Episode 62: Creating Your Wellness Toolbox + Understanding Lyme Disease With Ally Hilfiger

I’ve seen Lyme disease pop up more and more in the news over the last few months – and wanted to learn more about it. The first thing I did was pick up Ally Hilfiger’s book (Bite Me: How Lyme Disease Stole My Childhood, Made Me Crazy, and Almost Killed Me). The subtitle of the book really grabbed my attention. But it also made me question if this was the work of a publisher doing their job to make me want to buy the book. I wondered if Lyme disease was really that serious. It is. After reading Ally’s book and talking with her, I now understand the power of this disease and how underestimated it is by so many. It can not only affect the physical body of its sufferers, but can alter their mental state, too.
Ally and I discuss why her Lyme disease went undetected for years, how she landed in a psych ward at the age of eighteen because of it, how she began to heal by incorporating a new set of tools into her life, what you can do to protect yourself from Lyme disease, and the biggest lesson she’s learned from living with a chronic illness.
Here’s Ally
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SHOW NOTES:
Ally’s Website + Instagram
Ally’s Book – Bite Me
Sacred Mountain Essential Oil
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle
The Art Of Happiness by Dalai Lama
Transcendental Meditation
Focus Wheels + Written Intentions
Japanese Water Molecule Study
Immunity Boosting Tea Recipe
Tick Tock Repellent
Project Lyme
Global Lyme Alliance
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4 Comments
Amanda | What's Cooking
October 11, 2016What an amazing idea, the focus wheel. Somehow it gives permission to oneself to express desires as intentions and to not be a victim of circumstance. That’s a really great way to change your thoughts. I may try to do one. It’s really amazing how well Ally seems to have adapted and healed after suffering for so long.
I had lyme disease my first semester in college. I had gone hiking and got a tick bite I never saw. I noticed the bulls eye rash, but it was everywhere, not just around the tick. I had a fever for a few days and then after a few months my joints hurt to the point where I couldn’t get out of bed. I couldn’t move my thumbs, hips or shoulders. They tested me for rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, mono and other auto immune diseases, everything came out negative. My college was at a higher elevation where lyme disease didn’t exist so no one thought to test me for lyme. I was fatigued (not tired, FATIIIIIGUED, like not being able to finish sentences fatigue) and depressed, which I had never experienced before. This wasn’t my normal self. Everyone at college thought I was the depressed hypochondriac on the floor, which is so sad because it was nothing like my normal self. The people who believed me have become friends for life. After about two months my dad actually figured it out and told me to get a lyme test and it came out positive. After 2.5 grams of antibiotics a day (which causes its own issues) for 30 days I was myself again! It was such a relief, but hearing this story reminds me of how it could have been. It really is alienating. I’m glad that people are shedding light on the fact that Lyme is real and that you have to ask for the RIGHT test.
Jessica
October 17, 2016Wow, Amanda. Thanks for sharing this story. Keep sharing it so more people know about this disease. My eyes are wide open now. So glad you are feeling better!
gret mackintosh
October 24, 2016Absolutely love this episode – am listening to it for the third time right now. Ally is so well spoken and her explanation of the focus wheel is so simple yet profound. Thank you for consistently inspiring healthier living in so many ways with every podcast and post. Xx
Jessica
October 26, 2016The third time! Wow. So glad it resonated with you. I love the Focus Wheel so much too. Thanks for listening and leaving such a sweet comment.