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15 celebrities who have opened up about battling Lyme disease
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Lyme disease, the bacterial tick-borne illness that often
comes with a host of vague, mysterious symptoms
which makes it difficult to properly diagnose.
Avril Lavigne went public with her Lyme battle in 2015 and is
now an advocate for those with the illness.
Justin Bieber recently spoke about his struggles with Lyme
disease.
In recent years, the medical spotlight has increasingly been
shining on
Lyme disease, the bacterial tick-borne illness that often
comes with a host of vague, mysterious symptoms.
The widespread illness is often considered the "great imitator"
because its symptoms typically mimic other health conditions like
rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome,
multiple sclerosis, and others.
Getting a proper
Lyme disease diagnosis remains challenging because testing is
often inconclusive, potentially leaving those impacted to suffer
for weeks, months, or years before being correctly treated.
Justin Bieber explained that, for a long time, people speculated
that he was "on meth," but failed to realize that he'd actually
recently been diagnosed with Lyme disease.
He said that he'd also been struggling with "a serious case of
chronic mono which affected my skin, brain function, energy, and
overall health."
The musician wrote that he would talk more about his battle with
Lyme in his upcoming YouTube documentary series called "Justin
Bieber: Seasons."
His wife, Hailey Bieber, also posted on Twitter that she doesn't
want people to downplay the severity of this disease.
"For those who are trying to downplay the severity of Lyme
disease," she
wrote. "Please do your research and listen to the stories of
people who have suffered with it for years. Making fun of and
belittling a disease you don't understand is never the way, all
it takes is educating yourself."
Avril Lavigne went public with her Lyme battle in 2015 and is now an advocate for those with the illness.
Lavigne opened up about her struggle with
Lyme disease in a June 2015 interview with "Good Morning
America," revealing that she'd been bedridden in October 2014.
She called that the "worst time" in her life after seeing
specialists and doctors who misdiagnosed her with chronic fatigue
syndrome and depression.
In October 2018, the "Complicated" singer told Billboard she
felt unwell during her 2014 tour. She recalled thinking, "I'm
achy, I'm fatigued, I cannot get the f--- out of bed - what the
f--- is wrong with me?" as her symptoms progressively got worse.
During one of her darkest days battling with side effects of the
disease, Lavigne said she wrote her 2018 song "Head Above Water,"
telling Billboard, "I had accepted that I was dying ... And
literally under my breath, I was like, 'God, help me keep my head
above the water.'"
Lavigne has also started the Avril Lavigne
Foundation, which aims to bring awareness to those dealing
with Lyme and other serious illnesses and disabilities.
She told "GMA" viewers that might be suffering that "there is
hope. Lyme disease does exist and you can get better."
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Ben Stiller also had trouble getting an accurate diagnosis.
In 2011, Stiller told The Hollywood Reporter about his Lyme
disease saying, "I got it in Nantucket, Massachusetts, a couple
of years ago. My knee became inflamed and they couldn't figure
out what it was,
then they found out it was
Lyme."
He says he's now symptom-free but notes that Lyme will never
leave his system.
Shania Twain has said her battle with Lyme has impacted her career.
Shania Twain dominated the pop and country charts in the 1990s
and early 2000s, but by 2004, she'd contracted Lyme disease,
which she attributes to issues with her vocal cords.
In 2017, she told Canadian news outlet CBC that she was bitten by
a tick when on tour in Norfolk, Virginia. She said she saw a tick
fall of her and she immediately began to see troubling
Lyme disease symptoms pop up.
"I was on tour, so I almost fell off the stage every night. I was
very, very dizzy and didn't know what was going on. It's just one
of those things you don't suspect," she added.
It took Twain years to figure out that she had dysphonia, a neurological
disorder of the vocal cords in which muscles can spasm and impact
speech, which she attributes to the Lyme bacteria.
She now warns others about the disease.
"[Lyme] is very dangerous because you have a very short window to
catch it and then treat it and then even when you treat it, you
could still very well be left with effects, which is what
happened to me," Twain told CBC. "It's a debilitating disease and
extremely dangerous. You can't play around with it, so you've got
to check yourself for ticks."
In 2017, she prepared for a musical comeback and began advocating
on behalf of fellow individuals with
Lyme disease, telling E! News it's "such a silent evil
thing."
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Kelly Osbourne went undiagnosed for nearly a decade.
The former reality star has been open about her addiction to
prescription drugs, but in her 2017 book "There
Is No F*cking Secret: Letters From a Badass Bitch," Osbourne
reveals she'd unknowingly been battling Lyme disease for years,
too.
She explained that her mom, Sharon, purchased her dad, Ozzy, a
reindeer sanctuary for their home in England for his 56th
birthday in 2004. She said shortly after she was bitten by a
tick, which Ozzy burned off of her.
For years after, she experienced "traveling pain," ranging from
stomach aches to a sore throat.
Osbourne revealed that doctors simply kept giving her
prescriptions even though she suspected she was battling Lyme. An
alternative medicine specialist finally tested her and after her
positive diagnosis, she flew to Germany for stem cell treatment.
Osbourne wrote that she was initially afraid to speak publicly
about Lyme disease because "it seems like the trendy disease to
have right now, and I'm tired of seeing sad celebrities play the
victim on the cover of weekly mags," but that she now acts as her
own health advocate.
Ally Hilfiger battled the disease for decades and chronicled her journey in a memoir.
Osbourne is not the only reality star to deal with Lyme disease -
the former "Rich Girls" star went misdiagnosed for a long time
after being bit by a tick at 7 years old in 1992.
In 2016, she told Health magazine, "I remember getting bit
by a tick and my parents sent it off to the labs. And we got
inconclusive tests back."
For 10 years, she says she multiple doctors gave her a variety of
diagnoses from fibromyalgia to rheumatoid arthritis.
The emotional battle is just as hard as the physical one,
according to the fashion designer.
"One of the biggest issues I think a lot of Lyme sufferers have
is that some days you can have good days. And other days you can
feel really feel horribly and not be able to get out of bed," she
told Health. "And sometimes you start to doubt whether or not
you're really feeling what your feeling, if that makes any sense.
And you feel disbelieved."
These days, she's doing much better, telling the magazine that
finally receiving the correct diagnosis felt like she "won the
lottery."
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In 2014, Debbie Gibson revealed she'd been privately battling the illness.
After fans expressed their concern about her appearance in social
media photos, Debbie Gibson took to her blog in April 2014 to
give an update on her
health, revealing that she'd begun experiencing symptoms in
early 2013.
She said she first felt anxiety and sensitivity to certain foods.
Then, she said she began feeling unique pain and muscle fatigue
she'd never had before. She added, "I got tested for everything
under the sun, though it did not occur to me, or my West Coast
doctors, to test for Lyme. It is typically an East Coast thing."
Gibson began losing weight and experiencing symptoms of
depression, adding, "I could barely walk. I started feeling
numbness and tingling in my hands and feet, which is very
disconcerting for a pianist and dancer, to say the least. Night
sweats, chills, fever, nerve tremors, nightmares, and migraine
headaches were at a fever pitch without a minute of relief."
After a long journey to find the correct diagnosis, the "I Love
You" singer was able to begin treatment. But, she is still aware
that she has to take care of herself and her health.
She joined the cast of "Dancing
with the Stars" in 2017, telling People magazine, "I can't be
cavalier with my body. I can't just push myself without thinking
what happens next. [Lyme Disease] can affect my stamina," she
said. "I've always been in tune with my body. But the last few
years have helped me learn where I can push my limits. I'm going
to choose to think of that as an advantage."
Alec Baldwin opened up about his years-long battle with Lyme in 2017.
During a 2011 interview with The New York Times, the "Saturday
Night Live" actor mentioned that he had
chronic Lyme disease.
Alec Baldwin didn't mention his diagnosis again until 2017 when
he spoke onstage at an event benefiting the Bay Area Lyme Foundation.
According to People magazine, he told the crowd he'd been bitten
by a tick 17 years prior and was bitten again a few years later.
"I got the classic
Lyme disease (symptoms) for each successive summer, for five
years, every August, like [these] black lung, flu-like symptoms,
sweating to death in my bed," he said.
"The first time was the worst of all," he recalled. "And I really
thought, 'This is it, I'm not going to live.' ... I was lying in
bed saying, 'I'm going to die of Lyme disease,' in my bed.'"
Now, he says he and his wife, Hilaria, remain vigilant about
checking their dogs and children for ticks.
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Jamie-Lynn Sigler battled Lyme disease before learning she also suffered from multiple sclerosis.
When Jamie-Lynn Sigler was 19 years old and starring on HBO's hit
"The Sopranos," she learned she had Lyme disease.
Shortly after, in 2016, she told People magazine, "I was
diagnosed with
MS (multiple sclerosis) when I was 20 years old. It was a
shock, it was surprising."
"I had been diagnosed with Lyme disease the year before, so to
get the diagnosis was confusing, and also strange because I
didn't feel sick. I didn't feel that anything was wrong."
She'd taken antibiotics, a standard course of treatment for
early-stage Lyme, "and things had started to go away," she
shared.
Daryl Hall was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2004 and has opened up about his experiences.
In 2005, the duo Hall and Oates canceled a tour, revealing that
Daryl Hall had been diagnosed with
Lyme disease.
In 2011, he opened up about his experiences, explaining how he
contracted the disease and his journey to health.
"I got it the way everybody gets it," he said. "I've lived in the
country for many, many years ... it's a hotbed of deer and other
wildlife animals. I'd been bitten over the years so many times
and I think it finally reached a critical mass and I crashed and
burned about five years ago."
He experienced a wide range of ailments, from allergies and
fever-like symptoms to aches, pains, and tremors. After being
tested, he learned he had "six or seven tick-borne diseases."
Hall started to research on his own and saw a Lyme literate
doctor who helped treat him.
He advises individuals with constantly changing symptoms "to get
tested for Lyme disease because the symptoms mimic so many other
things."
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Thalía Mottola began feeling ill during her first pregnancy in 2007 and became unable to care for her newborn daughter.
Thalía Mottola spent most of the 1990s and early 2000s dominating
the Latin music charts, but in 2007, at the end of her first
pregnancy with her daughter,
Sabrina, the "No Me Acuerdo" singer began feeling unwell.
By the time she gave birth, she was unknowingly dealing with a
full-blown case of Lyme disease.
In her 2011 memoir "Growing
Stronger," she explained that doctors tried to convince her
she was suffering from postpartum depression, writing, "I
continued to feel like I had been run over by a truck that had
dragged me for a thousand miles, along with a steamroller that
had crushed every last bone in my body. I literally thought I was
dying."
When she found the energy to research online, she started seeing
Lyme specialists, eventually undergoing two years of "heavy
treatments."
Fortunately, her treatment seems to have helped with some
symptoms as she is back to releasing albums and touring around
the world.
Kris Kristofferson experienced several misdiagnoses before being treated for Lyme.
In 2016, the music legend and his wife revealed in a Rolling
Stone interview that he'd been diagnosed with Lyme disease just
shy of his
80th birthday.
His wife, Lisa, told the magazine she believed he'd been bitten
by a tick while filming the 2006 movie "Disappearances" in
Vermont.
"He was taking all these medications for things he doesn't have,
and they all have side effects," she shared, talking about
medications he was taking for depression and Alzheimer's disease.
After three weeks of
Lyme disease treatment, Lisa noted that "All of a sudden he
was back," adding that he still struggles some days but "some
days he's perfectly normal and it's easy to forget that he is
even battling anything."
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Kathleen Hanna battled Lyme disease for over a decade before being properly diagnosed.
Kathleen Hanna stepped away from her band, Le Tigre, in 2005,
citing personal health issues as the reason for her hiatus.
But what she didn't know then was that she was struggling with
chronic
Lyme disease- the musician finally received her diagnosis in
late 2010.
She experienced debilitating symptoms over the course of several
years that made her unable to move or speak at times and she
began to heal after two years of "intensive therapy," according
to The New York Times.
After multiple misdiagnoses - from multiple sclerosis to lupus
and panic attacks - she saw a 2008 documentary called "Under Our Skin" about the unspoken
Lyme epidemic and realized that a tick bite she got in 2005 could
still be causing her health problems, even though she'd been
treated with a standard course of antibiotics for Lyme disease at
the time.
In 2013, Hanna returned to the public eye and in 2016 she formed
a new band,
Julie Ruin.
Yolanda Hadid is one of the most outspoken celebrity voices spreading awareness of the disease.
Yolanda Hadid was a cast member on "The Real Housewives of
Beverly Hills" in 2012, but viewers didn't know that behind the
scenes she was struggling with symptoms of chronic
Lyme disease.
She was finally diagnosed in 2015 and began publicly advocating
for those with Lyme while trying to regain her own health, noting
that she suffered from debilitating neurological and physical
symptoms.
She has traveled around the world in search of a cure and she's
chronicled some of the recovery process on the Bravo reality
series.
Eventually, she left the show, choosing to focus on her recovery
and advocating on behalf of others also struggling.
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Bella Hadid also battles Lyme disease.
In late 2015, after going public with her diagnosis, Yolanda
revealed that her daughter, Bella Hadid, struggled with Lyme
disease, too.
Bella Hadid told the Evening Standard of
her diagnosis, "It was a dark time … I was exhausted all the
time. It affected my memory so I suddenly wouldn't remember how
to drive to Santa Monica from Malibu where I lived. I couldn't
ride [horses]. I was just too sick. And I had to sell my horse
because I couldn't take care of it."
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