Supermodel Bella Hadid has said that she lives in “chronic” pain most days as she opened up about the difficulties of living with Lyme disease.
The 28-year-old was first diagnosed with the condition, along with her mother, Yolanda, and her brother, Anwar, in 2012. Other celebrities who suffer from the illness include Miranda Hart, Shania Twain and Justin Bieber.
Some of the symptoms Hadid highlighted were headaches, brain fog, sensitivity to light and noise, thyroid dysfunction, inflammation, joint pain and numbness. Depression, anxiety, ADHD, endometriosis, PMDD and PCOS have also reportedly troubled her since the diagnosis.
In a new interview with Vogue, the American model, who is of Dutch and Palestinian descent, said that she has many days where she feels down on herself “for being so sensitive”, adding: “I think nobody really understands chronic illness.”
Expanding on her day-to-day struggles, Hadid continued: “It’s hard to take a shower most days, which I promise guys, if you’re reading this, I shower every day. But sometimes, if I have one day off, if I can get in the shower and make myself breakfast, I see that as an accomplishment.
“Our interview today was at 3 pm. I was in excruciating pain until 11 am and had a very tough morning.”
In a series of Instagram stories shared in 2020, Hadid referred to the illness as an “invisible disease”. In one post, Hadid shared a diagram of the ways Lyme disease can affect people, adding arrows to the symptoms she experiences on a daily basis.
Alongside the list, she wrote: “Everyday I feel at least 10 of these attributes without fail… since I was probably 14, but more aggressively when I turned 18.”
According to the NHS, Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that can be spread to humans by infected ticks and is usually easier to treat if it is diagnosed early.
It adds that many people with early symptoms develop a circular red skin rash around a tick bite, while others have flu-like symptoms, such as a high temperature, headaches, muscle and joint pain, and tiredness.
A few people who are diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease continue to have symptoms that can last for years, the NHS explains.
Lyme disease, when recognised, is usually treated with a course of antibiotics prescribed by a GP.
Those experiencing severe symptoms – such as extreme fatigue, chronic pain and/or depression – may be referred to a specialist for stronger antibiotics.
The majority of those infected will make a full recovery within a few months.
However, infection does not lead to life-long immunity and sufferers can be re-infected and develop the disease again.
