I Visited 37 Doctors For Fatigue Before Getting This Unexpected Diagnosis

You know those kids who run around as if everywhere is a playground? That was me. I was spritely and passionate, eager to try anything and everything my two older sisters did. Any sport, play, or adventure was an automatic yes from me.

One day, after returning from a field hockey camp, I experienced the most intense back pain I'd ever felt—an electric current shooting up my spine. These shocks would come and go, and after seeing many specialists, the guidance was to take things slow to mitigate the pain.

However, no cause was discovered. I followed the typical Western medicine treatment plan that involved anti-inflammatory medications and muscle relaxers—two things I never thought I'd be tied to at 14.

Despite all the tests and the financial resources my family spent on treatments, we never discovered what caused the severe back pain, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. While the medicine provided some relief, it didn't heal me. My life totally changed at 14, but children are good at adapting, and I certainly was.

My life took an unexpected turn again when I had to cater my activities to those that didn’t cause pain. Luckily for me, I loved the performing arts more than I did sports, but it was that choice not being mine that stung the most. 

Throughout high school and college, I did my best to adapt to this new normal. I was always aware of my back pain, and was also trying to fit in as a teen with my friends.

Upon graduating college, I decided to attend a Birthright trip to Israel—a journey that would be interrupted by a crescendo of health symptoms. While abroad, I had a health crisis. It was dramatic and intense and really was the tipping point for what came to follow. I began to slow down physically. I couldn't even go on a hike without falling behind the elderly group, struggling to catch my breath.

It was on that trip to Israel that I realized something was seriously wrong. My suspicion was confirmed when I gained 30 pounds in 30 days, couldn’t keep food down, and was panting for air upon my return.

Battling this unknown health crisis, I called on my parents for help, moving back from New York City into my childhood bedroom and attending countless doctor appointments. I was diagnosed with celiac disease and hypothyroidism—conditions I still manage today.

While the treatments for these diagnoses alleviated some symptoms, they didn't address the root cause—I could feel it. I was also diagnosed with a parasite infection, likely picked up during my trip to Israel. I confirmed this finding with two specialists and began treatment, and although I felt so much better, I still wasn’t fully healthy. I hadn't yet found the root cause, but I certainly was treading water better than before.

At this point, I was trying so many medications, supplements, and targeted diets for my array of illnesses that I could hardly tell what was working. On top of that, I had persistent symptoms that constantly interrupted my life.

I was struggling so much with motility issues that at one point, a doctor suggested I simply get my colon removed. "You'll feel so much better," I remember her saying convincingly. I’m sorry (record scratch), why? And then what? Needless to say, I was more confused than ever about what was truly going on and how to proceed.

So, I became a health coach. Through this role, I learned how to research chronic diseases and connected with amazing functional physicians who taught me to view health and disease holistically. I also started the health coaching practice in a prominent functional medicine doctor's office with the goal of helping patients focus on healing rather than managing.

During this time, I even wrote a best-selling book called Kicking Sick: Your go-to guide for thriving with chronic health conditions, all about living and thriving with chronic disease. It's a roadmap for others to know that they can thrive through a difficult health experience and not be defined or sidelined by it. My book is a love letter from my heart to anyone who has struggled with an invisible illness.

But while I was living my passion with health coaching, I had to be honest with myself: There was still something going on inside. I knew I wasn’t feeling as well as I could, and I knew I wasn’t able to meet the moment as well as I wish I had been. I was better, but not better enough. 

My fatigue came and went in cycles—some days forcing me to stay in bed, other days feeling like background noise. Looking back now, I know why.

To my surprise, this doctor found my diagnosis to be quite obvious (a word that had never been used to describe my health before). He said it frankly: I had late-stage neurological Lyme disease and two co-infections, Bartonella and Babesia. This is what I had been living with for 10 years since my trip to Israel, or perhaps even longer.

I immediately felt a resonance that I absolutely knew it was true and right. Finally. I felt a relief. When he told me the diagnosis, I knew with every bone in my body that this was it—this was why I kept fighting all these years, this was what had been underlying every symptom since my trip. There was an end in sight to my current suffering. A lot of grief came with it at the same time. 

My doctor was straightforward. He told me we could and would treat it, but it would take many years to tackle, given we had to address one infection at a time. I was finally embarking on a journey of healing—it was daunting, of course, but also exciting. Without hesitation, I started the treatment plan immediately. At the end of the tunnel was my life in full color. 

One year later

One year into treatment, I went on a ski trip with my husband. Clear as day, I remember standing at the top of that mountain, realizing I had a new lease on life. I had a new body, a new brain, and a newfound passion for living that I hadn’t felt since I was a young girl.

I was diagnosed with Lyme disease four years ago and have continued treating it ever since. The journey isn’t over, but I’ve never been more motivated to keep going, nor more determined to help others find their way through chronic disease.

My work as a health coach and author continues, fueled by a lifetime of battling chronic illness. Every day, I focus on my well-being—still treating hypothyroidism, catering my lifestyle to celiac disease, and chipping away at the Lyme co-infections. But I'm in such a different place now.

Through my work, I’ve met countless men and women in my shoes: Embarking on the journey to heal themselves from chronic disease. To those at the beginning, let me offer some advice: Get in the driver's seat and don’t get out until you’ve arrived at an answer. I never gave up on my intuition, and I am so happy I didn’t.