Zoes historie

Symptomer

Sensoriske ændringer (prikken og følelsesløshed i benene)

Træthed

Ikke i stand til at gå, næsten ingen kræfter til at tale

Følsomhed over for lyde og lugte

Besvimelse (ortostatisk hypotension)

Problemer med hukommelsen

Smerter og kolik

Hvordan symptomerne udviklede sig

Kort efter at jeg kom hjem fra et studieophold i Sydamerika, begyndte jeg at mærke, at min krop langsomt lukkede ned. Jeg havde mindre og mindre styrke til at lægge planer eller bare til at rejse mig fra en stol.

Første gang jeg var på skadestuen, fik jeg konstateret en nyreinfektion, og de sendte mig hjem med antibiotika.

Som dagene gik, og jeg tog antibiotika, mærkede jeg min krop mindre og mindre og tilbragte al tiden på min sofa derhjemme. En dag, da jeg forsøgte at rejse mig op, kunne jeg ikke. Jeg mistede følelsen i mine ben. Derudover begyndte jeg at få sensoriske problemer. Kemikalier gjorde meget ondt på mig, og nogle lyde fik mig til at vride mig af smerte.

Efter mange tests og “små diagnoser”, der ikke var helt korrekte, blev jeg henvist til en
neurolog. En dag, da jeg forlod konsultationslokalet, faldt jeg om på gulvet, og mit blodtryk var lavt. På det tidspunkt indlagde neurologen mig på hospitalet.

When treatment for Lyme didn’t help symptoms

After being diagnosed with Lyme disease I had a 3-week round of antibiotics. Unfortunately this treatment didn’t help my symptoms. I had less and less strength and more and more pain, there were days when I couldn’t stand it and I felt completely exhausted.

My medical team decided to give me another second round of antibiotics through a central line on home admission. Once again, the antibiotic left me exhausted and I didn’t feel any better. Through all this, the physio used to come once a day to help me move my body.

The heavy antibiotics had cleared any trace of the Lyme bacteria from my body, but my symptoms did not miraculously go away. In fact, I was now in a worse state following the treatment, and there was little left that the medical system could offer me.

I decided to try alternative treatments and natural medicine. I could tell you a lot about this process, which was also very long… but let’s just say that I was taking 30 pills a day and I was still feeling bad.

What helped: making the decision to recover and steady increases in activity

One morning when I woke up, I felt a little better. I was still very ill, but I felt like trying to go for a walk around the block of the building. Little by little, every day for 5 minutes, I went out and tried to lie down for as little time as possible.

I began to feel a bit better and this encouraged me to continue taking those short walks and seeing life in a different color. Now that I am 100% recovered (and so is my central nervous system), I see that it took all the strength my body had left to get me back on my feet. I made the decision that I had to recover on my own, taking advantage of every small improvement, and I set about it.

What helped: understanding that symptoms can remain without damage

My family doctor told me that she had a friend, also a doctor, who was teaching a course in cognitive retraining. As I was still quite weak, my mother was the one who did the course, and when she got home she told me about it and explained everything little by little.

That’s when I realized that the bacteria had already gone. I learned that it is not the same to have damage (for example caused by Lyme bacteria) as pain (symptom).

Hvad hjalp: Forståelse af, at symptomer kan forblive uden skade

Min familielæge fortalte mig, at hun havde en ven, som også var læge, og som underviste i kognitiv genoptræning. Da jeg stadig var ret svag, var det min mor, der tog kurset, og da hun kom hjem, fortalte hun mig om det og forklarede det hele lidt efter lidt.

Da gik det for alvor op for mig, at bakterierne var væk. Jeg lærte, at det ikke er
det samme at have skade (borreliose) som smerte (symptom).