Last night I read about Yolanda Foster claiming two of her children, Bella and Anwar were diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease at the same time she was in 2012. Clearly, this is not a logical statement for many reasons. I was glad to see her saying chronic Lyme disease though. I’ve explained to you guys in the past that Yolanda doesn’t have Lyme disease. She’s least out the chronic parts a few times on social media and that just leads to people thinking that Lyme and chronic Lyme are the same thing. They are not. Lyme disease is contracted through a tick bite. Typically, a bite by an infected tick will leave a bullseye type rash behind. If you notice it, a quick treatment with the correct antibiotics can effectively treat the disease. Lyme disease is transmitted from ticks to humans and cannot be passed between humans.
Yolanda and now her two children claim to have been diagnosed with “chronic Lyme disease.” This is a condition that most medical professionals do not acknowledge as a true diagnosis “it’s a controversial use of the term applied to patients with nonspecific symptoms, such as fatigue, who show no objective evidence they have been infected with Lyme disease in the past, since the standard diagnostic tests for infection are negative”.[1][7]” In other words, they’ve never been bitten by a tick at all.
Here is a bit more information from Wikipedia with working links to the actual medical documents if you are so inclined. “While there is general agreement on the optimal treatment for early Lyme disease, there is considerable controversy over the existence, prevalence, diagnostic criteria, and treatment of “chronic” Lyme disease.[15][28][29] The evidence-based perspective is exemplified by a 2007 review in The New England Journal of Medicine, which noted the diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease is used by a few physicians despite a lack of “reproducible or convincing scientific evidence”, leading the authors to describe this diagnosis as “the latest in a series of syndromes that have been postulated in an attempt to attribute medically unexplained symptoms to particular infections.”[1] Most medical authorities agree with this viewpoint: the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the American Academy of Neurology, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), advise against long-term antibiotic treatment for chronic Lyme disease, given the lack of supporting evidence and the potential toxicities.[3][4][5]”
The short version is that doctors have been naming an array of symptoms (fatigue, body aches, muscle atrophy, etc) for years with different names. There is chronic fatigues syndrome, fibromyalgia, MS, and now chronic Lyme disease. It is my position that all of these people have some sort of disease that the doctors don’t yet understand. So they label it, push pills to alleviate the symptoms and move on. It’s amusing to me that the TV ads for fibromyalgia go to great lengths to convince us that fibromyalgia is “a real disease!” When basically there are a lot of labels for the same group of symptoms that doctors don’t seem to know how to treat. So anyway, yes I do believe Yolanda is sick. If her doctors want to call it chronic fatigue, chronic Lyme disease, or the I constantly feel like crap syndrome, that is fine with me. And I really hope that Yolanda can get to feeling better soon. We’ve talked here before at the large number of us have the same symptoms. My doctor calls mine perimenopause. Same difference. There is no treatment. I wish we’d stop renaming the symptoms and find the cause.
But here is today’s problem. You almost NEVER hear of males with these symptoms, or children. I find Anwar and Bella’s alleged diagnosis at the same time as their mother suspect. Yolanda said in her acceptance speech at the Uniting For a Lyme Free World Gala , “When my 2 youngest children, Bella and Anwar, were diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease in early 2012, watching my babies struggle in silence in order to support me in my journey, struck the deepest core of hopelessness inside of me.”
These two kids don’t fit the mold. And why would they be suffering in silence at age 13 and 15? I honestly don’t know what to make of this.
Yolanda goes on, “I honestly don’t have the proper words in my vocabulary to describe to you the darkness, the pain and the unknown hell I’ve lived these past four years. This award is for Anwar and Bella. This is my token and my promise to you that I will not allow you to live a life of pain and suffering. I will walk to the end of the earth to find a cure so that you can live a healthy life that you deserve. No child should suffer the way that you do … I thank you both for your extraordinary selflessness during this journey. Your unwavering love and compassion has kept me alive and fighting through the darkest days of my life.”
Why are children being selfless in their own illnesses that were diagnosed at the same time as their mother’s? This is just odd. Again, I’d like to stress that I do believe Yolanda is ill. I just don’t think we know what her disease is at this point. This new information that three family members were diagnosed in the same year is odd indeed.
I honestly don’t know what to make of this. The gala raised $3million dollars for “Lyme research” which is great, I’m just not sure they are looking in the right direction. Today, Yolanda was out with Gigi and Joe Jonas (looking ill) while helping Gigi shop for apartments in the six to seven million dollar range.
So odd. If they were all sick at the same time, my hunch would be some environmental issue, like air quality in their home, or lead in the water or something like that. How could three family members be bitten by a tick and get Lyme at the same time?
I just wish Yolanda would wipe her slate clean and stop all drugs and treatments for a bit to reset her baseline. How can she ever know what’s working and what’s not when she’s jumping from treatment to treatment, which looking at her Instagram is what she appears to be doing. At this point, how can she even know if treatments are hurting or helping her?
Not taking to Swizzel … This place is full of sick people or people with sick friends.
Damn, hope it’s not contagious in here.
The more you know … ?
Tamara, thank you for the information/education. It is really interesting I agree with you, After 20 years of very similar problems I was diagnosed with Hepatitis C from a gama globulin shot given before blood was tested. Who knew? There are so many virus’s, illness’s we are not educated about and doctors just tell women, oh it’s hormones..or you are depressed. UGH Low thyroid is another under diagnosed illness
I know people who had to demand the appropriate test. for their problems. My rheumatologist diagnosed me.
Well they did move out of that home, and they can’t sell it in a hot market. I think most of her problem comes from those leaky implants. But her children are gorgeous.
Yolanda states she is always tired and in pain and sick etc… she was even sad that she couldnt see her kids at new york fashion week because of how unwell she was feeling. Yet Bella has been all over dailymail with her boyfriend and walking in fashion week and i know looks can be deceiving, but it just seems really strange that her and anwar have, not lymes disease, but chronic lymes.
Yo didnt say anything about Gigi right? so Gigi is healthy i assume ?
MS is diagnosable, so not sure why it is included in the list, but I agree with your assessment about assigning symptoms to known diseases such as fibromyalgia, Lyme, etc.
MS does present differently with each person, but MRIs are a fairly accurate way to diagnose. However, since I was diagnosed 15 years ago, it seems more and more people are getting it around mid-life. Makes you wonder.
As for Yolanda, we thought the leaky implants were contributing to her symptoms; her kids wouldn’t have that problem. So weird. Maybe there’s an environmental cause [other than a tick of course], something they were all exposed to or ate. Whatever it is, I hope Yolanda can eventually move on from this suffering.
My disease has tests and can be diagnosed too. The problem was, no Dr thought of it, or ever had me tested. Instead, they called it fibromyalgia and sent me on my way, so I wasn’t treated properly for the disease I really have (rheumatoid arthritis) for 12 years.
Multiple Sclerosis can be diagnosed, both through an MRI and lumbar puncture. Don’t put us in the same category because it is in no way the same. I was officially diagnosed iñ 2003 after an extensive battery of tests and being misdiagnosed with mini-strokes. MS sucks
Sorry to offend Angie. I included it because it seems to have most of the same symptoms of the undiagnosed or randomly labeled patients. Also everyone I know with MS is also female. I think they go together in that sense. Also there is no singular test that 100% can diagnosis MS.
My dad was diagnosed with MS in 1975, at the age of 41. And suffered terribly the rest of his life, which ended at age 62 due to complications from the disease. I do hear of more women being diagnosed with it though. I do wonder if some are misdiagnosed.
Tamara, you know you could never offend me. It can have a variety of symptoms dependent on the location of the lesions and of course the severity them. And yes, the majority of people with M.S. are female, no one has ever had a good reason for that. I’m sure there are some doctors who throw that diagnosis on people who don’t need it, but most doctors won’t give the diagnosis without firm proof. I’ve been lucky in that I can stay relatively stable with my meds and no stress, I’ve lost several friends to a more aggressive pattern. Sorry for your loss Sam…
My theory is that Master Cleanse Detox Diet she keeps pushing. From what I have read, it can be dangerous if done for too long. And now that her daughters have the same symptoms, I just wonder if they are drinking that crap, too?
Hmmmmm. That’s a thought.
This situation is so confusing. I’ve been reading about this and another family’s story today wondering about this insidious Lyme tick that can savage an entire family. I read it to be contagious by saliva and blood. And that Yolanda and children frequently rode horseback in tick filled areas. Whatever the illness, it seemed to quickly take its toll on her health. I assume the children did not feel as ill and wanted to support their mother without causing her further worry that aggravates any immunity type illness. Yolanda’s children seem to be the center of her universe and they seem to adore and love her. I just hope David aka ‘my Iove’ continues to support her during an illness that would obviously compromise such a new relationship.
I too can see how multiple family members could get a tick bite. You live in the same place, you walk, hike, horseback, sit in the backyard …whatever.. So that wouldn’t be suspect to me. I admittedly don’t know enough about it to presume every persons body reacts the same. The kids are younger. Stronger immune system maybe that they recovered quicker or had milder symptoms? Yolanda, older and with leaking silicone she didn’t know about..whole other scenario and likely not solely Lyme related.
I could believe that, Erika, but the likelihood that three people were bitten by ticks and none of the three of them knew they had been bitten, or when they were bitten or had any reaction to a tick bite or evidence of any kind there were bitten as three times as unlikely as it happening once.
Good point TT. It is a little too…convenient.
It is possible she has Munchausen syndrome. If she and her children are both ill hopefully they figure out what’s wrong with them.
Oh Sb, I have a “church friend” who is full blown Munchausen and even a bit by proxy (kids/husband). She self diagnosed with Lymes a few months back after all the other unprovable diseases weren’t getting her the attention she needed. She is a former RN and knows what to cry to the doctors. She has had fibromyalgia, arthritis, nerve damage in her feet, and this is truly just in the last year…out of ten years of this crap. She convinced a NYC doc to perform back surgery on her (again) last year despite no evidence on her MRIs, etc. She knowingly passed on a genetic disease to her son and then pretended for five years she had no idea she had done so and now begs for money and sympathy. Her husband caught on, she diagnosed him as bipolar, got him on meds he doesn’t need and then found God in the Catholic Church which is how we met! Guess she needs forgiveness but damn is she in need of help because her never ending symptoms and diseases just go on and on. I feel so bad for her daughter and son, they suffer for her mental issues in school and in life. Sorry for the rambling but this woman makes me crazy and I can’t do anything to help.
I thought the same thing TT when I read Yolanda’s statement. I was just so confused. Wait why are the kids suffering in silence so their mom can go on her journey? Its like crazy talk to me. And thank you for clearing up the Chronic and Lyme disease. I have been thinking this whole time she got a tick bite while picking her lemons.
I SWEAR she said it was picking lemons!! This seems so fishy! I get so upset in my house I end up the only one in my house with a cold and if it ever turns into a sinus infection my doctor laughs yep that’s because mom never catches a break! This story is so odd. Catching Lyme disease is not like spreading the typical illness around a normal clean family. Odd.
Not second guessing any of it. I just hope she and her children find recovery. Perhaps the funds for the research will include studies for ‘chronic lyme disease’.
I think Yo’s doing herself, her children, and the whole Lyme disease community – those suffering with the disease plus the researchers, a disservice by not being more specific about her actual ‘disease’. While research dollars and efforts in finding a Lyme disease cure are going towards the actual disease cause by a tick, she is misleading people by not being more forthcoming about her “syndrome” (like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, rather than a “disease” like Lyme caused by a tick bite – at least that’s how my drs classify it).
I was diagnosed w/fibro and CFS in ’92 and spent years looking for a treatment that actually worked, never really feeling better after anything I tried. It wasn’t until I accepted the fact that I’m always going to feel this way, never being pain free or having energy like my days of old, that I was able to move on and actually have some semblance of a life again.
I hope Yolanda can get to a place where her health (selfies of treatments – laying in bed with something across her brow – looking like an invalid) no longer is the focus of her life, I know she doesn’t feel well and she has legitimate complaints, but I think she needs to be clear about what this is and point everyone in the proper direction.
My friend had CFCs, fibro and migranes. She was sick for years. Couldn’t work. Couldn’t go to school. Then she did the elimination diet. Now she doesn’t eat gluten or dairy and has no symptoms. But when she goes back to these foods it all comes back.
Thanks for the information about chronic Lyme disease, Tamara. I didn’t know anything about it, and had never heard of it before your post.
I do know that chronic pain and fatigue, by any name, impact one’s quality of life. I have liked Yolanda on the RHOBH and wish her and her family a speedy return to good health.
Hi Tamara..
Thank you for your common sense and for speaking up about Yolanda and chronic illness in general. I started getting sick about 12 years ago. Pain and inflammation coming, going, and moving around to almost all areas of my body. I saw internists and specialists for about 2 years, and finally they just started calling it fibromyalgia and sent me off to pain management doctors for all these years.
Of course, other people I knew that were “diagnosed” with fibromyalgia, had symptoms that were nothing like mine, so I was always suspicious that this label was pretty much BS.
A year ago the disease became was worse, and I couldn’t raise my arms or use my hands.
Sure enough, I was seeing a new pain Doctor who suspected it was rheumatoid arthritis. I went for the many tests, and sure enough, that’s what it is (and always was) and it’s everywhere in my body because I went so long without being properly treated.
I couldn’t agree with you more. Yolanda is sick, but I’m pretty sure it’s not what these doctors are saying it is!
Over a decade ago, my sister showed up at my apartment on Saint Simons Island uninvited for a visit. She had stage four cancer at the time. I begrudgindly took her around to see the sites (She was not a particularly nice person before the cancer and the cancer made her more unkind). We would sit for a bit and then get up and walk some more. She would be rested and take off and I could not keep up. I had for quite a while had difficulty walking after sitting for longish periods. I just could not get going. Nothing hurt really and in a block or so things would get back to normal until I rested again. My sister forced me to a doctor which I presume looking back that she picked. I went in and saw a P.A. who pressed on my back at 11 paired pressure points. It hurt. That to him meant I had fibromyalgia. The whole thing took five minutes. He wanted to sell me a giant rubberband as the cure. I wasn’t in the market for a rubberband that day but took his business card. I looked at it in the car. He was a “fibromyalgia specialist.” The whole thing is a racket.
I am still slow on lift off as I put it. I just let people laugh at me because of course, as I am often told “there is nothing wrong with me.” There is a lot wrong with me. But I doubt I will ever find out the actual cause. I was in my 30s when the symptoms started and not overweight. I had my first panic attack shortly before that. The depression came later. There are hundreds of us with similar symptoms on here. Each have different diagnoses, if anyone bothers to slap a label on them at all.
I wish Yolanda would finally reject the Lyme label and use the money to research the systemic issue.
I’m sorry Tamara, about your sister, and because I know how you feel. Not knowing what’s really going on..and yes I have believed for years the fibromyalsia is a racket also. Is it lazy doctors? Are they afraid of running expensive tests because of the insurance companies? I don’t know.
I’m angry, and of course depressed too, because I could have had this thing under control long ago, if it was diagnosed in the beginning, but now it’s really bad. I also would have been on disability all these years.. RA is an automatic disability disease.
It was a bit of luck that I changed my pain Dr this year and she started doing new tests.. It took her 6 months, but she found it!!
Agree.. Yolanda needs to see new Drs, start from scratch, and see what this is!
When Yolanda first appeared on Real Housewives, I looked up her personal Facebook page. I read a post that she wrote which stated that she had broken her back giving birth to Anwar, and had to go on bed rest afterwards because of that. Broken her back! Everything she has said since then regarding her health has reminded me of that Facebook post. Broken her back! I laughed out loud.
OMG….Me too. I never comment on here though I love TT. But yeah, I once read on Yo’s website that she broke her back giving birth to Anwar, and I was like, WTH! Does that happen in delivery!?? She must be feather fragile! I’m due in a couple of weeks and I must say, that really really haunts me! That it’s even a possibility! Mad love from Kenya-Africa TT.
YAY Glad to have some Kenyans in the house!
Broke her back in three places. Yup.
Dear Tamera,
Please take a look at the ILADS website and new treatment guidelines for both acute and chronic lyme disease. These guidelines are recognized as evidence based by the NIH. I was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 1992 with a CDC positive western blot. I was bit by a tick, had the bullseye rash after camping with my family near Lyme CT. I came down with the “flu” after coming home and then 1 week later was hospitalized for viral meningitis. 2 weeks later I was had Bell’s Palsey, then severe parotid gland swelling. All of this occurred within a 6 month time frame before finally being tested for lyme by an ID doctor. I was treated for 2 weeks with IV antibiotics. I became about 80% better however over the next several years was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, then “Lyme arthritis”.
My immune system kept the infection at bay for many years and I worked as an RN and raised 2 kids with diagnosis of fibromyalgia and lyme arthritis. I had to stop working at age 53 as my body fell apart and could no longer fight the infection. My doctors today say that I was diagnosed to late and lyme had a chance to disseminate in my system and that I was inadequately treated as the CDC standard of care for neurological lyme is 6 weeks of IV antibiotics. I am basically bedridden with severe arthritis, pain and cardiac damage.
Please just know that chronic lyme can occur even with those who are CDC positive with awestern blot test, with a known tick bite and bulls eye rash. It is because the disease was not caught early enough and then under treated in my case. I can send you more information, just let me know.
There is new research by doctor Eva Sapi and others that show evidence in tissues of the Lyme Spirochette even after 6 weeks of IV antibiotics. Called lyme persisters. Also check the Lyme Disease and Tick borne disease research center at Columbia University who are doing research on chronic lyme or as CDC calls it Post Treatment Lyme Disease syndrome. The CDC researchers are saying that the immune system is attacking the body as it is reacting to dead Lyme bacteria. Also, there are doctors who treat Chronic lyme in children including boys. You don’t have to post this as a comment, I just wanted you to be aware. Love your site and it helps me get through the day.
Sharon, If you read my post, it refers solely to CHRONIC LYME DISEASE where there was no evidence of a tick bite. The literature I read differentiates from your type by calling it Persistent Lyme. It’s an entirely different condition from what I am talking about.
TT – There are ticks where I live, not Ticks with Lyme and we know when we are bitten. A tick has its head in our skin.
I assume a person can be bitten and not see a tick but don’t know how that would happen.
Ticks don’t nibble on skin.
Calipatti, I was bitten by a tick while camping this summer. I never saw it but can only assume it got drunk and rolled off into the woods. I had the flu-like symptoms, a small rash (not bullseye, but I rarely get rashes so one of any type was a tip-off) and slept for two days before dragging myself out to get up on some antibiotics. I guess my point here is that it is feasible that one would not see or feel the tick, but not likely.
Tamara, please check the CDC website under Post Treatment Lyme disease syndrome or PTLDS. It states that although sometimes called chronic lyme disease, the proper name is PTLDS. The is a very popular book written by Dr. Richard Horowitz that describes chronic lyme disease after a known tick bite and also for those who were never aware of a tick bite which can happen in nymph stage. The book is called “Why Can’t I get Better: Lyme the Mystery of Chronic Disease”. He is based in New York and diagnosed me with Chronic Lyme and I had a known tick bite and bulls eye rash Hope this helps!. It is a very confusing and complicated disease and I don’t know if Yolanda or her kids were properly diagnosed and I tend to doubt the kids having it as they seem pretty active but who knows!
Also please see the recent articles about the Phones4U billionaire John Caldwell as his entire family has been diagnosed with chronic lyme disease or as the CDC says- Post Treatment Lyme Disease syndrome.
I Have not properly researched the Caldwell family, but from what I read on the Daily Mail article they are not PTLD or Persistent Lyme, but CHRONIC LYME. Surely with all of your reading on the subject you know the difference.
There is no difference. ILADS- International Lyme and Associated Diseases just published treatment guidelines for Chronic Lyme which state you can get it from a known tick bite or that a person was bit by a tick and did not know it. In the nymph stage they are the size of a poppyseed and all ticks secrete an anesthetic like substance as soon as they bite. The great breakthrough for folks with this shifty disease is that these guidelines were recognized by the NIH, National Institute of Health and their fellow got agency, the CDC doesn’t recognize these guidelines as the CDC objects to more than 28 days of antibiotic treatment and ILADS recommends several months or long term antibiotics. To me it seems silly as doctors give out long term antibiotics for sinus infections and acne among other things.
Funny coincidence/timing ;
The Telegraph then The Daily mail published articles recently about John Caudwell , a self-made billionaire in the UK who is convinced that Lyme disease is endemic and can be passed on. He, his ex-wife and their three grown-up children have all been diagnosed with Lyme disease.He argues that if an entire family can be infected, the disease must be both sexually transmitted and passed from mother to child in utero, and that it could be the root cause of multiple other illnesses including ME, Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis….
Except Lyme disease is only transmitted by ticks infected with the bacteria. Again, no one in his family ever tested positive for the bacteria associated with Lyme disease. His family is the same diagnosis as Yolanda. It seems a bit interesting that Yolanda’s whole family seems to have it shortly after this story. It’s all very odd.
I was a nurse for a long time… I said that to say this…sometimes people have diseases that carry a stigma or they are ashamed and they will often state they have something else..certain people do not even want relatives to know rhat they have cancer. Yolanda does have some illness and I believe she has an accurate diagnosis, I just believe that she is not ready to share that info. the only time I know when children and parents are diagnosed at the same it is something inherited. If not was environmental I think it would have affected more then Yolanda and her kids..right? Yolanda looks great but I can see that she has some health issues. Wish her and the kids well.
Simone, I’ve wondered about just what you decsribe. On September 27th, a very good, longstanding friend of mine died of lung cancer, having lasted only two months following her diagnosis. She opted not to tell most people anything about what was happening, because she said that she wanted to go in peace, without having to discuss things over and over again with well-meaning family or friends. She also did not want to burden anyone. Thank God, she confided in three of us who could be with her and honor her choices. But what confuses me with Yolanda is very different, simply because she is not private about her experiences. I just tell myself that I don’t know Yolanda except from tv, so whatever she has decided is none of my business, but also, I wish her well.
Puzzling indeed, if i have read right you have to of been bitten by a tick with Lyme and wasnt treated. But there is a test, i believe to see if you have the bacteria.
Obviously more research needs to be done on “fatigue syndrome” a broad term im using.
I, still think leaky boobies is the root of her problems and that Master Cleanse flushes out the good bacteria that is needed. Plus those supplements are not a substitute for eating a balanced meal.
TT, I think RHOBH is going the same route as Orange County. Have you heard that Taylor Armstrong was thrown into the mix as a “friend” and she is doubting Yolanda is sick and stirring the pot with that?
Say it isn’t so. I’m soooo bored with that storyline.
Please tell me that Yolanda is not sick is not a storyline on RHOBH this year. I am SOFA KING sick of that crap. Something is wrong with Yolanda. I do not believe she is faking an illness. She’s lost too much of her fabulous life. Also Gigi spoke last night about her mother not being able to follow TV shows, or listen to music or go to her volleyball games anymore. I truly believe she is ill.
I think the HW’s are way to influenced by twitter, which i flippin hate. So even though they have been around yolanda and know that she is sick, they will probably use the storyline that she isn’t because thats what majority of people say about yo on twitter. That and bravo loves recycled storylines. I actually think if it is a storyline, Lisa R will be the ring leader.
That would make me sad. Yolonda is sick with something I believe this one to be true! I hope they don’t do that.
Actually to the person that was saying Lisa Rinna would be the ringleader, from what I read on twitter Taylor is the ringleader and Lisa Rinna comes to Yolanda’s defense and Lisa/Taylor feud about it. There was even a hashtag created called “battle of the lips” because of their argument…
Sorry but I find Yo’s comments odd. Bella and Anwar have it too? Can’t say much about Anwar, but Bella has been posting pics online for years and never looked ill. This whole Lyme disease thing has me puzzled in general. It’s confusing.
Bella is an avid equestrian and is contemplating trying out for the Olympics. I’m sure they were just as floored as everybody else to learn that they had Chronic Lyme’s disease.
I know people who contracted Lyme diesese and were wrecked. I am talking serious athletes who turned to weak people in pain. They got better but still have residual problems.
I don’t know much about chronic Lyme but did lots of research on fibromyalgia as a friend had it. There are lots of diseases that doctors don’t understand so they kind of lump things together. Once you have a diagnosis , it is important to get diagnosed again by a different Doctor without telling them about the original diagnoses, so they can see if they come to same conclusion. Otherwise, they may accept the diagnosis and work from there instead of trying to figure things out.
I am thankful for the doctors who diagnosed my mom with a very rare disease instead of writing it off as Alzheimer’s. But I had to fight on her behalf to get the real diagnosis.
Munchausen by proxy
I LOVE you TT for every word of this. Spot on. Yes. Yes. Yes. Spot on.
I had a chronic, undiagnosed condition for four years. It kept getting worse and worse and the symptoms were so odd. Finally got it diagnosed and treated. Yolanda does look ill and she seems like someone who would want to be active and participate in her kids’ lives. My aunt also had a chronic condition that came and went and we finally figured out it was a salt sensitivity caused by her previous chemo. Every day is a new set of symptoms with some days good and almost normal and others really bad.
Most doctors don’t do their due diligence. They work with the list of symptoms you provide, and run tests based on those symptoms. It’s so routine to them that they don’t spend the time to figure out what system is affecting another. The human body is a system. If your foot hurts, maybe it’s something in your elbow that is causing it. A doctor will say it’s your foot and give you pain meds instead of trying to get to the bottom of it. They usually try to treat the symptoms and don’t try to find the underlying cause. When you go to the doctor, you are your own advocate. You have to fight to get proper care and diagnosis. It’s really annoying that they charge an arm and a leg and give you vague answers and maybes. Ugh.
As far as the kids keeping silent while she went on her “journey” – I just chalk that up to her being tired, sick, and a non-native speaker.
It could be that chronic Lyme is a mutation of lyme – no bullseye mark, not showing up on the blood tests.
But you also could be right – in the 70s esp. if there was a learning disability that the schools couldn’t put their finger on, they tended to label it dyslexia. Now we’ve become a little better – there are auditory processing disorders that are separate from that diagnosis, and while I didn’t see it often, sometimes I’d see on a kid’s plan “learning disability – undefined” or something similar (along with a list of the issues and the accommodations) As my friend would say – often it would be a brain wiring issues that couldn’t be solved by surgery or meds anyway – so the ‘work arounds’ wouldn’t be any different. Why put a label on it that might carry some stigma for the parents or the kid?
I do think there are auto-immune issues out there that have no label or diagnosis.
For me, even tho I’m on synthroid – I still think a lot of it has to do with my thyroid. I sometimes question whether or not the tests available are sophisticated enough to detect subtleties. It wreaked havoc with my allergies years ago (hives for days – dinner plate sized ones on my stomach and back) – my doc and I think that was a sign that my thyroid was sputtering, even though I didn’t get diagnosed with hypothyroidism for another 4 years.
Interestingly – you mentioned women being the group with chronic lyme – women are something like 10 times more likely to have thyroid issues.
How could anwar stay ontop of his “busy schedule” (her words) while he was “silently suffering”?
I don’t like that she brought the kids into it. Doesn’t make sense.
So the money raised was for tick Lyme Disease, correct?
I’m all for that. Tons of ticks where I live and they scare the bejeeze out of me. Actual lyme disease is scary.
I agree that she is ill. My thinking is that those vitamins and supplements she takes are part of the issue. There is absolutely no regulation, no FDA approval or safety standards for them. There recently was a case where they tested supplements from Walmart and it was found that they did not contain the ingredients as stated on the package. Until she stops all medications and starts the process to figure out what truly helps or hurts her, she will never be well.
I also feel like her marriage is coming to an end, and I don’t want to think this, but I wonder if she is playing this for sympathy from her husband. She may have more mental issues than physical ones, especially in light of bringing the children into the conversation.
I wish her well, she seems to be a good person at heart.
Has Yolanda acknowledged that silicone leaking into her body for years could, perhaps, be a contributing factor to her ill-health? I do not understand why she continues to say she has chronic lyme disease.
Beth, I think the reason is we all want to know WTF is wrong with us. Any label is better than, “you’re just getting older” or “you’re depressed” or “you’re just overweight”
Isn’t that the truth!!
Do we think that this is going to be the “Cancer-Gate” of RHOBH this season?
Having spent a lifetime in the country in rural Georgia, I just don’t get how ticks get on folks and they don’t know it. I believe Yolanda has/is ill. She appears to be improving. I wish the best for all of them.
Peachteacher – yes
The tick that carries lyme disease is very, very small (pinhead size). The ticks you are most likely thinking of are much larger and easy to see. The larger ticks do not carry lyme disease.
The deer tick that carries lyme has several life stages. It is very small as a nymph and can carry the disease at that stage, once it is a larger adult tick, it still carries the disease.
I predicted during the last re-union that Yolanda would be well enough to start filming when the new season began. Low and behold, she is.
After her first season on the show I have often caught little things she says to be cunning and disengenuis for the persona she prefers to portay to viewers. Depending on whom she is filming with determines her loyalties. It is very subtle and she is a master deflector when “questioned” about it.
I just don’t understand how someone can be at death’s door, unable to push themself out of bed yet be in hair and makeup, dancing at a benefit mere days later.
This entire thing never made sense until she got her breast implants removed.
Even then why are there sporadic bouts and not a constant debilitation?
Its just suspect that this disease whatever it is enables her to attend benefits and film her show and help her children decorate their homes then when nothing is going on it affects her? I want to know what she has missed because of her disease? Anwar’s graduation? Gigi walking in Channel? Decorating Bella’s new apartment?
I just don’t buy it. Sorry.
I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue at 17 , over 20 years ago. After being an active teenager who was a cheerleader for 6 years and played basketball too, I’d come home from school in the afternoon and pass out. I wouldn’t wake up until the next morning to go to school. So, this was very uncharacteristic for me. The worst symptom was the pain in my hip joints. It literally felt like my joints were ripping with every step I took. I went to a specialist and he didn’t know what to call it bc the blood work said maybe this , but not that.. Anyway, they ended up with chronic fatigue syndrome, gave me anti inflammatories which helped tremendously with the joint pain , and I went on with my daily life. I’d been under a lot of stress that year and I did notice that once that stress was gone and the pain was under control, it seemed a little better. Several years later my hands had the same pain. In a nutshell , it’s fibromyalgia. I take anti inflammatories daily and live with muscle and joint pain but it’s not divisors ting for me. I find that the more I focus on the pain, the worse it seems to be.
*dibilitating
Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Lyme, these are all the same things. None of them are proper diagnoses. Have you ever seen the Fibro commercial where the drug company is insisting that “Fibromyalgia is a real thing!” Of course people are really sick, unfortunately no one has bothered to figure out what the hell all of us ( I include myself in this category) actually have.
I don’t know what to make of it either TT…something obviously rotten in Denmark? (sorry, lol)