Justin Timberlake shared that he was battling Lyme Disease at the end of July – but he isn’t the only star to have have suffered as Kelly Osbourne also battled it for years
Following the conclusion of Justin Timberlake’s recent tour, the star took to Instagram to reveal he’d been grappling with Lyme disease.
Yet the SexyBack hitmaker isn’t alone amongst famous faces who’ve fought this condition. Lyme disease proves notoriously tricky to pin down with a proper diagnosis, as many of its telltale signs mirror those of other conditions – leaving sufferers drained, aching in their joints, and sometimes struggling with memory problems.
Kelly Osbourne has been candid about her own struggle, revealing in her 2017 autobiography that a tick bite in 2004 started her ordeal. The disease spreads to humans via tick bites – though Kelly remained unaware of her condition for years.
In her no-holds-barred book, There Is No F—ing Secret: Letters From a Bada– Bitch, Kelly described experiencing “traveling pain” that ranged from stomach troubles to throat discomfort. Come 2013, she endured a seizure and received an epilepsy diagnosis.
Detailing how medics struggled to find effective treatment, she penned: “My prescriptions kept piling up. I couldn’t sleep, so they gave me Ambien. When Ambien made me nauseated, they switched me to Trazodone, but that gave me acid reflux, so then I had to take an antacid every day. I took cranberry extract and antibiotics because one medication made me prone to getting urinary tract infections.”, reports the Mirror US.
The agony became so overwhelming that she confided to her family: “I can’t live like this anymore. I’m a vegetable.
“What irks me is that this is a genuine, life-threatening condition. It nearly claimed my life. And it’s astounding, and you’re more aware of this than anyone, how someone can twist a single sentence to cast such a negative light,” penned Kelly.
“There’s nothing negative about it, because I will go to any lengths to raise awareness for it since it almost took my life,” she continued. “It’s a crippling disease that often slips through the diagnostic net.”
Eventually, she sought help from an alternative health practitioner, Philip Battiade, who conducted tests and diagnosed Kelly with stage III neurological Lyme disease in 2014, a decade after her initial tick bite.
The Mayo Clinic states that the most prevalent symptom of stage III in the United States is arthritis in the joints, predominantly the knees, leading to swelling, stiffness, and pain. Stage III symptoms can manifest anywhere from two to 12 months following a tick bite.
Lyme disease is typically treated with antibiotics – occasionally intravenous antibiotics if the Lyme disease is advanced.
The exact stage of Lyme disease Justin Timberlake is battling remains uncertain, but the star has been candid about its impact on him, describing it as “relentlessly debilitating.”
He shared on his Instagram post, “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.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
