Lyme Life Monday ~ Drama Queens

When I sought relief for pain and fatigue in the 80s, most doctors told me I was stressed out. I couldn’t say anything that my primary physician would pursue. I had a number of crazy symptoms that caused my neighbor to become concerned, she called an ambulance a time of two. My nervous system seemed to shut down periodically. Unable to lift my arm, then my legs, then unable to respond verbally, barely able to move of my own volition for hours at a time, I saw specialists. From infectious disease to the head of neurology, no one could help. Some healthcare professionals put many of us in a “Drama Queens” category.

Stress of Dis-Ease

Many of those doctors told me that I was stressed out. My response was, you’d be stressed out too if you couldn’t work.

Lyme is a very dramatic disruption in anyone’s life. For too many remaining undiagnosed means the germ(s) create communities called biofilms, where they can grow, basically undetected by laboratory tests, but they send escape pods to populate other parts of the body. The person knows something is going on.

There’s painful joints, muscle fatigue, all kinds of stomach issues, maybe elimination issues, heart issues, foggy thinking, headaches, speech deficits, eye problems, hearing problems, skin problems, balance and coordination disturbances and they may or may not happen at the same time. So, the person is chasing all of these symptoms and the doctors might not even know the whole scope.

Last year it was your ankle. This year it’s your heart or maybe a cough that just won’t quit or something else. If you talk about all of these things, people think you’re being dramatic.

But wait, there’s more. Some of the coinfections of Lyme, like Babesia, actually cause anxiety, air hunger, and emotional distress. So you have the physical stuff that makes life hard, then you have something actually attacking your emotional centers as well.

Drama has its place.

My family has Lyme. I probably passed it on to them when they were born, but even if I didn’t, we live in a clearing in the woods and ticks are just another part of life. Our home has always had an affinity for the dramatic. If someone stubs a toe, he might say he’d smashed it. We might be ecstatic about accomplishing a long-held goal. A broken down car is a catastrophe. We feel deeply. Our relationships are important and broken relationships are devastating. We are drama queens.

For five years, I conducted a drama team. We had some teens and pre-teens from our community in it and we performed around New England. It was a good outlet.

Being dramatic isn’t all bad.

If you have unexplained weakness, fatigue, pain, and other flu-like symptoms, don’t let people tell you, you’re just being dramatic. Find a doctor that will help you get to the bottom of it.

I let doctors send me home to manage my symptoms myself. That would have been fine, except that now I have children That are all sick. That could have been prevented.

There is no magic bullet for Lyme, but there are treatments and supportive measures that make life easier. Knowing you have Lyme opens a door to the possibilities of better living and fulfilling your calling.

If you know someone with Lyme, letting them be a drama queen every once in a while can be a welcome relief. Of course, it is important not to wallow and become depressed. Knowing the truth sets us free to be comfortable with ourselves and with others.

Go ahead, join us, Drama Queens… king, if you like.