Life as functioning Lymie

It's been a while since I wrote a blog. Today, I'm sharing my experiences about life as a functioning Lymie. On the surface, social media paints a picture of me surrounded by friends, smiling, and enjoying life. Those moments are indeed precious, but what you don't see are the days in between – the silent battles against fatigue, pain, and the unpredictability of chronic Lyme, because yes, those are still very much present.

My day usually starts at 9 a.m., but I wake up with a sense of haziness, heaviness, and a kind of "hangover." The night's rest never brings the peace I long for. Navigating through morning medications, a careful dance with caffeine, breakfast, and a shower that usually leaves me weakened become a constant struggle to maintain some semblance of normalcy. Pills, appointments, and the complexity of managing symptoms become a puzzle that never quite fits together.

What's on the agenda for today? I repeatedly check my schedule to ensure I don't overlook anything, to prevent forgetting something. Do I have an appointment? Do I need to be somewhere? Is anything planned?

Most mornings, I don't venture beyond observing the birds that come to the feeders in the garden.

Oh yes, work needs to be done too... and before I know it, it's already afternoon. It's difficult to explain, but it's like trying to draw water from an empty well – the spirit is willing, but physical and mental fatigue sometimes create an insurmountable barrier. Only fellow Lymies understand what this disease causes, not just consuming our bodies but also our time on this earth. These are the hours we lose, sacrificed to the hungry Lyme gods.

The only thing that gives me a sense of time on days like these is the strict schedule of my medication and the repeated meals to ingest a dose of pills.

By late afternoon, I grab my laptop and try to do something useful in the context of my volunteer work. Something that makes me feel like I'm still somewhat functional. And as always, I manage to pull it together. It was still a productive few hours.