If Stephen Hawking works, why can’t you?
What GP told woman struck by Lyme disease
A DOCTOR told a woman exhausted by undiagnosed Lyme disease that she should go out and work ‘like Stephen Hawking’.
Sarah Jackson, 29, said she saw ten doctors in one year and none spotted she had the illness.
They told her she had depression or was imagining being tired, dizzy and sensitive to light.
Her lowest point came when she was likened to Professor Hawking, who suffers from motor neurone disease. She said: ‘One of the GPs said “If he can work, why can’t you?” I just walked out at that point.
‘I gave up on the NHS after seeing
‘They seemed to lose interest’
around nine to ten GPs over a year.’
It was only when she searched the internet that she discovered her symptoms matched those of a condition caused by Lyme disease.
She then arranged for tests to be carried out by doctors in the US, who immediately confirmed her suspicions and began treatment.
But the delay means she now has a severe form of the disease.
‘I have gone from being a happygo-lucky person able to work for a living to someone having to rely on my parents for care and financial support,’ said Miss Jackson.
‘My disease is now affecting my heart and my brain, so it is very serious. But from speaking to some people in the NHS, it’s as if they don’t care. If you have a broken arm or leg then it is easy to fix. But because this is trickier to diagnose, they seem to lose interest.’
Lyme disease is caused by bites from bacteria-carrying ticks.
Miss Jackson believes she may have been bitten as a teenager, although the disease lay dormant until she travelled to Australia in 2013. She became so ill she flew home to Colchester in Essex to be with her mother, Julie, and father John, 57, a builder.
The charity Lyme Disease Action said the condition was difficult to diagnose because symptoms overlap with other illnesses.
But a spokesman said: ‘There is a lack of awareness among UK doc- tors. They don’t have the experience of Lyme disease because there haven’t been many cases and it hasn’t been in the UK for that long. That tends to lead towards not believing people.’
Natasha Metcalf of Lyme Disease UK said: ‘These insulting comments are not uncommon. Many struggle to be diagnosed because doctors are not adequately trained.’