Debbie Gibson Illustrates the Dark Side of Lyme disease

If you are familiar with Debbie Gibson and her music career, you know that she is, normally, a bundle of energy. She’s been performing on stage since the 1980s, but recently received some backlash after performing in South America. Critics blasted her online for her skeletal frame and said that she was unhealthily skinny. In response to the harsh words, she came out and said that yes, indeed she was unhealthy, but not because of eating issues. She has Lyme disease.

In a long blog post entitled When Life Hands you a Lemon…or Lyme she details her battle with this terrible tick-borne disease that went undiagnosed for too long.

Debbie didn’t have the bulls eye rash that some Lyme disease victims do. If she did, she may have more easily been able to find out what was ailing her. One of the main issues surrounding Lyme disease is how difficult it can be to diagnose. So many of its symptoms are similar to the flu or other illnesses.

One of the first symptoms that Debbie displayed was food sensitivity. Certain foods like caffeine, starch and sugars would trigger reactions in her system. She started to lose weight as a result and became more and more fatigued. Because of her hectic travel schedule, Debbie was unable to see her primary doctors so they were left to guess what was wrong. Never did Lyme occur to them.

When Lyme goes undiagnosed, the symptoms can become more and more severe, serious and scary. Debbie’s boyfriend noticed that she was mixing up her words and seemed confused often. When she couldn’t take it anymore, she decided to focus solely on her health. After several referrals to multiple specialists, she was tested positive for Lyme disease.

A year later, with vitamin drips and intense antibiotics, Debbie is now slowly feeling better.

We at Mosquito Squad, wish Debbie the best, but also want to thank her for bringing Lyme disease into the spotlight again. The more people know about Lyme, the better.

Tick control is not only important to enjoy your outdoor living spaces, but also to protect you from the growing cases of Lyme disease in growing areas of the country. Please contact your local Mosquito Squad office to discuss how you can protect yourself from ticks in your yard.

Lyme disease cases increased 77% over a recent two-year span

According to this article, Lyme disease is spreading rampantly and is now found in 49 US States.

“Dr. Harriet Kotsoris, neurologist and medical advisor for Time for Lyme, a research, education, and advocacy group based in Greenwich, CT. “It is the most commonly reported vector-borne illness in the United States and has been documented in 49 states.”

Dr. Kotsoris also notes that Lyme Disease is wildly under-reported for many reasons. First, only a couple of tests are recognized to report a case. These tests can have a large number of false positives. Another reason the cases are under-reported is that the symptoms for Lyme disease are so similar to the symptoms for other diseases. Also, because people are trained to look for the “bull’s eye” rash, many people miss a tick bite waiting for that rash that doesn’t happen in every case.

Dread Skeeter against Lyme Disease

What are some of the ramifications of this? Since the disease is under-reported, it’s therefore under-funded. People should be trained to look for and recognize the symptoms in order to correctly and concretely diagnose and confirm a Lyme case. According to the CDC, the symptoms include fatigue, chills, fever, headache, and muscle and joint aches, and swollen lymph nodes. This list does look very similar to the symptoms for the common flu. If you have these symptoms and they persist, you may want to ask your doctor about the possibility of Lyme disease.