Invisible Illness - @itsdaniellekaye

“Hi, My name is Danielle and I’m an actor and producer living in NYC. I chose the invisible illness necklace because I live with Lyme Disease and PTSD. For many years I lived with countless ailments and misdiagnoses. Eventually I got used to being sick. My life slowed down. I couldn’t remember my lines while rehearsing. Sometimes I would forget on stage. I felt out of it, highly anxious and depressed all the time. I knew there was something wrong with me but had no answers, even after countless trips to doctors, diagnoses and medications. In 2017, I was diagnosed with PTSD and sought Ketamine IV treatments. It was my Ketamine doctor who suspected there was something even more serious and more insidious than my trauma that was making me feel like I was slowly dying on the inside. He said my anxiety was abnormally high, that my psychiatric symptoms were so severe- that I was “losing my mind”. He asked me where I grew-up. When I told him “Minnesota” he looked at me with certainty and said “I think you have Lyme Disease”. By November 2018, I tested positive for Lyme and 7 other co-infections. I finally had an answer to my questions. My symptoms and co-infections were mononucleosis(EBV), pneumonia, chlamydia pneumoniae, Guillain Barre Syndrome, anxiety, depression, nausea, memory loss, severe and rapid mood swings, suicidal ideation, coxsackie virus, Babesia, Bartonella, insomnia, difficulty concentrating, brain fog, chronic fatigue, rage, chest pain, “air hunger”, muscle aches and more. The symptoms are countless. Lyme almost killed me. Not just my trauma- but also a tiny tick- were responsible for me staring death straight in the face. The thing is, I didn’t look sick.” @itsdaniellekaye