‘We don’t have care’: She loses everything to Lyme disease

Bitten by a tick in 2018, a businesswoman and mother of four lost everything to Lyme disease.

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While the pain associated with Lyme disease is well known, its psychological consequences are less so.

Lyne Bellemare, who worked in horticulture, was bitten by a tick in 2018.

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Following the bite, which had been identified, Mrs. Bellemare received antibiotics for prevention, then the symptoms disappeared.

But in 2019, the following year, she began to have serious problems with anxiety and depression, so much so that she had to be hospitalized in psychiatry 7 times over a period of 2 years.

“Great, great anxiety. I separated, everyone thought it was my divorce that made me depressed, but no. I had become so anxious, so tired,” she explained.

The psychiatric impacts had consequences on his family.

“When the children came, I was not able to take care of them,” she laments.

Unaware of the psychological effects of Lyme disease, Lyne Bellemare blamed herself for her condition.

“And I was like, it’s in my head, I should be able to function,” she recalls.

Ms. Bellemare regrets the lack of follow-up for this condition in the province.

“We don’t have treatment. You can’t live rolling in a ball of pain in your bed,” she laments.

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The government announced in May that it planned to set up 15 clinics throughout Quebec.