Book Review: Bite Me: How Lyme Disease Stole my Childhood, Made Me Crazy and Almost Killed Me by Ally Hilfiger

Release Date: May 10, 2016
Publisher: Center Street
Format: Paperback
Pages: 287 pages
Genre: memoir
Buy: Kindle |  Paperback

Synopsis: 

Ally was at a breaking point when she woke up in a psych ward at the age of eighteen. She couldn't put a sentence together, let alone take a shower, eat a meal, or pick up a phone. What had gone wrong? In recent years, she had produced a feature film, a popular reality show for a major network, and had acted in an off-Broadway play. But now, Ally was pushed to a psychotic break after struggling since she was seven years old with physical symptoms that no doctor could explain; everything from joint pain, to night sweats, memory loss, nausea, and brain fog. A doctor in the psych ward was finally able to give her the answers her and her family had desperately been searching for, and the diagnosis that all the previous doctors had missed. She learned that she had Lyme disease-and finally had a breakthrough.

What she didn't know was that this diagnosis would lead her down some of the most excruciating years of her life before beginning her journey to recovery from eleven years of misdiagnosis and physical pain. She would need to find her courage to heal physically, mentally, and emotionally, and become the survivor she is today.

Review: 

Ever since being diagnosed with Lyme a few months ago I've struggled with getting people to understand the ups and downs of Lyme and how it effects me.  I would cry while reading this book because I finally felt validated.  I felt like finally someone "got it". The achy joints that make me feel like I'm 90 when I stand up, the days I feel great and can do a million things and the days I can barely crawl out of bed. This book is the greatest gift to people suffering from Lyme and their families.  Allys story is tragic since it took so long for someone to actually figure it out but she is not the only one.  There are plenty of people out there today whose doctors or families aren't listening or they didn't have a bullseye rash so they couldn't have lyme. This disease is debilitating and horrible and the treatment whether you go traditional or herbal suck and for me one didn't cut it so I am on a combination of antibiotics and herbs. But treatment for this disease is a long marathon toward feeling better not a sprint.  Its not oh take this and you will feel better, the parasites that cause this disease are smart, and resiliant.

I can't recommend this book enough. It is easy to read, and is honest. Even though she comes from a very wealthy family, with lots of advantages she still was unable to get an accurate diagnosis and then when she finally did it took a lot to get her to where she is today.