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I feel and look so old

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Lyme Disease
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Posted 11/20/2017 9:50 PM (GMT 0)
I was diagnosed about a year and a half ago, after having symptoms really hit almost 3 years ago. I started aging quite a bit when I was 30 and since then I've gotten so many wrinkles and feel I look so much older then my age! It's terribly depressing to both look and feel so awful! I wonder if I had Lyme a lot longer then I think and they've just been feeding on my collagen. I've been taking collagen and gelatin for quite awhile but I don't think it's helping since I seem to look older every day!
Posted 11/20/2017 10:14 PM (GMT 0)
I'm getting this as well. Especially on my hands. How old are you now? It's really discouraging to actually see your body changing
Posted 11/20/2017 11:27 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, me too. My skin is so wrinkly and old looking.
Posted 11/20/2017 11:31 PM (GMT 0)
Me too. (oops...I'm talking about the wrinkly hands, old looking - not the other "Me too")
Posted 11/21/2017 12:47 AM (GMT 0)
Yep... me too . Skin is nasty, and seems like every time I find a moisturizer that doesn't make things worse it gets taken off the market... ( seriously, that's only happened one time, but I was totally traumatized by it ) and it's taken me years to find another product I can even tolerate ( i don't love it like the previous one though- it just doesn't make things worse...)

Also I've been dealing with bells palsey for over a year now- that made me look easily 2x my age- overnight. Yuck! The worst of the bells palsey is gone now ( thankfully!) but I still don't look myself. I get occasional glimpses of me under there sometimes though, and that gives me hope.

I do the collagen too, haven't noticed any real effects except my hair began growing again ( it's still falling out though, haha) ... skin effects ? Maybe . Who knows how bad I'd look if I wasn't taking it...
Posted 11/21/2017 12:50 AM (GMT 0)
It's so discouraging! Especially when we are probably doing all we can to be healthy (eating well, supplements, etc). It just doesn't seem fair! Although I guess there are perhaps more important things! I'm 46 now, so I know hormones are also a part..great fun!! I'll never forget when I was in my mid 30s I had someone think I was in my 40s and it was a little crushing! So I have a feeling I've had Lyme for awhile, darn bugs!!
Posted 11/21/2017 12:58 AM (GMT 0)
Yes, it really is discouraging! Especially when I have friends who are older than me who still drink & party and eat terribly- and look ( and FEEL) way better & younger than I do. So unfair!

It's definitely not the most important thing to me- but it's just one more thing to bring me down... never realized I was so vain till all this...

If it was one or the other- like you could look old & feel good ( or vice versa) then it might not be so bad... but the looks ontop of feeling so darn awful ALL the time... lyme sucks!
Posted 11/21/2017 1:03 AM (GMT 0)

tonyaraven said...
It's so discouraging! Especially when we are probably doing all we can to be healthy (eating well, supplements, etc). It just doesn't seem fair! Although I guess there are perhaps more important things! I'm 46 now, so I know hormones are also a part..great fun!! I'll never forget when I was in my mid 30s I had someone think I was in my 40s and it was a little crushing! So I have a feeling I've had Lyme for awhile, darn bugs!!

Pre-lyme it was the opposite for me. People always thought I was younger than I was.

No one's saying THAT anymore. I'm so vain.
Posted 11/21/2017 4:30 AM (GMT 0)
Me too. Not to brag, but I'm 42 and before I started treating lyme, I looked 30. I was still getting carded. My hands, skin, all makes me look older than 40. My hair is all thin too. I hate it. I just hope things get better when I start feeling better. Ugh. Even my feet look old. Horrible.
Posted 11/21/2017 5:16 AM (GMT 0)
Oh my! I appreciate you all sharing! Sorry you too feel like I do! I just hope we all feel better soon (and look better too, that would be like a cherry on top!). I don't think we are being vain, I think we unfortunately live in a society that still favors the young and beautiful, it's hard enough aging but then throw Lyme on top of it and it just stinks!! I think we all deserve to feel good about ourselves inside and out!
Posted 11/21/2017 1:00 PM (GMT 0)

Girlie said...

tonyaraven said...
It's so discouraging! Especially when we are probably doing all we can to be healthy (eating well, supplements, etc). It just doesn't seem fair! Although I guess there are perhaps more important things! I'm 46 now, so I know hormones are also a part..great fun!! I'll never forget when I was in my mid 30s I had someone think I was in my 40s and it was a little crushing! So I have a feeling I've had Lyme for awhile, darn bugs!!

Pre-lyme it was the opposite for me. People always thought I was younger than I was.

No one's saying THAT anymore. I'm so vain.

Nuh-uh! You're cute as a button, Girlie!!
Posted 11/21/2017 2:07 PM (GMT 0)
lets be honest besides what society thinks who the heck wants to have wrinkles, bags under their eyes, age spots, etc? really nobody so don't anyone feel bad here about not liking the fact that they look older than they did pre-lyme.
Posted 11/21/2017 2:21 PM (GMT 0)
Yes! I agree! It would be one thing if we were all eating like crap, drinking, smoking and partying all the time...but I'm pretty sure most of us are doing everything we possibly can to be healthy...I think we all deserve to feel good about ourselves!
Posted 11/21/2017 5:26 PM (GMT 0)

tonyaraven said...
It would be one thing if we were all eating like crap, drinking, smoking and partying all the time...


Huh ? - Is it just me that's smoking/drinking/partying all the time? tongue
Posted 11/21/2017 7:09 PM (GMT 0)
Ha ha!!!! 😂
Posted 11/21/2017 10:57 PM (GMT 0)
I get jealous of people who feel good enough to have a desire to smoke a cigarette or drink a beer. I remember when I used to be healthy enough for that to be appealing. Now I feel like I'm drunk 24/7.
Posted 11/29/2017 7:33 AM (GMT 0)
I'm experiencing this too. Has anyone healed and found a reversal in the accelerated aging/horrible skin?
Posted 11/29/2017 7:45 AM (GMT 0)

CatLady18 said...
I'm experiencing this too. Has anyone healed and found a reversal in the accelerated aging/horrible skin?

I'm not fully healed yet, but my skin is better than it was. I just wish I could get the collagen back...and erase the wrinkles that formed around my mouth. What's with that?

A few people have been telling me lately that I'm looking good. I don't see it.
I think all they're noticing is that I'm not skinny and gaunt anymore.
I recently saw some photos from 2014...and I did look gaunt...
Posted Yesterday 12:34 AM (GMT 0)
I'm glad to hear you've seen improvement, but, eek, it sounds like the collagen loss may be permanent?! Do you have an opinion about collagen supplements? I noticed some plumping, but my body doesn't metabolize it well.
Posted Yesterday 1:48 AM (GMT 0)
I bought the Great Lakes brand..but haven't been taking it much.

(It's a powder)
Posted Yesterday 2:02 PM (GMT 0)
I use Great Lakes collagen daily, and have been for a couple of months. I haven't noticed any major change, but I slip it into my morning detox tea (how I miss a good cup of coffee), and figure it can't hurt.

I'm in my 40's, too, and definitely see the same wrinkling everyone else has mentioned. My vanity centers more around muscle tone. Prior to Lyme/Co's, I was fit -- worked out regularly, had been an avid runner, skier, biker, hiker (probably when I got bit). Then, I spent a year completely idle.

I'm slowly getting back into exercising, but when I look at the waddle of skin hanging under my arm, I just want to cringe.

We all have to be kind to ourselves (I keep telling myself that), but it's hard. Like you, Girlie, I've had people mention that I look better and "less ashen." Yikes, I had no idea I was a pasty shade of gray, but I guess I was.
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