Featured Image Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Topics: Health, Lyme disease, Celebrity, US News
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Health, Lyme disease, Celebrity, US News
Following the news that Justin Timberlake recently joined the long list of celebs battling Lyme disease, a medical predicament surrounding the 'chronic' variation of the condition has come to light.
For those out of the loop, the 44-year-old musician first shared the news of his ailing health last week (31 Jul) following the conclusion of his two-year-long Forget Tomorrow global tour.
"If you’ve experienced this disease or know someone who has — then you’re aware: living with this can be relentlessly debilitating, both mentally and physically," Timberlake told his fans. "When I first got the diagnosis, I was shocked for sure."
As we say, however, the singer is far from the first star to receive a Lyme disease diagnosis, with the likes of Ben Stiller, Riley Keogh, Kelly Osbourne, Amy Schumer, Justin Bieber and Shania Twain also having contracted the condition.
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Other huge-name celebs, however, have made claims about battling a 'chronic' variation of the disease - a notion which itself has sparked mass controversy in the medical community. But why?
The condition actually describes a bacterial infection, which is transmitted when a tick bites a person.
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The immediate indicator of a tick infection is skin irritation known as a 'bullseye' rash in the area that the bite occurred, which the NHS says is usually 'circular or oval shape', 'can have a darker or lighter area in the centre' and 'might gradually spread'.
The condition is associated with flu-like symptoms, including a fever, headache and fatigue.
More severe or developed cases could also see patients suffer a facial droop, as well as nerve pains, numbness, or tingling in the hands and feet. These worst-case scenarios may also result in issues with the heart, known as Lyme carditis.
As we say, however, one of the biggest controversies surrounding Lyme disease - as well as it seemingly affecting the population of Hollywood - is how it should be distinguished from persistent or 'chronic' Lyme disease.
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This variation of the disease is also referred to by the Center of Disease Control and Prevention as post-treatment Lyme disease (PTLD), in that it is usually diagnosed in cases where conventional treatment is unsuccessful.
In the majority of cases, people who receive Lyme disease diagnoses are prescribed a course of antibiotics to clear the infection, and are sent on their way without suffering any long-term consequences.
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In other cases, however - perhaps where an official diagnosis wasn't possible for any number of reasons - patients can suffer these frustrating symptoms for months, or even years after treatment.
As such, 'chronic' Lyme disease has been compared by some medics as similar to the nature of 'long Covid', according to the Washington Post.
The majority of these symptoms don't differ hugely to those experienced in short-term Lyme disease cases (fatigue, fever, numbness), but can also see patients endure brain fog, palpitations, dizziness, arthritis and more severe aches and pains.
Reports have raised questions about the existence of 'persister cells' that can survive treatment, and whether or not these can actually make someone ill, as per the BBC.
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Several huge-name stars have spoken out on their experience with 'chronic' Lyme disease - including Bella Hadid, who claimed she dealt with ' invisible suffering' of unnerving symptoms for as long as 15 years.
"Living in this state, worsening with time and work while trying to make myself, my family and the people who support me, proud, had taken a toll on me in ways I can’t really explain," the model previously wrote on Instagram.
"The universe works in the most painful and beautiful ways but I need to say that if you are struggling—it will get better."
Actor Alec Baldwin also appeared during a LymeAid charity event that he was left bed-bound, fearing for his life.
"I really thought this is it, I’m not going to live," the Beetlejuice star admitted. "I was lying in bed saying, ‘I’m going to die of Lyme disease’ in my bed and 'I hope someone finds me and I’m not here for too long'."
Such was also the case for pop-punk musician Avril Lavigne, who told press in 2015 she had 'no idea a bug bite' could such long-term damage to her health.
"I was bedridden for five months," the singer continued. "When you go through something like that, you realise how fulfilling simple things are - things I could do anymore, like being able to get up in the morning and go to the kitchen and grab a cup of coffee.
"It taught me patience; it taught me being more present. That was a beautiful lesson."
As we say, however, the notion of a variation of Lyme disease that cannot be cured and can linger in the body for several years, is viewed by many as rather controversial.
"There is no consensus over whether chronic Lyme actually exists," says Matthew Dryden (a consultant microbiologist at Public Health England's Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory).
The medic goes on to argue that 'chronic Lyme disease' is terminology coined in the US to describe a wide range of symptoms, not all of which are 'exclusive' to Lyme disease.
Whilst Dryden agrees that what is being suffered is an often-misunderstood, debilitating illness, he understands the reluctance of some medics in some countries to accept it as a standalone condition.
There is also the fact that a number of 'chronic' symptoms match those experienced by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) - sufferers.
"That's the mystery of these chronic symptoms that can be triggered by all sorts of infections," Dryden continues. "They are very debilitating but nobody can find any pathological mechanism to explain them."
Chiming in on the discussion surrounding Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Dr Sarah Logan, from London's Hospital for Tropical Diseases, recently explained at a Science Media Centre conference: "Because there is increased awareness about it, they are testing for Lyme disease and then they are going on to various different Lyme disease forums on the internet and being told, 'Well actually the UK tests are rubbish, but you need to send it off to Germany'."
She continued, as per the BBC: "Then they are coming back with a test that is positive and saying, 'You doctors are all wrong and I don't have chronic fatigue syndrome, I have chronic Lyme disease.'
"I think that most people who think they have got Lyme disease in the UK, probably don't."
Harvard Medical School's Marcelo Campos, MD, couldn't agree more with Dryden on the existence of a genuine medical predicament.
"On one side, we have distressed patients tired with the lack of answers; on the other side, we have doctors who cannot find a biological proof of what is happening," he recently wrote.
"Finally, we have an economic system where insurance companies regulate payment concerning how we diagnose and treat diseases."