Twenty years with health problems constantly. Each time exposed to a climate change, in the cold passed a time with their nephews school-age, Marcos ended ill. His life was a care life to maintain his health and get away from any risk. The reason: Lyme illness.
In this interview, we will delete any personal references to keep the privacy of the main character.
How do you feel currently?
Currently, I am in treatment with the most Lyme expert in Spain. I have been for more than two years. I hope it ends in September. I feel much better. What I couldn´t understand before is why I was ill with anything. I had throat, ear, and prostate infections. I was always sick.
Since when have you been in this situation?
Twenty years ago, my health problems started. I associated them with a coil and stents in a varicose vein. I was a very sporty person, but months after the operation I started feeling sick. It is true that this sensibility to end up ill since little and having dogs at home, but I couldn’t imagine it was this until I had the diagnosis. Of course, this disease is a great unknown in Spain, not all doctors in the social security system are aware of its existence.
How has the process been?
After the stents in the varicose veins symptoms started, like prostatitis and other infections. They healed me with third-generation antibiotics and I wasn’t fine. Since then I have attended a lot of physicians. I felt like a guinea pig. No one noticed what was my problem. True that 10 years ago, an internist doctor ended up all my infections I continued getting ill each winter. It wasn’t normal.
How has it affected your day-to-day life?
I have lived like a bubble man. I couldn´t be with my nephews because I could catch any infection or cold. It did not affect my work much because I am a beast even feeling sick. I indeed turned to be a sporty person to be in the fresh air all the time, caring about me to not turn sick. It is not the same to live without any worry that life with constant caution. As I am a strong person I got used to it but it was a calvary. I had pneumonia, sinusitis for 20 years since I underwent surgery in 2004. Anyway, after I though it and was always I child that suffered colds. Maybe since then, I have been without defences. As when you are little you are stronger, you don´t think or worry about it.
Is this health state directly related to the borrelia infection?
What caused me to get Lyme is that I had my defences below the minimum, borrelia attacks the immune system. At the time, I was diagnosed, my T-lymphocyte level was very low. I was ready to go into sepsis at any time. Naturally, the body defends itself, but if the bacteria has been there for a long time, you can say that it has been poisoning the blood.
But you didn’t suspect that this was the cause of your ailments.
As it is not a known disease and the symptoms are not easy to detect, I was not looking for it. I was on antibiotics for six years. It led to systemic candidiasis. It was the internal medicine specialist who pointed out that if my body was rejecting certain foods. There was a reason and I noticed that if I took sugar, it was bad. For example, one New Year’s Day I had some nougat and spent the night with fever, vomiting and even convulsions. There was a cause and effect relationship and that’s why I focused on food, to get better.
How was the change in nutrition?
It has been years of internal process and a lot of reading and studying. For example, for candidiasis, I found a book by Cala Cervera very useful, which says “what we eat either doesn’t kill us or it kills us”. I hadn’t eaten any sugar or flour for years. The change in my life was tremendous because everything contains sugar, but even with this diet, the candidiasis didn’t go away. The conventional tests showed nothing.
How did you end up having the Lyme diagnosis?
I attended Dr. Bueno. When I did the analysis, Lyme appeared in the result. I have positions of responsibility also associated with stress. I didn’t have a quality life. I started the Lyme treatment so nutrition is essential.
At that time you were used to strict nutrition.
Yes, there is only one thing it took away from me, gluten, which is also an inflammatory substance. I am not a coeliac, but I am intolerant. I stopped eating bread and all types of flour. My wife has also suffered with me over the years and that is why she has been learning about these issues related to food and health, so we have gone hand in hand. However, these last two years have been very complicated because you have to eliminate many foods. These changes have a lot of influence on a personal and family level. Not only being sick for so long but also, for example, that at a family celebration you don’t want to have dessert. You are like a freak.
How are you supporting the treatment apart from nutrition?
I feel much better. I have been admitted to treatment before the pandemic. It was easy because my company allowed me even with my responsibility position. The treatment month was a before and after, I noticed a lot.
It is good news after so many years of being sick, isn’t it?
It is very hard to spend years ill without knowing the reason. Antibiotics leave you very tired and candidiasis leaves symptoms like fatigue, low energy, or depressions. I am strong. When I was young I did a lot of sports and was very competitive. I don’t give up easily. I am very covered, but it is hard to go to the doctor without knowing why.
Many people live with a lack of information concerning Lyme
People must notice that Lyme is not a joke. It changes your life. If you are diagnosed at an early stage it is hard because the disease will lead you to another illness. Defending your health sometimes goes against doctors. The sector is very united. I found good physicians. I have tested a lot. You have to be very tenacious and very constant or this disease will crush you, it’s hard.
As you commented before, you feel better.
Yes, I am teleworking until I get vaccinated of covid-19. I care a lot. I don´t get out by work or at a personal level since I am aware of aerosols risk. The good part of this illness is that they have cared so much for me that I do not see the age I have (he laughs). Anyway, I still have a recovery path. The pandemic year has been hard personally. I am getting over it.
