Elizabeth's journey from a sudden, mysterious illness to a Lyme disease diagnosis highlights resilience and self-advocacy amid chronic illness.
It was supposed to be a night to remember, a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner with my husband at one of my favorite restaurant's. The soft candlelight flickered around us, a glass of wine in my hand, and the person I’d built a life with sitting across from me. Everything felt perfect… until it wasn’t. As I raised my glass to toast, a sudden and inexplicable wave of heat crashed over me. My heart pounded. My vision blurred. The room spun. In a matter of seconds, I went from celebrating love to silently panicking. I felt disoriented, breathless, and terrified. My body was betraying me, right there in public, and I had no idea why. That night was the beginning of something I couldn't name yet. 
The next morning, I woke up in what felt like someone else's body. I was hit with flu-like symptoms but 10x worse! This wasn't a normal sick day. I knew something was terribly wrong. It felt like my entire system was under attack. Every cell in my body screamed in pain. The dizziness was terrifying, the muscle aches relentless, and my mind felt like it was wrapped in fog. I wasn’t just tired; I was unable to move, think, or function. It felt like I was dying slowly… but no one could see it. The sickness that hit me wasn't normal and I knew something was terribly wrong. It was worse than anything I had ever felt in my life or thought was possible. I was gasping for air in a life that suddenly didn’t feel like mine. Days turned into weeks. Weeks into months. I became a ghost drifting through life, invisible, isolated, and terrified.
The world kept spinning, but I had been thrown off course with no road map, no answers, and no hope. Doctors didn’t know what was wrong. I saw specialists, got blood drawn more times than I could count, and each time I hoped they’d find something, anything at all, but they didn’t find anything to match all of my symptoms. The best answer I got was a diagnosis with orthostaric intolerance and a post viral syndrome that could last 3-5 years. That diagnosis gave me temporary relief to just have an idea of something I could hang onto that was going on, but deep down, I knew there was something more. Something they were missing. And I was right. As the years dragged on, my symptoms were not improving.
The crushing fatigue, the dizziness, the nausea, the migraines, a flu feeling that wouldn't go away, the digestive chaos, the strange rashes, the heat sensitivity, light sensitivity, head pressure, bone pain, constantly feeling I would pass out, the list goes on and on. It was like my body was glitching out, one system at a time. I wasn't living, I was surviving. But I refused to give up. I researched the web, I joined support groups. I listened to people who had walked this same lonely road. I started to trust my gut over the professionals who couldn't figure it out. I learned to be my own advocate. Six and a half years after that Valentine’s Day dinner, I finally got my answer: Lyme disease, with a host of coinfections that had been quietly wreaking havoc on my body all along. The doctor who tested me? A godsend. After years of no real answers, someone finally connected the dots. That moment was validating, but also infuriating. Why had no one caught this sooner? Getting a diagnosis wasn’t the end of my nightmare. It was just the beginning of a new chapter, one with more questions, complex treatments, 100's of IV infusions, ozone treatments, 1,000's of supplements, numerous intense protocols, and painful realizations. Healing wasn’t linear. It still isn’t. 
Im on year 14 and my life has completely changed. I’ve had to rebuild my life piece by piece. I’ve grieved the version of me that once existed. The one who could stay up late, run errands without crashing, eat anything, work out, do simple tasks easily, plan a future without extreme limitations. But I’ve also found strength I didn’t know I had. I’ve met people who reminded me I wasn’t alone. I’ve got guidance from Global Lyme Alliance. I've connected with doctors and health professionals who understand the complexities of this disease.
My faith has helped me get though. I’ve learned how to advocate for myself, how to pace, how to rest without guilt, and how to hold on to hope even when it feels like everything is falling apart. That’s why I share. That’s why I created @unwellbutstrong on TikTok and Instagram. Because chronic illness isn’t just about symptoms, it’s about resilience. It’s about losing everything and still choosing to fight. It’s about living in a body that doesn’t cooperate and still showing up anyway. If you’re reading this and you’re in the thick of it, sicker than one can imagine, exhausted, and unseen, I see you.
I was you.
I'm still you.
And I'm still fighting.
People may not understand what you're going through, but don’t let their ignorance steal your fight or your peace.
You’re not alone.
You’re not crazy.
You are so much stronger than you think.
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