Zakia’s Story
Zakia, Integrative Health Practitioner
“Lyme Disease has been what I like to call a blessing and a curse. It was literally the hardest experience I ever faced, and I sometimes feel that it stole my 30s and left my husband and kids with an absentee mom and wife for ten years. When my youngest was just 6 years old, she shared with me that she never knew me when I was well, and in fact, that was true for my second daughter, too, because by the time she turned one, I had already been dealing with symptoms related to Lyme disease. There was a time when my health grew so poor that people, including myself, did not know if I was going to make it.
Like many Lyme disease patients, I never had a bullseye rash and I never saw a tick bite. For years, I was told my bloodwork was normal, while close friends and family thought I was either a hypochondriac, anorexic (from weighing 90 pounds), or just flat out crazy. Truthfully, there were times when I questioned my own sanity due to not having any answers to the many unrelated symptoms I was experiencing. It wasn’t until I saw a naturopathic doctor and was told that I had the bacteria that causes Lyme disease along with co-infections, mold illness, and heavy metal toxicity, that my healing journey began.
Ten years passed before I could find a functional medicine practitioner to test me for Lyme disease, which revealed that I had Lyme for many years. By that time, I was suffering from short-term memory loss, Bell’s palsy, migraines, brain fog, light sensitivity, air hunger, neuropathy, IBS, SIBO, difficulty reading and forming sentences, difficulty walking, chronic fatigue, and muscle and joint pain. With lots of ups and downs and trial and error, it took at least 18 months to regain 75% of my health.
The blessing of it all came from my obsession with researching and learning how to heal the body naturally, which eventually led me to return to school and to become an integrative health practitioner, so that I can help others who are frustrated with the traditional medical model and unable to find answers for why they feel so sick and are unable to get well and stay well. To all of my Lyme fighters, keep fighting!!!”
Stories reflect the experiences and perspectives of the individuals featured and are not intended as medical advice.
