A Canadian newspaper profiles Nicole Bottles, a young woman who has been battling Lyme disease for four years.

.

From the Sooke News Mirror (Canada):

For a young woman on the threshold of fulfilling her dreams, the pain and anguish of Lyme disease is just one of the barriers to independence that Nicole Bottles has to deal with.

Her bright, optimistic attitude is serving her well — it’s made the difference between being angry and upset or enjoying what life has to offer.

In 2008 her life changed, as did the lives of those closest to her. She was living in East Sooke with her parents, Chris Powell and Dave Bottles, doing what every other teenager did. Then things began to change. Headaches, nausea, joint and muscle, pain and confusion combined with concentration issues and memory problems were followed by more excessive health issues such as heart palpitations and air hunger.

Those are just some of the health problems the then 15-year-old had to deal with. A false negative test for Lyme disease sent her and her parents on a search for answers, treatment and confirmation that she did indeed have Lyme disease. She was misdiagnosed and from there her world spiraled down.

Click here to read the rest of the article.