TOUCHED BY LYME: "Babelicious" and other household names
Guest blogger Jennifer Crystal ponders how to make tick-borne diseases easier to pronounce and remember.
Telling people I have Lyme disease can be tough. I’m never sure what level of Lyme literacy my disclosure will be up against. Thanks to improved awareness efforts, more and more people have at least heard of the disease, though they might not understand its complexity. But telling people I have other tick-borne co-infections is almost always met with a look of, “You have what?”
Before tick-borne illness became my way of life, I had never heard of babesia, ehrlichia or bartonella, either. These parasitic infections are difficult to pronounce, let alone spell or comprehend. It’s easy to brush off what we don’t understand as not important, but sweeping these illnesses under the carpet is an egregious error that we cannot afford to make.
A single tick bite can deliver a number of co-infections, the most common being the aforementioned three. Unfortunately, the presence of these coinfections can complicate treatment immensely. Babesia, for instance, which is related to malaria, requires completely different drugs than Lyme. When a Lyme patient doesn’t respond to treatment, it may be due to undiagnosed and untreated co-infections.
It’s time to include co-infections in our Lyme awareness efforts. This is a tall order for words that don’t exactly roll off the tongue. My writing professor, fed up with trying to sound out babesia, finally exclaimed, “I can’t pronounce it. Let’s just call it babelicious.”
The class laughed. But more importantly, they began to understand. With a name they could latch on to, my classmates suddenly wanted to know more about the parasite that rendered this former athlete unable to ski or run. I explained to them that the lack of proper oxygenation to my cells was akin to what marathon runners call “hitting the wall.”  That phrase describes the exhaustion caused by the depletion of glycogen in the muscles. The effect is the same for a patient with compromised red blood cells who attempts to ride a bike.
When I was first being treated for Lyme—and only Lyme—I tried, despite my body’s protests, to do physical therapy. After thirty seconds on a stationary bike, I completely ran out of steam. Every muscle in my body ached. I felt dizzy and lightheaded, and wound up in bed for days recovering.
There was nothing sexy about the situation. But if a name like “babelicious” can help improve the sex appeal of the disease—i.e., to increase acknowledgment of and support for it, just as we see with more “sexy” maladies like breast cancer and heart disease—then more power to it.
Now friends know why I need to stop and rest when we go for walks, or why I take the elevator instead of the stairs. They don’t think I’m lazy, or that some weird infection they can’t pronounce is all in my head. They know my babelicious is acting up. Most importantly, they know to look for the symptoms I’ve described in their own vigilance, and they know to be tested for all tick-borne disease, not just Lyme, if they suspect infection.
If we hope to spread Lyme literacy, we must change our own language to include all tick-borne diseases. My professor’s got babesia covered, but how can we make ehrlichia and bartonella easier to pronounce and remember? How can we make “tick-borne disease literacy” less of a mouthful? I’m open to suggestions!
Jennifer Crystal is fighting the good fight against chronic tick-borne illness. She is grateful to be healthy enough to be working towards her Masters in Creative Writing at Emerson College, in Boston, where she is working on a memoir about her medical trajectory. Her website is jennifercrystal.com. Email her at jencrystal5678@gmail.com.
Can you tell if me a person with Babesia can continue after treatment to have problems with this parasite like the Malaria. I seem to still have problems with anemia , Oxygen, and problems with muscles. Thinking about having another test to see if I have recovered. I am a cronic lyme patient. I carried these diseases for eight years and never knew I had them. I was exhausted and had stroke like symptoms before I was finally diagnosed. Possible MS was the first diagnosis. I am wondering after this long 2nd B-Cillin treatment that maybe we should be concentrating on the Babesia. Any suggestions. Eva
Jennifer writes so clearly that I actually feel her frustration and relief. Keep it coming.
I have always heard them just “Bart” and “Babs.” I kind of like Babelicious beter. LoL. I suppose we could add “Earl” to that too, going with the whole name thing. 🙂
Great article!
Shan
Great article! You are so right that the general public has no idea of the possible co-infections and the long-term effects. We need more info! Thanks for teaching us.
We need more articles like this! We need to give people the opportunity to learn, first-hand, about how incredibly debilitating Lyme disease, and the numerous co-infections, can be; yet told in the way Jennifer does so that the message is easily grasped and understood. Bravo!!!
Jen Crystal is the man. And by that I mean the Woman. And by that I mean awesome. Thanks for bringing such talented writing and humor to a difficult subject. More people need to hear this message from talented artists like you.
Truly wonderful writing. Jennifer educated with such engaging detail, wit and charm. I feel inspired to know and read even more about lyme and babelicious-like co-infections! I hope to read more of her work.
Thanks so much for sharing your story. I have been symptom free from Neurological Lyme for 4 years and have realized how important it is to get the word out there! Its a scary untalked about epidemic worldwide.
http://www.lymeandback.blogspot.com
I think Bartonella stands on its own as sexy when stated with a strong Italian accent. 🙂 Great points made. Thank you.