how do you deal with Lyme non-believers?

hello Annie
here are a few of my thoughts


other peoples beliefs:
other people who have no personal experiences of Lyme will be very unlikely to believe its a real thing
there is little you can do to change what others think - and you can cause yourself a huge amount of stress and upset trying to convince them - or be accepted by them.
better to accept others will believe whatever they choose to believe and move on with your life - even if that means people who your were close to are no longer close as they do not understand what you are going through and now represent more harm than good. this is their failing of compassion and understanding - not yours.

often this is based on their own fear
if its a real thing - and it could happen to you - then maybe it could happen to them
how would they look after their kids, pay the mortgage etc
they typically do not want to believe this could happen to them as it makes the uncomfortable

i have had otherwise decent people in my extended family say to me - "i don't have time to be ill" as if my 8 years of illness that caused me to lose my job, house, fiancé etc is some kind of lifestyle choice.

antibiotics:
the alternative health / functional health / holistic health sources all tend to overstate the harm antibiotics do.
while its true that in general they are overused, do harm the gut microbiota and are best avoided for trivial things like sore throats etc
lyme and co also mess up the gut microbiota - cause leaky gut etc - so patients who have lyme already have a messed up gut and antibiotics may actually improve it rather than do more harm than good.
thy did in my case
lyme and co is also a serious chronic infection with potentially fatal long term consequences and the fact remains that although treatment once chronic is difficult and often lengthy - more people still recover by using antibiotics than any other treatment

social media
in general social media is not a great place to spend time if you are chronically ill
the system is set up to make money for the shareholders of a few large companies
it does this by amplifying the negative and promoting the reactive content
its only interest is in keeping people engaged
most of health information on these platforms is also fragmented, sort form, and of lower quality than can be found elsewhere.

the "social" content of these platforms may feel like it is somehow nourishing our social needs in the moment - for connection, understanding, camaraderie etc
but its like junk food is in your diet - it seems like it is tasty and satisfying your needs in the moment - but over the long term it is not providing the real sustenance you need to be healthy long term.
its also am inevitable source of unhealthy comparison in your life
if you are chronically ill - struggling to work, function, hold it together and spend time in your day looking at h others are living their lives - especially the glossy, technicolour versions people post on social media - its inevitable that the comparison will make you feel worse not better

the less time you spend on such platforms the happier you will be in the long run - get your health information from the huge libraries of technical papers, some of the respected books on the topic - and use long form forum groups like this to discuss and help validate what you find and you will likely have much more success steering a course through this very challenging illness

all the best!!

Since I can't improve upon what Garzie and astroman have shared, I'll offer my suggestion in visual form:

VIEW IMAGE

This is something I struggling with myself. Thinking of this graphic often helps me to regain focus, when my mind start running in different directions or when I'm spending time and energy on things that aren't helping me.

Thank you, sir. I wish I knew where it originated, so I could give it proper attribution. But, I've seen that diagram repeated many places online.

While I don't usually consider social media as one of the "Things That Matter," this forum is often an exception. (Thankfully, this place is more "social" than "media.") Even if a topic or thread might not initially seem relevant to me, I often end up finding something helpful from you, astroman, RainyCloud, saraeli, dcd2103, and others.

Good Luck Annie

books and time outside sound like great substitutes for social media.

if you have one of two people who do understand - or can find them - that can be a great help.
if not - lean on the people here - they will understand.

i have some posts on exercising with lyme i can dig out if they would help you

i think pretty much all of us have some form of emotional trauma - either from past events in our lives we have not really dealt with or simply from the unwanted challenges chronic illness brings.
Recognising and dealing with these is often difficult to face and hard work to work through - but can help us a great deal in our overall journey as our mental state and internal ruminations can otherwise be a source of continual stress that can hold us back.

the easy thing is often just not to face issues, default to in-the-moment quick fixes and just get by - whereas it takes effort and perseverance to build a better lifestyle and a happier life, as it sounds like you are trying to do.

keep up the good work - more power to you!

all the best !

Not that this will make you feel better, but Ive met some people who have had what I call “short term Lyme”get treated for it and some are symptom-free. It does happen and good for them. This is the crazy part, some of these people actually do not believe that chronic Lyme exists because it did not affect them long term.

Some peoples opinions or actions are just not worth thinking about. They are just messed up in their thinking process. Some people just go with the flow regardless of what their gut instinct tells them, maybe they don’t have a gut instinct, who knows?

The thought process of the human species altogether has not really made much progress since the past tribal days.

"I tell them to Fack off"

What Girlie said! LOOOOL (althought I say it to them in my head rather than out loud ha!)

I just ignore and take the "to each their own" approach to naysayers. I've heard it all from people about what might be causing my symptoms. Bottom line is, you don't get it till you get it. Everyone has their right to an opinion, if you don't believe me, fine, I don't care.

Blazer Germany: I say the same thing!! Any non lyme dr I talk to, I say I have CFS or Long Covid (the latter is more recognized by them ).