The Hidden Battle and Unmasking Lyme Disease
Updated: May 28, 2025
Written by Heather Sunderland, Health Coach
Heather Sunderland is a board-certified functional health coach with a personal journey of recovering from 28 years of illness due to undiagnosed Lyme disease and mold toxicity. She founded Health Coaching by Heather, LLC and co-founded Navigating Mold & CIRS: Expert Insights for Practitioners Course.
For years, I was told it was all in my head. I was so sick and disabled, and no doctor could tell me what was wrong. And every year, I got sicker. I struggled with severe chronic neuropathy, chronic pain, constant fatigue, ligament laxity, and brain fog. I could no longer hold down a job or participate in activities I loved. I was homebound for 10 years. And then 22 years later, we learned I had chronic Lyme disease.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 476,000 people are diagnosed with Lyme disease in the US every year. However, because diagnosing Lyme can be difficult, many people who have Lyme are misdiagnosed with other conditions. Many experts believe the true number of cases is much higher.
Lyme disease is called the great imitator. Mimicking so many other illnesses.
Patients with Lyme disease are frequently misdiagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, and various psychiatric illnesses, including depression. Misdiagnosis with these other diseases may delay the correct diagnosis and treatment as the underlying infection progresses unchecked.
It can affect any organ, including the brain and nervous system, muscles and joints, and the heart.
May is Lyme Awareness Month. Because of my journey with undiagnosed chronic Lyme that changed the course of my life, I want others to be educated about what it is and how they can get diagnosed. I want to give those with Lyme disease hope that they can restore their health, even if they have been sick for a very long time.
My journey with Lyme
I got sick at the age of 30. It started with daily chronic aches, pains, and flu-like symptoms that moved around. I lived in Pennsylvania. I enjoyed hiking and being outdoors in nature, and had dogs most of my life. As time went on, my symptoms and diagnoses grew: fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, interstitial cystitis, peripheral neuropathy, Graves’ disease, and Epstein-Barr Virus.
It was so hard being so sick and disabled. I was young, and none of it made sense. I could not participate in life or continue working. Most of my life and life as a mother and wife, I was disabled. My husband was my caretaker for much of my married life. My son learned to do many chores because I struggled to do them. There was also a huge financial toll, looking for answers, seeing 20 different doctors to get answers. Finally, I came to terms with the fact that I was disabled and chronically ill, never thinking I could get well.
It took 22 years for me to get a proper diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease. And sadly, along the way, many of my practitioners missed some important aspects of addressing Lyme that kept me sick.
Because of my journey with chronic Lyme, I want to help prevent individuals from suffering as I did. I also want to give individuals hope that they can restore their health and walk alongside them on their journey.
Understanding Lyme disease
Lyme disease is an illness that is transmitted by a bite of a tick infected with a bacterium known as “Borrelia”. (1) While there are many different strains of this bacterium, it’s Borrelia burgdorferi that classically causes Lyme disease.
Lyme disease took its name from the town in America where it was first found, Lyme, Connecticut. Although people tend to think of getting Lyme disease from ticks, it can also be transmitted from mosquitoes, fleas, flies, rabbits, rodents, and birds.
Many people think of Lyme as an East Coast disease, but it is found throughout the United States, as well as in more than sixty other countries.
Lyme disease is called the great imitator. Mimicking so many other illnesses.
Patients with Lyme disease are frequently misdiagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, and various psychiatric illnesses, including depression. Misdiagnosis with these other diseases may delay the correct diagnosis and treatment as the underlying infection progresses unchecked.
It can affect any organ, including the brain and nervous system, muscles and joints, and the heart.
Common symptoms of Lyme disease
See here.
Flu-like symptoms, such as coughing, sneezing, or congestion;
Headaches and migraines;
Periods of extreme fatigue;
Large circular rashes and other rashes;
Reddening around the earlobes;
Joint pain and swelling;
Bone pain
Moving joint pain or muscle pain;
Feelings of numbness or tingling around the body;
Facial paralysis;
Inflammation around the walls of the chest, ribs, and intercostal muscles (otherwise known as Costochondritis);
Heart abnormalities;
Shortness of breath;
Fibromyalgia
Mood Swings/depression
Why Lyme disease is misdiagnosed or missed entirely
Standard tests can be inaccurate. The most commonly used tests (ELISA followed by Western blot) have limited sensitivity, especially in the early stages or the chronic form of the disease.
Many people receive false negatives, especially if tested too soon after a tick bite or long after initial infection.
Lyme is known as "the great imitator" because it can look like many other illnesses, as we discussed.
Many practitioners aren't trained on how to recognize Lyme beyond the classic "bull's-eye rash" (which only shows up in 30% or fewer of cases).
Some doctors still believe Lyme only exists in certain regions, despite cases being reported nationwide and globally.
Chronic Lyme remains controversial in conventional medicine, with disagreement about whether it persists after initial antibiotic treatment.
It can take months or years after infection for symptoms to appear, so people often don’t connect them to a past tick bite (or may never have noticed a bite at all).
When patients don’t "look sick," or labs appear "normal," their symptoms are often chalked up to anxiety, stress.
For many, including myself, Lyme disease doesn’t travel alone. Ticks can carry multiple infections—known as co-infections—like Babesia, Bartonella, and Ehrlichia, each bringing its own set of symptoms that complicate diagnosis and recovery. On top of that, many of the clients I now support are also dealing with mold toxicity or Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS), which can weaken the immune system, overwhelm detox pathways, and make healing even more complex. These overlapping conditions are often missed or misunderstood, yet they play a critical role in why some people remain sick for years despite seeking answers.
Hope, healing, and what helped me
For me and my clients, ruling out that an individual is not living in a water-damaged/moldy building is key to getting well. Most cases of chronic Lyme are due to mold exposure. Mold will suppress the immune system and mimic Lyme symptoms. More on mold toxicity in a later article.
Many practitioners focus on killing Lyme and other pathogens. This is necessary. But killing alone is not enough to truly get well. I personally never used antibiotics for my chronic Lyme and instead used herbs. I focused on creating an internal environment in the body where the immune system could function as designed and release what does not belong there. That means a comprehensive, holistic approach which involves:
nervous system works
ruling out exposure to water damage
opening detox/drainage pathways through which toxins leave the body (bowels, lymph, kidneys, and liver to start)
nourishing the body and alkalizing the body, which brings down inflammation, supports detoxification, and starves pathogens ( bacteria, viruses, and parasites, candida and fungus)
gently detoxing with food and potentially supplements
restoring the gut
addressing other pathogens like viruses, bacteria, parasites, candida, and mold
Healing is possible but requires a holistic, individualized approach. There is no quick fix and one magic pill that will get you well from Lyme disease.
If you feel hopeless or unseen, I see you. You are not alone. And I am here to say, if I can get well after 28 years of illness due to Lyme disease, so can you!
What you need to know: Tips for readers
Track your symptoms.
Seek out Lyme-literate practitioners.
Don’t dismiss your intuition.
Consider tick exposure even if you don’t recall a bite.
What to do if you are bitten by a tick
Final thoughts: You're not alone
If you’re still searching for answers, keep going. Your story matters. Schedule a discovery call to share your story, and let’s see if we are a good fit to work together.
Read more from Heather Sunderland
Heather Sunderland, Health Coach
Heather is a board-certified Functional Health Coach who restored her health from 22 years of undiagnosed Lyme, Mold Toxicity & CIRS using the Regenerative Approach.
Her passion lies in providing hope while addressing root issues, using food as medicine, alkalizing tissues, restoring the gut, addressing pathogens, and supporting detox so the body can return to vibrant health.
She founded Health Coaching by Heather, LLC and co-founded Navigating Mold & CIRS: Expert Insights for Practitioners Course.
