In 2010 a large number of tick bites changed my life. Not in the dramatic, made-for-TV way. In the slow, soul-crushing way, where I slowly went from a high-functioning career woman to bedridden, gaslit by doctors, and watching my identity dissolve while I searched for answers nobody seemed to have.
This is the post I wish I'd read 14 years ago.
The Australian Lyme Problem
The Australian Government's official position is that classical Lyme disease cannot be acquired here. If you got bitten overseas, you can get a diagnosis. If you got bitten in your own backyard, you get classified under DSCATT (Debilitating Symptom Complexes Attributed to Ticks).
DSCATT isn't a diagnosis. It's a holding pen.
Thousands of Australians, myself included, have positive test results from accredited overseas labs, debilitating tick-bite-related symptoms, and a real lived experience that the system has yet to catch up to.
In March 2025, the Senate Inquiry into access to diagnosis and treatment for people with tick-borne diseases delivered its final report. The Australian Government responded in November 2025.
The conversation is shifting, slowly. But for thousands of us still in the trenches, slowly isn't fast enough.
Why It's Called "The Great Imitator"
Lyme and tick-borne illness can affect every system in your body. The bacteria and co-infections can cross the blood-brain barrier, settle into joints and connective tissue, disrupt your nervous system, hijack your immune function, and rewire your hormonal pathways.
The result? Symptoms that look like dozens of other conditions.
Lyme is routinely misdiagnosed as:
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Fibromyalgia
- Multiple sclerosis
- Lupus and rheumatoid arthritis
- Depression and anxiety disorders
- Long COVID
- Perimenopause and hormonal dysfunction
This is why so many people are dismissed for years. The symptoms are real. The suffering is real. The underlying cause is hiding in plain sight.
Symptoms Worth Paying Attention To
If a cluster of these has been your life for months or years, tick-borne illness deserves to be on your list of questions:
- Bone-deep fatigue that sleep doesn't touch
- Brain fog and memory issues
- Joint and muscle pain that moves around
- Tingling, numbness, twitching, tremors
- Heart palpitations
- Sleep disturbances
- Tinnitus
- Recurring flu-like episodes
- Anxiety, depression, mood swings that don't match your life
- Hormonal chaos that won't respond to standard treatment
Although I got the classic bull's-eye rash, many don't. In fact some never even knew they'd been bitten.
What To Do If This Sounds Like You
Document everything. Keep a symptom journal. Patterns matter.
Find a Lyme-literate practitioner. Conventional GPs in Australia generally aren't equipped to investigate or treat tick-borne illness beyond DSCATT pathways. Integrative GPs, functional medicine doctors, and Lyme-literate naturopaths are where most of us find traction although are few and far between (I haven't been able to find a treating doctor for the past few years).
Go beyond standard testing. Two-tier testing misses a significant portion of cases. PCR, antigen testing, and co-infection panels (Bartonella, Babesia, Anaplasma) often reveal what standard tests can't.
Reduce your toxic load. Clean up your home, food, skincare, and sleep environment. It's foundational work, and the heart of what I teach in the Mojo Detox.
Become your own advocate. Nobody is coming to save you. I say that with love, and with hard-won experience.
You Deserve to Be Believed
I spent years being told my symptoms were stress, anxiety, or imagination. I was sick, and the system didn't have a box that fit me.
Chapter 3 of Back from the Brink goes deep on Lyme: my full story, the Australian testing landscape, integrative treatment, and the mindset shifts that made recovery possible.
You are not crazy. You are not lazy. You are not making it up. And you are not alone.
Resources: Back from the Brink (Chapter 3) | Lyme Disease Association of Australia | The Mojo Detox Program
For education and advocacy only. Not medical advice.
