{"id":23688,"date":"2022-07-20T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/?post_type=humans_of_scotland&p=23688"},"modified":"2023-08-15T11:54:01","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T10:54:01","slug":"arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"Arlene’s story- Fighting against Lyme disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

“My son went off to Aberdeen University aged 18. After 3 weeks he couldn\u2019t get out of bed. He just couldn\u2019t move; there was fatigue, exhaustion, muscle twitching, light sensitivity, noise sensitivity, headaches, sweats, even panic attacks.<\/p>\n

We were baffled -then I remembered he removed an embedded tick during his Duke of Edinburgh award a couple of years before. This illness had all the signs of Lyme disease. Had it flared up after moving away and late night partying at university?<\/p>\n

His health continued to get worse, and he was devastated to leave university at Christmas and come home.<\/p>\n

His GP tested for Lyme disease, but it came back negative. We all believed the test. After that, we spent three years going down the psychiatry route whilst he continued to get worse. I felt in my gut that it wasn\u2019t right, that it wasn\u2019t something psychologically wrong with him. By then, he didn\u2019t even have the energy to walk across the hallway to the bathroom. All his meals had to be brought to him on a tray. Three years later his psychologist said \u201cI agree with you, I think this is a physiological problem\u201d. I knew it was Lyme disease.<\/p>\n

We call Lyme disease \u201cThe New Great Imitator\u201d because it mimics a lot of other diseases. If not caught early, it\u2019s hard to diagnose, and even harder to treat.<\/p>\n

We couldn\u2019t get the treatment he needed on the NHS, and so made the decision to go private. We were lucky to be in the position to do so. He was tested at a clinic in London and diagnosed then treated for Lyme disease plus other tick-borne infections. Since then, he\u2019s had intensive treatment for infections, to support his immune system, and reduce the inflammation caused. His condition has improved, but the one symptom he can\u2019t kick is the extreme fatigue.<\/p>\n

We still care for him, he\u2019s housebound, but not bedbound anymore. It\u2019s like his batteries fade within the first ten minutes of the day, and then he has nothing left. He doesn\u2019t see things getting better. I\u2019m the eternal optimist, I believe we can still find ways to improve his life. I tell him that we will always fight for his recovery from Lyme disease, even if he doesn\u2019t have the energy to do it himself.”<\/p>\n

Find out more information about persistent Lyme disease on the Lyme Resource Centre website (this link will take you away from our website). <\/a><\/p>\n

For more information and support for living with an antibiotic resistant infections look on the Antibiotic Research UK website (this link will take you away from our website). <\/a><\/p>\n

Read more Humans of Scotland stories here.<\/a><\/p>\n

End of document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“My son went off to Aberdeen University aged 18. After 3 weeks he couldn\u2019t get out of bed. He just couldn\u2019t move; there was fatigue, exhaustion, muscle twitching, light sensitivity, noise sensitivity, headaches, sweats, even panic attacks. We were baffled -then I remembered he removed an embedded tick during his Duke of Edinburgh award a … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":23689,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"25192,25182,24164,14686,15311,14626","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"hos-category":[739],"humans_tags":[478,545],"area_of_work":[],"strategic_priority":[],"class_list":["post-23688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","hos-category-long-term-conditions","humans_tags-carer","humans_tags-chronic-pain"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nArlene's story- Fighting against Lyme disease - Humans of Scotland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arlene's story- Fighting against Lyme disease - Humans of Scotland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“My son went off to Aberdeen University aged 18. After 3 weeks he couldn\u2019t get out of bed. He just couldn\u2019t move; there was fatigue, exhaustion, muscle twitching, light sensitivity, noise sensitivity, headaches, sweats, even panic attacks. We were baffled -then I remembered he removed an embedded tick during his Duke of Edinburgh award a … Continued\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Humans of Scotland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-20T10:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-15T10:54:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2022\/07\/marcus-and-arlene.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"oliviafriendspencer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"oliviafriendspencer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"oliviafriendspencer\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/272ea10b00a18172db52376ac8f05414\"},\"headline\":\"Arlene’s story- Fighting against Lyme disease\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-20T10:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-15T10:54:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":468,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/11\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/marcus-and-arlene.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arlene's story- Fighting against Lyme disease - Humans of Scotland\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/11\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/marcus-and-arlene.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-20T10:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-15T10:54:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/272ea10b00a18172db52376ac8f05414\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/11\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/marcus-and-arlene.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/11\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/marcus-and-arlene.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Young man sat on the sofa with food on a tray, smiling, with his mother stood next to him, smiling.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Arlene’s story- Fighting against Lyme disease\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/\",\"name\":\"Humans of Scotland\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/272ea10b00a18172db52376ac8f05414\",\"name\":\"oliviafriendspencer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/756c1260840ebd67baf48bf89e99fc82d49bae7ef1f68781cff7f33403e2fd80?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/756c1260840ebd67baf48bf89e99fc82d49bae7ef1f68781cff7f33403e2fd80?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/756c1260840ebd67baf48bf89e99fc82d49bae7ef1f68781cff7f33403e2fd80?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"oliviafriendspencer\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/author\\\/oliviafriendspencer\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Arlene's story- Fighting against Lyme disease - Humans of Scotland","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Arlene's story- Fighting against Lyme disease - Humans of Scotland","og_description":"“My son went off to Aberdeen University aged 18. After 3 weeks he couldn\u2019t get out of bed. He just couldn\u2019t move; there was fatigue, exhaustion, muscle twitching, light sensitivity, noise sensitivity, headaches, sweats, even panic attacks. We were baffled -then I remembered he removed an embedded tick during his Duke of Edinburgh award a … Continued","og_url":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\/","og_site_name":"Humans of Scotland","article_published_time":"2022-07-20T10:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-08-15T10:54:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2022\/07\/marcus-and-arlene.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"oliviafriendspencer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"oliviafriendspencer","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\/"},"author":{"name":"oliviafriendspencer","@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/#\/schema\/person\/272ea10b00a18172db52376ac8f05414"},"headline":"Arlene’s story- Fighting against Lyme disease","datePublished":"2022-07-20T10:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-15T10:54:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\/"},"wordCount":468,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2022\/07\/marcus-and-arlene.jpg","inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\/","url":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\/","name":"Arlene's story- Fighting against Lyme disease - Humans of Scotland","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2022\/07\/marcus-and-arlene.jpg","datePublished":"2022-07-20T10:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-15T10:54:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/#\/schema\/person\/272ea10b00a18172db52376ac8f05414"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2022\/07\/marcus-and-arlene.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2022\/07\/marcus-and-arlene.jpg","width":1600,"height":800,"caption":"Young man sat on the sofa with food on a tray, smiling, with his mother stood next to him, smiling."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/arlenes-story-fight-against-lyme-disease\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Arlene’s story- Fighting against Lyme disease"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/","name":"Humans of Scotland","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/#\/schema\/person\/272ea10b00a18172db52376ac8f05414","name":"oliviafriendspencer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/756c1260840ebd67baf48bf89e99fc82d49bae7ef1f68781cff7f33403e2fd80?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/756c1260840ebd67baf48bf89e99fc82d49bae7ef1f68781cff7f33403e2fd80?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/756c1260840ebd67baf48bf89e99fc82d49bae7ef1f68781cff7f33403e2fd80?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"oliviafriendspencer"},"url":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/author\/oliviafriendspencer\/"}]}},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2029-05-01 08:50:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"sections","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"hos-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hos-category?post=23688"},{"taxonomy":"humans_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/humans_tags?post=23688"},{"taxonomy":"area_of_work","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/area_of_work?post=23688"},{"taxonomy":"strategic_priority","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/strategic_priority?post=23688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}