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Montreal Gazette
27-06-2025
- Health
- Montreal Gazette
What is it like to have Lyme disease? Some say it makes life hell
By Halifax Chronicle Herald This report has been shared from the Halifax Chronicle Herald. Tap here to read the original. Before she became a writer, producer and mental health consultant, Janice Landry spent 12 years in television newsrooms, covering everything from disasters to elections. Like all reporters, she always wanted to get to the bottom of things. Finding the answer to one very personal riddle, though, perplexed her: What was causing the nausea, headaches, chills and fever that began to hit her in 2023? It wasn't COVID. Even though her symptoms first arose while the pandemic was in full swing, she tested negative twice for the virus. When a maroon rash spread across one-third of her body — and other symptoms worsened — Landry's worry deepened. It took nearly two months before her doctor told her she had Stage 2 Lyme disease. 'I was shocked; floored, actually,' she told me. What are the different stages of Lyme disease? Early localized Stage 1 of the disease, which usually lasts from a few days to a month, is characterized by the classic bull's-eye rash and limited to flu-like symptoms. At this point, the disease can usually be straightforwardly treated with antibiotics like doxycycline. A diagnosis of Stage 2, or disseminated Lyme disease, means it has spread beyond the site of the initial infected tick bite. At this point, according to the Mayo Clinic, it 'may create more rashes, neck stiffness, facial muscle weakness, irregular heartbeat, pain or numbness in limbs, and eye swelling.' If still untreated months to years after infection, Stage 3 Lyme can cause long-lingering effects, including arthritis, enduring fatigue, brain fog and even heart issues. By the time of her diagnosis, Landry was so weak that her husband had to drive her to the lab for blood tests. The antibiotics she was prescribed destroyed her gut biome. 'Joint pain, headaches,' said Landry. 'The fatigue was the worst for me and, at its worst, was completely debilitating.' In her recently published book, Every Little Thing, Landry recounts that at the disease's worst point, in August 2023, she texted a close friend: 'I think I'm in trouble.' Is anybody safe? In time, she made a full recovery. But Lyme disease, as you can see, is a great equalizer. It strikes ordinary people, particularly in Nova Scotia, which has the highest tick-to-person ratio of any Canadian province and also, consequently, more cases of Lyme disease passed on by those tiny insects than anywhere in the land. When I posted a Facebook request last week for Lyme sufferers, I learned that they were all around me. That makes sense. In 2017, Nova Scotia's chief medical officer of health, Robert Strang, said that if Lyme disease was spreading as rapidly in some less-developed nation as it was here, the international public health community would have declared it a pandemic. This year the tick population, already at worrisome levels on the province's South Shore, has been climbing in the Annapolis Valley, Cape Breton and the New Glasgow area. Fame and fortune is no protection from Lyme. Avril Lavigne's experience with the disease, a decade ago, was so debilitating that at one point she feared for her life, inspiring her to write a song about it, Head Above Water, as well as to start a foundation that supports those with Lyme and other illnesses. Three years ago, Shania Twain revealed that she had contracted Lyme disease after being bitten by a tick while horseback riding in the early 2000s. The disease caused dizziness, loss of balance and blackouts and affected her voice to such a degree that she had to undergo vocal cord surgery to return to performing. Back in 2020, another high-flying Canadian singer, Justin Bieber, took to social media to tell the world that he had been suffering from depression and other symptoms because of an undiagnosed case of the ailment. Who can get Lyme disease? Everyone is at risk for Lyme, but a scouring of online research shows some groups are more at risk than others. Studies show that seniors, with their weakened immune systems and other health concerns, can experience more worrisome impacts and complications. But young children, who spend more time outside, may be more likely to be bitten by Lyme-carrying ticks and, according to the Canadian Pediatric Society, are more susceptible to Lyme-related arthritis than older patients. For pregnant mothers, studies show that untreated Lyme disease can result in fetal complications. People with compromised immune systems who get Lyme may have more lingering effects than healthy folks. Likewise, anyone with existing heart problems can also be in more danger of adverse impacts from the disease. Why is Lyme disease so hard to diagnose? The primary transmitter of Lyme disease is the poppy seed-sized black-legged tick, or deer tick. Mary Coyle, the Nova Scotia senator, isn't precisely sure of the origins of the one she found feasting on her leg this June. Just that within days a fiery rash covered the inside of her leg and that when she went to the emergency department at St. Martha's Regional Hospital in Antigonish the doctor took one look and said she had Lyme disease. 'My advice is don't hesitate,' said Coyle, whose subsequent symptoms were relatively mild. 'If you have a good sense that a deer tick may have been on you for a while, you should seek medical attention and let a doctor decide.' The issue, according to Harvard University's Wellness Initiative, is that 30-50 per cent of patients don't show the hallmark bull's-eye, the one sure sign of infection. As well, many of the symptoms — chills, muscle ache, fever, and fatigue — are vague, resembling the flu or other common ailments. Why is early diagnosis so important? Consequently, as a study published in a Swiss journal in the late 2010s pointed out, more than half of Lyme sufferers surveyed had to wait more than three years for a diagnosis, and roughly the same percentage saw five or more doctors before getting definitive word. That is worrisome, study after study shows, because delayed treatment increases the risk of chronic symptoms; according to another Swiss study of American patients, a month's delay in treatment more than doubles the chance of developing persistent, harder-to-treat symptoms. Shelly Scott, who makes her home in Broad Cove, Lunenburg County, knows a thing or two about how hard it is to get Lyme disease correctly diagnosed. A year ago, after a day of gardening, she had some pain in her lower back that she thought was probably a pulled muscle. It worsened enough that she headed for the Liverpool ER. Since Lunenburg County is the province's Lyme disease plague zone, they tested her for the infection. When that came back negative, Scott was prescribed some muscle relaxants and went home. But the pain only got worse. So, she headed to the Bridgewater emergency room. This time the doctors said she had shingles and prescribed some new drugs meant to bring relief. 'Zero effect on the pain,' said Scott, who twice called ambulances to take her back to the ER, where they ran new batteries of tests. It was a month before she finally got to see her family doctor, who concluded that the back pain was caused by Lyme-induced inflammation. 'Fun times I don't want to repeat,' said Scott, now symptom-free, who has returned to the garden, where she keeps an eye perpetually out for something small, black-legged and nasty among the blossoms.
New York Post
31-05-2025
- Health
- New York Post
Canadian woman, 96, puts ad in newspaper to find general practice doctor
A 96-year-old Canadian woman was so exasperated with the glacial pace of her nation's universal healthcare system — she posted a wanted ad in her local newspaper to find a primary care doctor. 'I am apparently somewhere in the 80,000's in the physician waiting list, and so time is increasingly of the essence,' retired fourth-grade teacher Dorothy Lamont 's wrote in her classified ad titled 'Seeking a Physician' in the May 23 edition of the Halifax Chronicle Herald in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. 3 Lamont, 96, put an ad in the newspaper as a last resort. Courtesy of Stewart Lamont 'I am 96 years old, of sound mind and body relative to my advanced age, and have been without a physician for nearly three years,' it reads. An estimated 6.5 million Canadians — more than 1 in 5 — lack access to a family doctor through the country's government funded health care system. They're left on a waiting list for when the next practitioner becomes available — sometimes waiting years. Lamont's last five physicians either retired or left the province — leaving her with a virtual MD, which she said doesn't cut it. 'We have never met,' her ad says about her current doctor. 'By definition we never will.' 'Frankly it would be helpful once or twice a year to see a doctor in person,' Lamont said, adding she didn't want to burden the health care system or her family. Her son, Stewart, convinced her to go the unconventional route after they exhausted all other options. 3 The ad 'Seeking a Physician' was placed in the classified section of the local paper. Courtesy of Stewart Lamont Lamont wound up in the hospital for a couple weeks last year with a bout of sciatica, and when she was sent home, she didn't have anyone to follow up with. 'It's a sad news story that, you know — does a 96-year-old woman really have to post an ad to draw publicity to herself to get a family physician?' her son lamented to The Post. 'This isn't to be political. … It was simply to draw awareness and see if this would produce a doctor,' he said. 'People have to be creative — challenging times require resourceful responses.' 3 Lamont found a doctor who will start seeing her next month at the Dartmouth Medical Centre. Courtesy of Stewart Lamont Their Yankee ingenuity has already paid off. 'Lo and behold, 48 hours later, we've had three or four options, and one is signed and delivered now,' said Stewart Lamont. 'I was left speechless,' he added. 'My mother is pleased.' The Great White North currently has around 46,000 family physicians, and a recent study by Health Canada found that another 23,000 would be needed for every Canadian to have a primary care doctor. One of the reasons for the doctor shortage is that many doctors leave for better paying jobs in the US.
