Yolanda Hadid’s lyme disease was so bad she prayed that she would die
Yolanda Hadid has a new memoir out, and I vaguely remember covering the news that she was writing one. The announcement about her memoir, entitled Believe Me, was made last summer, and good for her for finishing her memoir and releasing it in just over a year. She hasn’t made as much headlines in the interim, likely because she’s been busy writing and also she’s been thoroughly eclipsed by her daughters, Gigi and Bella. (They’re both turning into seasoned models and I just love to see what they’re wearing.) Also, in the first cover we saw of her potential memoir she was snuggling a husky puppy. She should not have cut out the puppy.
Yolanda has received a lot of flack for going public with her lyme disease diagnosis, which of course is the focus of this book. I was surprised to read that she’s only been battling this for five years as it seems like it’s been longer for her. Yolanda wasn’t wasn’t shy about showing her illness on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, about discussing all the treatments (some very quacky/controversial that she went through), and about sharing her good days too. People don’t understand that with lyme and other invisible illnesses you can look fine and still feel sick or you can have one really good day where you feel almost normal, do too many activities, and then pay for it for days. So Yolanda was accused of faking and of playing up her illness as well as assuming that her children have it. This is a common experience for many people with illnesses like this. It’s also common for entire families to get lyme because it’s endemic in their area and they have pets which bring ticks into the house. So I do believe her and I’ll get more into that in a moment. First here’s part of her memoir, which is out September 12.
In 2012, Hadid, 53, was diagnosed with severe, chronic neurological Lyme disease after a Belgium doctor discovered an active infection in her brain. Despite antibiotics, her condition drastically got worse and symptoms like joint pain, exhaustion, insomnia and anxiety plagued her daily life. Simple things like answering an email became difficult and her fatigue was so severe walking from the bedroom to the bathroom was nearly impossible.
Two years after her diagnosis, Hadid was on a trip to Florida with then husband David Foster when she could no longer take the pain.
“I take off my clothes and slip into the dark blue ocean, which is cool and comforting,” she writes in her book, out Sept. 12. “The waves gently wash over my naked body, and I can feel the current tugging at me. Tears pour out of my eyes, roll across my cheeks, and meld with the salt water as I try to still my mind to become one with the water’s ebb and flow.”
“God please just take me away in a wave. I can’t live like this one more day. Please carry my body away. I just want to disappear,” she writes. “My next thought is a clear image of my three children. It shifts my consciousness immediately and that’s the only thing that keeps me from letting myself drift and drown.”
Now more focused than ever to regain her health, Hadid is in what “feels like remission” and she’s focused on her family, recovery and finding a cure.
“As difficult as these past five years have been, I am so grateful that this journey has led me to living in the light,” she says. “I have had it all and lost it all, only to realize that less is more, money can’t buy you health or happiness, and one day at a time is good enough.”
[From People]
As I’ve mentioned several times, I developed an invisible illness, likely lyme as I lived in Connecticut at the time, which caused me to need a wheelchair for months at a time when I was previously incredibly healthy and fit. (I worked out every day, I ran my own business etc.) It was awful, I was almost immediately unable to work or do basic activities and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. I gradually recovered, I’m practically 100% now (knock wood), and it’s hard to remember what that was like. I do remember weeks when I could barely get around the house and when doing basic activities would exhaust me. I couldn’t even think straight.
So Yolanda may seem like a drama queen and she’s definitely an attention-seeker, she’s a model and a reality TV star after all, but this was her truth and it put her entire world in disarray. Until I went through that I had almost no understanding of what chronic health problems can be like and how people can suffer in silence. I don’t know what I would do in Yolanda’s public position but I get why she’s sharing it. There were times when I felt like I was going to die and I learned very quickly that very few doctors would understand or be able to help. Never once did I consider suicide or want to die though, that’s chilling to hear she went through that.
❤️In love with our new baby Mr.Amidan…… #BackToMyRoots #FarmLife
A post shared by YOLANDA (@yolanda.hadid) on Aug 17, 2017 at 5:56am PDT
❤️Perfect Saturday night with Anwars perfect little baby girl………. #Muku #Magical
A post shared by YOLANDA (@yolanda.hadid) on Aug 12, 2017 at 5:54pm PDT
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Source: Yolanda Hadid’s lyme disease was so bad she prayed that she would die
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