Paul Natale - Lyme Disease

Paul Natale – my struggle with Lyme Disease

“My main symptoms include feelings of nausea, dizziness, light-headedness, brain fog, memory loss, confusion, difficulty performing simple tasks, twitching, difficulty concentrating, pain in eyes, pressure in the head, pounding and pinching headache which often creates extreme sensitivity to sounds and light, extreme fatigue, confusion, blurry vision, forgetting how to perform simple tasks, poor balance, wooziness, mood swings, disorientation, numbness, tingling, extremely painful and a stiff neck.

 The last 3 or 4 years have been the worst, however, I have been receiving treatments for more than 8 years for various issues (physical and non-physical). Any physical issues I've had have progressively become worse. I’ve seen numerous physicians, chiropractors, physiotherapists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, masseuses, osteopaths, physiologists, reflexologists, naturopaths, and so on. I was told by my doctor that nothing was wrong and to stop thinking about it. Nobody knew what it was.  

 I didn’t complain. I worked and was often depressed or lonely, even around family and friends. I couldn’t deal with talking or spending time with loved ones. The more I tried to fight through it, the worse I felt. The feelings of nausea and such increased. I started with pain in the left side of my neck and left shoulder and it has now migrated to include in the hip, tailbone, wrists, arm, low back, below shoulders, right shoulder, ribs, right side of neck and knee. I used to play many sports and was quite active. Now it’s difficult to stand, sit or walk. At times I thought I may have suffered a stroke, maybe MS or ALS. I knew something was really wrong. Some other symptoms include stomach issues, ringing in my ears and the inability to sleep. Symptoms change often, some symptoms increase while others decrease. I was thought to have had vertigo and a neurosurgeon said it was post-concussion syndrome. That explained a bit but not everything and what was recommended to aid these issues didn't help. It had to be something else.

 In October 2017, I was diagnosed with Lyme and was truthfully a relief. Finally, I had a reason for how I was feeling. I researched treatment options (with help, because using the computer a lot or talking to people became overwhelmingly difficult and caused many symptoms to increase and I couldn't retain much information without assistance). I decided to get treatment in Germany, which was quite expensive but I think it's the best thing I ever did. The longer this disease goes untreated, the more challenging the recovery process can be.

 For the first time in a long time, I feel I am improving a little bit. Things are hopefully heading in the right direction, but there's no guarantee my symptoms won’t get worse. I try to stay optimistic. I still have many of these symptoms, just not as often, which may have to be good enough. I still get treatments to detox, intravenous vitamins, will probably have to take natural supplements forever and have drastically changed my diet - all of which have hit the bank hard and will continue to.

 I hope to give you an idea of what this is like. Any support you can provide would be greatly appreciated and will go a long way as I try living as normal a life as possible. The money I spent over the last 8 years is kind of absurd and I will continue to have appointments which are not covered by health services or insurance.

 I would like to tell you that I have a friend who has Lyme as well.  A portion of the funds raised will go to him/her to get treatment and assistance with this disease, possibly even in Germany.

Please share with your friends and family on social media or by email. Thank you!

 Sincerely, Paul Natale”