A Real Housewife’s Real Health Scare

Feb 9, 2015 | Stacy Matson | Celebrity Health
A Real Housewife’s Real Health Scare

image by: Pixabay

The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places - Ernest Hemingway

I have a problem.  In the past, I’ve admitted that watching The Real Housewives of Anywhere is a guilty pleasure of mine.  I know it’s really trashy, tasteless, and offensive, but I can’t help it, it’s like a drug.  It doesn’t matter which city either, as long as there are overly made up, rich, narcissistic women binge drinking, fighting, and screaming, I’m in.  It’s not something I’m proud of.   But, like I said, it’s a problem.

However, as much as I like the shows, there is one housewife, Yolanda Foster, that I don’t believe belongs on the show.  She is way too sympathetic, too sensible, too realistic, and she is not a backstabbing, barely functioning alcoholic.  I’ve always liked her, but I don’t think she fits in with the other characters. 

But, then I heard that she was suffering from Lyme disease and I thought perhaps her rational behavior is the result of the disease.  It makes sense to me.  Lyme disease can affect your brain, maybe it affected hers, but in a positive way.  Maybe?

Joking aside, I really do feel bad for her.  If you’ve watched the show then you know that she’s been battling this disease for a few years.  She seemed to be on the mend but then she had a total relapse a few months ago.  And, unfortunately for her, when the disease came back it did so with a vengeance.

Recently, Foster took to her Twitter account to explain the severity of her illness.  She said, “I have been battling Lyme disease for the past three years. I wasted the first year trying to get diagnosed and then spent the next two trying to find a cure. I have gone from the conventional long-term antibiotics to about every holistic protocol there is to offer. Unfortunately, I was only able to get to about a 60% recovery and then I relapsed in early December and have not been able to find my way back.”

Foster said it is so bad now that she has lost the ability to read, write, and watch TV “because [she] can’t process information or any stimulation...  It feels like someone came in and confiscated my brain and tied my hands behind my back [so I] watch and see life go by without participating in it.”  I wasn’t joking when I said it came back with a vengeance. 

The specific condition Foster has is called Lyme neuroborreliosis.  It is caused by the spirochete bacteria and it’s transmitted through the bite of an infected tick.   For 80% of patients, the first symptom is a red rash that looks like a bulls-eye.  The patient will then experience flu-like symptoms such as muscle aches, headaches, chills, fever, and fatigue.  If left untreated, Lyme disease may lead to neurological complications, arthritis, heart palpitations, liver inflammation, and severe fatigue.

Treatment for Lyme disease usually involves several weeks of oral antibiotics.  However, if the antibiotics are not effective, or if the patient’s condition worsens, or if the patient’s central nervous system is being affected, doctors will recommend IV antibiotics pumped directly into the heart, 24 hours a day, for 28 days. Yolanda did this and it did not work for her.

Lyme disease is a tricky little bugger, and even after taking antibiotics approximately 20% of patients, like Yolanda Foster, will develop something called chronic Lyme disease which may last indefinitely.  Because of this, Foster recently traveled to Singapore to undergo treatments that are not currently available in the Unites States.   I guess I’ll have to keep watching the show to see how she fares…

Although, the first known cases of Lyme disease date back to 1908 little progress has been made in the years since.  We still don’t have a way to quickly and properly diagnose patients, treatment options have remained the same, there is no vaccine, and there is no cure.  Because of this patients often go misdiagnosed which wastes crucial time and often leads to additional or more severe complications down the line.

So, where does Yolanda Foster stand?  Let’s see.  No cure.  Worsening condition. No relief from her symptoms.  I think I see a drunken bender in Yolanda’s future.  I’m in.


Stacy Matson is a health enthusiast from Southern California and regularly blogs on Celebrity Health for A Healthier World, as well as contributing to the Best of Best.

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