Lyme disease is a frustrating, devastating condition that can affect anyone. The symptoms are often mistaken for other things so the Lyme can easily get misdiagnosed. But once acute Lyme becomes chronic Lyme, watch out. It becomes far more difficult to treat and recovery isn’t always guaranteed.
Lyme is an inflammatory infection that spreads to humans through tick bites. Ticks pick up bacteria by biting infected animals, then pass it onto other animals (usually deer, birds, mice and other small rodents) as well as humans. So what might not seem like the flu might be something much worse.
Lyme has affected loads of celebrities as well, which is equally sad but kind of reassuring as they can bring loads of awareness to the disease. Here are some stars who have spoken out about their struggles.
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Avril Lavigne
Don't miss 10 things you can do to avoid Lyme infection here.

Shania Twain

Yolanda Hadid

Anwar and Bella Hadid

Alec Baldwin

Ben Stiller

Kelly Osbourne
"I've learned to advocate for myself when it comes to my health, and I trust my intuition," she wrote in her memoir, There Is No F*cking Secret: Letters From a Badass Bitch. "If I think something is wrong, I refuse to let anyone dismiss it. And sadly, I stay the f*ck away from reindeer."

Ashley Olsen

Richard Gere

Jamie-Lynn Sigler

Amy Tan
"Three months after antibiotic treatment, I could write again," she wrote in the column, in which she called for new diagnosis and treatment standards, along with insurance coverage for Lyme. "I have my life back, but I am not cured. If I go off antibiotics, the symptoms march back. I have permanent bodily damage, including epilepsy, a consequence of 16 lesions in my brain."

Debbie Gibson

Daryl Hall

Parker Posey

Christy Turlington

Ally Hilfiger

George W. Bush

Rebecca Wells
"Finally, I saw an environmental medicine doctor, and it turned out that I had Lyme disease — even though an infectious disease doctor in Seattle told me that it did not exist in Washington state," she told Goodreads.com. "I was diagnosed in 2004 with chronic neurological Lyme disease. It went into the neurological system because I was undiagnosed for so long."
Don't miss 10 things you can do to avoid Lyme infection here.