In the most recent issue of People magazine, singer Avril Lavigne released the news that she had been diagnosed with Lyme disease after contracting it from a tick, and has been silently suffering away from the public eye. Avril had begun to feel ill last April but at first doctors suggested her change in energy levels were due to dehydration and exhaustion.
Avril’s condition only continued to worsen without the proper treatment until at times she was reportedly unable to do simple tasks like brush he teeth. When she did finally receive a proper diagnosis she immediately made changes to her lifestyle and now says she is about 80 percent recovered.
Those changes included dietary changes of cutting about sugar, gluten, and dairy, as well as physical changes like taking up yoga, meditation, swimming, and walking.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Lyme disease is transmitted to humans through a tick bite and is caused by the bacterium borrelia burgdorferi. Around 30,000 Americans are diagnosed with Lyme disease each year but it is preventable.
Initial precautions include wearing long pants and sleeves when in areas where ticks are known to be living, as well as using bug spray. Following any potential exposure the body should be showered and checked completely and carefully for ticks which can be as small as a poppy seed.
Lyme disease is generally diagnosed through a blood test but doctors often hold off on doing it until symptoms are apparent to avoid a misdiagnosis when another health issue may actually be present.
Even if someone is bit by a tick, preventing Lyme disease is still possible when the ticks are caught in time. Removing the tick within 36 hours and getting antibiotics within a month after the bulls eye type rash appears on the skin is crucial and can prevent a lot of the physical symptoms from ever developing if at all.
That being said, 10 to 20 percent of people who are treated still develop symptoms that can last up to six months and include fatigue, arthritis pain, and muscle aches.
