Quick Take
Fearon Hosmer has battled chronic Lyme disease since 2020, possibly earlier. She got Lyme from an infected tick, but she doesn’t know where or how. Here, she shares her journey to get diagnosed – it took months for her doctors to realize what she had, as many don’t think of Lyme as a West Coast disease. “I quickly realized how little the general public and the conventional medical system understand about this disease,” she writes. Chronic Lyme affects close to 2 million people in the U.S.
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.
I remember Sept. 10, 2020, intimately. I was jolted awake by the smell of wildfire smoke, but I was also suddenly paralyzed – unable to move the right side of my body.
Immense pain shot from the top of my spine to the bottom of my feet. I was horrified and confused. My joints – from my shoulder to my hip to my knees and ankles – were severely swollen and aching with pain. I began to panic. I felt a complete loss of control of and trust in my body. It was terrifying to think I wouldn’t be able to get out if the wildfire advanced.
For months leading up to this, I had been experiencing a myriad of mysterious symptoms, including achy and mildly swollen joints, vision problems, insomnia, short-term memory loss, intense fatigue and sudden weight loss. My anxiety and depression also took a turn for the worse. But that morning, trapped and unable to lift myself out of bed, I realized something was really wrong.
It was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life and the beginning of a wild healing journey.
I went to the emergency room, but no one could tell me what was wrong. I tested negative for all possible viruses. The following week, I tested negative for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
I tested and tested and finally, a month later, my primary care doctor diagnosed me with Lyme disease. Lyme is carried by ticks infected with the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and, rarely, Borrelia mayonii. About 476,00 people a year in the U.S. get it. It’s not contagious and is often hard to detect in blood if the tick bite is not new. Typical symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue and a characteristic bullseye skin rash.
But only 70% of those who get Lyme get the rash. I was among the 30% without it. If left untreated, a Lyme infection can spread to joints, the heart and the nervous system. This condition – which is what I have – is called post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS), or chronic Lyme. About two million people in the U.S. suffer from it.
It felt like a miracle to have a diagnosis.
Unfortunately, the medication I received, 10 days of doxycycline, didn’t help.
My primary doctor, and all conventional doctors I saw, had little to no experience with Lyme disease, let alone chronic Lyme. It’s much more common on the East Coast. I had heard of Lyme, but never realized I could get it in California. I felt blindsided and alone.
As my symptoms persisted, I felt dismissed by doctors who couldn’t seem to help or understand the seriousness of my symptoms – and their effect on my life. I felt hopeless, with nothing but an empty bottle of antibiotics, but no relief.
Eventually, I found a naturopathic doctor who specializes in stealth infections and chronic Lyme. She told me I was likely bitten and infected years prior to the flare on Sept. 10, which would explain the obscure symptoms.
I quickly realized how little the general public and the conventional medical system understand about this disease. It’s baffling, considering Lyme is the most common vector-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere, with the number of reported cases tripling in the past 20 years.
LYME DISEASE RESOURCES
- About Lyme disease, which is named for the Connecticut town where it first appeared.
- Here is what the Centers for Disease Control says about chronic Lyme.
- The Lyme Disease Association, Inc. offers support and information for sufferers.
In Santa Cruz County, ticks abound in our woods all year round. Lyme mainly gets carried by adult Western black‐legged ticks and about 2% of our population carries the disease, according to county data. Only about 12 cases of Lyme disease are diagnosed a year in our community. But winter is a time of high activity for adult ticks.
And, believe me, you don’t want to be part of the statistics.
My Lyme diagnosis turned my life upside down. I spent two years trying every treatment, diet and doctor I could find in hopes of getting the life I knew back so I could function.
For many, healing from chronic Lyme is a long and ambiguous journey, requiring substantial behavioral and lifestyle changes. Healing often takes a multidimensional approach, including an anti-inflammatory diet, stress management, non-toxic living, detox protocols, healing the gut and addressing vitamin and mineral deficiencies. My treatment protocol included: antibiotics, intravenous therapy, herbal medicine, acupuncture, supplements, anti-inflammatory medication, special diets, and so much more. I even traveled to a hospital in Mexico that specialized in chronic Lyme treatment and underwent hyperthermia, during which my body got heated up to 106 degrees in an intensive care unit, in an effort to induce a fever and kill off the bacteria.
I had to pay out of pocket for my treatments as nothing was covered by insurance (my friends set up a GoFundMe), and I could no longer work due to my condition. I spent nearly all my savings.
Three years later, I am still healing. But, today, I write this while resting at home, fighting a manageable flare, with the tools and practices I have learned and adopted along the way.
I am certain that every grueling treatment and protocol I tried helped get me here, and helped mitigate my symptoms.
I no longer wake in a state of perpetual fear and hopelessness. I have faith my body can heal and is healing, and have come out the other side with more love and hope than ever before.
Today I rest my heart in immense gratitude for my resilience and perseverance through it all. There were moments I questioned if life was worth living. I wondered how I could bear the pain mentally, emotionally, and physically any longer. I felt like a complete burden, failure, and questioned my worth.
I still have my moments. But, today, I try to focus on the growth, progress and meaning that this journey has added to my life.
I have gone back to get a master’s degree and am now pursuing a career in integrative health so I can be of service to this population. I am now a board-certified health and wellness coach, supporting those suffering from persistent symptoms associated with Lyme and other chronic conditions with a focus on evidence-based mind-body practices and mentorship.
I owe my life to the loved ones who supported me along the way and reminded me to keep fighting. And through it all, the biggest lesson was re-learning my innate worthiness, that I deserve to rest and that compassion is the most potent medicine.
Sending love to all the fighters out there: I see you, you are loved and your strength is imperishable.
Fearon Hosmer received a master’s in integrative health in 2023 from the California Institute of Integral Studies and is a national board-certified wellness coach. I help those with chronic conditions find freedom from stress and symptoms through evidence-based mind-body practices and mentorship.