A man has spoken out about the excruciating pain and worrying symptoms he suffered for months after a Tenerife getaway.
Tom Davies, 32, who was usually in good health, took a 10-day trip to Tenerife in April 2022 but started feeling ill soon after his return. Tom shared the frightening start of his health issues: "I woke up in the middle of the night with swollen temples and felt a shooting pain in my heart. My head was pulsating, my heart was racing - It was like my body was working overtime."
Despite a CT scan and blood tests at A&E indicating that all was normal, Tom's health deteriorated as he began to suffer from intense headaches, exhaustion, stomach pains, mood changes, and a sensitivity to light.
In July 2022, Tom's condition took a severe turn when he was struck by sharp chest pains, prompting another emergency visit. He explained the agony: "It was like an electric shock, but this time through my lungs. It was so painful. It was a little bit like Covid - I had trouble breathing.", reports the Manchester Evening News.
After further tests, Tom was still told his blood work was fine. Then one day during lunch, he felt a burning sensation in his back.
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He said: "I felt really achy and had terrible pain in the back of my neck. There was a massive rash on my back in the middle of my shoulder blades, like someone was burning my back."
His GP gave him a cellulitis diagnosis and penicillin, which seemed to help. He said: "If felt a bit better, like the infection was leaving my body." However, the flu-like symptoms returned when his antibiotics course finished. He became so ill that he had to leave his logistics job.
He told his GP, "Whatever you've diagnosed me with, it's not gone". But his blood work was still said to be fine. Things got worse and by mid-September, he started experiencing memory loss.
He says: "It was the worst thing I've ever experienced. I felt really faint and dizzy. I thought it was meningitis." He kept going to hospital for a diagnosis but was told: "We can't keep seeing you. We can't find anything wrong with you."
Liverpool Town Hall lit up green to mark Lyme Disease Awareness month (Liverpool Echo)Tom estimates that he visited his GP ten times and went to A&E 15 times in a few months. He started losing weight and muscle. He added "The entire right side of my body was weak. I was really worried."
He was passed over to a neurologist, underwent multiple blood tests, followed by an MRI which turned out clear. Hospital admission for about a week saw his health getting back on track. But his symptoms made an unwelcome return. Besieged with despair, Tom approached a specialist in Ireland.
This move, he reckons, was the game-changer, citing: "the specialist got me better", and "he gave me a clinical diagnosis".
Tom shared that the Irish expert dispatched his blood specimens to a disease-dedicated lab in Germany, where he tested positive for Lyme bacteria. Finally, after several suspenseful months, he received his diagnosis of Lyme disease in December 2022.
Tom acknowledges that he hasn't entirely returned to his original state, but he's nearly there; he quantifies it at "95 percent there" following half a year of antibiotics course combined with specific supplements. He manages to lead a normal life despite persistent joint pain marking his condition.
As per the NHS, Lyme disease is identified as a bacterial affliction transferable to humans via infected ticks. Certain individuals exhibit a concentric rash following a tick bite, but this clear symptom doesn't show up in everyone. Symptoms imitating flu, like high temperature, headaches, fatigue and muscle pain are also commonly observed.
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Tom, who faced a battle to get his Lyme disease diagnosis, is now dedicated to raising awareness about the condition. He's teaming up with Lyme Disease UK and Lyme Resource Centre to boost knowledge of the disease and its symptoms.
To mark Lyme Disease Awareness Month, two landmark Liverpool buildings will light up in green. Liverpool Town Hall was already glowing green on Friday night, and Sefton Park's Palm House will join in on Monday.
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