Western Daily Press (Saturday)
TICK LEAVES GLOBETROTTER HOUSEBOUND
AWOMAN who visited countries across the world as a travel consultant is now housebound – after contracting Lyme disease from a tick bite.
Vicky Hamlin, 36, from Cheltenham, once travelled the planet for a living.
She climbed Machu Picchu, swam in the Mekong Delta, rode a motorbike the length of Laos and slept in the Cambodian jungle.
But that changed with a single bite from a tick while she was away in the spring of 2016.
After initially dismissing the rash on her leg as ringworm Vicky began to fall ill and later suffered huge physical and mental problems.
The impact of Lyme’s on Vicky has forced her to become a virtual recluse.
It has caused problems with her digestive system, nervous system and autonomic disfunction.
She cannot walk for long and has problems with her blood pressure and dizziness.
For me there is a daily loss like grieving all the time for the loss of my old life VICKY HAMLIN
Vicky says it has also created psychological issues, including OCD and mood swings.
She has gone from running in the London Marathon to sometimes not being able to walk for more than 15 or 20 metres.
Vicky said: “I kept going back to the doctors and they kept giving me antibiotics.
“I was blacking out, fainting, collapsing and having all these really unusual symptoms like seizures.
“I just kept being discharged from hospital, being told there was nothing wrong.
“In the December, that’s when I completely just crashed and everything changed. It hasn’t been the same since.
“I’ve been housebound since then and I can probably manage about one or two meals a month because its affected my digestive system. For me there is a daily loss like grieving all the time for the loss of my old life and my career and so many different things.
“Also to some extent with your family they’ve lost you they’ve lost the person that used to be. It’s really hard.
“It has had a devastating impact on my life as I was previously someone who was very healthy, fit and active.
“I worked long hours, had cycled from London to Paris, ran a marathon and travelled extensively for work and leisure. I have been housebound now for five years.”
She added: “It’s caused a lot of problems with my nervous system and autonomic disfunction so I can’t be upright for very long without having problems with my blood pressure heart and dizziness, so I can only walk about 20 metres by myself.
“There were a lot of psychological issues that came out of nowhere like severe OCD, depersonalisation, mood swings.
“I would say it’s like something crawled inside my body and took over physically and mentally.”
After four and a half long years battling the disease, Vicky is now determined to raise awareness of Lyme’s and improve public knowledge.
A crucial step in preventing Lyme’s disease is taking measures early on such as brushing yourself down following a walk through long grass and looking for any signs of a tick bite such as a bullet-like rash.
Vicky said: “I took my health for granted. I just think the difference between getting treatment straight away and not is huge.
“I don’t think people realise the severity of a tick bite if it’s not treated straight away.
“The more we can talk about it and the more people know of it, the more people will take the necessary steps to prevent it getting to the stage where it becomes severe.”
Caudwell LymeCo Charity does vital work in supporting Vicky and others who have been affected by Lyme disease.
To help the charity her brother Alex is completing a year of challenges, which includes taking on a 100km run next weekend.
A spokesman for the charity said: “Currently, there are serious gaps in the scientific evidence on how to diagnose Lyme disease reliably, how to cure it in everyone and even on how it spreads.
“The NHS and the Department of Health have openly recognised this, and Caudwell LymeCo aims to support them in working constructively to resolve this complex problem.”
To support Alex visit