One tick bite changed her whole life.
For the mother of two children, the birth of her second child was, as doctors would say, “school-like” – without any complications. However, the problems that occurred after childbirth began to pile up, and no one knew the cause. After numerous examinations, she realized that it was Lyme disease. It is an infectious disease that is transmitted from an infected tick to humans, which can lead to serious health complications and even death.
This almost happened to Ana Cvjetković (30) from Split in Croatia, when after the first tick bite In 2007, she had real problems in 2017 after giving birth. That’s when real hell starts for her, writes Slobodna Dalmacija. Because of this, Ana from Split has been suffering for years with the same problem, but also with the health system that does not recognize chronic Lyme disease in Croatia. Numerous sufferers around the world like Anna cannot reach a diagnosis, doctors assure them that they are hypochondriacs, “imaginative patients” or even mentally ill.
“A month ago, I found a tick in my hair, even though I wasn’t out in nature, I went under a tree to my car. I’m scared and afraid of being bitten, even though I know that not everyone is infected, but it doesn’t matter to me because even if it is, it’s obvious in this country I would not receive therapy for acute treatment. When will we get the right to life and treatment? Crowds of people with wrong diagnoses, inadequate testing and allegedly false positive findings live in pain and the impossibility of a normal life,” said Ana.
THE FIRST SYMPTOMS DISTURBING
The first real problems appeared in 2017 when she was pregnant with her second child. After giving birth, the problems multiplied.
“Even though I had what doctors call a ‘school delivery’, beautiful and quick, the problems started piling up after it, and no one saw the cause. I was very clumsy, I barely registered the sounds of the environment, even the baby itself. I was very tired, although by nature I am very lively and a restless person, but these symptoms completely disturbed me,” recalls Ana.
She gave everything to childbirth, which is stressful and difficult for every woman. She calculated, as she says, that it would pass when she got home and rested. However, the symptoms did not decrease. On the contrary, they were stronger and more intense (vomiting, nausea, dizziness). Hyperlactation of milk also started, constant bleeding for 40 days, for which, as she says, she was given contraceptive pills. That is why she decided to go to her general practitioner, who suggested that she undergo additional examinations. However, no one gave an accurate diagnosis, while Ana’s symptoms only worsened. Each additional inspection would end with the words “You are fine!”.
“And so from 2017 to 2020, I had neither diagnosis nor treatment. Three years ago, one afternoon, I realize that I see double. After three days, my husband persuaded me to go to the emergency room, where I refused to go until then, because for every previous visit they assured me that I was crazy and that I was making up my symptoms. Nevertheless, in neurology, a young doctor tells me that I need hospitalization and an urgent MRI of the head. And then, after the recording, they also come they tell me that I have complete progressive damage to my brain, spinal cord and chest, and that I urgently need to have therapy. They said I had autoimmune multiple sclerosis and gave me pulse therapy,” says Ana.
She was released home after five days, but her health problems continued. And that, unfortunately, for the worse.
“I was getting worse. Now I almost couldn’t even walk, my speech was getting weaker and weaker, and my heart started to beat slower and slower. I was returned to the hospital again, where it was found that I had severe bradycardia caused by the therapy they gave me . I had 30 heartbeats per minute all night, and the next day, when my heartbeat stabilized, they let me go home. I didn’t get an accurate diagnosis or therapy, and I couldn’t talk or walk. I can say that I was a disabled person who needed a caregiver,” Ana told Slobodna Dalmacija.
WITHDRAWAL OF SYMPTOMS
As recommended, she goes to a doctor in Zagreb, who finally informs her that she probably does not have multiple sclerosis, but Lyme disease, as a new examination in Germany shows. Then Ana receives treatment with antibiotics and various supplements, which, as she says, she had to pay for herself, even though she has health insurance.
“After 14 days I started to stand up and speak, and 20 days after the start of the therapy, the symptoms slowly receded one after the other. For the next two years, I had no symptoms of any disease, I lived a normal life with my children and my wife. However, in 2022, the doctor who treated me passed away, and I lost my baby due to stress. Soon I felt mild symptoms again,” she said.
Due to the positive findings, doctors in Croatia are again giving her the therapy that almost killed her before. Then Ana, fortunately, meets a girl who started an initiative and a petition for all Lyme disease sufferers in Croatia, and there are thousands of them. Those findings that they bring from abroad, doctors do not respect, they just take them off the table.
“People are tested in one hospital and receive negative results, and then on the same day they are tested in another institution and there is a positive result. How is it possible that someone who has a positive acute disease, i.e. an active infection in the blood, does not have the right to treatment? Well if it’s in the blood, we didn’t invent it. How is it possible that they refuse to give us the therapy prescribed by infectious disease specialists from other countries because, well, they don’t like that attitude and don’t agree with that opinion?”, asks an exasperated Ana.
HE DOESN’T GIVE UP
Her condition at this moment is getting worse every day, but she is not giving up. She decided to share this story with the public so that as many people as possible would know what kind of problems those with Lyme disease are struggling with.
“I’m living again with symptoms I thought were in the past. From problems with walking, vision, to paresis of the skin on my left hand where I have no feeling. There are also various problems with coordination that prevent me from living a normal life. They don’t offer me therapy and treatment, but they still make fun of me and humiliate me. We are left to ourselves and our budget,” concludes Ana, who has uncertain days ahead, but she is not giving up the fight for a better tomorrow.
(WORLD)