108 Fighting For A Cure with Lauren Lovejoy of Lyme Warrior and Suzanne Burden

Lyme Voice ~Discussing the complexities of Lyme Disease with Aaron & Sarah Sanchez

• Bio-From Grad Student and workaholic to bed-bound Lyme patient, Lauren started Lyme Warrior four years ago when she learned the struggle of Lyme first hand and knew she had to help. Lauren holds a Masters in Analytics and has years of experience in promotion and the legal field. She is working to empower those with Lyme Disease and help others to join together to make a change while still fighting her personal battle with Lyme Disease. To date, Lyme Warrior has given over $70,000 to Lyme research, Lyme patients in need, and shipped over 300 Kid's Smile boxes to children suffering from Lyme Disease. Lauren lives in Virginia with her best friend and teammate Eric where they run an Airbnb and regenerative agriculture farm.

  Key Takeaways:

  • Loving someone with Lyme is complicated.
  • Seemingly overnight, Lauren began dealing with anxiety and panic attacks and became bed-bound while searching for answers. (10:00)
  • Self-advocacy is so important when you are being dismissed by practitioners. If you can learn anything from this episode, learn that you must be driving your own healthcare journey. (12:00)
• “Yeah, after two years...I finally found a diagnosis.” followed by the crushing reality that recovering from Lyme is, in fact, awful, and it didn’t work.
• I turned to the Lyme Facebook groups for answers on how to heal.
• • A crash landing can happen when you are close to healing.
  • Our 4th date consisted of moving across the country for treatment. Dating while going through the unknowns of being in treatment.
  • Tapping into your intuition...keep doing what is working.
• Accepting care as a vulnerable patient can be very difficult. When you do find people who can help you heal, you must let them into your world.
• • Try and stay open to the possibilities around you, even when you are suffering.
• “If you focus on the problems, you will miss the opportunities. If you focus on opportunities, you’ll see past your problems.”
• • Who we are, is different than who we will inevitably become.
• 2 for 1 deal: Healing the Lyme often exposes other areas that need to be healed.(22:00)
• • “It’s ok to be scared as you face the unknown of battling chronic Lyme.”
• Brene Brown says “Do it afraid.”
• • “Let go of being scared of becoming someone else.”-Lauren Lovejoy (32:00)
  • “I choose to let gratitude smack me in the face.”-Lauren Lovejoy
  • A big misconception is that your friends and families will see and understand what you are battling. But they often don’t understand. And you may need to put boundaries around the relationships that are draining or taking away energy from you.
• Be open to new friends, they could be your next best resource.
• If you need answers, the FB groups can be really helpful to talk to strangers who ‘get it.”
• • Lyme Warrior was born out of wanting to help people get access to treatments.
• Areas of impact provided by the Lyme Warrior Organization
• 1. Research
  2. Funding for patients
  3. Smile boxes that get mailed to kids battling Lyme
  • LymeWarrior.com Instagram @LymeWarriorUS

  Resources Mentioned:

  Herbalist-Please contact Lauren directly to get access to the herbalist who is helping to save her life! Instagram @LymeWarriorUS

  Connect with my guest:

  Contact [e-mail]

  Contact Suzanne-

  Sponsors:

  • Kangen Water- http://www.lymewater.com/
  • Envita Medical –Envita Medical
  • Medical billing services MedicalBillGurus.com
  • Lyme Voice Facebook
  • The Lyme Voice Podcast- Lymevoice.com
  • Lyme Documentary-Disappearing From Society, Life with chronic Lyme in 14 minutes…Documentary
  • Little Bite, BIG TROUBLE, available on Amazon –Children’s book about Lyme disease
  • Organic coffee! https://www.ovaldogs.com
  • Tick Warriors “Insect Repellent” https://tickwarriors.com/
  • Organic coffee! https://www.ovaldogs.com