'Bed ridden' glamour model spends £10,000 on private treatment to fight Lyme disease... after NHS doctors mistakenly prescribe her with anti-depressants
- Michelle De Feo had migraines and vertigo after being bitten by parasite
- She ordered a blood test kit from Germany to test for the disease
- Now has to have intravenous antibiotics and oxygen treatment every day
A glamour model's career has been halted after she was bitten by a blood-sucking parasite.
Michelle De Feo, who lives on a farm in Boxted, Essex, has Lyme disease, which is spread by a bite from an infected tick.
The 23-year-old, who has done photo shoots for Nuts magazine and the Sport newspaper, has so far spent £10,000 on private treatment for the disease, which her doctor originally thought was depression.
Michelle De Feo, who lives on a farm in Boxted, Essex, has Lyme disease, which is spread by a bite from an infected tick
Ms De Feo was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease - a bacterial infection spread to humans by infected ticks - after she paid for a German clinic to carry out blood tests.
She suffers migraines and vertigo, and has had days when she's been unable to get out of bed.
She now has intravenous antibiotics for three hours a day, every day, and oxygen for four hours a day.
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Ms De Feo said the blood tests carried out in England had not diagnosed the disease.
She said: 'I think the NHS needs to sort this out. There are probably thousands of people with Lyme disease.
'In Colchester, you have got Highwoods Country Park, areas like Boxted, Great Horkesley and Langham, where there are no signs up to warn people of Lyme disease.'
Ms De Feo now has intravenous antibiotics for three hours a day, every day, and oxygen for four hours a day
Ms De Feo said she had been unwell for about a year: 'It started off with bad migraines, then it got worse as it went on.
'It got up to a point where I had to stop working, I was getting bad vertigo. Some days I was bed ridden.'
Ms De Feo went to her GP surgery in Colchester and was diagnosed with depression and prescribed anti-depressants.
But she said the medication made her feel worse.
She tried a private doctor in the town who diagnosed her with vertigo-related migraines and gave her more medication for the headaches. But Ms De Feo said: 'It was getting worse.'
She was then talking to friends and Lyme disease was mentioned.
Ms De Feo returned to her GP with her suggestion. She said: 'He said you have got to be bitten. I said I'd had a couple of bites but didn't think anything of it.'
Speaking about the illness Ms De Feo said: 'I think the NHS needs to sort this out. There are probably thousands of people with Lyme disease'
A blood test came back negative for the disease but she said she knew instinctively something wasn't right.
Ms De Feo discovered there was a £600 blood test which could be done in Germany and would more thoroughly test for the disease.
She ordered it and her cousin, who is a nurse, carried out the test: 'It came back positive within about five days.'
She was sent a list of private clinics in the UK and she is now being treated at the Breakspear Medical clinic in Hertfordshire.
Intravenous antibiotics are administered for three hours a day, every day. She also has oxygen for four hours a day.
Her IV medication will end this weekend after a month of treatment although she will continue to have oxygen for the next two months at home.
Ms De Feo discovered there was a £600 blood test which could be done in Germany and would more thoroughly test for the disease
Many celebrities including Avril Lavigne, Ben Stiller and Alec Baldwin have spoken publicly about suffering from the condition.
After staying away from the spotlight for months, Canadian singer Ms Lavigne resurfaced in April to reveal that she was battling the tick-borne illness.
'I could barely eat, and when we went to the pool, I had to leave and go lie in bed,' she recalled, adding that she'd felt lethargic and lightheaded for a while. 'My friends asked, 'What's wrong?' I didn't know.'
Shortly after, she was diagnosed with a severe case of Lyme disease. 'I had no idea a bug bite could do this,' she said. 'I was bedridden for five months.'
Actor Mr Stiller has described the illness as a 'really tough thing' while fellow star Mr Baldwin said, 'at the same time of year, I get really tired'.
Real Housewives stars Yolanda Foster and her children, model Bella Hadid and son Anwar Hadid, also have the condition.
'When my two youngest children, Bella and Anwar, were diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease in early 2012, watching my babies struggle in silence in order to support me in my journey struck the deepest core of hopelessness inside of me,' she said. 'No child should suffer the way that you do.'
WHAT IS LYME DISEASE?
Lyme disease, or Lyme borreliosis, is a bacterial infection spread to humans by infected ticks.
Ticks are tiny spider-like creatures found in woodland and heath areas.
They feed on the blood of birds and mammals, including humans.
Ticks that carry the bacteria responsible for Lyme disease are found throughout the UK and in other parts of Europe and North America.
Many people with early-stage Lyme disease develop a distinctive circular rash at the site of the tick bite, usually around 3 to 30 days after being bitten.
Some people with Lyme disease also experience flu-like symptoms in the early stages, such as tiredness (fatigue), muscle pain, joint pain,headaches, a high temperature (fever), chills and neck stiffness.
More serious symptoms may develop several weeks, months or even years later if Lyme disease is left untreated or is not treated early on and include pain and swelling of the joints, problems affecting the nervous system including numbness and pain in the limbs, facial paralysis, memory problems and difficulty concentrating.
It can also lead to heart problems like myocarditis, where the heart muscle becomes inflamed and heart failure. Meningitis is also a risk.
A few people with Lyme disease go on to develop long-term symptoms similar to those of fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome, which is called post-infectious Lyme disease.
Source: NHS Choices
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