“It was during a promenade in the woods in April 2015 that my life changed”. That day, a tick crawled onto Michèle Baudry’s right side during a walk in the pretty valleys of Creuse. “It stayed attached to me for two days without me noticing it”, says the forty-year-old. Very quickly the first Lyme symptoms appeared. His neck began to stiffen with erythema migrans eleven days later. As about 14% of the world’s populationMichèle entered a long tunnel strewn with pitfalls, including that of screening.
In France, the diagnosis is made by a blood test. It allows us to see the antibodies against the bacteria, but we have to wait six weeks after the first symptoms appear to see them. “In view of my erythema migrans, my doctor put me on antibiotics for a month,” says Michèle Baudry. In the meantime, her condition has deteriorated.Very tired set in, followed by a flu-like condition with increasingly unbearable neck stiffness. I lost five kg in a week. I developed dizzinessof the tachycardia“My doctor did not understand why my condition was getting so bad even though he had followed the antibiotic protocol,” says Michèle. Without any suspense, his serology is positive. However, the fight is far from over.
For Jeanne Salvi, the symptoms are quite different. “I was bitten by a tick when I was five years old during a holiday in the mountains. At the end of the day, my mother found the mite in my neckand removed it without worrying too much,” explains the young woman. A few weeks after this event, Jeanne Salvi declares a pneumonia without any connection being made. Very quickly other symptoms are triggered.My joints were hurtingthe doctors told me it was growth,” laments the young woman.
It was when he was 17 that everything accelerated. Muscle pain and joint pains become more pronounced. Since Jeanne is very athletic, the doctors then think of compartment syndrome: an increase in intramuscular pressure that causes damage to the surrounding nerves, characterized by severe pain. When this risk is ruled out, the doctors then turn to a completely different disorder. “They told me that my symptoms did not correspond to anything in medicine and that It was a matter of psychiatry. I had to swallow a cocktail of neuroleptic treatment which made me even worse.”
Foreign diagnosis
Finding no answers in France, Jeanne then decided to manage on her own. Surrounded by her parents, she did a lot of research. “A acupuncturist referred me to a GP who had Lyme disease. I then had a blood test in France which was negative and one in Switzerland which came back positive,” says Jeanne.
It was in 2021 that his health deteriorated.I lost the use of my legs and my left arm“. His life became more complicated day by day, preventing him from reading and writing. “I went to a hospital in Hamburg for five weeks. I received three different antibiotics, plants, ozone and light therapy.”
Loneliness in the face of French doctors
To ward off fate, Michèle and Jeanne rush alone into a unconventional therapeutic pathway in France. When the first drives 150 km to see a doctor who agrees to treat her, the second ventures to Lyon to try to regain the use of her arm. “He put me on an antibiotic drip every night and thanks to him I went from 50 tablets a day to zero,” smiles Jeanne Salvi.
Today, after a fierce fight, Michèle has succeeded in obtaining a reconnaissance ALD. Because yes, her memory problems, her migrating pains, her headaches and her concentration problems that this bacteria induced prevent her from exercising a professional activity. As for Jeanne, she regained the use of her arm and was able to return to university and sport. “I suffered so much from not being able to walk that finding my running shoes again is a real relief,” confides Jeanne.
The unbearable pain
However, others never reach the stage of healing. This is the case of Elodie Rousselle. Suffering from cerebral palsy that has affected her muscles since childhood, the life of the 23-year-old woman is synonymous with suffering. She lost the use of her legs in 2010. “I was in agony, I felt like my legs were deforming“, says the young woman. For many years, Elodie underwent surgical operations and heavy treatments. Nothing worked, her condition worsened with pain that prevented her from sitting down. “The doctors ended up telling me that my case was psychiatric and that I was trying to attract attention around me,” she laments.
Elodie Rousselle also found answers to her questions in Germany, where she was diagnosed with Lyme disease. German doctors believe that she may be a carrier of the bacteria “Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato“since childhood. Unfortunately, her condition has only deteriorated despite numerous treatments based on antibiotics, ozone and light therapy. Today, the young woman lives in bed. Every move is a nightmare. “Sometimes I wonder if I will survive the pain,” she says.
Stop the witch hunt
For Michèle, Jeanne and Elodie, the recognition of this disease is deplorable. “Doctors in France have stolen my life. If they had listened to me, I might not be in this state,” laments Elodie Rousselle. “French doctors need to be better trained by taking an interest in foreign studies,” stresses Michèle Baudry.
The three women are now part of l’association France LymeThey hope for a legislative development that would allow real therapeutic advances and to stop the witch hunt“French doctors who try foreign therapies are stopped by the medical association. This is the case of my doctor in Lyon who is being prosecuted,” says Jeanne Salvi.
