related. I think someone else will be able to look at me and say she was a 28 year old relatively healthy yoga teacher who did all of the right things and can still be sick. I want people to feel elevated to be advocates for themselves. I never knew I could ask for certain tests, among other things. I don’t think people know they can ask. The doctors that have listened are the ones who have changed everything. Both Eastern and Western medicine played a role in fixing me. Having a disease that no one can see and that’s one of the most controversial ones in America is incredibly frustrating, but I will continue to keep faith. We can only move forward in awareness.”